Astros 2019: More Saturday questions

This is a bit of a recurring theme for Dan P.  Whip out a couple posts during the week, have you good folks come up with thought-provoking comments, have the team create more questions with their play and end up on Saturday with some open intriguing questions. That is just begging for another post and here it is.

If you could only re-sign one – would you re-sign Gerrit Cole or George Springer?

It may not come to one or the other. Cole (just turned 29) is a free agent at the end of the season, Springer (about to turn 30) has one more arbitration year with the home team. But if it came down to picking between the two due to salary considerations, which one would you pick? (As daveb pointed out rightly yesterday – it may be length of contract rather than yearly salary that sinks a Cole deal).

Would you trade Josh Reddick (and part of his salary) and Carlos Correa or Yuli Gurriel to help re-sign Cole?

Josh is due $13 million next season, even if you traded him for practically nothing you would likely have to send along about 1/2 that amount in cash. Yuli is due $8.4 million next season and Carlos even with missing time is likely in the $8 million range in arbitration. These moves would help with half or more of Cole’s salary. Remember you can control Correa through 2021 and Gurriel through 2022, if you don’t trade them.

Mr. Bill had a good point about the Astros giving too much time to some of the youngsters when the team is in a death match for the best record in the AL and the majors. How do you feel about that?

How much time should Kyle Tucker, Myles Straw, Garrett Stubbs and others be taking up at this crucial time?

Should the Astros sit Wade Miley for a start and see if he bounces back?

If he just has a tired arm that may be what he needs. Of course pitching 0 innings and 1/3 of an inning in his previous outings is pretty much like throwing on your day off.

If there are days off in the next two weeks – should they use it to give Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole an extra day off between starts? How important is the Cy Young race between the two to you?

Nothing to add here.

How confident will you be in Ryan Pressly and/or Brad Peacock and even Collin McHugh if/when they come off the IL before the playoffs?

There is no doubt Pressly will make the playoff roster as long as he is standing. The other two may or may not.

Are there any questions you have today to add to the dialogue?

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71 responses to “Astros 2019: More Saturday questions”

  1. Tough one here, but I’d take Cole over Springer.
    However, if Correa was to go, I’d expect Luhnow to figure out a way to keep Cole and Springer. And I’d take my chances giving up Reddick if that would help, but not Yuli too unless there was a replacement for both guys. But do we want to remake half the club in order to keep Cole?
    I give Miley his start tomorrow and see how it turns out.
    I don’t mind the youngsters playing to the degree they have. Tucker hit the ball hard last night. Reddick is also hitting and he’ll be fresh.
    Cole and Verlander do not want an extra day off.
    Pressly confident. Peacock maybe. McHugh, long shot.

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  2. My question for the day is:
    When the Yankees lose in extra innings to a bad team in their division and the Dodgers lose three in a row to the D’backs, do their fans panic like I do when my team loses three games to a really good Oakland team?
    My answers to Dan’s questions are:
    *Ask me after this season is over about Cole and Springer, but my heart tells me that a WS MVP who can win a game seven days a week for his team is more valuable than one who can only win a game every fifth day.
    * I would try to trade Reddick if I could find a decent trade, but I don’t see any way that helps us keep Cole. Cole either wants to stay or he doesn’t and I think the Astros already know his answer.
    *I don’t care for the Astros resting core players when they have days off coming up and they are in a war with the Yankees and the Dodgers for the best record.
    * I think Pressly will be ready. I think Peacock will be healthy, but I worry about his control and I think McHugh is done for the year.

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  3. 1. Springer. 2. NO. A will not make B happen. 3. Let them play but don’t completely delete the entire roster on any given day. 3B. Play one to give a starter the day off. Let another be a late inning replacement. 4. I would think that Miley will demonstrate his ability/inability in the bullpen. When he is as erratic as he has been lately, don’t start him. Have a AAA pitcher ready. The reliever is going to have to come in in the first anyway. 5. CY is not important. Let JV and Cole determine if they need to skip a rotation. 6. Pressley 95%. Peacock 59%. I think that Colin’s career in Houston is over.

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  5. Don’t make me choose which child I love more! I *hope* Jim Crane let’s Garrit know how much he wants him to stay. I do know how close his relationship with Verlander is. Who knows how much that will affect his decision, but I’m pretty sure Justin will lobby for him to stay. Trading Correa will be difficult for this club to accept. BUT…if that is something Luhnow is going to do (when?) He had better get NO LESS than that clubs very BEST young pitchers. Since this organization simply can’t develope our own pitchers…McCullers is the exception. Read a tweet by Mctaggart today and Peacock says he feels *AWESOME*! He said it was a nerve in his neck and not his arm or shoulder.
    WHEW…..we need that guy back BIG TIME!
    If there is one guy on this team who absolutely HAS to get an extension it’s George Springer. He is the heart and soul of this club. PERIOD. How’s Greinke look tonight? Just listening to the game made me laugh at what a magician he is!

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  6. Frustrating to leave the bases loaded with no out.
    At least we have a 1 run lead, but should have been more.
    Tucker 3 for 3 tonight

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  8. I’ve tooted GS horn before as a potential GOAT (HF), if he ever harnesses that hitting prowess. He will never make Blum’s instructional video on being quiet at the plate, but man can he hit that ball along with other intangibles. This is a hard call Dan, I want them both, PERIOD. Cole can lock down a tm for 9 innings, but if GS & company ain’t hittin, it doesn’t matter how many shutout innings Cole pitches.

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  9. Man did Alvarez just hit a 2 iron ( for you golfers out there) a screaming line drive pinch hit 3 run homer!!!
    Tucker had 3 hits off the lefty starter so they put in another lefty and he got his 4th hit

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    • I was down on the beach last night attending full moon festivities with a bunch of fellow knuckleheads. I fell in love with a lovely Puerto Rican woman, but alas, she was 41 years my junior. She had a great nose. It was not to be though. Sometimes reality is good. But I’m glad I missed the game last night. It must have been a bit frustrating, at least until our rested up DH did his thing. And good for Kyle Tucker!

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  10. Josh is obvious trade bait to sign Cole. CC’s half seasons & weird injuries makes him tradable also to sign Cole if necessary. Yuli is a keeper, period. If this lineup is truly on cruise control until playoffs then it doesn’t matter about PT of callups. (Is Tucker trying to hit his way on PO roster?)
    Miley an enigma, I have no clue on him. JV & GC locks for CY, AJ would start WW III trying to sit.
    Whenever any member of the BP enters a gm, PO’s or no, we sweat until the gm is over

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  11. Air Yordan has been a godsend. I want to know who’s dumb decision was it to keep him in the minors and why (assuming svc time issues) when AJ wanted him on the tm from day one?

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    • I wrote here and elsewhere in MARCH, he was the best hitter in the Grapefruit League, it was so exciting that he’d be the difference maker, and we’d win in a cake walk.

      On another blog, someone wrote, “what if Alvarez comes up and is a bust like Tucker.”

      My reply? “More likely what people will ask is, ‘where in the world has this guy been?!’”

      Thank you OldSchool for doing the deed.

      Now, let me take it a step further. I was VERY VERY upset with the JD Davis trade. Part of it was that I believed Davis could have a good season, and White was lounging and not working out in the off season.

      Tim didn’t agree, and I asked, “what if he hits 280/350/500, then what would you think?” He replied that Davis wouldn’t anyway. In fact, he’s hit .305/.367/.513, mostly as a back-up with ELITE hard hit balls (statcast). What made me the most upset was the lame return: Santana Adolph and Manea.

      But what I’ve come to realize was Luhnow knew that another year of seething (waiting for injury) for Davis was not good for the team. Instead, he made the move to get Diaz (Cuban), who later became a solid threesome with Yordan and Yuli. It was ALL ABOUT CHEMISTRY. And that’s where JL knew Diaz from draft days in St Louis, and he knew that dynamic would pay off.

      So, we watched Tubby, Stassi and Kemp as inexpensive placeholders for the Man Child.

      I believe here, I was the first to call him a beast. He’s even astonished me, although I fully expect him to hit a ball 500 feet, and he might just beat Babe Ruth’s all-time ISO record! Another thing I’ve been tracking for 6 months..

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  12. We all need to cross our fingers and say a prayer that the REAL Wade Miley shows up tomorrow. We gotta have that guy. Fires got taken out of their game with the arlington little league tonight with some kind of nerve problem. That would seriously be bad for the A’s.

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  13. So much easier to blog after a win.
    -Thank goodness Alvarez got to rest for some of the game, so he would have the energy to save his team’s ass. 22 year old DH’s need their time off.
    -Will someone please tell Jack Mayfield that he can’t hit breaking pitches below the zone. Every pitcher in baseball knows it, but nobody has told him.
    -I’m so glad Tucker didn’t get five hits tonight. I don’t think Altuve could handle it.
    – One fine day, Bryan Abreau is going to be a really good reliever. He looks unhittable until he lays a pitch right down the middle.
    – The Jake Marisnick of years past is back. Strike three!
    – Tonight is a night that Abraham Toro needs to forget.
    – Correa may come back Tuesday night.
    – Remember when Morton was not usable late in the year last season but nobody said anything because he was going to be a free agent? Nobody is talking about Collin McHugh right now.

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  14. I understand! It’s an extremely small sample and I know he is a very streaky hitter. But, I wanted to mark the day we could actually say that Kyle Tucker had this slash line in major league baseball for the season. .353BA/.389OBP/.529SLG/.918OPS

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    • I stopped reading all the Kyle Tucker is a bust talk. He’s been ranked #1, or 2 in our vaunted system the entire season for me. For good reason.

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  15. Also like to add after a win that if you want to see a definition of “Crafty Pitcher” – take a look at Greinke. When he has his control going, he is a very smart and good pitcher with fading fastball speed. I know him laughing on his way to the dugout will not play well in Kansas City, but got away with several pitches in the 60 +- mph range.

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  17. Here is an interesting question for you. How is it that the Astros, Angels and A’s are ranked 1,2,3 in MLB in grounding into DP, while Texas is #28 and Seattle is #30? That’s crazy.

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      • Actually if you look at who has the fewest sacrifice bunts, Angels with 4 all year. Oakland 6, and 25th Astros at 10. Everyone that has watched any baseball know it is better to give up two outs on a double play, than one out and advance the runner(s). Sorry – sarcasm captured my keyboard.

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  19. Getting out of that first inning was just what Miley needed! It was more mental than anything else. Keep your fingers crossed for him today! Our guys gave him a 2 run advantage!

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  21. Think Reddick is wearing Springer’s cap, or pants?!! He’s had a 4 hit day!
    Thank you baseball Gods for breathing life into Wade Miley today!!!

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    • Where has the Reddick of the last few weeks been? When he hits it makes a huge difference to this team in turning that lineup over.

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  23. I’m dreaming about a healthy lineup.
    Springer
    Altuve
    Brantley
    Bregman
    Alvarez
    Gurriel
    Correa
    Reddick
    Chirinos
    I wanted to put Correa in the 6-hole but how do you bat him ahead of Gurriel, who has been the best hitter in MLB since the All-Star game?

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      • Any negative talk is coming from frustration about the situation and not personal. He is a great ballplayer but when he is not on the field, he is just a fan of the game – no different from you or me. (Of course we are not paid millions to watch baseball.)

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      • I know you weren’t. Funny thing about Correa being out….these guys are rolling right along. Do they miss him? SURE they do…but no body is crying because he’s been out. Tell you the truth….he’s been gone so much I don’t even think about him. That’s the luxury of having Alex Bregman!! I might be wrong, but I bet he will be out again before the season wraps up.

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      • They did pretty good yesterday without Springer or Altuve. Not that I want to lose either one of those guys.
        This organization has done an exceptional job keeping the farm stocked while not having the luxury of high draft picks for several years now.
        There is, however, a problem in developing pitchers.

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  24. Do you remember how I have commented about how the Astros have caught their opponents so often playing their best baseball of the season?
    The Royals were 7-3 in the month of September before Houston showed up.
    I admit the opponents KC was playing were weak, but the Royals were playing some of their best ball of the season.

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  25. The Astros as a team from the beginning of the season to the All-Star break:
    .269BA/.344OBP/.472SLG/.816OPS.
    The Astros as a team from the All-Star break thru Sunday:
    .287BA/.368/.527SLG/.895OPS.
    Astros as a team for the regular season, so far:
    .276BA/.354OBP/.494SLG/.848OPS
    Astros as a team in 2017 for the regular season:
    .282BA/.346OBP/.478SLG/.823OPS.
    This team walks more and has more power than the 2017 WS Champs.

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  26. I get the distinct feeling that Jeff Luhnow is livid about the injury that Aaron Sanchez had before he got to Houston that was not revealed by the pitcher.

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    • I’d have to agree. And I’m not convinced Miley is suddenly “repaired” either. That makes losing Sanchez a bigger loss potentially. I think Miley going to have more of the same issues against a team willing to wait him out like Seattle and the A’s did. But he has been good in the post season, so I might be all wet again.

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  27. Seven of the eleven games left on the Astros schedule are against the Angels, and Mike Trout is out for the season. The Angels will play the Astros that much harder to make up for his absence.

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    • They are also missing Justin Upton and Shohei Ohtani who are also both out for the rest of the regular season, so their offense is suspect. On the positive side for their offense – Max Stassi is probably out for the rest of the regular season.

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  29. In other news Tyler White is 1 for 22 with the Dodgers hitting an “astounding” .42. Do you think he’ll make the playoff roster? Notice I didn’t call him “Tubby the Tuna”. Oh maybe I just did. Not wishing bad for him but goodness gracious. What happened to this guy in the course of less than a year?

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  30. On the flip side, if he for whatever reasons does not want to deal with getting into shape, I think he’ll be a heck of a slow pitch hitter back home.

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    • His splits show he has not played this month and he was placed on the injured list as of September 2nd. I don’t think anyone wants him to continue in this slump or whatever. We just hope he puts baseball as his top priority or he chooses another profession. (Lots of Eating Contests with prize money)

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  33. We have an off-day today, then another Thursday, and one more next Monday. No regular position players should need a ‘scheduled rest day’ in any of the remaining 11 games. Moreover, we don’t have to play in an NL park, so we won’t need a PH. The only thing we should see of Tucker, Mayfield, Toro, Marisnick or Stubbs the rest of the way, therefore, is a late-inning PR or defensive replacement cameo, such as in a blow-out or if one of our guys gets ejected.

    Pitching, however, is a different story. I would not expect either JV or GC to skip a start [going for that elusive 20 win season], but I also wouldn’t expect either of them to see a 7th inning the rest of the season. Miley? the next start will mean more to me than the last one – let him face, and survive five innings against, a good hitting team! The bullpen? I expect to see a little bit of Sneed and Valdez, lots of Abreu, Urquidy, Perez, and Devenski, and very little Harris, Pressly, Rondon, Osuna, and James.

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    • The one thing we don’t know Mr. Bill is how much they are checking out different guys for the playoff roster. If they go with 4 starters and 7 relievers for the ALDS, they will then have 14 spots for position players (which always strikes me as an odd wording because isn’t pitcher a position?).
      The 14?
      1. Springer
      2. Altuve
      3. Brantley
      4. Bregman
      5. Alvarez
      6. Gurriel
      7. Correa
      8. Chirinos
      9. Reddick
      10. Maldonado
      11. Marisnick
      12. Aledmys Diaz

      and then…… 13 and 14 could be Myles Straw, Kyle Tucker, Abraham Toro, or Garrett Stubbs depending on how they view these guys. I would think they would hold on to Straw as a speed weapon and someone who can play IF or OF, that they likely don’t keep Stubbs thinking a 3rd catcher is a luxury and then between Tucker and Toro….I don’t know. Tucker is better offensively, Toro is passable offensively, Toro gives them better defense. This will be an interesting choice if this what it comes down to.
      Not sure if additional playing time will decide this.

      I do wonder that you want all the starting position players out there, but very little of the top bullpen guys. Can you expound on that a bit?

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      • With rare exceptions [catcher comes to mind, which is why we have two of them], bullpen guys exert themselves a lot more intensely in a given outing than position players do. That’s why you rarely see three bullpen outings in a row from a reliever, but you see starting position players come out every night for weeks on end.

        Also, the more looks opposing teams get at a reliever [even on film] the more ready for them they are. Hitters are what they are; relievers can make slight adjustments and throw opponents off.

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      • I think 13 is Straw and 14 is Tucker – hands down. And I also think the FO already knows that, so they don’t need to see any more ‘competition’.

        The only ‘wild card’ that could get either Toro or Stubbs on the roster, I suspect, would be the unspeakable I-word.

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      • And, thirdly, if one of our bullpen guys goes down we have zero proven depth whatever to replace him. [Compare the position player situation, where we have Marisnick, Tucker, Straw, Toro and Stubbs waiting in the wings].

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  35. I saw the McTaggart article earlier. He did file at least a bit of a disclaimer though. I can’t fathom Devenski in the post season pen. I think we’ll see a surprise or two. And because the pen has had issues lately, along with Miley still being a question mark, (at least in my mind) I would not be shocked if we went with 8 guys in the pen, at least for a seven game series.

    I also think that Hinch/Luhnow will continue to use Diaz, Toro and Tucker on a fairly regular basis over these last 11 games because they they have performed pretty well and making sure the regular guys are on fresh legs seems to be a real priority. And no way. Correa is going to play 10 games straight when he comes back on Wednesday. He might get hurt.

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  36. My initial thought is that having an extra reliever is more important than having a 14th position player.
    If you have the most potent offense in baseball why do you need a ton of position players? You are going to rarely need a pinch hitter in an American league playoff game, but you sure as heck might need relievers to face one batter at a critical time if you are playing the likes of Minnesota or Oakland.
    If your infield is Bregman, Correa, Altuve Gurriel, you probably aren’t going to pull them off the field for a PHer. If you want defense in the outfield late you have Marisnick. Are you going to PH for your terrific DH?
    Another thing is, Straw is an infielder and an outfielder and the fastest guy on the field, so he is very flexible and usable.
    Give me Dan’s 12, plus Straw and give me an extra reliever to come in and get that strikeout. Not Biagini!.

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  37. Am watching the Cards game. A few of us thought that maybe.Goldschmidt might have been a good DH/1B option going into the 2019 season. Now the Cardinals are into him for 130 million over the next 5 years. And our guy Yuli has had a significantly better year. Luhnow is pretty smart most of the time..

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