Dunno. I have not heard this before. Of course, a ground ball pitcher needs an excellent defense, but I have no idea why it would affect longevity.
My guess would be that strikeout guys can retool as they get older to become pitch to contact as they lose velocity. Ground ball guys as they lose velocity just become easier to square up
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Makes sense to me. I’m really not sure why it is. It’s also worth noting there are so few true groundball freaks like Framber that you’re dealing with a small sample, even over thirty years. Maybe he’ll last forever.
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Avg fastball velocity per Baseball Savant:
'20 - 98.1
'21 - 98.0
'22 - 97.9
'23 - 96.8
'24 - 94.6
It has really dropped off the last few years. Also noticed he dropped his arm angle down quite a bit last season as well so that may be part of it.
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Thoughts on a Charlie Fucking Morton reunion for one year?
Aren’t the Astros at their salary ceiling? Would be much better to spend any extra money on an outfielder or two or three.
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I think he would be a great example of a SP Dana could sign if he decided to move Framber.
I think I could see them signing Verlander before Morton if the price is right.
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I continue to see rumors about the Astros still being in on Santander. If true, is that crane being willing to blow through the tax threshold or does that mean he would be looking to dump salary by trading Presley and maybe Framber to stay under?
Signing Santander and trading Framber without acquiring or signing a comparable starting pitcher would not make the Astros better. The Astros do not have the depth in starting pitching to do that.
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Pressley wants out. Surely he has some trade value.
I doubt any team takes on his 14M without a prospect being attached, but if the Astros are willing to take on a comparable contract from another club (say an outfielder) a deal could make sense.
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Maybe. But he wants out of Houston because he wants a closer role. None of his stats in the last three years, supports that though. Hits, walks and K’s per 9 are all headed in the wrong direction. He is a middle inning mop up guy now and most smart teams would rightly focus on someone with a higher upside at a sharply discounted price. Any trade to free up the roster spot, I fear, will do nothing to repair the salary cap tax issue.
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I was thinking about that this morning. Most of the pundits Are saying that he will take a deeply discounted one year deal. My totally uneducated guesstimate would be something like $15 million for the year. All that will do is exacerbate the cap issue, which is too bad. Since that would likely be a good exploratory investment on the outside chance that he regains decent form and relatively injury free. A potential decent, low cost #5 that helps with AIS.
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Some speculate Detroit as a likely destination. Makes sense.
The rumor is that Crane does not want to be a repeat payor of the CBT penalties.
CBT is $241M, but $21.8M is: pre-arb bonus pool, minor leaguers on 40 man, and player benefits.
Astros have 10 players on guaranteed contracts (8 on the 26 man) making a total of $164M
That leaves the Astros $55.2M for 18 roster spots, including arbitration salaries.
My best guess is that he wants to start the season under but will be willing to add and go over in season if the team is competing.
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He and Bregman can be teammates?
I agree with you that Pressly isn’t the pitcher he was when the Astros won the World Series in 2022. But he had 33 saves that year and 31 saves in 2023. It’s not like he fell off a mountain and is some kind of albatross in the bullpen. I would argue he’s still a high leverage arm not some middle inning mop up guy. How long that remains the case is the question.
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