Interesting -- first time we've dropped to 12 pitchers in awhile, I believe. Curious what moves are made when Keuchel and Harris are back. Both Martes and Musgrove have made things interesting as quality relievers.
They went 6 innings but only used 3 pitchers, and Sipp only went 1 inning so he's likely available again today. And with the pending return of Keuchel they can use whichever starter they plan to bump (Peacock or Fiers) if they need to. Also, this is encouraging to me as it indicates they don't expect Springer to have to go on the DL.
I am going to say Hoyt stays in AAA and Musgrove joins him. Fisher goes back down too after the Phillies series. Pitching staff should end up looking like this: SP Keuchel McCullers Fiers Morton McHugh RP Giles - closer Harris Gregerson Devinski Feliz Sipp Peacock Martes - long I could be wrong about Martes but I don't think there is much to gain by sending him back to AAA. Maybe Musgrove stays and Martes goes down. Either way, one of them will be the long man. I also think Peacock is the 1st option to reenter the rotation if Morton or McHugh falter. I also think Peacock assumes Hoyt's role as the 6th/7th inning guy assisting Devinski.
It's two appearances/four innings on the back of what's been a really disappointing season. There's almost ZERO chance he's still here once Keuchel and Harris are back - unless there's an injury.
For a team that has carried 8 relievers all year it remains surprising. They can't use Peacock, he started yesterday. Fiers is scheduled to pitch tomorrow so they aren't using him either. They are basically cool with going with 6 relievers for the next 2 days. Though they still could make the move to send Musgrove down and bring up a reliever to replace him, assuming they plan to replace him with Keuchel on Friday anyway.
You are most likely right, but the Astros are big on their scouts/coaches view on how a player is performing. With a move to the pen, if his stuff is playing up and the coaches/scouts are confident it will translate, they may keep him up.
If we wanted to keep Springer off the DL, sending a pitcher down was the only option. Our position core is already spread extremely thin. A demotion has been in order for Hoyt for some time now, he has been getting hit extremely hard.
FWIW, he was also very impressive in his relief outing last year. So far he has pitched 8.1 innings with 12 Ks 1 BB and only 3 hits. I agree he'll be sent down (barring him or other arms being traded), as he has options remaining and hasn't earned anything over anyone else right now. Only other bullpen piece you could get rid of ahead of him is Sipp (which would be justifiable, IMO).
Agreed - I should have caveated SSS and what not. As Nook noted, his stuff seems to play up in the pen role, and I always thought as a starter he had a number of outings where he looked good for 3 or 4 innings and then imploded. Of course, there's also potentially a move coming between now and whenever Harris can come back. Musgrove also did throw 1 AAA start and dominated - not sure what else he can prove there. It wouldn't shock me if he's a piece in a trade deadline deal.
I wonder if the players feel hindered or lucky to be on such a competent organization. Here we have Fisher, Moran, Kemp, Hernandez, Martes, Musgrove, Peacock, etc who've earned more playing time and there is limited room at the top. Talk about not wasting any opportunities if not you join the likes of Singleton and Reed.
They can't be thrilled about it. In a lot of organizations, most of our guys at triple A would have spent a large portion of this season on a major league roster, some of them may have even been in the process of great rookie campaigns. No matter how well these guys play, they are blocked by a crazy good MLB roster, and they are pretty much held hostage by the Astros. It's starting to filter down to blocked guys at AA as well. Hell Fisher got called up, had spectacular results, and still got sent back down.
Right now they are losing hundreds of thousands by not being on a MLB roster. Assuming they were good enough to have extended careers, they are probably losing out on millions because it is longer until they can hit free agency and they will be older when they finally get there. While I'm sure they are happy to be on a great team and potentially getting WS rings, they would rather play and get paid. Having a WS ring when you aren't playing in the WS doesn't mean nearly as much.
It could be looked at as whether you would rather be a small fish in a big pond or a large fish in a small one. Sure, its got to eat at you a bit that you know you could be playing regular minutes at the ML level on some other team. But it also means that you have a chance to move up in a WS contending organization, even though that may take a while. Or, you might get traded and end up in a smaller pond anyway.
I'm thinking it really depends on the player on how hindered they feel. A guy like Fisher probably has been told he will be up soon. I expect he feels hindered, but knows it is temporary. White, Kemp, and Moran have all probably heard how they suck and don't hit the ball hard enough for their minor league careers and yet the Astros kept promoting them and giving them chances. I would hope these guys are at least conflicted.
