The season starts Sunday!
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The season starts Sunday!
Following in the footsteps of the #1 pick of 2014, the potential #1 pick for the 2015 draft is having Tommy John surgery as well...
http://www.lonestarball.com/2015/4/1...mlb-draft-2015
For anyone who has followed my Astros Franchise on The Show, this should not be 'surprising'. :nod:
http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article...stros-rotation
Gonna have to keep an eye on him. Houston pitchers have been pretty good lately in fantasy baseball.Quote:
Originally Posted by steelerfan
The Astros scratched out a 2-0 win over Cleveland in their opener tonight. Always good when you can beat the AL Cy Young winner. Hopefully, Houston can crack 80 wins this year. :up:
I'm really happy that the Astros have moved to Root Sports this year. For the last few years they have been on Comcast Sports Network and you had to be a Comcast subscriber to get the games.
That meant that most of Houston (myself included since I have AT&T) could not watch the Astros. Hell, you couldn't even go to a bar and watch them because bars have DirecTV for NFL Sunday Ticket. It's pitiful how little I've got to see the Astros play the last couple of years and I'm pumped to have the ability to watch them again.
Asher Wojo pitching this afternoon. I'm going to catch a glimpse of him on MLB.TV today.Quote:
Originally Posted by steelerfan
Yeah. I'm going to tune in too.Quote:
Originally Posted by JBHuskers
Watched the Indians turn the tables on Houston with a 2-0 win of their own last night. It would be big for the Astros to take the series today.
Wojciechowski just got lifted with 2 on in the 5th. He's already allowed 4 runs including a pair of solo homers. Rough outing.
Also, the Astros have struck out 29 times this season through 4 innings today. 46% of their outs have been Ks. :fp:
Deduno came on for Wojciechowski in the 5th and stranded the 2 runners he inherited so Wojciechowski will finish with 4 innings having allowed 4 runs on 8 hits with 2 strikeouts and 2 walks.
Not what I was looking for for Asher.
No. It's not.Quote:
Originally Posted by JBHuskers
But, just his debut. Maybe things will improve since he got that out of the way.
Bauer pulled after 6 innings of no-hit ball, but 111 pitches.
Matt Harvey had some electric stuff in his first outing in 20 months after Tommy John.
Breaking: Indians lose combined no-hit bid with 1 out in 9th on HR by Astros SS Jed Lowrie off reliever Nick Hagadone.
The Astros ended with just the one hit. They were hitting .127 before this game. :fp:
With a tired bullpen, Wojciechowski pitched multiple innings in relief tonight. This on the eve of what was to be his second start. AJ Hinch just said that Brad Peacock will start tomorrow. Peacock is just coming off the DL so I think Wojciechowski is headed to AAA.
That's really strange. Comcast Sports Net is where the Nationals are in DC, but it's not exclusive to Comcast by any means.Quote:
Originally Posted by steelerfan
Yeah. Comcast was trying to gouge the other providers to carry CSN. The other providers called their bluff and Comcast found out that Houstonians generally don't care enough about the Astros and Rockets to switch providers.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffHCross
Yeah I dropped him in the one league I had him in. I'll always keep an eye on him though because I think he's got stellar stuff. It just takes time with some guys.Quote:
Originally Posted by steelerfan
He was great last night. 4 shutout innings.Quote:
Originally Posted by JBHuskers
Really struggling with getting a feel for the Jays this year. They look like world beaters one day and then struggle to get a hit. Love the Castro kid but the rest of the team I not so sure about. A lot of big changes in the offseason...
Well, JB, Brad Peacock is back on the 15-day DL and Asher Wojciechowski is back in Houston. :D
A lot of people taking shots at Bryant for the Cubs after a bad debut but he was a stud in AAA last year and in spring training. I find it funny that Epstein said they like to hold kids back to avoid the pressure and all this stunt did was put more pressure after Boras went nuts. Plus they batted him cleanup! First time a players first game at cleanup since Monday in 2003.
It wasn't really a stunt, keeping Bryant down. It was a matter of keeping him down long enough to assure that he won't accrue enough days this year to get a year of Service Time. It's the smart move because it will delay his ability to become a Free Agent by an additional year.
Bryant will be fine.
I thought it was the wrong decision to keep him down solely based on money since he was one of their best players. Cheap move they denied was based on salary but rather pressure. Bogus.Quote:
Originally Posted by steelerfan
Eh. Every club does it. It doesn't have to do with money, it has to do with keeping Bryant tied to the Cubs organization for another year.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rudy
The Tigers don't. They call guys up as soon as they think they can help and I haven't seen them do anything like that in recent history. Dave Dombrowski doesn't operate like that. This was so blatant it was brutal.
You may be right, but I have my doubts. If you are right they are incredibly stupid. If you can provide a laundry list of Tigers rookies that have been on an Opening Day roster in recent years, I will concede that the Tigers are dumb. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Rudy
Just because you don't know something is happening (a player being kept down because of service time) doesn't mean it isn't. :)
The Tigers have given a lot of their top picks in recent years MLB deals right out of the gate to get them to sign. That includes guys like Porcello and Castellanos. If a decision is close they will send down the kid with options but they have never hesitated to keep the best players on the team. The Tigers haven't had a ton of super youngsters the last few years but they have been chasing the World Series heavily since 2006. Everything they do is about winning it, not saving a few bucks. Illitch is not in great health and they don't give a damn about saving a year in arbitration.
With Bryant clearly being one of their best players the Cubs looked like a very small time team with that move. I could understand if he was bottom half of the roster talented but he was one of their best position players.
I think you still don't understand why the Cubs did this. It has NOTHING to do with saving a few bucks.
The Cubs are building a team to win (perhaps you're unfamiliar with Epstein's previous work). This move is about keeping Bryant tied to the Cubs through 2021 instead of having him become a Free Agent after 2020.
Two questions. Why do you keep saying it's about saving a few bucks (incidentally, NO ONE should feel sorry for MLB players who get GUARANTEED money based on past performance)? Second, do you truly believe that 17 days in 2015 is worth potentially losing Bryant a full year earlier (after 2020 instead of after 2021)?
Steelerfan is right. It was 2 weeks. Everyone acts like he missed 1/2 the season. Baseball season is LONG. The first 2 weeks are meaningless because there's SOOOOO much time to catch up if you're in the whole. 2 weeks to save a year is smart management.
It saves money because you keep him for another year under arbitration figures rather than open market. And I'm not arguing against the fact the Cubs will get a huge benefit here. But you are wrong in thinking every other team would have done it imo.
Some teams like the Angels used the cba to lowball Trout initially and offer the minimum for exclusive rights contract. Other clubs like the Yankees pay their young stars (Jeter is an example) more than they had to early on simply because they felt it was fair and also possibly not to anger them down the road. Clearly the Cubs are not the Yankees. Yes you can use the cba to screw over the players as much as you can but that stuff won't be forgotten.
They still have his rights for a long time regardless. You guys act as though a rookie never makes the opening day roster.
I'm fairly certain that the Cubs will pay Bryant when he performs at the Major League level (just like the Indians have worth their young pitchers). It's not about saving money, it's about retaining his rights.
Yeah, it has nothing to do with saving money. It's solely about keeping the kid locked up for an entire extra year. Now they have him locked up through 2021 and have that extra season to use him as a piece of a potential World Series team (assuming the rest of their prospects and trades come together as projected).
#TheScriptIsDead
For the record, the Cubs would have to have waited until June to bring Bryant up to prevent an extra year of arbitration.
Again, saving a few bucks was not the motivation.
Also, Bryant is hitting .300 after 3 games.
So, despite a rough debut, I think it can be said that the "pressure" some purport that the Cubs and/or Boras put on him is a non-factor.
There are two sides of the ball though, and his play on the field at 3B has been phenomenal.
The league adjusted from spring training, and how it's Bryant's turn to adjust.
How about those first place Houston Astros? 8-6 and winners of 4 in a row!
Bryant has been pretty good since that bad debut I'd say.
The Astros lost 3-2 in Seattle tonight so they couldn't get the sweep. However, the pitching this team has has been brilliant. The bullpen, which led the Majors in blown saves last season, was second in the AL in ERA coming into tonight.
Houston is playing pretty well and no one, aside from Marisnick and Altuve, is really hitting with much consistency yet. When they get the bats going a little, they will be tough.
I'm still optimistic about them getting 81 wins. At least, things are heading in the right direction.