After coming off a sterling 7-2 record vs the Mets and Yankees, an 8-2 record vs some fairly inferior opponents, really happy with us not falling prey to playing down to our competition.
Nice to see more youth getting brought on board. Matijevic should start every game until Yordan or Brantley get back, but he will get a start or 2 at most because Dusty has a personal issue. I'm shocked to see the worst pitcher in history have a good start. Man has a 3.38 ERA this season, and yet people still won't STFU about how awful he has consistently been.
Did I post on the wrong post? I was responding to 'not needing Steinbrenners permission.' Yep. I sure did. Sorry about that.
I'm glad we don't have to make that choice, but I might because Urquidy has given us slightly more innings per start LATELY. But both seem better than their pitching WAR indicates. I honestly don't know if either would bring enough back to use as trade bait. ps I'm assuming you meant OUR Luis Garcia, not THEIR Luis Garcia. It gets confusing when you have Luis Garcia (SD), Luis Garcia (WAS) and Luis Garcia (HOU). I wouldn't consider the other two for Urquidy.
In my mind, I think of Lee as Castro's replacement and Diaz as Maldonado's replacement. But there is a longer learning curve to replace Maldonado.It's not a perfect idea to say the least. Lee has the Maldy Arm and who knows about those magical intangibles.
This will either go one of two ways 1. Lee will be the starting catcher next yr and Maldonado will be the guy catching 2 days a week. 2. Maldy and Castro will be gone and Lee will be the starter, Click will bring in another vet catcher. I'm looking at Diaz as a possible Yuli replacement. BTW, have you noticed that Yuli is starting to get his hits and generally hitting the ball harder? I think Yuli's slump was related to having a child, which is totally understandable when you take into account he was probably functioning on little sleep.
All things being equal (health, season continues as it has been, etc.), I'd bet the Astros pick up Maldonado's option and he continues to catch the majority of the games in 2023.
Remember that year where it seemed like all the Astros had kids in the offseason and then we sucked during home games? As a father of 3 little kids I totally understood that one. It messes you up big time.
His option is guaranteed because he played 90 games last season. He'll be one of the 2 catchers in 2023. Their evaluation of Lee is going to decide if he is the starter or not.
I was saying that the Astros should just trade with themselves, to appease all of the folks who want Click to do something for the sake of doing something.
I'm not giving up Yordan for Verlander. You'll have to throw in Javier and Pressly for me to even consider it.
Honestly wouldn't mind trading one of our AAAA guys for pitching/hitting prospects. I feel good about the overall roster. Knowing Clicks history, he may try for a cheap reliever with no control beyond this season. Still think McCormick has to be odd man out. Siri still intrigues me with his defense and speed.
I assume you are speaking of Odorizzi? I am very happy with him. His bad starts can all be explained by just out of compressed spring training then first start off of injury. That he gets better rather than worse or has random good/bad outings is great. He was an all star in 2019 and clearly knows how to pitch. That said, the Astros don't need him, he's a luxury, and with other needs and his buy out it would be nice to be able to trade him but I don't see it happening. The longer the season goes the more expensive he gets, unlike most rental trade options.
