Jul 30 2019

The Astros and other people’s pitchers

This subject was broached mid-season last year…

The Astros have built their quality pitching staff with mostly parts from other regions. Look at what the Astros playoff roster might look like after “the move” happens this week.

Starters

  • Justin Verlander. Obtained by trade (signed thru 2021)
  • Gerrit Cole. Obtained by trade (signed thru 2019)
  • Wade Miley. Signed as free agent (signed thru 2019)
  • Mystery Guest #4 (Let’s say this is Zack Wheeler – signed thru 2019)
  • Brad Peacock. Obtained by trade (Controlled by arbitration thru 2020)

Bullpen

  • Roberto Osuna. Obtained by trade (Controlled by arbitration thru 2021)
  • Ryan Pressly. Obtained by trade (Signed thru 2022)
  • Will Harris. Picked up off waivers (Signed thru 2019)
  • Collin McHugh. Picked up off waivers (Signed thru 2019)
  • Chris Devenski. Obtained by trade (Controlled by arbitration thru 2021)
  • Josh James. Drafted by the Astros (Controlled thru 2024)
  • Hector Rondon. Signed as free agent (signed thru 2019)
  • Jose Urquidy.  Signed as international free agent (Controlled thru at least 2024)

A few quick observations that are nothing special….

  1. The Astros pitching staff (in contrast to their everydays) is almost entirely built from the outside. Yes, they used their pitching prospects to bring in both pitchers and everyday players. But straight out the best pitcher they have developed themselves the last few years is Lance McCullers Jr. who is unfortunately out after TJ surgery
  2. In some ways – Devenski, who has never pitched for another major league team and McHugh, Peacock and Harris who did not pitch successfully or long for other major league teams were “developed” by this organization. And obviously Pressly, Verlander, Cole and Miley all have thrived in this atmosphere beyond what they were doing when they left their last gig.
  3. Like on the old Ed Sullivan show – how long can they keep all these spinning plates rotating on their sticks? Six of the mentioned pitchers could be gone by the end of this season including three starters. Will the Astros finally have youngsters step up or will they continue to find a Charlie Morton or Wade Miley in the discount bin?
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144 comments on “The Astros and other people’s pitchers”

    • Dan, and cash from Arizona. Heck, it would be nice if they picked up 8 or 10 million a year of his deal. Tigers covered 8 a year of Verlanders salary. This sure looks similar. I’m all for this deal today, but I think it pretty much means Cole is gone next year unless Luhnow turns right around and finds someone to take Greinke. But who knows? Probably Luhnow. I’m sure he already has a pretty good idea of what his team is going to look like in 2020.

      And one more thing. Seems that Luhnow caught the other big boys with their pants down.

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  8. Have seen that Martin and Bukauskas (and supposedly two more) going to the D’Backs – not seeing anything on the other trade yet

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      • billy if that is accurate i consider it a win for us. strom and co. will most likely have the same effect on sanchez as they have had with other recent additions. and fisher isnt a great loss. sanchez has been very good at times in his career. we can use what he has more than what fisher has considering our outfield situation and prospects. i like all these trades.

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  12. OK as usual my math is not that great, but we added four guys to the 25 man – who goes?
    – Obviously Stassi – either DFA or the trade to the Angels that got discussed earlier
    – Is it possible they DFA Sanchez and eat his salary of $1.3 million
    – Urquidy back down
    – Sneed back down
    – I guess if they need another Urquidy spot start they could send Straw down and bring him back up

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  13. Turns out that a lot of Greinke’s salary is deferred and spread out over four years after the end of the contract. That makes his salary more palatable for the Astros. Plus, the D’backs are picking up about $25 million of the $75 million he is owed.

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    • thats right op. the figure i saw was 53 million (which includes some bonus money stuff). this year and two more. thats pretty reasonable for a TOR type pitcher. and here he is probably #3 and miley after him. what a rotation. kept our top two prospects and the guys who have had spot starts for us lately. sounds pretty good.

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  15. Now, about the 40-man.
    Martin was on the 40-man and his trade clears a spot.
    Stassi’s trade clears a spot.
    Fisher’s trade clears a spot.
    I think the Astros were at 39 so that was a 4th spot. but I could be wrong on that.
    Add Maldanado, Biagini, Sanchez, and Greinke.

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  16. Three things:
    1.Luhnow wanted another catcher, wanted another arm for the pen…
    2. NEED ED another true ace!
    3. This was the yankees….worst nightmare! They were working hard at getting another front line pitcher….and didn’t get one!
    *Jeff Luhnow wanted a pitcher who had more than a few months, we have Greinke for 3 more years.
    Greinke is not a warm and fuzzy kinda teammate…..that doesn’t matter to me.

    *Bauer sat in front of his locker with a bright red face last night. EXCELLENT.

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    • I checked. The Yankee fans are stunned and the Bosox fans are in a conceding sort of mood.
      But, we still have to beat them and whoever else makes the playoffs.

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      • 1OP, without a doubt, we’ve gotten nothing done on the field yet. But this is a real boost to a lot of guys. I’m really happy to see Cole so pumped up over the news. Not every guy in his shoes would be. Great group of guys.

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  22. Let’s see – Verlander, Cole, Greinke, Myly, and Urquidy/Peacock. Sanchez has to be considered a potential long reliever, to give some rest to our overworked BP, at present.

    By the way – has anybody heard anything about Josh James?

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    • Mr. Bill, have been wondering about James and the severity of his injury. Sanchez might be utilized initially as his 100 MPH replacement.

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    • Good point, Dan! With the Braves [in a league with no DH, where he gets to face a pitcher just about every 9th at bat], DK has a 3.86 ERA, a 1.327 WHIP, a BB/9 of 3.3, a K/9 of only 7.0, and is averaging only 6.1 IP per start. Those numbers vs. the AL would surely have been significantly worse.

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    • No, I said something about Keuchel last night or this morning. Taking Miley for 4.5 was a very solid decision by Luhnow. And I don’t want to give Luhnow too much credit, but even after letting Charlie go, who we all miss, we are in pretty good shape today.

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  26. OP I did the same, checked the Yanks comment forum, not the Sox, and I read a bunch of fans stunned and deflated, conceding the playoffs to the Stros. No one on this blog is arrogant enough to believe a WS win is automatic but we like their chances.
    I’m Ole School R&B. Group called Faze’O with pop tune aptly called ‘Ridin High’.

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  27. The ENTIRE MLB is *stunned*….that putting it lightly!
    Who wouldn’t want to join this rotation!! Not going too far with this trade, but this is the best chance Zack Greinke will ever have to get a ring. The entire team is over the moon with this trade! I gotta admit nothing will as awesome as the Verlander trade! Sooo much to be excited about….GO ‘STROS ⚾!

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  29. Thank you rrj for taking me down memory lane, hearing the groove I’m feeling right now. Did anybody see what Astros posted on their web, I saw it on MLB, something like “How is everybody feeling?” Can’t remember it exactly but it was in that vein.

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  33. I want to go back to 1OP comment about Lorenzo Quintana hitting .321 with OPS of .964 in Corpus. I was surprised the Astros signed a 30 year old minor league catcher.

    On TV Chirinos talks about 7 years in the minors. Chirinos had only 33 MLB games before his age 30 year. So maybe Quintana is on his way.

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