I've always thought that even a mediocre left-handed pitcher makes for a good 5th starter because it gives you the option to use him against strong left-hand hitting teams and skip him against a right-hand heavy team.
Yes and he is going to be defensive about it too. Why does everyone see this but the MANAGER of the freaking team. Know I know us fans can be wrong sometimes but my goodness there is no way Wandy is the best option for the 4th starter on this team. I mean seriously what has he done to deserve it. Please spare me the experiment talk. One of the reasons guys like Sampson will probably be successful for awhile is because no one has scouted them very much. Wandy has experience working against him because batters know he sucks and will just wait until he misses his spot and say bye-bye to the ball and the game.
If there's NO way he's the best option, that implies you know there are at least one or two definitive better options. Who are they?
Our organization in general, moves players along too slowly! Yea, there are the Berkman's and Oswalt's that come along. More often then not, guys dont make their MLB debut until lage 25 at least. Pence is knocking on the door...but with his spring he should be starting in CF opening day. Patton should at least be knocking on the door....but he's probably at least another year away. Bogesevic has been hurt a little bit, but that dude has to be like 23 already because he was at Tulane for a while....he's still at A ball. Jimerson is already 28 and just got his 1st MLB at-bat last year.
I've posted this several times, but here goes again: The Astros were only 2 games (iirc) below .500 in games started by the 4-5 spots in the rotation last year. The problem was that they - for various reasons - were only a couple of games above .500 in starts by the top 3. The pitcher yall need to be worrying about is Woody Williams.
The only time i've ever been impressed with Wandy was when he came into the World Series game in Chicago after Clemens got hurt. I thought he did really well there. Pitching in horrible conditions he kept it close enough for us to have a chance. I also remember a game at Minute Maid last season aganist the Giants where he gave up 7 runs in the first inning before getting a single out.
ok ok, you're dogging an acquaintance here. Come on man, he'll do fine. Yea he wont throw 200 innings, but he'll do well. He always throws well at MMP....i think there may have been 2 or 3 games we actually hit him hard here
Sorry, but you really don't know much about player development, or else you wouldn't be harping on age like you are. You're a Charlie Palillo fan, ain't cha?
Sampson and Nieve are FOR SURE better options? Really? Sampson, who's had all of what 3 or 4 starts in the majors?
I'm not sure if they should automatically hand woody the 3rd spot with the plethora of young pitchers that we have. That's just going to stunt their growth. Here's another case of the Astros moving players too slowly. Boo the Astros... Boo...
The different look is a huge part of it. Like No Worries said, it also forces the opposing team to make, or at least think about, lineup changes. Scarcity also plays a large part. It's why LHB traditionally struggle so much against LHP, they just don't see that many of them (opposed to RHB & RHP). I haven't looked yet, but do you know the % of RH/LH/SH batters in MLB? The key to a LHP having success against RHB is the changeup on the outside black (think Glavine). Of course, you have to establish your fastball on the ouside & work off of that. You also have to be able to come inside hard on the hands (Pettitte's & Hampton's cutters, Unit's slider, which are basically the same pitch, whatever that's worth) to keep hitters honest, but if you come inside, you can't miss over the plate or things go boom. That's the biggest problem with Wandy: his failure to get consistent location with the fastball & change on the outside. Also, when he's missing, or getting squeezed (which happened, for whatever reason, with seeming regularity last year) he tends to let it get in his head. Not sure I've ever seen a pitcher roll his eyes, throw up his hands, take long strolls around the mound and sigh as much as Wandy does when things aren't going right.
I think he will not be the # 4 for long. But, I dont mind him being at the end of the rotation.You cant expect you #5 starter to be great. Wandy has some bad stats, but he gets wins. As bad as he was, he was a .500 pitcher last year, and i'll take that at the end of my rotation.
Jimerson isn't a realistic MLB prospect or player. Instead of saying "more often than not," why not give some specific examples (which I already did for my case)? Also, as Buck already alluded to, merely showing a player's age shows very little. There are several factors at play. A 20-year-old who signed with the team immediately out of high school will often be ahead in the system of a 23-year-old who played four seasons of college ball (which Hunter Pence and Brian Bogusevic did). It's about the time each player has had in the system. Second, you don't promote based on age... you promote based on whether a player is ready. While Bogusevic had some improvement in the latter stages of last season, by and large he's been a disappointment the last two years, both with his velocity and his results. You can't look at a player's age and say he should be at a certain level... it's dependent on a number of factors such as time in the system, productivity in the system, etc.
Me neither. Around mid-June The Ego will slide into the 3 spot, moving Woody to the 4, a role to which he's very, very well-suited. Who stays at the end of the rotation? Who knows? Only problem is DQ isn't going to go past the 6th inning either, so the bully will be a huge key to the Stros pitching staff's success. Hence Gar's comments earlier this spring about how the swingman/long reliever in the pen is going to be just as, if not more, valuable than whoever the 4/5 starters are to begin the season; and hence Purp's "fool's gold" comment concerning trading Lidge (or Qualls/Wheeler): you're depleting what needs to be a strength, robbing Peter to pay Paul & such.
So the reason Wandy is in the rotation is because he's a lefty? Huh? What good is a lefty if all he does is throw grapefruits? Jeez..I wish I can get paid millions to be a half ass unsuccessful employee at my company! Yes I know I suck and drive clients away and cost my company money...BUT....hey.....I write with my LEFT hand....ain't that worth job security????
I played ball in HS. I played ball in college. I've been around the game long enough to know that a player a team thinks is good enough to help the MLB club shouldnt spend 5 years in the minors.
His 3-4 starts have been better then most of Wandy's. Yea Wandy won double-digit games last year...ONLY because we scored a ton of runs when he pitched. Wins mean nothing to me....if thats the case Clemens should have won 20-25 games 2 years ago. Someone that gives up 5+ runs a game on a consistent basis is not a good MLB pitcher
