I do not trust CWS pitchers. That team's pitching staff basically fell apart (not counting Rodon) when MLB started their sticky stuff witch hunt. I just worry that Cease's performance last year was smoke and sunscreen.
I will say I will wear that hat as I thought JBJ had a year or 2 left. That said, he was the only FA CF reasonably affordable that I thought at the time that was likely a significant upgrade over the in house options.
I don't think it matters because the Astros don't have the prospects to trade for Cease. He has 2 more years of control after this season.
To get Cease they would need to include Garcia, who has 3 years of control left, PLUS Also taking Grandel's contract would lessen the price But overall, yes, he would be expensive.
If the White Sox are trading Cease they are in full rebuild mode. Why would they trade for Garcia (assuming his injury isn't a big deal) who only has 1 more year of team control than Cease? They would want top 100 prospects with 6 years of team control as they rebuild. People just love to make trade scenarios that benefit the Astros, but don't make sense for the other team.
I certainly wouldn't have complained about the Astros signing him had that gone down. It seemed a little strange at the time to run with Straw and a bunch of minor leaguers, but it turns out those minor leaguers were pretty good.
That makes sense. Actually looking deeper, Giolito has not had a bad season and he is a rental. If Garcia requires a IL stint and he is not available in May and all starters work on 4 days rest: 26 games left in May. 17 can be started by Framber, Javier, or Brown 9 will need to be started by someone else. The prognosis of Garcia, Urquidy, and McCullers will determine if a trade is needed. We know Bielak is JAG. If he is #5 and starts 4 games, then fine. If 5 other starts need to he made by another guy the Astros may not want to take that chance with someone unproven.
They aren’t working starters on 4 days rest in May. Bielak is fine starting, he might not be great and might need run support but getting too the trade deadline is all matters.
4 days rest is normal and exactly what they have been doing all season except for off days. If they need more rest then the Astros will need 3 AAA pitchers in May if Garcia misses time.
It will be France or Whitley at this point. Sooner or late we'll need to see if Whitley has stuff that works at the big leagues. His trade value is close to nil at this point. France has been pitching a little better the past few weeks in the minors, but Whitley has the higher upside.
He threw strikes if I remember correctly, and it looked like was headed towards a career as a 5th starter bouncing between bad teams before he disappeared.
The Astros made a point in spring training to try and stretch out Ronel Blanco. Is it possible they would just try him to replace Garcia even though his results so far this season haven't been great? Would he really be worse than what a JP France might provide?
Unless they do get some really bad news and have to hit the trade market, teaming up France and Blanco every 5th day to see how they do is probably our best option in the short term. Neither guy has demonstrated any length to trust individually with a rotation spot. Give them both extended looks, maybe we find an October worthy weapon. Blanco or Martinez have to start being actual contributors, you don't need 2 mop up guys.
Of pitches thrown at least 70 times this season, Blanco's fastball is rated as the worst by Baseball Savant with a 0.600 BA/0.758 OBP/0.933 Slug. I'm fine with a reliever leaning heavy on one pitch. I just don't think it will work in a lot of innings. Right now, trying to use his fastball >30% of the time is kiiling him as is.
Lots of people look like Babe Ruth or Cy Young in the spring. Players don't have their timing down, are not in playing shape, and/or are specifically working on things regardless of what results they will get. Also a lot of AAAA players ( or worse) play more than MLB players in the spring.
Is there someone in the minors that looks like he would be a decent inning eater in the bullpen? I wouldn’t mind giving Abreu a chance at starting. Maybe the confidence being shown in him would spark him to be the guy we thought he would be. Other than that, I would give Whitley a chance. What the hell do we have to lose with him getting a chance. If he fails back to the minors or the bullpen as a 2-3 inning guy.
His fastball got rocked in spring as well with a 0.667 BABIP. I think he did a better job of sequencing his fastballs and sliders such that his sliders got enough outs before the damage on the fastball hurt him. His slider is the 61st ranked pitch out of 1155 or in the 95th Pencentile of pitches. I'm surprised there are that many better ranked pitches out there even with a small sample. 60% Whiff rate, 0.161 BA, and a minuscule hard hit rate of 6.3% (only 1 other pitch thrown at least 100 times has a lower hard hit rate [ghost fork]). For reference, Jose Abreu has a 24% Whiff rate, 0.237 BA, and a 36% hard hit rate.
