Astros Fall to McCutchen And The Pirates 5-4

The walks are still there, and unfortunately its looking like that’s just the kind of pitcher he is. You guys sort of hinted at this in the podcast, and ultimately came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t happen, but I hope the Astros don’t get crazy and non tender JA Happ next season. He is the type of player that could bounce back next year and make that decision look really bad. He will be pretty cheap in his first year of arbitration, and provides depth to the rotation.

One thing that concerns me about Happ is I’m not for sure of he is strong enough mentally to be a good starter. He seems like he let’s to many outside factors that he can’t control. There’s been a couple of instances that could be interpreted this way if you try to read to deep into the context clues.

1.) When the Astros traded for Happ the Phillies pitching coach said that Happ would be missed and that he knew the type of pitcher they were giving up. He went on to say that Happ would sometimes not believe in himself and struggled with confidence, but was a special type of pitcher.

2.) When Happ came back from being demoted this year he admitted that it was tough for him to be motivated to pitch with the state of affairs the organization was in, or something to that affect. While I could understand this, I wish Happ could be the type of pitcher that could block this out and just go out and pitch.

Next years bullpen seems to be shaping up pretty good.

Melancon, Abeu, Rodriguez, Carpenter, Lopez, Escalona, and outside of Wright 6 balls in a row the other night he’s looked good to if Mills wanted to go with two lefties.

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2011/09/08/frustrated-jim-crane-feels-offended-impatient-in-astros-sale-process/

Starting off with the lineup, I think we are so much more well rounded than we were this year.

Of course depending on who lights it up in ST, I’m gonna go off of the guys we have now. Schaffer could be what MB was/is. He’s got plus speed (which is slower than the plus plus speed we had with Bourn, but is still good) good defense, and the ability to hit the ball if he has an “on” year. Altuve is being stretched out right now. This could be part of the reason he’s been struggling recently or it could be that he’s not ready for MLB pitching. JD Martinez, like Altuve, has torn up pitchers everywhere he has been. His batting “style” leaves me with an uneasy feeling about his potential but its worked so far and he has a pretty good approach. Lee, hopefully our 1st baseman of 2012, might see an up year with the energy he saves at 1B and the positive influences injected by the young guys. Between CJ (maybe a rebound?) Matt Downs and the UNBELIEVABLE Jimmy Paredes 3B and the 5 hole should do well next year. If Bogey is our RFer, I’m happy with him in the 6 spot but I’m not sure what to expect. Will he be overmatched as a hitter? Probably. Can he provide some pop? Most definately. He’s a box of chocolates at this point. (Hopefully we re-sign) Barmes in the 7 spot is not a bad thing as he has pretty good pop for a SS and has the ability to hit the ball hard all the time. Catcher is still a toss up. We don’t know if we can re-sign Q, and we (as fans) don’t know if the organization will want to. But with Castro returning (hopefully) from a major knee surgery, after a year of mediocre batting, we have a big question mark in the lineup.

Starting Pitching is another box of chocolates, as with each of our current pitchers you don’t know what you’re gonna get. They can be dominant or disasterous on any given day.

Bullpen, see Starting Pitching.