Yes... I assume Castro and Maldy will eventually bounce back to being bad hitters, which is way up from what they are now. Our focus probably needs to be on #4 starter (which can be fine with healthy LMJ or Javier) and our bullpen which looks very questionable right now. Pressly's velocity is still down and not striking guys out. Maton is also not striking guys out. Montero, Neris, and Abreu have largely performed well enough to mask their struggles, but I'd love to see one more proven guy out there.
Pressly, Taylor, Urquidy, Odorizzi (prior to injury though probably now as well), Maton, and Framber (to a lesser degree) have lost their ability to get a lot of Ks. Part of it is probably sticky stuff. Part injury/aging. I think Astros as a team have prioritized throwing strikes (highest Zone % since pitch tracking started for the Astros) knowing high LA plus dead ball is likely an out.
Pressly's sample size this season is stupidly small, I don't think one should make too many assumptions on him.
This is not stupidly small for K%. Maybe whatever (possibly velocity) is wrong resolves itself, but this is not a normal slump.
Looking at the roster and projections, if the deadline were tomorrow this would be my approach: Package Hunter Brown, Jose Urquidy, and Jose Siri for a ToR SP. List of guys I'd call on: Shane Bieber, Frankie Montas, German Marquez, Luis Castillo, Pablo Lopez, Zac Gallen, and Tyler Mahle. Package Peter Solomon and Joe Perez for a high end reliever. List of guys I'd call on: David Bednar, Scott Barlow, Andrew Chafin, Matt Barnes, Gregory Soto, AJ Puk, Chris Martin, and Joe Mantiply. Call the Nats about Juan Soto; offer to take on Patrick Corbin's contract as well as give up Pedro Leon, Chas McCormick, Alex Santos, Blake Taylor, and Forrest Whitley. Call the Royals about MJ Melendez and the Diamondbacks about Daulton Varsho. Offer them Korey Lee, Shawn Dubin, and a PTBNL lower level pitching prospect of their choice.
I'd LOVE to get Bieber but given he has a couple more yrs of team control do you really think that package would be enough? If so I'd make that trade in a second.
Barring more injuries, I expect less trades than last year. Considering all the stuff going on with this roster it is too early to even know what they will need outside of the very obvious. A lot of guys need to come back from injury and a few guys in the minors need to get opportunities before I would go trading away prospects. When does Meyers come back and what does he look like? How long is Odorizzi out? When does McCullers come back? Does Urquidy continue to struggle? Does Hunter Brown get his shot? Is Yuli the guy we saw in April or the guy we saw this week? Can Maton be more consistent? Is Paredes ready to be effective again since he is DEALING in AAA? Will Pressly be effective? Is Seth Martinez a solid piece or just another guy? etc, etc, etc Until a lot of those questions are answered I'm not sure you even start making a wish list. Only 2 things I think are a lock: 1. The Astros suck offensively at catcher. Will Click give up prospects to improve the hitting at the catcher position? No idea. 2. They should get a better left handed reliever than Blake Taylor
Blake Taylor is the most hated reliever ever with a sub-3 career ERA. His fastball actually looked almost normal last appearance.
LOL.... talk about cherry picking stats, and from the same guy that just posted about Taylor's K rate being down. Taylor has a career 4.60 FIP and 1.355 WHIP. He is very good against lefties but has a career OPS against righties nearing .800. That's a problem with the 3 batter rule. He's not the worst pitcher, but considering the Astros only carry 1 or 2 lefties in the pen it would be nice to have a more dominant guy. That's hilarious that you pick ERA after posting a K rate chart for Pressly.
Can you name a more hated reliever with a sub-3 career ERA? Usually it is the low FIP, high ERA guys that are hated.
Aroldis Chapman and it's not even close. He gets insane hate because he blew it in the playoffs several time for the Yankees.
Interesting. Updated graph still shows Pressly below average and in abnormally the worst slump of his tenure with the Astros (a decent sized sample to show what is abnormal). There is an uptick at end, but it also corresponds with an uptick in velocity which was specifically called out in my post as something that could change an fix Pressly. Velocity does not always return midseason.
The hate for Giles, Osuna, and Chapman are all based on caving in postseason and/or being jerks. The Taylor hate appears to me to be based mostly on him not having a low FIP and xFIP or the elements of FIP and xFIP for people that don't like stats. People in general do not like relievers that allow baserunners which is a great way to judge most relievers. I only look at ERA for pitchers that do something that limits (or increases) quality of contact on balls in play that is not captured by FIP or xFIP. Taylor has a funky fastball that usually doesn't get hit hard (in cases that it gets hit hard, it is often a homer). If Taylor continues to have strikeout issues, he will be a much worse pitcher than he's been and his ERA will escalate. If he gets back to striking out batters like in previous years, he'll be fine in my opinion for a bottom of the pen guy though I would not bring him in with runners on base except with 2 outs and a couple of lefties up next. Taylor may be a good pitcher going forward. He may be a bad pitcher going forward. I will say the odds are very good though however he pitches, his ERA will be less than his FIP and xFIP.
