Musgrove looked elite as a bullpen piece.
They also went all-in on signing international FAs in the last year of that system. Just paid the money and signed them. The minor-league system should remain stocked.W said:
it's also nice that the 'stros got the 2 extra picks from the Cardinals...to help backfill the minor league talent after trading away quite a few guys for Verlander and Cole
CSWendt said:
The tandem rotation talk is just fantasy. Hinch isn't going to go to tandem starts. Nobody does that, and for a reason. It isn't practical to have roughly 7 starting pitchers.
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Just because nobody does it doesn't mean it's wrong. I bet someone somewhere said the same thing about frequent defensive shifts.
MosesHallRAB04 said:
Damn, Musgrove has some nice handwriting.
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There's a pretty strong argument that 2017's champions have made themselves a whole lot stronger this winte
Not only that, but we won the ****in World Series AND kept our top prospects AND ended up with one of those original targets. Remember all the teeth gnashing at the trade deadline? Makes me laughAg_07 said:
Think back to last off season and even the deadline. We were after Gray, Cole, and to an extent Archer. At that point we thought we would have to part with a top prospects like Martes, Tucker, or Fisher
Well we went and landed Verlander without giving up either of them. Now we've landed one of our original targets in Cole without giving up either of them.
Lunhow has absolutely crushed this.
Completely agree. LMJ is still incredibly young and has flashed absolute ace levels of stuff. It would be a crime to put him in the bullpen right now. McHugh or Morton make more sense than putting your young stud in the BP.Farmer1906 said:
I'm not so sure you want lance making 62 appearances for 80+ IP. That adds a completely different kind of stress on his arm. Let him keep his role and just stay cautious. Unless something goes terribly wrong then it's about being in a position to win in Oct, not racking up 200 IP.
Ag_07 said:CSWendt said:
The tandem rotation talk is just fantasy. Hinch isn't going to go to tandem starts. Nobody does that, and for a reason. It isn't practical to have roughly 7 starting pitchers.
This.
It works in the playoffs when you get travel days and time off between series but it doesn't feasible to implement over an entire season.
I think even Hinch said himself during the WS that he likes it during the playoffs but doesn't see it catching on during the regular season.
And IIRC the farm system no longer does it.
100% this.Safe at Home said:Quote:
Just because nobody does it doesn't mean it's wrong. I bet someone somewhere said the same thing about frequent defensive shifts.
In "Ahead of the Curve" by Brian Kenney he argues that traditional roles by pitchers will inevitably diminish. It will be common for a starter to go 3 or 4 or 5 innings at most, and relievers will no longer have their set roles as they do now. If the game is on the line in the 6th inning, the guy who is now your closer would come in. He says the thing that is keeping it from happening now are the stats for individual wins and saves which he maintains are useless.
The Astros figured out how to navigate through the World Series without having someone who they could count on in the traditional closer's role, and it worked out OK.
Outside of essentially tandem starts, isn't some of the unorthodox ways the pitchers were used because of the bullpen becoming essentially untrustable? I think I saw in an article where we were the 17th ranked bullpen last year (could be off). If we had an elite bullpen, do you think Hinch would have done some of the same moves? I feel some of what we did in the playoffs became more out of necessity than a true analytical approach to a traditional pitching role.irish pete ag06 said:100% this.Safe at Home said:Quote:
Just because nobody does it doesn't mean it's wrong. I bet someone somewhere said the same thing about frequent defensive shifts.
In "Ahead of the Curve" by Brian Kenney he argues that traditional roles by pitchers will inevitably diminish. It will be common for a starter to go 3 or 4 or 5 innings at most, and relievers will no longer have their set roles as they do now. If the game is on the line in the 6th inning, the guy who is now your closer would come in. He says the thing that is keeping it from happening now are the stats for individual wins and saves which he maintains are useless.
The Astros figured out how to navigate through the World Series without having someone who they could count on in the traditional closer's role, and it worked out OK.
The Astros just won a World Series using pitchers in maybe some of the most unorthodox ways in the playoffs. A true "closer" should be brought in to pitch when the other teams run expectancy gets over a certain threshold (could be in the 7th inning with the bases loaded and no outs).