He made his season debut for the Red Sox today: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 92 pitches. Letting this guy walk might just turn out to be the dumbest move of the offseason.
giving him $3 MIL and possibly not have him pitch at all (or effectively) might have been the dumbest move in the offseason
To me a young starting pitcher is much more valuable than an old postion player. Wade Miller has proven that he's a very capable No. 2 or 3 guy in a rotation. A guy like him is worth taking a chance on. If he remains healthy and pitchs well for the Red Sox this year, it will make the Astros look very stupid.
Only to people like you guys who don't understand the cost-considerations. I think we've gone over this issue too many times on this board to rehash it, but it wasn't worth it for the price WE would've had to pay. It was worth it for the price others had to pay. I mean, Boston got him for cheap and everyone still said "it's a gamble for them...but I think it's worth it". If it's a gamble for BOSTON with all their $ (though not a huge risk at that amount), then why would HOUSTON pay 2 to 4x more?
Besides the fact that he missed all of the second half of last year, the playoffs, all of spring training, and now the first month of this season... for an injury that he never fixed by surgery in the first place (but he could have had he been patient, and not so fixated on making a decent salary this season)?? Nah... no way...
Wrong. At this point right now, not having a competent 5th starter is a major problem of the Astros. Replacing Astacio right now with Miller would help alot in turning this season around.
I hate to disagree, but a competent 5th starter is a luxury for over half the teams in baseball. I stick with Astacio because this season isn't going anywhere anyway. What's the difference between losing 16-0 or 1-0. The Astros problems begin and end with hitting. They've got gigantic holes at every infield position other than 2nd base.
If we have Miller out there then he improves the 4th starter slot by replacing Backe. Backe then improves the 5th starter slot. I wouldn't call improving both the 4th and 5th starter slots a luxury.
Name all of the teams in MLB that have a quality 5th starter. Have a quality 5th starter is a luxury and is not the problem with the Astros. The Astros have so many problems right now that I dont know where to begin. The biggest problem that I see are no bats. We couldnt hit the ground if we jumped off a building.
Pitching can only take you so far, just like hitting can only take you so far. Right now the Astros bats are so bad, that the Astros could have Oswalt, Pettite, Clemens, Randy Johnson and Kerry Wood and still be 1-14 on the road. I guess you are mad that Redding and Elarton are gone too. I personally think our pitchers are starting to feel the stress of a team that isn't capable of scoring any runs. Maybe Miller could have picthed yesterday, then the Astros might have only lost like 4-0 instead of 16-0.
