Also can't be a rental or injury prone if that's the case... ...what if contract year pressure is what's getting to Framber and he would be electric again with a 6 year deal... or... he could be one of those that mails it in once he gets a pay day...
25. Houston Astros (Robert Ford, Steve Sparks): 1.99 Most common grade: C (41.4% of votes) Percentage of A/B/C grades: 71.8% TV grade: 2.17 (18th, +0.18) The Astros’ radio booth drew quite a few Bs, 38 of 174 votes. They also drew 15 As, more than some groups above them. But their 21 Fs kept them down here. Those were 12.1% of their total grades, versus the 9.7% Fs the TV booth drew, and that was a factor in the radio booth placing lower. The comments here were largely more positive than the overall grade. Those included “Robert Ford is one of the best game callers in MLB!”, “hard to do any better than Robert Ford as lead play-by-play; the two of them are incredibly easy to listen to,” “really underrated tandem here,” “competent for sure,” and “know their stuff and give accurate info.” There was one criticism of the sometimes-switched roles, with “If they didn’t let Sparks switch to play by play for a few innings, it would be an A” (on a B grade). And there were also some comments reflecting the C grades, including “about as average as you get” and “the middest of ‘mid.'” But overall, the comments had higher praise for this team than the grades did.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/which-teams-have-suffered-the-most-from-injuries/ Some analysis that shows Houston has suffered more from injuries than any other team (17.6 fwar). Obviously they were able to get some production from the injury replacements, but with a fully healthy roster all season, this team probably has the best record in MLB.
For sure. We would have dominated if it weren't for the injuries. That being said, we need to make the playoffs, and get the healthy ones back to play to their potential and hope for the best during the postseason crap shoot.
To have major questions about their 2nd ace, closer, and 2 best hitters at this point in the season, and still be in the mix, is crazy. If Framber, Hader, Alvarez, and Paredes are all effective in the last 5 games of the season, I like this team’s chances in the playoffs.
Alvarez will not be effective. They will keep him on the roster for pinch hit situations where he doesn't even need to get to first base. Walk-off or sacrifice fly. This is the reason why he should never play the field. He's a walking injury about to happen with how his body is built.
Never allow him to slide and put him in turf shoes instead of cleats or the very least, the cleats NFL lineman wear.
2 game lead with 10 to play on the WC..... No matter what we will be in the WC round, either as division winner or WC team if the team qualifies at all. DD
Framber is 31 years olds. We got to experience peak-Framber. If Framber does not finish the year strong (which may be just two more starts), he does not deserve to be in the playoff starting rotation (or even one of the 13 playoff roster pitchers) ... and his pending FA will be extremely rugged.
Not surprising. I know the Dodgers have had a lot of injuries as well. However, a healthy Astros team I think would be the best in baseball and arguably be favorites.... Pena Correa Alvarez Paredes Altuve Sanchez Diaz Meyers Brown Valdez Blanco Javier Walter Hader Abreu Sousa King Okert De Los Santos
Framber Valdez is the Astros game 2 starter. He is only 31 years old and is a horse. He has been really bad for 5 weeks. His era for May/June/July was 2.10 His era for August/September is 6.50 He has had a bad 40 innings....... weighed against 140 innings before that were he was excellent this season - and a 6-7 year run of overall very good work. There is no one on the roster that deserves to start game two over him. The Astros aren't winning a title unless Framber pitches well --- so you go with him in game 2...... hell, 6-7 weeks ago he goes game 1 over Brown.
There were a few bad later inning blowups also. He would have a shorter leash in the post season where there are more rest days.
People should go look at Framber’s 2020 or 2022 post season stats to remind themselves of how important he is to the teams chances this year.
Everyone being healthy and able to get all that WAR into games as wins is not likely. Median WAR lost is about 9. Better teams tend to lose more WAR as they have more to lose. Eyeballing it from this list, I'd assume Astros lost 5-8 wins due to excessive injuries.
I'd run him out there in a 5 game series because you need starters and innings. But in a 3 game series, you can piece together two games with Blublaugh, Alexander, and Javier. Combined, those guys have all been pitching way better than Framber for a while now. It would be different if Framber were up and down and you hope to catch him on a good day - but he's been consistently bad for 2 months now and only getting worse. He had a 5.64 ERA in August and is up to 7.88 in September. The Astros have lost 7 of his last 8 starts - the exception being against the worst team in baseball. Meanwhile, the Astros have won all 8 of Alexander's starts during that period, and he's had a 2.16 ERA both in August and in September. If Framber doesn't improve in his next couple of starts, I don't know how anyone can argue he's one of the Astros' best 2 or even 3 options at this point.
Or look at his 2021, 2023, and 2024 postseason starts to see how he can absolutely destroy a team's postseason chances.
If Framber isn't on the wild card roster, he may pull a 1995 Maxwell... and you don't get him at all.
