Does the list include being sent to the corner to think about what he’s done?
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This made me LOL
Rome says the Astros are calling up pitching prospect Miguel Ullola. He had a rough start to the season but has been much, much better since moving to the bullpen in late May. That move was long overdue. Ullola has a wicked fastball and a wicked control problem. He’s walked 6 hitters in 10 innings since moving to the pen, and yes, that is a marked improvement for him.
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Teng to AAA
I assume he’ll be back up soon to rejoin the pen. He’s a solid MLB contributor, just miscast as a starter.
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Its going to be very very interesting.
Brown is the anchor.
Imai is getting paid so won’t get sent down.
Lambert, Javier, and McCullers have no options so will be in rotation if healthy.
That leaves sometimes 1 rotation spot for Burrows, Arrighetti, Blanco, Teng, and Wesneski for the 2nd half and they all have options.
Hader, King, and Okert have earned their spots.
De Los Santos, Abreu, and Pearson have no options
That leaves 2 spots for Blubaugh, Santa, Ullola, VanWey, Sousa, and the starters who didn’t win a rotation spot and they all have options.
I have also heard the Astros are looking to add pitching at the deadline.
They want a clear #2 they can slot behind Hunter in a playoff series.
They want a high octane RH leverage guy to be what Abreu should be and is an improvement over Pearson.
It would not surprise me at all if they traded multiple BOR guys Like Arrighetti, Burrows, Teng, etc. for 1 #2 especially with a sudden bottleneck.
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“they want” “they want” “they want” huh? You know this how?
I feel pretty confident that “too many pitchers” will not be this team’s problem in the second half. Most of those guys are made of glass and quite a few of them haven’t shown they belong in the majors.
I’m adamantly against buying this year but If another team wants to trade a #2 starter for a grab-bag of guys who couldn’t hold down a rotation spot on the 2026 Astros, sure.
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I’m torn on buying/selling
I hate the idea of taking from the farm system again when this core keeps getting older and thinner.
But you never know when you will get another chance. Tomorrow isn’t promised and the AL is truly winnable this year.
I would really love to see Altuve and Lance get a 3rd ring and Yordan, Pena and so many more get a 2nd.
And to clarify I don’t think they can get a legitimate playoff starter for spare parts. It would likely need to be a deal that really hurts the farm along with some secondary pitching for complimentary parts like a decent LH hitting OF in order to make the roster work.
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I’m just reacting to what I have heard and read. I don’t “know” anything.
This is just a fan message board sorry if you expected more or I crossed some kind of line or broke some rule.
Javier with 6 scoreless IP last night in Sugarland.
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I have wondered a lot lately if Crane plans to step back from the team in the next couple of years. He may prefer to spend his seventies golfing to grinding out another rebuild—so even facing long odds, just push the chips in and see if he gets lucky.
Pushing a middling team to compete is how things got so bad in the late Drayton years. Crane is a much smarter and better owner than Drayton ever was, but I do wonder if he’s following a similar arc.
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We are very reasonable folks.
We only expect pennant runs on an annual basis.
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This is what I have also been wondering for a while. “The window will always be open as long as I own the team” what happens when the window is forced shut?
I see no evidence of this
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Nick Allen made a rehab start in the same game.
Ignore it.
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I have been following his rehab pretty closely because I have always been a fan regarding how much he misses bats. I am equal parts, excited, and nervous about his return. There are two reasons for that. First, looking at some of the core data, it does not look good. His fastball velocity has been down as he has recovered from Tommy John and also from his shoulder injury.
The data from the last couple years does not look good. This is from Claude Sonnet 4.6 High:
“Here’s a breakdown of Cristian Javier’s average four-seam fastball velocity over the last five years, based on Statcast data:
His peak was 93.8 mph in 2022 and 93.5 mph in 2021 — his two best seasons.  Then came a notable drop: his average fell to 92.8 mph in 2023 and further to 92 mph in 2024.  After Tommy John surgery, he came back in 2025 sitting around 92.6 mph — an uptick from 2024 but still below his pre-injury peak. The velocity trend reflects his overall struggles. He was still working to return to his pre-2024 velocity even in his 2025 comeback.  In 2026 before his shoulder injury, his velocity in rehab was reportedly back around 92–93 mph, which was considered an encouraging sign.“
While this core data does not present a hopeful outcome, the thing that I am actually interested in watching is the fact that he has a long history of missing bats. He’s a pitcher, not a thrower. I will find it incredibly fascinating to watch how he adjust to Major league batters with his changing physical skills.
The 91.8 average last night is frightening.
