oh actually they did announce the starters for this weekend. i overlooked that part. everyone should be on full rest whenever their name is called Friday: LHP Framber Valdez (11-5, 2.98) Saturday: RHP Jake Odorizzi (6-7, 4.14) Sunday: RHP Jose Urquidy (8-3, 3.56)
That's what I was projecting, but I'll still be surprised if it doesn't change. It's Dusty you know. If we secure the second seed, adjustments are to be expected. (1 Astros Win or 1 White Sox loss secures the second seed because we won the season series if we tie)
The Athletic is suggesting Valdez because of his more resilient arm and ability to pitch on short rest is better than LMJ, which may needed for Game 4
The pitching situation is completely up in the air. Framber is a workhorse, and often seems like he can pitch into the 8th without issue if this were a different era (teams actually have a lower OPS their 3rd time through against Framber). LMJ is better through 4-5, but sending him out for the 6th often feels like a 50/50 proposition. So LMJ is probably best suited for the front end of a tandem, and Framber is a safer bet to hand the ball straight to the leverage relievers. Do you let Framber go game one and see how much you can get, or do you schedule a tandem for game 1. Garcia has still gotten good results recently, but I think the fatigue of the full season has really gotten to him and he's not nearly as dominant as he was for most of the season. Greinke and Javier have been very rocky in their recent outings, to put it mildly. Odorizzi has actually been low key awesome since early August. I say Framber game 1, cobble together 2 and 3 with short outings, and maybe Framber as an option for game 4 if necessary.
That's actually a reason to let LMJ pitch games 1 and 5 in the Division series (if needed) and have Valdez available to start the LCS Games 1 & 4.
