Jeremy Molero and Deury Carrasco closed it out. Molero allowed a hit, walked one, and struck out two in 1.2, while Carrasco had to get out of a bases-loaded situation in the 9th to close it out. He allowed a double, walked two, and struck out two. Ricardo Balogh went 2-4 with an RBI single and is now on a 9-game hitting streak. However, this is the first multi-hit game of his streak.
For a second, I thought Dana Brown had become a mad scientist. Up next, Forrest Brown. And then Justin Leon...
LHP Julio Robaina is spinning a gem for AA Corpus. Thru 5 ip he’s got 8 k 1 hit no runs and no walks. He’s been on my sleeper/honorable mention list for a couple years. Young still for AA and could be an interesting BoR candidate.
Considering Arrighetti's previous start and Robaina's tonight, maybe Garrett Wolforth is that good behind the plate.
Joey Mancini is really intriguing. Sixth highest SwStr% in the system (min 10 IP) and 4rh in K-BB%. Generates a fair amount of ground balls so far. Not much info out there about him.
Robaina pitching well of late made me take another look at next years projections and Rule 5 situation: Must protect: IF Grae Kessinger, OF Colin Barber, OF Justin Dirden, RHP Jaime Melendez Moderate risk: RHP Angel Macuare, RHP Jairo Solis, RHP Misael Tamarez, LHP Julio Robaina, RHP Cesar Gomez, IF Shay Whitcomb, RHP Diosmerky Taveras, LHP Blair Henley, OF Zach Daniels, OF Kenedy Corona, RHP Jayden Murray Low risk: RHP Peyton Plumlee, LHP Bryan De Paula, OF/1B Scott Schreiber, C Luke Berryhill, C CJ Stubbs, RHP Austin Hansen, RHP Devin Conn, RHP Jimmy Endersby, 1B JJ Matijevic, OF Bligh Madris, OF Marty Costes, RHP Ryan Gusto, RHP Tyler Brown, RHP Cole McDonald, C Miguel Palma, 1B/OF Jordan Brewer, OF Matthew Barefoot, IF/C JC Correa, RHP Franny Cobos, C Nerio Rodriguez, RHP Valente Bellozo, RHP Deury Carrasco, IF Cristian Gonzalez, OF/IF Rolando Espinosa, RHP Edinson Batista, RHP Carlos Calderon No risk: RHP Joe Record, RHP Matt Ruppenthal, OF Ross Adolph, OF Alex McKenna, RHP Derek West, RHP Jose Betances, RHp Jonathan Sprinkle, RHp Ronny Garcia, IF Bryan Arias, RHP Max Roberts, RHP Luis Angel Rodriguez, c Carlos Hurtado, IF Freudis Nova, RHP Jairo Lopez, RHP Manuel Urias, RHP Cristofer Mezquita, RHP Elvis Garcia, RHP Luis Vega, RHp Gerardo Bonorquez The Astros have 4 pending free agents plus Neris who has a player option. Bannon, Paredes, Bielak, and Whitley are out of options. Entering the season I didn’t think there would be any roster crunch this year but some of these guys are making it interesting.
I believe Neris' option is a club option and in this market they will pick it up unless something unexpected happens
You are correct and I agree with you that they’ll pick it up. So really only 4 free agents plus Bannon as obvious 40 man roster openings.
I want a Yordan Diaz solely to see him either catch or to see the responses about Yordan Diaz riding the bench/playing DH/LF instead of catching.
I would add Julks, Salazar, and Hensley to the obvious 40 man openings. In addition Maldanado is obviously not going to be re-signed.
