Missed the whole game. Well, this certainly escalated quickly. Watching the Alvarez home run a few times, there is a merciless look on his face as he just murders the ball into the Home Run Pump. I like it.
Next month and a half will be interesting. I don't think there is a market for Yuli, and I think Astros trade an OF. It likely isn't Reddick, but it could be depending on how other teams value Astros players.
What do you consider a priority in sense of a trade/need? How would you rank it? For me, it's SP, reliever, and bat. @Nook has me now in the camp for a backup catcher.
I was irritated as all hell James couldn't finish the damn game off. Here we are trying to give our relievers some much needed rest and Osuna has to get up, warm up, and throw to get the save. James loses his control so fast. At this point, I only think he's good to finish off or start an inning for one or two batters, it's like after 15 pitches his arm goes to crap.
Interesting article although it doesn't really address the title at all. He's off this year. The most interesting thing I thought was about his launch angle distribution. First of all, it's nice to hear someone talk about distributions as opposed to single numbers since distributions are what define real statistics. In summary, last year he was usually either hitting the ball dead level (zero deg L.A.) or 20 deg (right over the heads of the infielders). This year he's around 15 deg, which is kind of a danger zone for getting out, and his dead level hits have practically vanished. He's lofting the ball more than previous years, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Yuli and Keuchel kind of have the same problem: their techniques are uncommon or unique and they live right on the edge of success and failure. In Keuchel's case, he can't have a tight strike zone called against him by the ump, and he's got to locate his pitches perfectly, because he's a painter not a flamethrower. When he's on, he's great (and resilient), but when he's even slightly off, he gets punished. Yuli has this very unconventional swing. If everything's right, then it provides an advantage, but you can see how even one thing being slightly off could cause the rest of it to fail. Maybe he needs some coaching from someone like Vladimir Guerrero who was a real expert at extending his arms through a swing. Last year, I kept saying that Keuchel wouldn't be back not just because he was too high priced but also because his style is too risky. Luhnow and friends undoubtedly see the same thing about Yuli, so someone needs to help him adjust back to Last Year Yuli, but I don't know if anyone around him actually can.
SP, RP, C, 1B is my sense of priority. Though, I think it will be easiest to acquire in the following order: 1B, C, RP, SP. I'm with Nook as I think Chirinos is taking a pounding trying to implement the Astros framing pointers. He's right up on the plate which makes it harder for him to catch deflections, and I've noticed him getting hit with backswing a lot. I don't trust that the pitchers trust Stassi.
Not a fan of the article. Yuli's plate discipline is causing him to make contact on more pitches in the heart of the zone despite Yuli taking more pitches in the heart of the zone. Yuli's launch angle distribution suggests he is not controlling launch angle as well as he has as there is much more variance. The article makes it sound like he has a tight distribution and is getting unlucky by missing the sweet spot. The ball is basically going all over the place away from the sweet spot. In easier to understand terms, he's popping ball up or hitting grounders more often, and hitting smoking liners/low flies less often. The article makes that sound like a good thing. The article gets it right that "average" LA is not always a good measure. In Yuli's case, his average launch angle is great, but his distribution basically says his average is the result of averaging grounders and pop ups.
I didn't watch the game, but I assume Osuna had been warming up in the bottom of the 8th already as he would have come into the game had the Astros not scored that fourth run. So, while it would have been nice for James to finish, it was not that big a deal for Osuna to close it out. He didn't pitch Saturday and they are off today.
I didn't see Osuna start warming up until a batter got on in 9th. I could have missed him though. James looked all over the place, but batters looked overmatched when ball was in the zone. Caveat: I was sitting over bullpen, so take my review with understanding it was mostly based on catcher moving his glove and how much the bat missed the ball.
Agree on one more veteran bat. Especially since last year in the ALCS we failed to come up with some key hits at times. I feel like one more lefty option would be useful, especially at 1B so we can possibly go with a L/R platoon as many teams are increasingly doing. I'd give Reed a try and see if he can do well as a LH 1B. He's trimmed down, gotten faster with the bat, and improved his glove. Also, don't let his slow April (affected by injury) fool you. Up to a .257 AVG and .909 OPS since his return from injury. He's on the 40-man, jsut give him one more chance at the big league level and see if he pans out. If not, go after Smoak, he should be cheap. For relief, Greg Holland is my first choice. Great season, good history of postseason success, though he is just a rental. Backup plan: Brad Hand. We've been previously connected to him, he has a good amount of control remaining, left handed, and Cleveland has indicated that he may get shopped this deadline. Backup catcher: I love Chirinos, but he's getting up in age and just can't keep on taking a beating. I'd like to trade for Swihart from AZ to reunite him with his childhood BFF, Alex Bregman. If not, I'm sure we can find someone serviceable out there. Starter: Several decent possibilities. I don't want Bumgarner. Not because of yesterday, but because he is having a down year, and will cost way too much for a rental that isn't even that great IMO.
Off day today... off day Thursday... Osuna last pitched on June 6th. Yes, would have been nice for James to get the final out... then again, Osuna hopefully stays sharp enough without a chance of being overworked.
It's a shame Hinch doesn't share his bullpen spreadsheet. Who gets up when? Who threw how many pitches? On what days? Did he warm up twice in 2 days? Did he go into the game? Did he sit down and then warm up again? etc....
