Giles has his flaws, for sure. Any time a guy is "better" when the pressure is up, but sloppy when its not, has to be questioned as to his overall mental toughness. That being said, if you need a scenario that benefits a 9th inning closer in any way... that scenario would be it.
Yeah he shouldn't be on the roster. Against a good offensive team with a shaky pen, you need to continue to have the best lineup out there to score as many runs as possible. He's not worth being brought in as a defensive replacement. Once Reddick is able to come back hope Jake is sent down for good, DFA'd, whatever.
This: hes had way too many chances it’s just not gonna happen if it was it would have happened by now
If anything, they need to shuffle around what they have. Sipp should no longer be on the roster unless he's truly the lefty specialist. McHugh is now strictly the long-man, or a leverage guy on a day where he hadn't pitched the 2 previous days... basically, he's still a starter who's not going to pitch regularly enough out of the bullpen with this starting staff. Smith and Rondon have pitched better as of late. And gotten more semi-regular work. If they can get on track, it gives them more options to use for non-save days... vs what they're doing now.
Not with this starting staff. If they continue on this trend, short of making trades for better one inning guys, I'd say they need to try and stretch out Peacock again, while getting McHugh on a regular routine, and see if they can be multi-inning bridge guys. Peacock was invaluable in that role last year... and then was a forgotten starter for a good chunk of the season (hell, he started game 3 of a playoff series!). Would be very handy on days like today where you know guys have pitched the last two days and weren't going to be as good, or available, if it remained a save situation.
My problem with Hinch tonight is I believe he should have flipped Devenski and Rondon. In the 8th Rondon faced 2 lefties. That should have been Devenski's inning, and he has done well as the 8th inning guy. Then use Rondon in the 9th since he has closer experience and the inning would have started with 2 right hand hitters if Devenski did his job in the 8th.
So basically, you don't ever let Devenski try and close on a night that Giles wasn't available? I can see your logic if Rondon ended up allowing the lefties to get on, or even gave up a run... but he did his job well. In the end, Devenski is better vs lefties... but he's been pretty damn good vs righties as well, and it was up against the top of the lineup. His HR allowed was also vs a lefty, so there's that. In the end, Hinch just shifted everybody up a peg on a night at Giles and Harris weren't available due to pitching the last 2 days. Devenski was also in that same predicament, but was supposedly the most "trustworthy" of the fatigued arms. Also, if the roles were reversed as you suggested... and Rondon ends up blowing the save.... you can definitely bet that all sorts of criticism would have been heaped on Hinch for not pitching his best available bullpen guy in the 9th vs the 8th.
Rondon has more saves than anyone in our bullpen not named Giles. We have a history of the non-closers in our pen failing at that role. I would prefer Rondon handles it over Devenski, and Devenski sticks with what he is best at.... being a setup guy. ESPECIALLY when the match ups point that way as well.
Yep. Everyone is going to have bad nights... at some point you can blame mismanagement, but to me this is just plain bad luck from sequencing. The Indians debacle sucked, but half our bullpen failed to do their job (and most of the hits weren’t that hard to begin with) I don’t know who in our bullpen is super easily upgradeable (other than Sipp). Devo, Peacock, McHugh, and Rondon are all averaging better than a K per inning, sub 3 ERAs, and sub 1.1 WHIPs. Smith seems to have turned things around and Giles is Giles. Would a lights out guy help? Sure, but short of that or a lefty better than Sipp, it’s really not a bad crew.
So, Rondon is the new closer in waiting? Pretty sure if that's the case, this bullpen is even worse than it looks. He's good. And yes, he has gotten saves before... but he was replaced for a reason. The Astros also didn't bring him here to close. Lastly, the matchups pointed to having Devenski vs. Gardner being a distinct advantage towards Devo... and that wasn't the case.
Agreed. And that's exactly the type of move they're going to probably make. And if they can get a lefty elite flamethrower type... they may just cure two problems with one acquisition.
Why can't the bullpen get fixed? Season after season it haunts the Astros. Last year, they overcame it, but that won't happen often.
The bullpen wasn't broken in the regular season last year. It was one of their biggest strengths, and kept them winning games where their starter could barely go 5... till Verlander came on board. As far as the post-season goes, every team's bullpen got exposed. The Astros did a ton of the exposing.
Turned it off after the Yankees tied it up. Now that the starting pitching situation has been locked down this year...brilliantly, I imagine the biggest thing on Luhnow's mind is the bullpen. And Jake Marisnick. Can't predict what's going to happen, but these guys are making very poor cases for themselves, and if something does happen, there's really not going to be any question why. So, I'm showing a little faith that owner, GM, and manager are already planning to have these things more or less dealt with by playoff time.
A few posters are overreacting to a couple of late-inning losses. The bullpen isn't perfect, but it still boasts one if better ERAs in baseball, and it's good enough for a WS victory. We'll make the playoffs, then use starters for relief innings if need be.
A few days ago, Rondon blew the save and everyone was b****ing that Devo should have been left in there for the 9th. Hindsight is amazing. How come no one ever criticizes Hinch for his bullpen moves in all the games we win or all the times they work?
Devenski has a 54% career save percentage. (actually lower because it doesn't include tonight). For comparison.. WIll Harris has a career 55% save percentage. YES... Will Harris is better at saving games than Devenski. Rondon has a 80% career save percentage. We are supposed to be "team analytics". So yes, I would prefer Rondon pitch the 9th when you factor in that the 8th inning required facing 2 lefties and the history of Devenski in a save situation.
