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Topic 1 - Justin Verlander - The Greatest Pitcher to put on an Astros uniform?
After another absolutely dominant showing last night, it had me wondering where Verlander would rate among our All-Time greats. There’s a pretty strong list of Hall of Famers (and should be HOF’ers) with names such as Nolan Ryan, JR Richards, Roy Oswalt, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, etc. etc.
Where would he rate for you on our list? Who is your #1?
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Topic 2 - Do you believe we need Starting Pitching help?
Justin Verlander last night was the first pitcher to not get blown up in the first inning since... well Justin Verlander. A week ago, we were on top of the world with one of the top rotations in baseball, but a bad week of baseball can change the minds of fans pretty quickly. Was this past week a blip or something we should be concerned about?
If you think we should pursue some outside help, who would it be and what would it take?
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Topic 3 - Should we be worried about our top prospects?
It’s an extremely small sample size, but both Tucker and Whitley have stumbled out of the gate to the following lines:
Tucker - .152/.211/.348 for a 27 wRC+
Whitley - 0-2 with a 6.55 ERA, 3.91 FIP, a drop in K rate and increase in BB rate.
I’m generally not a big believer in following the stat lines since the minors is a place to work on certain aspects. I haven’t heard anything in particular, but it could be as simple as another approach to hitting or new pitch etc.
So are you worried? If not, how far in to the season does it become a concern for you?