Easy to say now, but wasn't the big brain play to get Pressley in the 8th to face their 2 most dangerous hitters and let Stankek take a shot at the 9th?
21 whiffs from Urquidy tonight. He’s had his ups and downs this season but I’m still high on him. Feel like he’s close to figuring things out and becoming an excellent SP.
Agreed. Urquidy has been a bright-spot ever since his Game 3 vs Washington when Stros were desperate for a W.... perhaps before that but if so, I'm ignorant . Urquidy @ #4 starter seems better than 80% of #4's
What is our depth chart at SP? 1. Is it Greinke or Framber? One has experience with success and one is starting like gangbusters, but lacks a track record. Do we weight recent success, durability or reliability as most important? Rather than answer that question, i will chicken out and pretend like it's 2019 and say 1a and 1b since they bring different strengths and weaknesses to the argument. 1a Greinke (alphabetical) 1b Valdez 3a Garcia 3b McCullers IL 5 Javier (I know. He's in the BP for the time being, but he ranks here anyway) 6 Urquidy 7 Odorizzi (he certainly has potential to be higher, but he needs to show it)
He's been pretty damn good his entire time in the majors, and even better in the postseason. Some of the statements regarding Urquidy on this page are a little odd to me. I'm not sure if people don't realize how consistently good he's been, or if they expect him to be wipeout dominant.
Ag Agreed. And if the book is out that he “throws too many strikes”, hitters are going to be aggressive on anything close, and that’s a major advantage to the pitcher.
If the pitcher takes advantage of it. Urquidy has the stuff that batters will swing at his change and slider if they are off the plate occasionally. It would be great if he does a rope-a-dope in the playoffs by stopping to throw center-cut steaks down Kirby.
I’m at the point to where I consider Framber our best SP. Greinke is certainly capable of shutting down any offense but there are many variables that go into whether Greinke has quality starts- most importantly- his ability to have pinpoint control and who the umpire is that day. If Greinke isn’t getting the calls on the black, he becomes vulnerable once hitters get into “hitters counts”. I realize that Framber doesn’t have the extensive track record that Greinke does.... but I’ve watched Framber pitch for a few years now. Control was always his biggest issue. Last year was a revelation for me personally. Framber consistently gets weak contact with his sinking fastball that also dips away from RHB. I don’t have the data but his breaking ball has to be one of the best secondary pitches in the league. I’d go Greinke 2. Mccullers 3. While I believe Garcia is our fourth best starter.... I believe he will be a valuable weapon out of the pen. So I’ll go Urquidy 4
The best pitch is the one that looks like center/center 33 feet away and breaks to the black for a call strike or weak contact if they don't swing. Imagine Verlander's rising fastball with Urquidy's Breaking balls. In the alternative, throw one that looks out of the zone 33 feet away that break inside the black. If it doesn't catch a bit more of the plate, it will fool most umpires.
If you have seven starters, you don't necessarily want the worst three in the pen. You want the three that can handle the change to BP the best. Javier and Garcia may be better suited to adjust just as McCullers did in 2017. But they are still Starters in the long run.
