He can get the "offseason of confidence" regardless of how he finishes this season... he needs to pitch against as much high level competition as much as is physically possible. If he's got nagging tendinitis or soreness issues, and is still needing injections, by all means rest him once they feel they've seen enough... but treating him with ultimate kiddy-gloves at this point isn't going to really "help" him. He's had 3 good starts, and 1 ok one at AA. Its his best stretch of pitching in his brief 2 year minor league career. I say keep riding it as long as he's feeling "good".
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>New Astros RHP Francis Martes with 5 IP, 1 R today in the GCL. 11 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 12 K since trade. Touching 97 mph. 18 years old.</p>— Kevin Goldstein (@Kevin_Goldstein) <a href="https://twitter.com/Kevin_Goldstein/statuses/501493533232996352">August 18, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Well, technically its an extension of the Pence trade... since that's how we got Cosart. It is currently Hunter Pence for Singleton Zeid Santana Marisnick Moran Martes Draft pick. As well as Hunter has done in his career (WS ring, huge salary, multiple AS appearances)... the Astros have done just as well in rebuilding the team from what they received for just him (and the 2 million dollars we gave the Phillies). I knew Hunter was special when they were stashing him at Lexington.
Considering the Astros had to pay the Phillies to get the prospects they got back, I'll conveniently leave out Kike and Wates who weren't "integral" to the deal (and likely were more to create organizational space to accommodate Moran/Marisnick).
Wates, maybe. I do think there was a "sell-high" element at work with Kike though, and he added value to the trade. Young, mashed in the minors, carried his success over the the majors in his brief time up. I'm guessing we wouldn't have gotten the exact same return with Cosart alone.
Domingo Santana is currently 3-3, and he just smacked a 3-run homer. He's got 15 on the year, and OKC is leading Sacramento 7-0 in the 5th. Before that, though, Preston Tucker cleared the bases with a double.
Those darned Angels stashed Mike Trout as well. They actually stashed him in A ball for more games than Pence.
Nick Tropeano has never been popular with most of the scouts, but i really like him. I'm a sucker for a great changeup. He keeps striking guys out, and his walk rate has actually been coming down as he has moved up the system. I really hope the Astros find a way to get him a good number of starts next year. I expect Peacock will be gone, hopefully they can move Feldman too because a Keuchel,McHugh,Obie,Nitro,Folty rotation would look really exciting to me.
I think Folty will not be in the Astros starting rotation next year. He either is in the Astros bullpen or in AAA starting.
