Woody Allen in the movie Annie Hall – There’s an old joke – um… two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of ’em says, “Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.” The other one says, “Yeah, I know; and such small portions.”
From Dan P’s point of view, I would change the title of this post to “You can never have too much good pitching.”
Right now, a major problem with the Astros’ starting pitching is that it is coming in larger portions of bad or uncertain quality.
- Mike Burrows pitched a decent number of innings for the Astros, but unfortunately, he pitched most of them in an indecent fashion and has been sent down to AAA.
- Tatsuya Imai is the king of uncertainty, as he has bounced between the Good (the first six innings of a no-hitter), the Bad (3 of 13 starts in which he went 1.1 innings or less), and the Ugly (Tuesday night, when he needed 84 pitches to get through 3.2 innings).
- Spencer Arrighetti – Arrighetti went from AL Pitcher of the Month in May to a pitcher nobody wanted in June. That improved in his first start in July and crashed in his disaster of a second start this month.
- Hunter Brown – Pitched well until his arm started hurting, and has been a bit of a question mark since returning from the IL.
- The Vast Unwashed – Lance McCullers (6.88 ERA in 8 starts), Kai-Wei Teng (5.52 ERA in 10 starts), Cristian Javier (12.54 ERA in 3 starts), Jason Alexander (6.75 ERA in 2 starts) and Ryan Weiss (5.14 ERA in 2 starts). Weiss is gone. Alexander and Teng are back in AAA with Alexander currently injured and Teng adjusting to being a reliever again. McCullers is rehabbing in the minors and Javier has returned to the big club as a reliever (so far).
Where we are headed with this: You can have too much pitching (when it is bad or of uncertain quality). On top of this, the following is coming soon to a team near you.
- Cristian Javier is back, but is he ready to take Mike Burrows spot in the rotation? Based on his pitching before his injury he might be very bad. Based on his two outings after his return – he might be OK,,,or not.
- Ethan Pecko – Based on one recent interview with Dana Brown, Pecko (3-5, 4.78 ERA) might make that start in Burrows place. His numbers are not making me jump up and down.
- Ronel Blanco – Blanco has pitched well in his rehab after recovery from TJ surgery. His last outing was 2 perfect innings at AAA – shortened by rain. He might be a good addition to the staff – but anyone returning from that type of surgery is a big question mark. And he will have to build up his innings a bit.
- Lance McCullers Jr. – He has posted a 2.45 ERA in 3 starts at AAA. In his last rehab start he gave up 4 runs (2 earned) over 4 innings giving up 3 walks and 3 hits. Is there any hope he will be better than the guy who was trying to pitch through pain at the beginning of the season?
- Hayden Wesneski – Like Blanco he is returning from TJ surgery and has just started his rehab – throwing 4 innings at AA Corpus with a 2.25 ERA. He pitched decently in 2025 before his injury, but again, when and what can the Astros expect from him?
The Astros are currently 11th in the AL in innings pitched by their starters. However, if you take into account that they’ve played three more games than #12 and five more than #13, they are on pace to finish behind those two teams. On top of this, adding pitchers returning from the IL to the starting staff is not the best way to increase those innings pitched numbers.
The Astros have many options for their starting staff. But do they have enough good options?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
19 responses to “You can never have too much pitching…really?”
No they are not.
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No they do not. And as long as I’m correcting, adding another starter in a trade is not going to be enough either.
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The draft is Saturday. I would like Brown to get a pitcher with the 17th pick. There will be several with a high ceiling, but I’m sure Brown will draft a college left handed batter with power and probably with contact issues.
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The funny thing about baseball – just because a guy hasn’t, doesn’t mean he won’t, just because he has, doesn’t mean he will. What if Hunter Brown had been healthy all year? I don’t think it makes a difference because the guy that would not have made this rotation is 7-5 with a 3.26 ERA in 80 innings.
The team simply has enough mediocre pitching. It doesn’t need more. They aren’t going to get Skubal. Now, I wouldn’t say they can’t get Gray, but Boston is going to extract it right out of hide. And the thing about running out and getting Sean Manaea is it probably doesn’t help you. It’s hard to believe the Mets only gave up Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat for Freddy Peralta, you have to think they move him for a better package than they gave up, but Peralta’s fastball is down a few ticks and he is laboring through starts. Robbie Ray seems a possibility. Michael Wacha is owed about 25M through 2027 and if you are an Astros team as currently constructed that has to be tempting, but puts you over the cap. The question is if his name isn’t Skubal, do you think whatever pitcher that is out there can be a catalyst for all of a sudden turning this into the .550ish team they need to be the rest of the way to win this division?
I do know this – the last thing I want is to see McCullers ever pitch again. I love the guy. I hope he ends up somewhere on the TV crew. I bet if he is given a good producer he can make some wonderfully funny segments for SCHN that would just add to their telecast as a “roving” reporter. Two, three times a week, give us a 10 minute segment on something in the ballpark, or show us the buffet in catering, or give us a day in the life of Yordan Alvarez. Have him join Esch and Bogi on the post game 2 times a week. Start working that camera presence because I think he can be Blummer level and a Blummer replacement in a decade. Just don’t pitch anymore. 24 curves in a row to end the Yankees dreams is more than most pitchers have ever given us, and we are eternally grateful and love you, but when its over, its over. I don’t want to watch anymore 2 inning debacles not for my sake and sanity, but yours.
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Thoughts
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Does anyone really have pitching these days? Tampa looks solid for the regular season, but none of their guys would scare me in October. Toronto has the scariest top 3, but they’re behind Houston in the standings. I think the Rangers and Mariners probably look the best from everyone else, although the Yankees certainly have the names to make a run at it. Boston was supposed to have the best rotation, I think I read, and they’re a game worse than Houston right now.
I don’t think we have any prospects to get a difference maker. I’m not going to sit here and cry about not making a move like I did in 2016. If I’m Brown I’m probably not looking for star power and more just a reinforcement to help get through 162 that doesn’t cost anything.
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As expected
Astros Designate Braden Shewmake For Assignment – MLB Trade Rumors
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Devin, no doubt, pitching is at a real premium these days. But we’re not the experts either. Our expert, Dana Brown, had a bunch of swing and misses this past winter. You’ve probably seen the same stats I saw earlier this week. His six winter acquisitions have collectively given us a 5.77+ ERA. Only two of those guys remain on the 26 man. Imai is still here, but his ERA is now 6.06. Yikes. The injuries have certainly played a huge role. But heck, Spencer Arrighetti has a 9.00 plus ERA since he won Pitcher of the Month not so long ago. What’s going on? All I know is that Dana Brown is not going to get the 8 or 10 game win streak he keeps talking about when our starting pitchers can’t give us five innings.
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Hunter Brown sure battled last night. He kept his team in the game. He just has not been able to duplicate the Hunter Brown we’ve come to know since returning from his injury, for whatever reasons.
Yordan Alvarez hit number 200. I’ve come to really appreciate the guy. I don’t see him getting traded, if for no other reason than he does not want to be traded. He’s a quality human being. And from a business standpoint, it does not sound like he’s going to need a boatload of money to remain in Houston when the time comes.
I did not watch the second half of the game last night after traveling all day. And when I saw that 4 spot on the line score in the Rangers 8th this morning, I really hoped Bryan Abreu had not imploded again. Alas, the other Bryan was overdue for his rough outing. Everyone gets lit up at some point.
The Astros have no choice but to keep running Cam Smith out to right field every day, and that goes for next year too. His offensive stats remain pretty much as bad as Jake Meyers stats, with a couple of exceptions. If he does not swoon in the second half like he did last year, we might get 20 homers from him. And his BAbip on the season is .259.
The Astros will only have 64 games to play in the second half. If they win this series against the first place Rangers they can be within a game of first. But they can also be 5 games out on Sunday. For us to make a run in the second half, there are a lot of guys on the present roster that have to play better baseball.
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Thoughts
That sure is a scary thought daveb – if the Astros come out of this series down 5 – I don’t think this is going to happen for them. Down 1 or 3 – there is a good chance.
I don’t pay to read from the Athletic, but on radio they were talking about a Chandler Rome piece on Yordan. It sure did sound like he is not just looking for the biggest payday ever.
That home run he hit was so majestic. So high and still carried 455 ft.
Yainer’s homer looked foul off the bat, He hit it so hard it just never curved and stayed fair.
Hunter looked in bad shape in the first, but he battled hard. Have to admire that
OK – c’mon guys – win this one today.
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Well, the Astros got their left-handed bat for the outfield…for 2030-31.
Houston drafted Texas Tech outfielder Logan Hughes with the #18 pick. Good bat, but scouts suggest he’s not a great baserunner or defender. Yordan’s replacement in a few years?
We’ll see…but not anytime soon.
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Yep, I saw that and the reviews about him. Another blown pick by Brown. I am feeling that he was surrounded by good people, in Atlanta. That is why he shined there.
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I know nothing about the guy, but slow and fringy as a defender are not the kind of things I want about a 17th pick.
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How about our guy Peter Lambert? Ironic that he was pitching in Japan last year as Imai was. It’s hard to figure this guy coming home and turning into a Seth Lugo. Is he worth wrapping up for three years, or is he a one season wonder? He sure looks like he knows what he’s got to do to get outs. Stays around the plate. Great composure. A competitor.
We had three lefty bats in the outfield last night. Was that the first time this season? They have to keep Wade in there as long as he’s hitting. Unfortunately, Trammell has come back down to earth. Can Yordan play second?
The Astros can be a game out at the end of the day. That’s a wonder. Nobody seems to want this division. Lambert and Brown are our reliable starters. That’s it. If we had one or two more, that might win this division. Will anyone step up?
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I’m not jumping up and down over any of our selections yet. I’m going to wait and pass judgement on Hughes because I didn’t watch a single Big XII game this season. There were a lot of picks in that first round that made me scratch my head. A comment I’ve made multiple times is that your prospects can’t develop in a vacuum. If you have no hitters in a lineup the guy who could become a star may not because he never gets to experience the situations from which he would learn how to make it as a big league hitter. Everyone rakes in the batting cage. With the Astros having extra picks this year I think the budget was a limiting factor. What I come back to on a lot of these guys is that I saw Jake Burger play many times in the minors and I never thought he could become an MLB infielder. He looked big and slow and I was surprised when he hit the ball. He did hit it enough. He’s only a star when he plays the Astros, but he is a big leaguer.
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Javier starting today.
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Not impressed with the Astros’ draft results. A big need for outfielders and only three picked. 6 (SIX) shortstops chosen. 8 pitchers. 2 infielders, one will probably be a corner outfielder and the other will be a first baseman.
Bummer.
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Don’t know a lot on draft results as time will tell but we dropped 2 of 3 to the strangers when we had opportunities. Unless something changes (not sure what) I see no point in expending the future for a possible chance at the playoffs. The guys we have now just have to play better baseball. I think maybe King has been over used and needs a break. Hader just didn’t have it today. Give credit for the guys battling back but still came up short. If the rest of the division/league wasn’t so bad we’d been out of the picture a month ago. But maybe I’m wrong and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel that’s not a freight train coming our way.
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And along with this
Astros Place Mike Burrows On Injured List – MLB Trade Rumors
Alimber has been sent down with no one brought up at this time – they really don’t need to until games are going to resume later this week.
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