Granted, I should say I will be nervous in 6th inning with a small lead, though that is perfectly normal. Sure, the Astros might blow some leads spectacularly. Overall though, combined the little bits Astros lose every time a catcher bats will likely hurt the Astros more than bullpen depth.
LOL...I knew Devo would get the first shot as a late inning pressure guy. Dusty hasn't watched enough Astros baseball.
Urquidy should be back soon... and Peacock hopefully after that. The rest of the guys (minus Verlander) have little chance to come back and/or be true weapons. We know what Devenski is... and so does the rest of the league. Smith has opted out, he's not coming back this year. Biagini is mediocre. Pruitt had a set-back, so likely not coming back. Between Paredes and the rest of the rookies, time to see who will stick/contribute... and hope that Osuna/Pressly shore up the back end without fail.
With no crowds home field isn't a make or break proposition. So my guess is we let it ride for awhile to see if any of these arms are going to be pieces to the puzzle this year and the future. The trade deadline is going to be odd. With a shortened season and more playoff teams, there may not be many options outside the organization available. I was not a big Joe Smith fan, but I have to admit it would be nice to have him now.
Well, no team... short season or not... will survive with starting pitchers going only 3-4 innings. Part of the bullpen issues has been magnified by bad/short starts starting with Greinke on Sunday.
Has he opted out? Last I heard he was placed on restricted list, but that it wasn't official he opted out. Not sure if there is much distinction, but it seemed odd that the Astros corrected that distinction with the media.
Yes, the Astros especially have a number of issues.... we are relying on some guys that are either unproven (Valdez) or don't have a track record of going deep in games (McCullers) and then no one can be overly confident with how Greinke is pitching..... and who knows what happens with Verlander. The only saving grace is other teams also are having issues with starters not going deep and getting hurt.
I know our pitching rotation is suffering right now but why him? He's a cast off from the Orioles....the Orioles!
Nothing to get excited about. He had one good season, one okay season, and then imploded last year. He doesn't have high velocity so his ability to hit spots is key.
I thought Framber appeared to take a step forward from last year. Stayed in the zone fairly regularly and made somewhat effective use of his changeup. Something to build from for him.
If Muncy hit ball slightly better, Bregman maybe turns a double play on Muncy's grounder instead of having 4 runs score after his error throwing accross his body. Very fine line.
For sure! He's usually cruising and then hits an inning where he gets into trouble and depending on how that inning goes, he either goes on to post a quality start or gets yanked. Hope he "puts it all together," sooner rather than later.
