I think Bukauskas is a bit better than that, closer material. Best slider in the entire draft from what I recall. Otherwise I agree. Whitley, hopefully Martes pan out to their potentials and then kind of a crap shoot.
Completely agree on Bukauskas. I think a realistic expectation between his ceiling and floor would be a really solid closer. Ceiling would be a really good number 3 starter who, when pitching his best, is actually more of a number 2. Then I’d say his floor is an average reliever who can go a couple innings. But I’d be surprised if he turned out to be anything less than a solid closer. Whitley looks like the real deal, but like you said with Martes and the rest, hopefully they pan out. Pitching prospects are so tough to project accurately.
This is exactly my point but you obviously added more color to this. That's the hard thing about pitching nowadays. One of these prospects are just one injury away. Why I think Crane and company have to try and make the most out of the next three years IMO. Reid Ryan said on Mad Dog radio today that the Astros have a three year strategy in place and won't deviate from that plan. I'm curious to what that means big picture.
Your point is the Astros have a ton of current starting pitching and one of the deepest pools of starting pitching prospects that will likely be in AA or above this year?
I was agreeing to what he was stating. The Astros do have a lot of starting pitching but outside of Verlander, can you count on Dallas, McCullers, and Morton to stay healthy?
Nope. Can any team count on its starting pitching staying healthy? Nope. The Astros have the deepest set of starting pitchers right now and don't have a roster spot for another guy unless he's good enough to send another SP to the pen. The Astros should be the team least worried about SP health just from a sheer number of guys even though some of them have an elevated injury risk.
He is young and cheap so you keep him. Every reliever gives up the lead at some point. Going into Boston, Kimbrel was considered to had the best regular season as a closer in the AL per the broadcasters, and he got touched up. Then Chapman generally considered a top closer with play-off success to boot, he got touched up by the Astros. Then in the World Series Jansen with historic season as a closer got touched up. So Giles is in good company. Giles shouldn't be written off. Remember Lidge had a near perfect season after leaving the Astros.
No, Giles shouldn't be written off, I agree. But illustrating the failure of others to justify Giles failures isn't a very good argument.
My argument is people overreact to closers giving up the lead in the play-offs. The best teams make the play-offs and many times they get to closers. No closer is perfect. I personally think Giles has the arm just needs to learn to handle the moment. Maybe he never will. But to boo him at the parade was stupid and low class. I bet he learned that next time he has 2 outs and a 1-2 count to end the game he's not going to try and get cute. Throw the nasty and end the game.
Here on CF, overreaction is so common as to be an established norm. But closers do get more scrutiny when they fail if for no other reason they pitch the end of games. If you were to look at single innings pitched by starters where runs were given up, and put them under the same eyeglass, then some of them would look worse than otherwise as well.
Yup. I heard the interview. Joe tends to stick his foot in his mouth. He also included Davis in that same thought.
It seems CF has turned that way ever since the rise of social media. I started reading CF in 98 and it was a great place to get good insight and well reasoned debate but since 2010 it seems to be more like a teenage girl running at the mouth about her life. No doubt Giles deserves scrutiny. He needs to mature, learn how to handle his stuff and channel his emotions. He has now pitched under the October lights in baseball with some success and a bit more failure. Lets see how he responses. The one thing I understand about AJ is he tries to trust his players. I think he will give Giles a chance to earn back his trust. Giles said himself after game 4 his pitches were crap and he has to do better. Live long and prosper Jim.
Giles just needs to learn how to throw inside. Not sure why McCann always sets up outside. Everything is away away away, sooner or later the hitters will adjust. Gotta bust them inside on the hands every now and then. Nobody can turn around 98 on the hands. Just look at Morton in game 7. Was able to work inside and out, but that 2 seamer at 97 riding in on right handers was getting them out every time. Giles...learn something
I’m pretty surprised Fiers wasn’t tendered (not surprised today, but prior to the offseason I would have expected them to find a taker for him pretty easily). I think this move (combined with Fister getting only $4M/1yr) portends a buyers’ market for BoR SP.
