I liked Gusto as a high upside draft pick when the Astros drafted him - but I have always viewed him as a reliever. Perhaps that is my own pre-conceived bias. He had a 3.70 era in a lot of innings in Sugar Land. I will be curious to see what happens. I really don't haven't heard or seen enough to know whether he is someone that can really dial it up in the pen or not.
Agreed, but chances are that doesn't help you win this year. If injuries were to strike you could send him down to SL for a couple of starts to stretch him out. They need an Abreu 7th inning guy really badly. Speaking of this, how is Whitley looking in ST?
We’ll see. I am probably overly optimistic about Houston’s current relief arms. I’ve long been high on Dubin. Scott, King, and Ort were too good last year not to be given the benefit of the doubt. And I don’t see any reason why it makes sense to toss Whitley aside to make room to convert Gusto to relief. With Hader and Abreu, that’s 7 arms. I’d be fine if Houston decided to start the season with 6 SP and gave that last slot to Gusto, or even if they just went with keeping him as a 6th SP in the bullpen to begin the season and only used him if the SP got knocked out early and they needed 3+ innings from him, keeping him roughly on a SP schedule/workload. Now, they’ve had early injuries to Dubin and Ort, and if those are serious and/or if more guys get hurt then it could change the analysis. But I also like VanWey a lot, and if it’s just a short term fill in situation, I’d rather roll out Montero/Castro/Okert types than disrupt Gusto’s path as a SP.
I want the Astros to win world series. If making Gusto a RP wins them one game in April 2025 but the net is a loss of more games after that, then I don’t want Gusto in the opening day bullpen even if he is one of the 7 best available players who could be put in the bullpen. Why aren’t we having the same conversation about Blubaugh or Ullola? It’s never as simple as “the 13 best pitchers make the opening day roster.” But really the difference between Gusto and whoever else would be in there (Whitley, Montero, VanWey, etc.) is marginal and very uncertain. So it’s not really black and white.
I'm for taking the best pitchers out of camp. If they need to stretch a guy out they can. The 40 man roster should make a difference though. I never want to see Montero throw another pitch for the Stros. I doubt he will.
I think you’re underestimating how hard it is to generate SP ready to pitch in the majors. If Gusto has spent several weeks as a RP it will take minimum 2 weeks to stretch him back out. You take away Gusto as an option, you’re looking at basically Gordon and Blubaugh as your options to call up. After that you’re in a “Blair Henley will be fine” situation of calling up someone like Aaron Brown who is not likely to be competitive. I don’t want the Astros to be 2 minor SP injuries away from calling up Aaron Brown.
I agree with this in theory. However, there must be a balance. At the same time you don't want to keep a guy in the minors if he is an obviously better option on the big league staff, than one or more of the ones who are kept. That has an effect on winning as well.
Of course. There’s always a balance. Like I said, I want the Astros to do whatever maximizes their odds of winning the most games and rings. For now I trust the front office. If I’m speculating or playing pretend GM, I’m leaving Gusto as a SP for the time being because I think that’s where his most value (both short term and long term) lies and because I think the Astros bullpen will be fine without him.
Get a guy used to throwing more pitches so they can go longer in games. Possibly to become a starter.
Have him pitch more innings for a couple of games as a starter in the minors, then bring him up to start. Or let him pitch 3-4 innings in a bullpen game while he builds up his endurance.
2 weeks = a couple of starts, 3 at the most. You could do a bullpen game and stretch him out that way. A lot of this comes down to when do you think McCullers/Garcia will be ready? Are you going to win more games with a dominant 7 inning guy and a guy like Gordon making a couple of starts while LMJ/Garcia ramp up and this is worst case scenario. Dana will probably agree with you over me. But if they come up a game or 2 short of making the playoffs we can look back at this then. BTW, Doing what I'm suggesting didn't hurt Roy O.
If the Astros were able to get Arenado, 8 of their 9 projected everyday position players would be under control for 3+ seasons, McCormick being the only exception.
