[ESPN 790] Wandy sent down, Matt Albers Called Up

It's true, here's the email I just got from Round Rock:

"This is the email I just got from Round Rock:

Round Rock Express Baseball Club | Triple-A Affiliate of the Houston Astros
3400 E. Palm Valley Blvd., Round Rock, TX 78664 | P: (512) 255-2255 | F: (512) 255-1558

For Immediate Release: July 20, 2006

Wandy Rodriguez Joining Express
Left-hander set to join starting rotation on Saturday

ROUND ROCK The Houston Astros announced Thursday evening that left-hander Wandy Rodriguez has been sent to Triple-A Round Rock and will join the teams starting rotation on Saturday, July 22 in Omaha.

Rodriguez, who pitched for the Express in 2004 and 2005, was 9-6 with a 5.22 earned-run average in 16 starts for the Astros. The 27-year-old was 3-4 with a 7.11 ERA over his last 10 starts.

Rodriguez went 11-6 with a 4.48 ERA for the Express in 2004 and was 4-2 with Round Rock in 2005 before joining the Astros. He posted a 10-10 record over 25 games with Houston in 2005, striking out 80 and walking 53 in 128 2/3 innings."

 

My friend told me that we went to the same middle school and high school with him too... nuts.

 

Who exactly is Matt ALbers?

 

Is Albers skipping AAA?

 

Good. Wandy's been atrocious lately.

 

from Astros.com:

This is not good news! Both Nieve and Buchholz have stepped up strong here and we need both of them on this team.

 

why Albers and not Hirsch? Hirsch is doing just as well at a higher level and Albers was sort of a headcase before this breakout year. Hell Hirsch was the Texas League pitcher of the year last season

 

you don't want to have to rely on buchholz right now. he's about as unpredictable and unreliable as wandy in my opinion. that said, if for some mindblowing reason nieve is sent down, after pitching as well as he has out of the pen, and pitching much less than he should be, i will be sick.


as for albers, that's pretty cool, but why the hell are they coddling hirsh?

 

That does seem silly - why not Borkowski? He's redundant with Nieve there if you want a long reliever.

 

It was mentioned somewhere else that Hirsh has a sore arm and they are going to be very careful with him the rest of the year, cutting back his innings, etc.

 

actually, i found the answer. purp said albers is better suited for relief, and hirsh was pulled from his last start with shoulder problems.

 

I found out Hirsh hurt himself, but it's not a major injury.

Yeah I don't get the move. Why didn't we just send down Wandy tomorrow and bring up Backe?

I honestly think a bullpen of
Nieve
Wheeler
Lidge
Qualls
Springer
Miller
Borkowski

is decent.

 

What year did Albers graduate from Clements? It says he's 23, has he been spending 5 years in the minors? DId he go to college?

 

replace miller and springer (unless you just want to keep springer for long relief in blowouts), and i'd say it's a great bullpen.

 

Relax everyone, they had to send him down to make room for Backe. They couldn't have the position empty for 2 days so they brought up this kid who's going right back down on Saturday.

 

I'm not sure if MLB teams do this sort of thing, but could they be bringing up Albers to showcase him for a pending trade?

 

No he's not going down. Rotoworld says that Nieve is going to get sent down.

 

Wrong, Albers will stay up and either Nieve or Buchholz will go down.