Before completely ******** on Giles, keep in mind that a lot of pitchers that rely heavily on sliders this postseason have struggled. Yankees bullpen was the only one consistently dominant because they relied on fastballs to strikeout pitchers. The balls were different this postseason in a way that hurt players that relied significantly on sliders like Giles did.
There's not a single credible poster who has suggested simply getting rid of Giles. Everyone agrees that he will be back and a contender to close. But to simply ignore what happened in this postseason as not a big deal is burying your head in the sand.
Only heard the slick ball comment about the World Series. If Rawlings keeps making balls like they did in the World Series and the balls in the World Series did affect slider grips more than other pitchers, there will be chaos next season.
The reports of the ball being slick was during the WS and not during the rest of the playoffs. Nook is correct when he says, "Giles was so bad he was formally removed from his closing duties in the middle of the WS". That said, as hard as I have been on Giles, I have to say that getting rid of him isn't the route that I would go (that is unless Luhnow/Crane decide they're willing to pony up $/assets to bring in another option). As bad as Giles was during the playoffs he certainly had a rather productive regular season for a team who won 101 games. The past doesn't equal the future. Altuve was horrible in the playoffs in '15 (4 of 26, no extra base hits, and one RBI). Look what he did this yr in the playoffs. Giles has electric stuff when he can control it. The problem is controlling it. My concern with him has always been between the ears. It might behoove him to spend some time working with a sports psychologist during the offseason. The 'Stros were able to win it this yr (despite the pen melting down), because they were able to go to Peacock, LMJ, and Morton. The 'Stros also don't have some huge $$ investment in Giles. They gave up some prospects, and at the end of the day that is NO reason to keep him in the closer role if his struggles continue next yr. Luhnow knows the pen was the teams biggest weakness during the playoffs and it will definitely be addressed.
For what it’s worth, Lidge melted down in the 2005 playoffs, lost his closers job in 2007 and then got traded. The next year, he put up one of the better reliever seasons of all time, and helped the Phillies win the World Series as a closer. Let’s hope Giles follows that script, just without requiring a trade.
Redick represents 1/9 of the offense. Giles represent 1/9 of the pitching every 2-3 That's not my point and you know it, unless you're just nitpicking individual sentences rather than my posts overall. Many Astros "failed" in this postseason. Many Astros also succeeded beyond our wildest dreams this season. However, no one else is getting the Giles treatment in either direction. There's no annointing of Charlie Morton to be our future postseason Ace like Andrew Miller. There's no scapgoating of our hitters like Redick and Marwin who could barely hit anything. It seems fans innately understand that the 2017 postseason is a short stretch of small sample size that matters but doesn't matter that much going forward: Except Ken Giles whose 1 month is now just as important as all the years of pitching history before it.
How do you not understand that Giles role is uniquely important? Your logic is totally flawed. If Giles is in it means the team is protecting a narrow lead and if he fails it means the game is 1. Lost or 2. tied. His impact on the game is disproportionate to any one batter. If Reddick fails it means there is one out and ample opportunity for others to pick him up. Hence why Giles was benched and Reddick wasn't. You can afford to let Reddick work through his struggles. You cannot afford to let Giles work through his. Obviously, Hinch agrees.
Not disagreeing with what you wrote, but it would have been interesting to see what would have happened with Reddick if the Astros had a reasonable replacement (e.g. Marisnick). I suspect he would have been benched for a game or two.
Strawman. His body of work over last 3 years including the postseason no longer looks like an Top 10-15 reliever (which should be expected as guy in highest leverage relief outing for a Top 4 team). Reddick on the other hand still looks like a starting quality OF. Though, I do expect if Astros have Marisnick as a backup next year, he'll get a lot of ABs over Reddick against LHPs.
Maybe Astros are targeting Jake Mcgee? Or maybe they feel they have already invested in Francisco Liriano and would like to bring him back on a 1-year deal? I was hoping to sign Mike Minor, but perhaps they feel Tony Watson could be their guy? Or could they just end up rolling with Tony Sipp and whichever minor league lefty steps up? Guduan, Cionel Perez? Who else could be a possibility?
Guessing Astros don't like what relievers or teams with relievers on the block are asking for right now. Luhnow saying talks have stalled indicates he likely believes price will drop on top guys or that he can pick up bargains on second tier guys after most teams fill what they want.
Seems like teams are taking their time with the exception of the Rangers. I read today that the Rangers plan to go with a six man rotation.
It makes since that the starter market and the bat market have been slowed by Ohtani and Stanton. For the relievers, I'm guessing a lot of teams are trying to wait out the players like the Astros.
It's smart if it drives the price down on these players. Maybe the Astros try to trade for a player rather than go the FA route. Baltimore is where I would be calling.
The one reason to be cautiously optimistic.... the vast majority of the damage he allowed was in his *second* inning of work. The primary takeaway from this postseason might very well be that Giles is *strictly* a 3-out pitcher. The ALDS ITP HR in game 4; Bird's ALCS HR in game 1; the total meltdown in game 2 of the World Series - all of those followed 1-2-3 innings, often against the heart of the line-up. (Technically, game 1 of the ALCS was a five-out save and he did walk a batter in the 8th inning). It'll be interesting to see how the Astros handle a sample size of literally 7.2 innings. His 62 regular season innings were significantly better.
