Everyone had him pegged as a second ace. I’ve been trying to say he is at best an elite long reliever. He just can’t pitch more than 5 innings. And there is almost always someone on base. It’s just not starter/ace material. And just like a slap hitter who loses speed as he gets older, when Javier loses his “rise” he becomes ridiculously hittable, so he can’t take the long season of starting. We should have traded him at his height. Hell, he had 2 no hitters last year including the WS and he wasn’t even close to finishing either of those games. So even when he is at his best he can’t give you 6+ innings…
I don’t know how y’all continue to find ways to steal agony from the jaws of joy every night but most health insurers cover counseling.
Javier will be okay. He can be a great starter but he’s not a workhorse. The Astros just lacked having a plan for him entering the season. The plan…. 1) 90 PC 2) No WBC Done If he’s fresh and can’t finish 5 innings before 100 PC, too bad for his Win total. Going forward this season, he need not pitch again until mid-September. Sounds harsh but there’s not much to lose with his past 2 months of ineffectiveness. Pitch Bielak and/or Blanco and let the offense slug. Hunter needs similar treatment for the remainder of this season.
Urquidy needs to get back into the rotation. Move Javier to long relief/2 IP relief like 2021. Urquidy has had a really good post season track record, recording 4 wins. Verlander Valdez Brown Urquidy That's your post season rotation.
Jose Altuve hits for the cycle and quietly has his OPS up to .950. Yordan Alvarez reaches base 6 times and homers. Jose Abreu looks healthy, homers and misses another by inches. Astros score like 27 runs in last 19 innings…. BREH JAVIER SUX AND BAKER IS A FROG AND SINGLETON IS FAT AND JP FRANCE LOOKS LIKE A PEDO WITH HIS STACHE AND GLASSES!
You better hope Javier gets rest and improves or France snaps back because you aren’t winning a World Series trotting out Hunter Brown and Jose Urquidy as your #3-4 starters through multiple playoff series. You can tandem start Brown and Urquidy in a game 4 - but that’s about it if you want to win.
I have more faith in France than Javier at this juncture. I’d go as follows for playoffs : Verlander Framber France (Javier long relief if France blows) Brown/Urquidy
They really need Framber to get back to being Framber. Brown and Urquidy tandem pitch a game. Game 4 is a bullpen game except for Urquidy.
At this point are we better off shutting down Javier until the week before the playoffs? He’s not helping anyone like this, and I think it is worth knowing if he can come back to at least give 3-4 strong innings in a BP game or tandem.
