Decisions to be made on Arrighetti, Blanco, and Yusei... Last 8 starts for Arrighetti - 50 1/3 IP 32 H 16 BB 65 Ks 2.68 ERA 0.95 WHIP 11.6 Ks/9 Yusei's 5 starts since the trade - 28 IP 18 H 10 BB 35 Ks 2.89 ERA 1.00 WHIP 11.3 Ks/9 I'm assuming JV pulls it together.
Game 1/5: Framber Game 2/6: Brown Game 3: Kikuchi on a short leash, with Blanco ready Game 4: Verlander on a short leash, with Arrighetti ready Any game 7 would be started by whoever looked the best out of Kikuchi, Arrighetti, Verlander, and Blanco, but they’d be on an extremely short leash and it’d be all hands on deck. Bullpen usage would be: 9th: Hader 8th: Pressly 7th: Abreu 6th: Neris extras/matchups: Ferguson, Ort Scott would be ready to throw 2-3 innings if Framber or Brown get knocked out early. Next men up (in order): King, Dubin, Whitley, Montero, Martinez
With all the pitching problems the Astros had earlier in the year, man, that looks beautiful (knock on wood).
I like Kikuchi after Verlander. Verlander doesn't have his arm back all the way. If he can give me his 4 best innings and I can get 4 or 5 from Kikuchi, then the bullpen takes a night off. I like Framber and bullpen game 1. Then bullpen gets night off with Verlander and Kikuchi. Follow that with Blanco and bullpen. Then finish with Brown/Arrighetti. This helps avoid someone like Hader having to go back to back or the other team seeing our bullpen arms too much.
Go with whoever has the hottest hand. Hopefully JV comes around and gets hot by the time the playoffs come around. If the playoffs were to start today (Which they aren't) JV would be the odd man out. It's not like JV has been HOF JV in the playoffs.
Framber and JV, if healthy, are in stone. (I think JV is 5th, but his name and team status wins) The other 2 will be between Brown, Kikuchi, Arrighetti, and Blanco. K stuff, limiting baserunners, and throwing strikes will all be big factors. Starters aren't expected to pitch 6+ or maybe even 5 innings in the postseason so Kikuchi's lack of IP/GS won't hurt him. My guess is Brown and Kikuchi, w/ Arrighetti and Blanco both on the roster and providing multiple innings when a guy gets pulled early, which happens regularly in the post season.
Seriously though? How many teams could lose these talented pitchers and pitching still be the strength of the team?
Seems like Dana had mentioned that Blanco is the likely candidate to go to the bull pen if we go back to a 5 starter rotation.
