I'm willing to give Lance a few more times through, but the perception by anyone that he is a pitcher that can get through the 6th or 7th inning is fools gold. He never went deep in games before his injuries. He is a legend for his playoff performance, but he was never a go deep into games kind of guy. These are my thoughts on Garcia as well. He was never as great as we all wax philosophically about. Good not great.
We are just setting up to become that hot team at the end of the season to steam roll through the play offs
In order for that to happen Cam and Dezenzo need to start most of the games to be playoff ready. In order for that to happen Altuve needs to go back to second eventually (he can play Dh until Alvarez is back). No more of this Rodgers and Dubon lineups. I think Alvarez heats up the second half. Walker needs to at least be decent for us to have a chance. I’m confident Paredes, Diaz, Pena are going to be fine and Myers will be erratic at the plate, but will have some hot spells and cold spells and is a plus defensively. Our pitching can take us to the World Series if we have a 7 deep lineup and no absolute black hole like Maldonado was.
I'm not Snake but his stuff is suss and he doesn't have any swing and miss to him so far. That's not a recipe for success at the big league level.
I wouldn't say I'm "low" on him, I just don't have much hope for him to become the type of SP you want starting a playoff game or even in your regular season rotation long term. I think he'll be fine as a Bielak-level SP who has a lot of value while he has options. He is not going to consistently strike out big league hitters and doesn't do a great job of limiting hard contact so that's not usually a recipe for big league success, and at 26 it's not like he has a ton of development projection.
I was really hoping this would happen (Altuve to DH to give his legs a break, DZ and Cam to the corners) when Yordan hit the IL. Alas...nobody listens to me.
He absolutely has to paint corners. Unfortunately I don't see a lot of deception in his delivery that would add a theoretical few MPH to his FB.
He didn’t ask it either. Nobody here ever asked “do we really need a reliable 200 inning pitcher?” Like you claim. And thanks for the insult, assshole
I would like to see Gusto back in the rotation as well. I only moved him out of my rotation (6man) when we still had Wesneski, Arrighetti, and McCullers. So I would put him in now that we lost Wesneski. I have always viewed Gordon as maybe a slightly better left-handed Dubin. Probably not good enough to start but great in the bullpen for 2 innings (maybe 3).
He was so overlooked in the Tucker trade. The guy got MVP votes, was an all-star and had a batting profile perfect for Minute Maid.
I am actually really high on Dubin. His stuff can be electric, he can get into the upper 90s with movement and deception. He was not fit to be a SP but he could be a very effective RP and potentially even become a leverage guy. Gordon has very mediocre stuff and not much upside. If I were the Astros, my rotation would be Brown, Framber, Blanco, Blubaugh (holding Arrighetti’s place), McCullers (with Whitley and Dubin set to throw multiple innings in relief), and Gusto. Once this stretch of games with no days off is over and they go back to a 5 man rotation, if McCullers isn’t throwing better I would make him an opener with Gusto as his dedicated bulk RP (assuming Arrighetti is back).
The only way that Framber is dealt is if the Astros are out of it at the deadline - or some team foolishly does what the Cubs did and vastly over pays. I know that Framber gets a lot of **** from fans - and he can be odd, but he is an absolute horse and has brought it for the Astros, even pitching with a dead arm, and coming back early from injury. I hope the Astros re-sign him to a 3–4-year deal personally.
The frustrator is the "Framber Inning" where he can be cruising and just completely lose it for reasons nobody can explain. ...and then he's OK again This used to be called the "Oswalt Inning" for the same reasons.
I have been curious if/why the Stros haven't thought about Lance as an opener with a piggyback pitcher. He gets a regular schedule, gets to build up his arm, there's somebody ready behind him, if he's on then you may not need that somebody for an extra inning or 3.
Gordon could potentially improve, there are some guys that after a few years in the big leagues exceed expectations with pin point control etc. Having said that, I am with you - Gordon looked rather pedestrian to me and I don't see him really making a difference this season. Wiesneski was the guy that really had a chance to surprise people. The Astros two headed pitching coach was very high on him, the stuff was good and he is a real competitor. Unfortunately he is done for the year. I am not counting on anything from Whitley or McCullers. Gusto was moved to the pen in part because he was wearing down - and they believe his stuff will play better in the pen. I am fine with the move if they have Blubaugh up. I wasn't blown away with his stuff, but I saw the outline for a #3 starter in the big leagues. Urquidy, France, Javier, Garcia.. Wesniski.... lots of injuries to starting pitchers.
