Yeah. I wouldn't sign him to an MLB contract, but as an emergency starter like we needed Sunday until Garcia, LMJ, & Verlander get back.
Even if you excluded last year as a benefit of the doubt, is he even an average MLB starter? I know Astros need an innings eater, but he will probably never go more than 6 innings (more often 5) and will probably give up 2-4 runs every start with a few other clunkers in there. I know the offense has been better of late, but I don't know if they are trustworthy enough to cover up that.
You think Blanco has put up more than 1.8 WAR of value? What would he be at if you gave him a FIP equal to his current xERA over the same number of innings? I don't know if it would be quite that high, and I wouldn't give him any more credit than that, and that might still be generous.
His WAR by combining xERA and FIP would probably be around 1.1-1.6. Of the ERA predictors, I think FIP is by far the high measure for Blanco and using it blindly, even in a 50% diluted form, is not being generous. Averaging ERA and the 4 ERA estimator on FanGraphs would lead to an estimated ERA of 3.79 which would be in the 1.5-2 range. This would be similar to combining xERA and xFIP (estimated ERA of 3.87).
Swing for the fences- Vladdy, Alonso, Luis Robert Jr. Any of those at the right price will be the game changer come postseason nut crunching time.
Verlander needs 83 innings for his option to vest. It might be tough for him to get that if he’s out until the all-star break (or longer). Essentially giving him 5 starts each in Aug and Sep that makes for 10 starts. If he comes back in July maybe he gets 12 starts. He’d have to AVERAGE 7 innings per start for it to vest. My guess is the odds of Verlander being on the Astros next season are extremely low.
Tucker's situation isn't that odd, severe bone bruises can take 2+ months to heal (it's been exactly 1 month for Tuck). Also, per the broadcast yesterday, it was close enough to the knee that he had major swelling in the joint, which just added to the problem. eta: agreed on JV. I joked when this began that with the Stros' luck he has thoracic outlet syndrome. Now I'm not so sure I was joking. Apparently (per Mayo Clinic website) it can be difficult to diagnose, but I'd imagine he's seen multiple specialists so who the hell knows?
