He looks more like a 7th starter to me at this point, and not a very good one. He's three long years away from having been good. He's a project, but were not a team who's really in the position to be taking on projects at this point. We need a contributor. I don't care much for Fisher though. So it's fine with me.
Baseball is analytics. Do you like him because he is good looking or has a hot girlfriend. That's just old school. You brought no statistical context to the debate for which there is none. He's an analytical nightmare at this point.
I see this about 7 times a night as it is one of the highlights repeatedly looped during game breaks on mlb.tv. And I still love it every time.
Quoted from Fangraphs "But what remains encouraging about the 27-year-old Sanchez, despite his abysmal 2019 performance, are his underlying metrics. He still possesses a good fastball, though it is currently a few ticks below of what it was pre-injuries. More intriguing is his curveball. The spin rate on the pitch ranks in the 94th percentile, and hitters have been held to just a .273 wOBA (.234 xwOBA) against it, all while whiffing on 37% of swings." For Houston, the hope is that the coaching staff will be able to leverage Sanchez’s excellent curveball into tangible on-field results. They’ve done it before — it’s worth noting that both Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander feature curveballs with high spin. Sanchez was perhaps the prime change-of-scenery candidate at the 2019 trade deadline, and there’s hardly a better situation in which to land than in Houston. You can go ahead and add Pressly, Morton and McHugh to the list of high spinrate guys we've turned into effective pitchers with some analytics and delivery tinkering.
Agree with all of it. but that's almost nothing to bank on. It puts Sanchez into the project category. If the only analytic we have to support the move is spin rate on the curve ball, then it's a shot in the dark. He will have to throw it 22 times in a row. Everything else is abysmal. But I would have to say Pressly and Morton were decent when they got here. Sanchez is at an all time low.
You're really digging yourself deeper into a hole. Analytics is a lot more about just looking at his stat line. This front office continues to take the best aspects that pitchers have... and somehow makes them better. Name one pitcher that actually got worse after they came here? Plenty complained about picking up Morton, then Miley... plenty were scoffing at an acquisition of some guy named Ryan Pressly.... Sanchez and Biagini were on NOBODY'S radar prior to yesterday, yet the Astros specifically targeted them. Sure, they may end up being the 2019 version of Tyler Clippard... but give me a 27 year old with club control and a 100 mph fastball, along with high spin... and I'll trust Brett Strom will do everything he can to make him a better pitcher (in addition to him now finally being at full strength after battling nerve issues, and showcasing above average K potential). You come off trying to be an expert saying how "morton and Pressly were decent before they got here"... yet you have no idea what type of pitchers they were. Morton was a sinker/2-seamer groundball pitcher. The Astros got rid of that, and now he's as good of a strikeout pitcher there is. Same with Pressly who rarely went to his curveball... now its his most dominant pitch. At this point, why would you even take a stance... it can only come back to bite you.
But again, the analytics for Sanchez are poor. You are actually banking on the analytics of Brett Strom. Which is fine. Fangraphs is doing the same thing. Those analytics for Brett are solid. But call it what is.
(too early for imbecile stupidity)... Separate yourself from his stat line and actually watch him pitch. The Astros front office is better than most because they rely on the full package of information, not just statistics. THAT Is the heart of analytics. I'm not banking on the "analytics" of Brett Strom... i'm banking on his coaching ability. You're even using the word wrong... that's how off-base these posts are. Stats by themselves are increasingly deceiving without context. At his worst, he's what he is now... a 5th starter, long-relief type. If the Astros do what they normally do with him, he gets better... and showcases pitches that are more likely to improve your precious stat line judgement.
Also, you can add the inconsistent "head case" Gerrit Cole as another pitcher they've made much much better.... do you think Pittsburgh would have even entertained the thought of trading him with 2 years left if they thought he had THIS within him?
Pittsburgh traded Cole because of Boras. Cole was nearing his last year of arbitration and the Pirates have never paid that much for a pitcher.
Correction... they weren't willing to pay the 2016/2017 version of Cole the $19 million for 2 years he's getting now. THIS version? He's worth three times that, both in money as well as in prospects/trade return. Even during the year he was in top 5 for Cy Young (2015), he wasn't as dominant a strikeout force. Like the other pitchers the Astros have improved, they made him scrap the sinker/2-seamer that the Pirates were trying to force on him, and focused on improving the spin rate on his fastball/breaking stuff. Now he's striking out 300/year. Ironically the Pirates end up giving up twice the prospect value for Chris Archer... who they've somehow made into a worse pitcher. The Pirates with this version of Cole, Bell, Glasnow, Medows... are probably close to making the playoffs.
It was a crazy arbitration. The largest ever I think in history. They couldn't afford Cole. He had to be traded. I don't agree with their decision, but they are on record as to why they made the move.
Not that crazy.... pretty standard. Cole is basically getting what Keuchel got in his final year of arbitration, and that's only after he had a dominant all-star season last year. Again, they perceived that they couldn't afford 2016-2017 Cole... widely looked as an overall underwhelming former #1 pick who may have already had his best season. Nobody in baseball thought he had this in him. At the time, Chris Archer is deemed to be worth more than double the value of what Cole was expected... and now look at the returns on that investment. The Pirates have lost more in terms of potential wins, prospect-value in Galsnow/Meadows, and getting the most value/production from their payroll with these series of moves... but then again, there's very little chance their front office/coaching staff could have done with Cole what the Astros have done. Just see how they've "improved" Archer, Musgrove, or Feliz.
Astros are not infallible. I think it is obvious that Astros are probably going to ax the 2S fastball so he can throw his curve more, and Astros are going to ask him to elevate his 4S more and move it inside. This should make him better, but not sure if that makes him a good starter or not. His fastball would likely play up a lot in the pen so if the starter thing doesn't work out, he should be able to be at least a mid leverage reliever.
That's a good comp from a usage perspective. He can give innings as a starter, but not sure what Astros will get at this point. Probably can give valuable bullpen innings if struggles as starter.
Guy the astros already expect him to be in the bullpen and not start until after spring training next year. We have Peacock, Urquidy, Cy Sneed, and others who can pitch in the 5 hole. It's not like in the playoffs we need a fifth pitcher or something.
