Quick Hits on the Opening Day Roster

Hey Astro fans! It’s opening day. As in... Opening Day! It still doesn’t feel right, but we have actual, real baseball to talk about.

Dusty and Crick just dropped the 30-man roster. See what I mean? Things just don’t feel right. Eventually it will get down to 26, in about four weeks (see what I mean about things not feeling right).

A few thoughts...

• Super Jack is on the roster but don’t expect to see him much. The season is only 60 games, and Diaz + Toro are better options to sub for a starter or to pinch-hit.
• My biggest concern with Dusty is what he does with Reddick. Is Reddick the de-facto starter? Advanced stats indicate that both Tucker and Straw would do better. There’s no AAA to send anyone down to, there’s no long season to have things work out. Reddick should be a back up. The sooner Dusty realizes that, the better the team will be. In the meantime, Straw/Tucker will have to carve out their own playing time. I expect Straw gets used a ton late in games with an expanded roster.
• The pitching is a mess. No Urquidy is an absolute disaster for a team that was already thin. James and Framber struggle to throw strikes, and Lance can get antsy. There’s no Peacock security blanket anymore, at least for the time being.
• The BP in particular is a mess. With Osuna not ready, here’s the number of guys used to high leverage situations..... Pressly. That’s it. I guess you can say Devo. No Smith, no Harris. No Rondon. Instead, it’s major step up time. I drafted Bryan Abreu late in my fantasy draft, and I feel great about it. He may be the 8th inning guy for a week or two, and then the 7th inning guy. Of course he’ll lose it in about two days if it looks like anybody else can do it.
• Nobody really knows what this season will yield, but nothing hurts teams more than late inning meltdowns in games that are nearly won. They crush a team’s spirit. And in a 60-game season, two or three of these in a week can lead to a dangerous hangover, esp. if one is throwing Framber the next day and he can’t hit the broad side of barn.
• On that note, Framber and James are probably the keys to the season. If they can keep things steady and take pressure off the BP, the team should be okay. But the more they get pulled in the 4th, the more we see Cy Sneed, Paredes, and other guys who wouldn’t normally be on the roster. I’d love for these guys to succeed, but every team has a soft underbelly.
• Stan Javier! I’d love to see him just blow the doors down.

Alright Astros fans, buckle in and get ready for the ride!