What is the story on McHugh? I think he would be a great signing with an incentive type deal. I assume he wants to come back and would be good veteran insurance out of the pen or as a back end starter. Is he still hurt/rehabbing?
In spite of the homer Javier surrendered earlier, it's interesting that the highest HR/FB rate he's ever relinquished in the minors is only 7.6% last year in Corpus. Given how few GBs he generates, it would be very helpful for him if he has some kind of skill for suppressing HR/FB.
Guessing he's still recovering at this point...saw a Twitter post where he was at home this week catching up on Narcos with his wife. He's also doing a podcast and just interviewed John Smoltz not too long ago. With the repetitive elbow troubles he had last year, my 100% speculative guess is that he had Tommy John surgery in the offseason and may miss the season.
I don't think HR/FB rates have a high correlation from minors to majors. If MLB hitters spit on pitches outside just a little more than minor league hitters, he'll either have to come into zone more or his walks will become a problem. He's a very high upside pitcher.
Tucker hasn't exactly made an airtight case this spring for him to be the opening day starter in RF. I'm feeling pretty comfortable with our #5 starter and back end of the bullpen with James, Javier and Valdez throwing well.
Teacher says everytime the Yankee's skate past a seemingly legitimate accusation on cheating, another player gets an injury...
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/te...loring-external-rotation-support-15096719.php These days teams like to be 10 deep in SP on opening day. Add Javier, Abreu, and Whitley to the 7 guys mentioned in the article (Verlander, Greinke, McCullers, Urquidy, James, Pruitt, and Valdez) and I think they’ll be ok to start the season, and they’ll only need to make a deadline deal if injuries or underperformance have them worried about a 3rd or 4th starter for the playoffs. Comparing that list to the top 10 from opening day last season (Verlander, Cole, Miley, Peacock, McHugh, Rodgers, Valdez, Martin, Armenteros, and Perez), it’s hard to say which has better depth. Obviously losing Cole still looms large.
Urquidy needs to be a legit number 3 pitcher. That would be the key. Of course James, Pruitt, Valdez, or someone else emerging would be great, but I think Urquidy is the most likely. I will be interested in seeing how they limit McCullers' innings. He really should not make more than 20-24 starts depending on how many innings he's throwing per game. I suspect Pruitt will be in the pen to spot start for McCullers. The bullpen is also going to be intriguing. If we go 8 men in the pen we know Osuna, Pressly, Smith, and Peacock (if healthy) are locks. That leaves 4 spots for Devenski, James/Pruitt, Biagini, Taylor, Abreu, Hughes, or Sneed.
League had averaged just under 10 SPs per team for at least 3 decades until recently when it "increased" to 12 with the opener. Astros will likely need a lot of pitches.
Although each one has significant questions, McCullers, Urquidy, James, Abreu, and Whitley each have the ceiling to be viable Game 3 playoff starters. Whether any of them reach that ceiling is a guess, but for now I would bet that come October at least one of those guys will be fully healthy and pitching to his potential. I would be truly shocked if Pruitt, Javier, or any of The Others were to emerge as a viable #3 this season, but it’s more than possible one or more of those guys will be fine BoR SP who can give quality innings.
On McCullers, it will depend on how his arm is doing regarding number innings. I expect he'll get a small break if he's healthy. I think it is more likely that they try to limit his innings per start.
