Javier would be top 20 in ERA but he doesn’t qualify because he hasn’t pitched enough innings. He’s at 101 at most IP. Some of that is because he started in the bullpen, some is because he has pitched in a 6 man rotation, but he’s also not giving a ton of depth in his starts. by the end of the year he might be one of the 30 best pitchers in MLB, but he’s young and my guess is he settled somewhere around 30-50. It’s unarguable that JV is an ace, Framber is a top 20 or 30 huy, and LMJ will be if he comes back healthy. it’s crazy the depth of quality we have in this rotation.
It's JV, Framber, Javier and Junior Move Garcia to the bullpen, he's almost strictly a 5 inning starter because his pitch count is seemingly always an issue.
Astros starting pitching against the Mets and Yankees (9 games) 59 1/3 IP 28 H 8 R 17 BB 53 K 7-0 Record 7 Quality Starts 1.21 ERA 0.76 WHIP
Never seen a guy gain 2 MPH on his fastball and come out the other end a worse pitcher. Strikeouts are down, LOB% is down, HR/9 is way up (1.50 vs 1.00 last year), FIP is up but XFIP is down. Still think Soler gave him a mini-Pujols moment, forcing Garcia to lay pitches over the plate against his will.
Looking back to last season, we pretty much had everything go wrong that could go wrong with our pitching staff outside of Garcia and we still made the WS. Pretty incredible. Verlander out McCullers injured We got Nodorizzi instead of odorizzi Baez Valdez losing his command Bullpen stinking it up Etc Now we have one of the top 3 pitching staffs in the MLB and we are awaiting the return or McCullers, Odorizzi, and we have a Verlander clone waiting in the wings in Sugarland.
My money is on July 5 unless he makes another rehab start. Valdez on 4 days seems to indicate JV on 4 days before adjusting to 5 days of rest (6 pitcher rotation.) Getting starts for good pitching is a good problem to have.
I would have preferred Siri to be used like Jake Marisnick as a PR and late inning defense specialist rather than a starter. McCormick needs his starts against lefties. Brantley needs his starts against righties. Each will have reduced PA until one shows he deserves more.
They really need to adjust the Qualifier to reflect changes to modern usage of Starting Pitchers. Maybe see how many innings the 150th (5 starters per team) pitcher has as a guide. Garcia qualifies today but won't by his next start. That leaves only 2 qualifiers. That's ridiculous. It's about 40 IP for almost half a season by the way. So half an inning per game for all pitchers and makes more sense as a qualifier. Higher for awards only makes sense.
I am pretty sure this will exactly be his role in the playoffs As for the regular season he was hitting worse than Maldy. Can't have that bat on the bench when the fans are already screaming the sky is falling over lack of offense.
