You don't rest your best player against the Yankees. And you don't pinch hit your best hitter with a .100 hitter in the hole and a base open.
Finding out he was playing with minor discomfort made the lineup one of his better of the year. I don't expect all starters in the regular season like I do in the post season. Meyers and Pena will likely underperform for a series or two. So will Brantley when he returns. But Bregman and Gurriel look like they are starting to get hot so we can trudge on.
I rest an injured player against the Yankees during the regular season. But I can't justify his move pinch hitting Castro.
As has been mentioned before, the Astros, front office and coaches, are tuned in to the training staff and follow their recommendations. So...you rest players when the guys who know say they need a day off. You schedule days off for certain guys in advance but those should be fungible.
He's not going to the pen, he's going back to the rotation. 2 reasons: 1) that's where he has most value; and 2) that's probably less stress and wear and tear on his arm, as opposed to having to get ready on a game schedule instead of your own, and not having 4 days off in between sessions pitching.
If Alvarez was really hurt, he seemed to recover really quickly against the Mets last night. I get what you're saying, but you don't rest your best player against the Yankees. This is just a case of Dusty CYA. If Alvarez was really injured he shouldn't have been used as a pinch hitter. The fact that he was used speaks volumes. So does the way he was used.
Christian Javier this season has an era of 2.73 He has started 14 this season and given up a total of 19 runs. 12 of those runs have come from only two starts In his other 12 starts he has give up only 7 runs total and has given 1 or less runs 10 times. He has given up 0 runs in half his starts this season. He is really close to being dominant.
The one question I have... he has the most recent bullpen experience. Do you plan for him to be your stopper in the playoffs? Who are your 3 starters / 4 starters if the playoffs start tomorrow? I think it has to be JV / Framber / Javier but I do really like Luis Garcia. I also tend to think Urquidy translates to the bullpen the least. McCullers is another wild card -- I hope he sees his best hope to get back and help the team this year is in short stints and prepares as such.
Still want to know what the official plan was last year with him… just seems like whatever they envisioned wasn’t really what happened, and the inconsistency in appearances/routine actually stifled some of his development. Or maybe they just wanted to restrict his innings/protect his arm… who knows.
Does anyone have an example of a recent pitcher that dominated using primarily 2 pitches like Javier? Would love to know if there’s a comp.
Yes, the training staff will recommend rest days... then Dusty will add more days based on his whims... or the front office wouldn't have sent down Siri before Chas.
He also has other pitches that are pretty promising that he scrapped because he was told to focus on perfecting what he has now. In the minors he was throwing 4 pitches.
Jon Heyman Altuve article https://nypost.com/2022/06/26/yankees-fans-must-stop-blaming-jose-altuve-for-astros-cheating/
If you think Dusty follows all the front office orders, you are foolish. Front office favors Chas... yet Dusty played Siri more.
