There's a good chance he gets called up in 2015. He'll likely start in AAA. This likely wouldn't be affected by signing Scherzer or not.
If you assume everyone is healthy, who does he replace? 1. Scherzer 2. Keuchel 3. McHugh 4. Feldman 5. Oberholtzer Injured to start year: Peacock He'd need to have an ERA about 4 or better to outperform both Peacock and Oberholtzer. I think he'll start the year in AA get called up fairly quickly to AAA then get a cup of coffee in September to limit his innings like Folty last year (if he is healthy all year). Then have the opportunity to beat out Oberholtzer, Feldman, Peacock, Folty, etc. for a spot in the rotation to start 2016. P.S. I don't expect all of our pitches to be healthy all year, which is why I said injury replacement
It would not surprise me if Appel was on Astros after a couple weeks of the season. Granted it may also be 2016 before we see him. Feldman, Oberholtzer, and Peacock will not be a determining factor of when Appel makes his big league appearance. Appel and his offspeed consistency are the big factors.
Really? Only reason Pettite and Clemens came here was they were coming home to escape the simmering steroid scandal that were forthcoming in NY. The Randy Johnson signing was more of a short term rental. So no its not enough.
This isn't accurate at all as no one knew that scandal was coming yet. Pettitte left the Yankees because they didn't pursue him hard enough as a free agent as they had serious concerns about his elbow. He started talking to the Astros and then fell in love with the idea of going home. By the time the Yankees came back to the table it was too late. People probably don't remember this, but while he was a free agent, Clemens urged Pettitte to stay in NY so he could become the all time leader in wins. Clemens ultimately came out of retirement to pitch in Houston because of Pettitte.
In addition to what was said above, your post makes even less sense when you consider that both eventually went back to NY to pitch, in the continued midst of a steroid/HGH/PED scandal. Nolan Ryan was also a FA pitcher that signed here... but I guess he doesn't count because he's from here. I'd like to know all the free agent pitchers we missed out on that actually lived up to the life of their mega-deals. I still feel signing a pitcher for more than 3 years is basically throwing money away.... something the Astros cannot afford to do.
As for Nolan, I didnt know how far we were going back. Ok so in the "history" of the Astros there have been 4 counting the RJ rental? Surely there were more but the fact is the Stros dont sign they farm. I don' t like it anymore than yall its just the sad truth. As for Pettite and Clemens? They pursued the Stros not the other way around. There was more to the story with Pettite and Clemens contrary to what you want to believe.
Ridiculous. The Mitchell Report came out in December of 2007. 2007 just happened to be the year that Andy Pettitte went BACK to NY. So if he was scared about being in NY because of a steroid scandal all the way back in the winter of 2004...well that's a little weird.
Ok. Yeah its pretty ridiculous that they would have first hand knowledge rather than waiting for the "Mitchell" report to come out. Anyway, yes, yes the Astros went out and signed two Hall of Famers at the same time on their on account because thats what this organization does. Better?
Drabek? Swindell? Or are we only counting Hall of Fame pitchers? How many HoF pitcher signings would be enough for you? What teams "sign the farm" in your opinion and how much success have they had with it?
RJ wasn't a signing. The Astros attempted, and failed, to sign RJ. As far as whining about signing HoF pitchers, what a silly idea (and why no love for Don Sutton??) We traded for Mike Scott, raised up Roy Oswalt, Larry Dierker, JR Richard, and Don Wilson in the farm system, traded for Mike Hampton, the list goes on and on. Niekro, etc, etc. The Astros have historically been known for great pitching. I'm sorry we're not the Yankees or Orioles or Dodgers and we don't piss away half of the GDP on free agents every year, but as far as pitching goes historically we've been pretty damn good.
Again, you are skipping over the bigger part of the story. Your theory would be that Pettitte left NY because he was afraid of a steroid scandal. Then, 3 years later when the scandal actually happened, he went back to NY to be under the spotlight during the scandal. It doesn't make any sense. The Astros lucked into a situation with Pettitte where the Yankees didn't pursue him enough and ended up losing him.
Who would you have wanted them to sign over the years? Barry Zito? Justin Verlander? Pedro Martinez (the Mets version)? Hell, lets just look at their own guys they lost... Mike Hampton had only 1 more good year with the Mets before going to Colorado and losing it. Daryle Kile was the one guy Drayton really cheaped out on... and his sudden death prevented really knowing if he could live up to any sort of long-term contract. Randy Johnson wanted to go back home to Arizona. They locked in Oswalt long-term until the team was no good and needed to get rid of him to get prospects. Pitchers on long contracts have all sorts of diminishing returns. I'm actually glad the Astros have never had to suffer through one of those sorts of signings.... as Oswalt (their highest paid starting pitcher contract to date) was still in the midst of his arbitration years when signing the extension, and Pettite/Clemens were great short-term deals that had huge returns.
Yep the Swindell/Drabek signings destroyed my argument. Our starting lineup should be pretty nice next year.
