How the heck can Gerrit Cole be the Astros #4 starter?

There were a limited number of sure things heading into the 2019 season, but one of the sure things for the Astros was that Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole would come off their near-Cy Young performances in 2018 to lead the pitching staff and hopefully give good NASCAR drafting to whoever the three fill-ins behind them would be.

While Verlander has been as good or better this season than last, it is hard to look at Cole’s performance this season and say he has been any better than the 4th best starter in the rotation.

Name W-L ERA WHIP
Justin Verlander 8-2 2.38 0.744
Gerrit Cole 5-5 4.02 1.047
Wade Miley 5-2 3.32 1.155
Brad Peacock 5-2 3.19 1.025

Those aren’t terrible numbers for Cole, but disappointing a bit vs. his tremendous 2018 season.

Now some folks (and I have been one of those folks) will say, well you just drop that one terrible game from Cole (4.1 IP and 8 ERs) and you have him close to who he really is.

Well to be fair, the following shows each of these four starters with their one worst outing pulled out of their stats…Verlander (4 IP, 4 ER), Wade Miley (4 IP, 3ER) and Brad Peacock (3.2 IP, 7 ER).

Name W-L ERA WHIP
Justin Verlander 8-2 2.03 0.663
Gerrit Cole 5-4 3.21 0.936
Wade Miley 5-2 3.09 1.114
Brad Peacock 5-1 2.16 0.900

While looking at their stats through these rose-colored glasses allows Cole to narrow the margin, it still is clear that he is 4th in line (though with very solid numbers). Peacock improved even more after dropping his one worst start.

So, what is happening with Cole this season?

On the plus side, his walks are down (2.3/ 9 IP vs. 2.9 in 2018) and his already MLB leading Ks/9 IP are up (14.1 / 9 IP vs. 12.4 in 2018). But his HRs are up more than 50% to 1.5 per 9 IP and his innings per start are down (5.93 IP/start vs 6.25 in 2018). His luck may be down a bit as the opposition is hitting .310 BABIP (batting average for balls in play). 14% of the flyballs hit against him are HRs, which is almost double last season. He already has as many losses (5) this season as all last year.

In what are called high leverage situations (most pivotal) the opposition is raking .333 BA / .907 OPS this season vs. a meek .216 BA / .574 OPS in 2018.

It would probably be fair to say that his high K output (and the extra pitches required) is helping to lead to less innings per start. It is also possible that his control is working against him in giving up HRs. He is not walking very many hitters and has not hit one batter to date. Maybe he needs to back off a few guys here and there to make sure they are not leaning over the plate and taking advantage of his control.

It would be wrong to not expect him to reach the 2nd spot in production again this season. He has already lowered his ERA more than a point since his lost game in Arlington last month and he has shown to be a real workhorse for this team.

But for the time being, if you said he has been the fourth best starter on this team to date…you wouldn’t be wrong.

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111 responses to “How the heck can Gerrit Cole be the Astros #4 starter?”

  1. I really don’t care how they get ranked, but right now I wish we had 5 reliable starters. We’ve been spoiled. Not sure how many more shots Martin gets, but there really is nobody waiting in the wings today.

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  2. Had this exact conversation with my husband yesterday, especially when Brad Peacock told his wife they may have to move to Japan because he wasn’t sure he would have a job with the Astros. ALL of them are surprising us this year!

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  3. Our bullpen is pretty spent right now, it will be a patch it together tonight. What ever Corbin is throwing, the Cubs are hitting homeruns off of him. I knew this was going to be one of those games. Tough game for him tonight.

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  4. Right now this is anybodies game. I watched yesterdays gm go down to the wire and Baez strike out 5 times. Tonight the Cubs bomb their way to a tie. It’s still a crapshoot. We’ll weather this recent spate of inj. We just have to hang in there. Breg unloads another as I type this 7-6 (the scoring ain’t over either). These two tms will make an exciting WS if they make it.

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    • I was talking to an Astro fan yesterday about the BP, how Osuna has gotten hit the past few gms. Didn’t know McHugh was on the IL. Who’s left to step up tonight?

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  6. Lord have mercy…..Presley is pitching for the 4th day, and Asuna is in the bullpen ready for the 9th.!!! Cross your fingers and toes!

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  9. Great team effort – help from Fisher, Stubbs and Mayfield, and Marisnick and 2 dingers from Bregman and Brantley and I know I’m forgetting someone ….

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  10. The Astros are 3 and 1 in Corbon Martin starts. I think he’ll get another one. He’s got the stuff, just can’t seem to locate it.

    If Correa goes on the DL, do we get Alvarez and his bat at that point, or do we still have to wait a. Couple of weeks?

    Stubbs looks like he’s shrunk since ST.

    When Tyler White ales contact, it doesn’t go anywhere. His bat speeds must be way down.

    At some point Jake will stop hitting, but I hope he’s got another month in him.

    Very proud of our squad tonight.

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  11. I know he gave up a homerun, but you can’t say enough about Josh James!
    BUT……we have got to get another pitcher. Can’t depend on our kid pitcher right now. Daveb….yep our real hungry AAA guys have been a breath of fresh air for sure!

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  12. Corbin Martin’s problem Tuesday night was that her could not put his pitches where he needed them. He could not control the lower part of the zone. Everything was up. A pitcher with his stuff can work up in the zone, but not LIVE up in the zone. Martin could not change batter’s eye level and they proved he has to be able to get batters to chase low pitches, too.

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  13. * I hope Garrett Stubbs got some sleep Tuesday night. He looked drained after the game.
    * Would not be surprised to see Altuve and Correa held out until Friday to give them time to recuperate.
    * Sometimes you look at stats to help find a way out for a struggling player. But it doesn’t help with Tyler White. His wRC+ of 70 means he is hitting 30% worse than the average player. His strikeout rate of 33% is the worst on the team. But the worst indicator is that his BABIP is .333, 39 points higher than his career average BABIP. That means he’s been lucky in his batting average of .219 and there is room for him to be worse. Finally, Tyler is the only position player on the team with a negative WAR, which means when he steps foot on the field this season, the Astros odds of winning go down.
    * Bregman was everything to the Astros at the DH position last night. He struck out against Lester on three pitches in his second at bat, but then he comes back later in the game to be a difference maker.
    * Could this makeshift lineup be able to beat Hamels, Lester and Hendricks on successive days with all those Cubs fans in the stands. Wouldn’t that be something?

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    • 1OP, unfortunately, I think having Altuve and Correa back for the weekend is optimistic.

      I’m ready to send Nephew out on waivers. He might clear them. If that happens, I hope the club sends him somewhere on a long rehab assignment.

      A win tonight would be gravy. Got to figure Pressly, Osuna and James are all out.

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  14. I love the pic this morning: “Garrett Stubbs tries to calm down fellow rookie Corbin Martin.” It’s Stubbs’ debut night in major league baseball and he’s trying to calm his pitcher down. Catcher rising star? Put him in your pocket.

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  15. * The Cleveland Indians are one of the worst hitting teams in baseball, and they released Carlos Gonzalez a few days ago. The last game I went to in person to see the Astros, he hit two bombs for the Rockies. Now it appears he may be done.
    * The Angels blew a lead against the A’s last night, but got redeemed by Shohei Ohtani in the 9th and the Astros lead in the AL West is back to 7.5 games.
    * When the Mariners were killing it at the beginning of the season I wondered “can they really be this good?” Now I’m wondering “can they really be this bad?”
    * So, here is what I call a Silver Boot Stat: The Astros pitching staff has the lowest Batting Average Against and the lowest WHIP in all of MLB, and the Rangers pithing staff has the highest Batting Average Against and the highest WHIP in all of MLB.

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  16. Tonight
    – Need to continue to crank some offense from unexpected (Fisher, Mayfield, Stubbs, Marisnick, etc) and expected (Bregman and Brantley) places
    – Need Miley to go 6 innings
    – Need to hope that a bullpen of Harris, Devenski, Valdez and Rodgers is enough to bridge us to the day off Thursday – boy that looks like a stretch
    – Need Miley to go 7 innings
    – Need to rest Pressly, Osuna, Rondon and James
    – Need Miley to go 8 innings

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      • According the (spit) Chronicle yesterday morning, “Correa, meanwhile, was scheduled to start Tuesday’s game against the Cubs after receiving a planned off day on Monday. He awoke Tuesday morning and, according to Hinch, was “getting some treatment and stuff” at home before alerting the Astros of his rib soreness.” What kind of treatment or “stuff” was he getting at home that could break a rib???

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      • So, Sarge the best guess is he owes the mob a lot of money and they were giving him a treatment with one of his own Louisville Sluggers…..
        (this should be read as though it is written in sarcastic font)

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      • sargeh, it has occurred to me that Kemp should leave off the hugs, for his sake and the sake of others.

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    • Damn Dan, I like Myles, but they sure are being obstinate with Alvarez. We might be playing some small ball with some of these guys.

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      • You don’t understand Super Two, daveb. Alvarez will be up between June 3-11. Tucker is also held down for service time, fiscal reasons. Got it?

        And from your very first comment on thread, “nobody waiting in the wings”?
        We have *Bryan Abreu, *Jose Urquidy (17 strikeouts per 9), Brandon Bielak, *Tyler Ivey, Ryan Hartman, Sneed (threw 8 scoreless last outing), Rodgers, Armenteros, Perez, *Conine, *McKee, Bravo, *Javier, Bukauskas, Bailey, Paredes, Collado, Ramirez, Mushinski, Solomon, Nivaldo Rodriguez, Edgardo Sandoval and Nick Hernandez all pushing.. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&cid=102&stn=true&sid=t102; http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=t_ibp&cid=482&stn=true&sid=t482

        We also have Framber, and James. But Martin will get a handful more starts if Hinch doesn’t try a tandem between these three. McHugh will be back at some point. Whitley hit the IL today.

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      • Grayson, some fair points. I do understand the Alvarez situation, and I think it might even be longer than mid June, depending on how the present group performs. And with Tucker, his situation might be impacted by how Fisher performs.

        I also believe Martin remains the best option as 5th starter for the time being. I noted something to that effect above. James is not stretched out. Ivey intrigues me, but he’s not ready to be waiting in the wings today. McHugh sure won’t be thrust back into the rotation anytime soon. Framber could get a shot again, but there are some question marks with him,no? As for the other guys, I’ve noted some good performances out of all of them, but I don’t see where any of them are ready to go. And Armenteros bums me out a bit. I hope he’s not hit a wall. Of most concern is that it seems Whitney has been demoted and the brief quote from Hinch hints at learning difficulties. I mentioned something yesterday about possible attitude issues with Whitney. I sure hope not.

        I am relatively perceptive even though I might not seem so. No need to school me. Got it?

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    • I like the move. Straw immediately improves our roster even if he struggles a bit. It would be great to bring Alvarez up to see what he can do, but Straw got that cup of coffee and can impact the game on defense and running the bases.

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      • Devin, I think it would be a reach at this point to say that Straw improves our roster, especially as it applies to his playing the infield. Outfield yes defensively, especially as a replacement for Brantley late in a game or when he has the DH assignment. And to give Reddick or Jake a day off too, because I like his D much more than Fishers. But Straw has just started learning the shortstop position at the minor league level. Bregman, Yuli, Mayfield and the other new guy are all better options at short right now.

        I know the whole issue with Alvarez is in holding off on starting the clock. And we lead the league by 7.5 games. So we have plenty of breathing room, at least for now.

        Heck, maybe they’ll win 10 in a row again and I’ll look foolish. Would not be the first time.

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      • I don’t see much reason to play Straw at SS right now beyond a few innings here or there. You let Bregman and Super Jack hold that down as much as possible. I’m not saying that Straw improves the roster over Altuve or Correa. Recall I’m the guy who questioned his bat prior to spring training. I just see him as providing Hinch with a lot of flexibility.

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  22. That was a fun game to watch last night. The “replacements” came through with flying colors. Agree with others who say we need to rest the above mentioned relief corp. Proud of the guys last night. Hoping Fisher has turned the corner. Harris didn’t pitch last night so maybe he’ll be available if needed. I suspect we’ll see the “Tuna” again until we’re back to full strength. After that it’s Dasvidaniya .

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  23. Relative to Alvarez…. as had to be expected, Alvarez has finally been cooling off – only 3 hits in his last 24 ABs, so now they can say – hey no use bringing him up right now that he is hitting like Max Stassi.

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    • I just hope the youngster is not frustrated seeing all of his teammates going to the show while he has to wait.

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  24. Tonight’s game is on ESPN
    Can Straw play all outfield positions? Marisnick is pretty banged up and with the way Kemp was playing 2nd last night…KEEP him there. I haven’t seen anything about how Diaz is…..have you?

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    • Becky, I would go to bed too if they had one here at work. The injuries are dispiriting — was so hoping we had left 2018 behind. Worst of all, Altuve, which sounds like it could be a “situation,” and of course hope I’m wrong.

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      • That reminds me of Nellie Connally’s reply when some of her friends told her the events of 1963 were making her stronger: “I’m as strong as I want to be.” Although I suppose character is slightly different and you can’t have too much of it.

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      • Reminds me of that great philosopher Harry Potter.
        After Dumbledore tries to comfort him (spoiler alert) after the loss of his godfather Sirius Black….“Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man! This pain is part of being human —”
        Harry then replies…..
        “THEN — I — DON’T — WANT — TO — BE — HUMAN!”

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    • That’s Myles strongest point. He can play all outfield positions. Diaz has decided to join the seminary. He won’t be back.

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  25. Alvarez won’t be called up until they make the final decision to give at least one player on the currently full 40- man roster their walking papers. Kemp and White are probably safe as long as Altuve/ Correa/ Diaz are out.

    I’m pretty sure the first 40 man roster cut will be AJ Reed. He is absolutely sucking (and sulking) his way through one of his worst minor league seasons, hitting .179 with little power. I see no upside to him, even though he is still relatively young (just turned 26 on May 10). He appears to be dining at the same establishment as White.

    The first big name to be called up will be Tucker. He has revamped his swing (and went through the resulting slump) and is now totally mashing in AAA. He’s already on the 40 man and is also having his best ever year in the field. I’ve watched him a few times at RR this year and he looks a lot more mature and has added some bulk. He is not just hitting homers, he is launching absolute bombs to both pull side and opposite field. He is ready.

    If you have not had the pleasure of watching Alvarez play defense in person, it is worth the trip to RR to do so. He is an absolute hatchet. I mean really bad! He will never play an inning of 1B at the MLB level (yes that bad) and his play in LF leaves you missing Carlos Lee. At only 21 I think they are going to want him to reach a point where e can at least play passable defense before promoting him.

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    • vewill – this takes me back to a 1950s – 1960s butcher, Dick Stuart, who had the greatest nickname ever – Dr. Strangeglove
      Today he would be a DH, but back then no such thing. You may wonder how a team puts up with 29 (TWENTY NINE!!!) errors from a 1B like he made in 1963 – but that was tied to hitting 42 HRs and 118 RBIs. He had more than 20 errors 4 times and would have had more if he had not had a number of seasons with reduced playing – as a rookie he made 16 errors in only 64 games.
      As a comparison, Jeff Bagwell’s worst year was 16 errors and he usually was close to 10 per season.
      Oh well, maybe Bagwell or Pettis or someone can teach Alvarez something along the way.

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      • Looking up a bit on Stuart he had a couple other great nicknames – “Stonefinger” and “The Man with the Iron Glove”
        I mean that is funny

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      • Stuart also played 10 years with a negative dWAR every year. And he finished in the MVP voting several times. I saw him in very few games on TV but it was considered a miracle anytime he managed to catch the ball at first AND have his foot on the bag.

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  26. Forrest Whitley heading to the minor league IL with “shoulder fatigue”. I’m surprised it is not for neck problems from snapping his head around to watch all those hits and homers fly by him…..

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    • Whatever it is, it’s probably a good idea. After just 24 innings. The cynic in me wonders if it is more than fatigue.

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    • 45, I think the GM is rightly pissed and each time there is an issue with Carlos, chances are further enhanced he will not have a long career in Houston.

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  28. After reading the posts – and the news about Correa -today, I don’t know whether to right a parody of the Four Seasons’ ‘Late December Back in ’63’, or of John Cougar Mellencamp’s ‘Hurts so Good’.

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  29. I simply can’t accept the fracture while being massaged explanation, unless they had him hanging upside down from the ceiling while caning him. But who knows, maybe that’s how he stays in shape, or makes sure he gets enough time on the DL each season.

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  30. Was just listening to news where it was said CC inj rib at home getting a massage. REALLY! Like you said Dave, we’ll never know what really happened, lol. In ref to the Astros spate of inj, the Yanks have managed pretty well with all their inj this season and I’m confident our tm will also.

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    • I can see getting a rib injury from a massage. For instance, if I were getting a “massage” and my wife walked in on me, I’m pretty sure I would sustain at least a broken rib. Tiger’s wife used one of his 5 irons, maybe Correa’s fiance used one of his bats.

      By no means am I suggesting this is what actually happened, but it is more believable than the “official” story.

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      • I strongly feel we needed to get the full report on the injury from his wife rather than Carlos.

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  31. Correa…..the “man made of glass”.Who knows maybe he’s just tired of playing in Houston.

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    • “Who knows maybe he’s just tired of playing in Houston.”

      So he cracked his own ribs?! The circumstances being disputed, I can understand (and I agree. I think he hurt himself doing something maybe he shouldn’t be doing) , but nobody else is disputing the injury. I’m way past tired of living in Houston, but even I wouldn’t hurt myself in order to do it (and driving on 290 & west tidwell coming from SE Houston every day for work means there are plenty of ways to get injured, but that’s a subject for another time/place).

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      • Amen AC45. Every time I go to work it’s like a flashback of playing bumper cars with my uncle Sal at the old Super Trac off I45 towards as a young boy

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  32. Busy day with our Astro organization. Cracks in the armour? I don’t think so, but every organization has employees that move on at some point. My brother just sent me a quote from Luhnow posted by Chandler Rome. I don’t know how to link it here, (Grayson, you got me on that!). Here. It is though.

    “I think this will be a good opportunity for him to take stock in where everything is and work with our pitching coaches and not be distracted by (pitching) 60 miles from his hometown”.

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  34. Billy….you couldn’t catch my sarcasm in that post!? I’m just perplexed on how in the world do you cracking a rib getting a massage?????

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    • My apologies…I really didn’t!

      It’s actually not that hard to crack (or fracture…) a rib during a massage, especially if the person doing it isn’t licensed (or good at it) or there’s a pre-existing rib injury. Those with back injuries are more susceptible…just saying.

      Again though that’s actually if it was during a massage. For all we know, he could’ve pulled a Moises Alou and slalomed on a treadmill!

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  35. The complete story on Correa is that he cracked his rib while helping Moises Alou lift his treadmill on to the back of Jeff Kent’s truck while Kent was driving him to get a massage.

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  36. When I look through all of the free agent signings it is hard to see very many that have actually worked out. Especially when looking at production vs price paid. The Astros have two of the best in Brantley and Miley. Wade Miley…… you are the man!

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  39. We have some *awesome* pitchers!! Each one is just as amazing as the guy he followed!! These guys WILL heal, I just have to be more forgiving and tolorant.

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  40. Well I have to take back the kind words for Fisher from yesterday. Astros had 8 K’s tonight, 3 by Fisher and 3 by (you guessed it), our favorite creature from the the deep blue sea, Tubby the Tuna. And yes that’s not very nice of me but then again, watching them bat is almost as bad as having a root canal. Save for Miley’s two mistakes, he pitched a good game. Hendricks made up look bad tonight. Hat’s off to him.

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    • Again piling on, but we need a designated runner for Tyler. If he gets a double, it takes a triple or back to back doubles to get him home. There have been several times this season that an “Average Speed” runner would have scored. He is either held at 3rd or out at the plate. YES – at least he did get on base, but they only keep track of runs in determining the wins and losses.

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      • What is interesting AC – because a lot of other guys have been at DH than White this year – overall their DHs have 16 HRs and 36 RBIs

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  41. Fisher might have been a more valuable trade piece in AAA with his excellent stats there. He again looks like the overmatched guy we’ve seen before, but we’ll see how he does against some easier right handed pitching coming up.

    I feel a bit bad calling White Tubby at this point. Maybe his issues are not all physical. Unfortunately, all our guys on the DL have only extended Tylers time with the big club. As far as I’m concerned, I hope he clears waivers and gets sent somewhere for whatever assistance he needs. This is a guy that had a .444 OBP in AAA a year ago. He’s historically not a big strikeout guy. That’s all changed today. He looks like he’s swinging for the stars. Bad contact. He’s a mess. An overweight one.

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  42. * Let’s cut to the chase. The Astros have to be absolutely livid about Carlos Correa’s injury.
    * From what I gather, Jeff Luhnow is not pleased at all about Forrest Whitley and his situation.
    * After using only four pitchers in an extra inning game last night, the RR Express was forced to go with Jamie Richey to pitch for a save. The Problem: too many starting pitchers on that team and not enough relievers.
    * The Astros lineup stunk last night. Rollover and play dead in the last game of a series.
    * Don’t bring your tiny kid to a game and sit where there is no netting.
    * Why would you put a guy who strikes out all the time in the leadoff spot? I’m serious. Derek Fisher has a 38% K-rate in his MLB career.
    * Quad Cities finally gets to play at home and loses a double header to a terrible team. Fayetteville loses, Corpus Christi loses and Round Rock needs every one of their 22 hits to beat a bad Nashville team 13-12 and finish the game with a catcher pitching.

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    • 1OP, I endorse every one of those comments. I think we’d get a better at bat from Kemp leading off. But right now, we don’t have a whole lot of bullets to pencil in. That’s what ready makes the Correa transgression (I’m not going to call it a massage gone wrong) so annoying. He’s getting paid pretty good money and it’s entirely possible he ignored a clause in his contract, one that is designed to protect both him and his club. Of course that’s total conjecture on my part. I think the Whitney situation concerns me more than anything. Another Appel would be a real blow.

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    • If I remember correctly, Nolan Ryan had clause in his contract that he was not to ride a horse so as to avert possible injury (even in the off season). I don’t feel sorry for any player whose making at least 500K to play a game and not being prepared mentally and physically everyday or having an apparent attack of stupidity and getting injured. Some of these guys are young but there’s enough veterans, managers, coaches, and mentors around to help them avoid such instances ( should they decide to listen). At least one would think so. Kind of reminds me of that famous last words of that old southern saying, “Hey guys, watch this!”

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  43. Morning thoughts….
    – Even though they have been playing well overall this team is beat up and unhealthy and badly needed a day off
    – Maybe Correa’s massage included one of those people walking on his back?
    – Miley did a heck of a job helping Hinch with the bullpen usage
    – Devo got into trouble, but worked out of it. His delivery just does not look the same as when he was so effective – seems to be pulling a lot of balls across. When he was best he would step more towards the first base side and then throw back towards the plate
    – Bregman and Brantley must feel pretty lonely in that lineup – lots of donut holes scattered in front and behind him
    – Strength up the middle (C, 2B, SS, CF) is a key to team strength and right now the Astros have 3 of those 4 gone – two of which were performing at All Star levels
    – Harris has been a totally under the radar strength for this team – he looks terrific

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    • Dan, I watched where Devo placed his right foot after his follow through. Then I watched where Harris placed his same foot afterwards. What a significant difference!! I can see why Devo is pulling everything far to his glove side.

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  44. Read the comments on Correa’s injury and accept consensus we’ll probably never know. But I’m open to being educated on what the deal is with Carlos. Seriously, if anyone has information other than what I read in the paper.

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    • Since Correa was on the roster at the beginning of the season
      2016 – missed 9 games
      2017 – missed 53 games
      2018 – missed 52 games
      2019 – (looks to miss 30-40 games at least)

      In the same time period
      Springer
      2016 – Missed 0 games
      2017 – Missed 22 games
      2018 – Missed 22 games
      2019 – Likely to miss at least 30 games

      Altuve
      2016 – Missed 1 game
      2017 – Missed 9 games
      2018 – Missed 25 games
      2019 – Will miss…..at least 15 or so???

      Stassi – oh what the heck – when he missed it may be a bonus

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  46. I do have a new favorite player Cubs player. Albert Amora Jr.
    His reaction to his foul drive injuring the young fan that was not his fault, was so genuine and so human. We see these guys as machines and seeing his true heartbreak from being a part of that situation touched me. I also give kudos to the security lady who comforted him. There are good people in the world.

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  48. So maybe we need a Correa injury poll…
    The real reason Carlos has a broken rib is….
    a) He received an over the top massage
    b) He was doing something off the field (kick boxing, 4 wheelers, horseback riding, motorcycle riding) that is not allowed in his contract
    c) His fiancée caught him with someone else
    d) His fiancée has a velvet whip and interesting sleeping apparel
    e) Tony Kemp really did hug him too hard after a home run
    f) He has the bone density of a 90 year old

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  49. The little girl who got hit last night is going to be ok. She was taken to the hospital last night, fully awake and talking. NOW…(you knew this was coming)…..MLB wants netting all around the park. Can you imagine what the Yankee fans or Red Sox are going to say about that! NOT GONNA HAPPEN. From what I can gather, OP is correct…the front office *IS* livid about the ingury to Correa. As I write this, I can assure you Luhnow is on the phone looking for bullpen help as well as another starting pitcher. I gotta tell you, I’m V E R Y concerned about Altuve. I hope the guys can find a park bench in Oakland to sit and clear their minds….this is not going to be an easy series.

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    • There is 40+years between me and Altuve, but I had a simple knee scope and clean up 3 years ago. It is never going to be the same. Knees have ruined many MLB careers. I sincerely hope he is able to come back strong.

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