Imo, they were thin at SP before the injuries. My view is because I had little confidence in Urquidy and Garcia. At least we have JV back.
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Absolutely.
As fans we sometimes extrapolate a short time of very high performance to “this is how it will be forever”.
And by sometimes I mean almost always.
I have to admit that I was drinking the coolaid and was WRONG WRONG WRONG
Coming in to the season, I thought this team had plenty of starting pitching and it was among the best in MLB.
My preseason thoughts:
Framber: ace
McCullers and Javier: #1 stuff but w/ fewer innings.
Brown: inconsistent due to growing pains but 25 reasonable starts.
Garcia: very good #4 or average #3 who could still take a step up.
Urquidy: #5-6 who won’t hurt you.
Funny thing is that I still feel very similar heading into 2024. The difference is the presence of JV reducing the role of the others except maybe Framber and slightly reduced expectations of all after 2023.
I still think that JV, McCullers, and Javier would thrive in a 6 man rotation for various reasons but its tough to keep 6 quality starters healthy all season
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On an individual basis all those outcomes were possible, even likely. The mistake is looking at the top end of everyone’s reasonable projections rather than the midpoint—some guys are always going to get hurt, underperform, whatever. The seasons where everything clicks and guys all play up to their potential are vanishingly rare, and often end up with a World Series win.
I think George W Bush had an aphorism for you regarding McCullers.
Nucular?
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His forearm, UCL, and shoulder constitute an axis of evil?
I am pretty sure the Astros will not win another game for the rest of the season. Maybe not even next season as well.
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Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…we won’t get fooled again.
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Well they definitely misunderestimated the time it was going to take for McCullers to get healthy.
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I think this sums it up nicely.