Actually there isn't. Like I said 5-10% and MAN OH MAN do I hope to be able to come back here and say I told you so
Sure. I'll look forward to Lance pitching more than JV this upcoming season. I just have an inkling that the chance of that happening is the same as pigs flying without wings...
I get it. I'm just being a dick about you choosing something that is literally not possible. If you said it's the same chance as Myles Straw hitting 30 HR, then I wouldn't have been so salty. FWIW, If I could make a bet on it, I would put money down that Lance pitches more innings than JV between 2025 and 2026, even if he doesn't in 2025.
And then some pitchers like oft injured Charlie Morton go on a nice little run. That's what we are all hoping happens with Lance.
Flight is really pretty simple you need lift and acceleration. Pigs are not too difficult to shape. Adding a little framing to stretch the feet as far from the body as possible should result in a fairly flat underside. The naturally humped shape of the animal should force air traveling over the top to travel a much greater distance to arrive at the tail at the same time as the air below. that is really all it takes to make lift. A solid fueled rocket up its ass for acceleration and it will fly. No question. You can not say the same about a pitcher pitching.
I'm optimistic that Lance's injury issues are over. He just got bad medical advice and should have had surgery in the first place. I do think the Astros need to save him from himself. I think he should have a really low load at the beginning of the year and not really build him up until the end of the season.
I wish I shared your optimism. I'll believe it when I see it and even then I'll need to see it for more than a few innings or so before believing he's any sort of back at all.
I think your point about saving him from himself is spot on. If he’d had forearm surgery in 2022, he would likely have been back for most of 2023 and all of 2024. He cost himself 2 seasons pitching thru that, I’m sure because he wanted to avoid another lengthy absence after having gone thru TJS. There’s a chance Houston is about to add a legit #2 and legit #3 SP to their roster in May. I’ll put up a 6-man rotation of Framber, Brown, healthy McCullers, healthy Garcia, Blanco, and Arrighetti up against any in the league and I think it’s an area where the projections are underselling the Astros pretty dramatically.
Other than 2022, I've never seen us have a relatively injury free season. Always a few, but 2022 was unusually healthy.
I have no doubt he will be effective if healthy. He's throwing low 90's now. His stuff just plays. We just need to manage his workload. I want nothing more than McCullers have a Charlie Morton career arc except if he does, he needs to it as an Astro.
Of course what will probably happen is he will come back sometime in late July, pitch balls out the rest of the way then throw 170 innings of Cy Young ball in 2026 and go get a huge bag from another team in free agency.
Beats being injured for the remainder of his contract here. We need him to start his redemptions arc this season and help us to another world series win. A hot and healthy rotation of Framber, Brown, McCullers, Spencer/Javier/ Garcia can win a title even with an average offense.
If McCullers pitches well enough that the Astros give him a qualifying offer after next season that would be a MASSIVE win for the Astros. No chance I would give him another long term deal after this contract.
If the Astros advance to the WS and vs the presumptive favorites, Dodgers... they will need Lance and a healthy rotation.
Ooh nice. Imagine if they get a 2nd rounder as compensation and use it to pick a future HoF whose baseball transaction lineage goes all the way back to Clint Barmes!
They need him just to get to the world series unless one of your young pitchers lights the world on fire. If Spencer continues to play like second half Spencer, then we are going to be in really good shape this coming season as long as Walker and Paredes plays as expected.
