You think a sinker is a breaking ball? It's definitely not. It's a fastball with a slightly different grip. Same thing for a splitter. See, you learned something today!
Pitching is generally more consistent. Occasionally, a random arm will pull out an elite performance, but more usually it’s the elite ones who do that. Hitting is more prone to SSS — elite hitters can have a bad stretch (see - Altuve), and mediocre ones can get hot — like Schwarber getting locked in, or sub .600 OPS Jackie Bradley Jr. going off on us in the LCS a few years ago. An offense with depth is more likely to have a guy locked in at the right time.
People on this message board know more about the Astros then the #1 sports talk station in Houston that interviews players and front office personnel all the time. I seriously doubt that.
Astros are messing up then they need to get you experts signed to the team and tell them how to run things. Furthermore just because you pay to be on this site doesn't make you a expert on anything.
Thank god you were out there single-handedly eliminating this nation's enemies and heroically earning us our freedom. Lol. Dude, get over yourself. You've been a poster in this forum for all of 10 seconds and you're already somehow the most arrogant poster here. That's impressive.
A couple posters have inside knowledge of what's going on and they only speak when they have good infonor opinions. Sports radio make up **** because they get paid to talk.
And? Am I supposed to be impressed or intimidated? This is an internet sports forum, not your high school reunion or the local IHOP in your home town. No one gives a **** whether you served in the military or not. This is a place to talk sports; if you want to impress people with your extensive military career, take that **** elsewhere.
It’s not. The reliever market in free agency and trade is very limited and the first players signed have been relievers and the going rate is quite high. Unless Montero gets hurt, this deal won’t be bad. He basically gets 11 million a year for 3 years. A far lesser reliever just got 5 years at 9 million a year. Right now it feels like we have a lot of pen depth but it’s fleeting and Montero was the second best on the market.
Montero was the closer at points and did fine as I remember. I think we still want a lhp in the pen but Stanek/Abreu/Maton/Montero/Neris/ Pressley Is a pen that is almost invincible against circumstances, odds or injury.
Keep in mind Montero has been good for only one season. I like Montero, but there are serious questions about this contract... in addition to questions about whether this is the right place to allocate our financial resources... we definitely have needs at other positions and we are deep in pitching.
I’m not going to claim it’s a great value, but Montero is the second best reliever in the market and it’s only 3 years while the other guys were getting 5 year deals. I wouldn’t count on the bullpen being great because it was this year. The more top arms, the better and Montero has a really good arm. He has the potential to close if he has to.
The length of Montero being good is less of a concern in the pen. He pitches completely different than he did before the Astros. He was good at the end of last year as well and before injury was with the Rangers. It’s possible he reverts, but the advanced numbers show it wasn’t a fluke. He is a guy that between injuries, misuse and poor pitch selection struggled. I didn’t expect him to be back and the Astros have more depth than most in the pen but pens are combustible and they want as much depth as possible. FWIW they are talking to other relievers as well. I almost posted about them talking to a Japanese pitcher to add to the pen. My only issue is if signing Montero costs them Verlander or adding a genuine bat and everyone I have asked says Crane said the money is there.
Wait Japanese? You have my attention. Are they still talking to him after the Montero signing? Someone from the NPB or someone that's already pitched in the MLB? Definitely not Senga since he's a starter. Shintaro Fujinami? I think he's a starter but could be a good relief pitcher. Wasn't he compared to Ohtani or was the next big thing a couple of years ago?
