Hopefully they can get ramped in a month or 2 and we can have them for the bulk of the season. I think this gives Blubaugh a pretty good shot of breaking camp as the 6th starter
Locks (assuming Pressly is traded, Javier/Garcia/McCullers/France/Sousa are injured, and they don’t add a pitcher) (6): Framber Brown Blanco Arrighetti Hader Abreu Near locks (3): Scott Dubin Whitley Likely on the roster (3): Ort King Wesneski So that leaves one spot available between: Guys on the 40 man: Gusto, Gordon, Contreras, Hernandez NRI: A. Brown, Castro, Fleury, Blubaugh, Ullola, Gaither, Montero, Okert, Otto, Tamarez, VanWey, Walter, and Weiman My guess would be that they’d use that spot for a rotating group of optionable or removable arms to be used when they need a fresh arm to eat non-competitive innings.
Garcia is very concerning because he should be ready after 20 months since surgery. McCullers needs to just retire. Anything the Astros get from Lance this season is a bonus.
Crane pulled a Daryl Morey with the Hader signing. Yes, on paper, it made sense. However, you have to factor the human element/ego in, too. Players aren’t just assets you can do whatever you please with. Ryan Pressly had done nothing to lose the closer role, and Josh Hader was not signing anywhere to be setup man. It’s perfectly understandable that Pressly was not happy about the demotion even if he didn’t say that publicly.
Damn. I understand McCullers, but yeah, how is Garcia not going to be ready? TJ surgery was a decade ago for him or more, literally. Shouldn't take 10 years to recover from TJ surgery.
Yes I like this. We petition the MLB office for a ghost runner for Yordan. He needs to be protected above anything else.
Thats what I keep saying. These people keep suggesting that a guy with arm problems move to the bullpen and pitch even more.
The alternative is to leave him as a SP, which requires a much longer ramp up timeline and is much more damaging to the team when he gets hurt again.
Just cut your losses with McCullers. At this point a waste of money and a roster spot. Let me guess he will be ready after the all star break
But just like Montero or Abreu, the money is already spent. And Lance has earned the respect of being on the IL in Houston and accruing MLB service time. He will hit 10 yrs of service time in late April or early May. That's a big deal and important to his future. Couple that with the very slight chance that he can be a very effective pitcher for the 1 1/2- 1 3/4 remaining seasons on his contract and the Astros have no reason to even consider this until well into the season.
Pressly definitely showed signs of decline in the second half of 2023. I was at the game when Cedric Mullins hit the game-winning homer in the ninth inning off him in September. But, if you are going to consider bringing in Josh Hader to be your closer, you better make damn sure your current closer who is one of the best in postseason history is really on board with the idea.
I agree. One would think that making over $15 million a year on a team with Championship aspirations would not need such reassurances, but Pressly is human like we all are.
