That’s certainly my hope.
Seems like most sidearmers have 2 settings on the dial: untouchable or batting practice.
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Hopefully he hasn’t been using “stuff” to generate that movement.
Ha, ha.
Yep, easy for sidearmers to throw flat pitches if they do not stay on top of the ball.
At the very least, it’s great timing to get him back as we can throw him out there and see if he has anything left in the tank prior to the deadline.
I wonder if the team will market Baez, Pruitt, and James as trade deadline improvements the bullpen needs?
Maybe they are.
Injured players to other teams or do you mean to us?
If healthy, they will help.
I mean
From what I’ve heard, they are coming back and they should help.
My point was that I wonder if the front office will use this as a reason to not bring in any other relievers, and spin that to the fans.
And they could honestly feel that it is enough. Based on the track record of these players, they could be right.
I think Pressly has become a great closer
A bullpen of Stanek, Baez, Smith, Abreu, Javier, Taylor, Raley ( can’t see them leaving him off) along with Pressly ( the top 8 by my best guess) could be very formidable.
Also there are 6 very solid starters, likely 2-3 of which will be in he bullpen in the postseason.
Based on the consequences of going over the luxury tax, they need to decide if any player will be enough of an improvement over this group.
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Of course the roster crunch is still coming.
As these players are activated there is no more room for them on the 40.
Some trades must be made at some point.
I like the confidence some of you are showing in the bullpen, but unfortunately I don’t share the sentiment. Joe Smith has been nothing short of terrible in my opinion. The year off hurt him. I don’t know how we can count on Baez when he has missed so much time. Javier has been iffy ever since he was moved back to the pen. One good performance, one subpar. Abreu doesn’t have enough of a track record to say you can count on him. Josh James? Where the hell do I start? I’ve gone from never wanting to see him in an Astros uniform again to wanting him back terribly the last few weeks. That in and of itself tells me you can’t rely on him.
I hope they all come back and are great, but we have a chance to win it all. I don’t think you can rely on just what we have to accomplish that goal. Almost everyone in that pen save one has proven to us on countless occasions they are shaky. In my opinion, we just need one solid addition to go with what we have. Taylor Rogers, Richard Rodriguez or Kimbrel would put us in very solid shape.
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I’m not normally like this, but I feel like you are pretty much stating the obvious. I haven’t seen anyone post that they think the pen is perfect as is…nor have I read that they believe the mash unit of Smith, James, Pruitt and/or Baez will show up and save the day. I think we can all agree this team would be better with the addition of a high quality arm. The question is whether or not said addition will happen.
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I think it will happen, as long as we can find a partner that likes what we have to offer. I’ve never thought that we wouldn’t go over the cap as long as Crane felt we had a real shot. He obviously thinks that now. You can’t tell me he doesn’t want to win a World Series without all the drama that surrounds 2017. He’s gonna go for it.
He and Click might burn the house down after this year to replenish the system, but I think he’s gonna go for it, no holds barred.
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And, if I can add
Relief pitching is volatile in the best of circumstances.
What’s to say that the best reliever on the market won’t come in and lay an egg?
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Oh, that’s obvious and true. Look at Kimbrel 2-3 ago. But we have to take our best shot to upgrade and hope it works.
So according to reports the Astros have released Hector Velazquez who is now going to go play in the Mexican League. I had honestly forgotten that we signed him and that he was in Sugarland??? He appears to have had an impressive stat line down there throwing 24 and two thirds innings with a 1.46 ERA and an almost 22% K rate. Why was he never called up to Houston when we needed relief help? Was it simply a 40-man roster issue? Seems like we could have used a guy with his experience.
Maybe his absolutely shit previous MLB experience?
They seem to square it up pretty well against him … earlier in his career at Boston (and in the minors) he got a lot of ground-ball outs. He has been hovering at about 1.0 (or below) for GO/FO ratio recently. The expectation is probably that major league hitters would do that much more frequently with much better effect.
Austin Pruitt has been activated.
Was just about to ask did he make the trip. Looking forward to seeing in action.