Righty Lance McCullers Jr. is showing tangible progress in his efforts to return from Tommy John surgery. He’s back on the mound and already touching 90 mph, as he documented yesterday on Twitter.
It has been just under a year since McCullers went under the knife to receive a replacement ulnar collateral ligament. There was never any urgency to his rehab, since it was exceedingly unlikely he’d be back late in 2019. That makes it all the more promising to see him already cleared to reach this level of activity.
McCullers still has over four months to work with before Spring Training opens next year. There are still plenty of obstacles to clear, but it seems reasonable to hope that he’ll get in the required work (along with some rest) and be ready to roll come mid-February.
The Houston organization is obviously still focused on the final game or two of the season at the moment. But the gaze will soon turn to a winter roster-building effort that will feature some tough choices from a financial perspective.
There’s particular need in the Houston rotation, which is set to part with top hurler Gerrit Cole as well as the capable Wade Miley, who threw a lot of useful innings before a late nosedive. You can do worse than a staff anchored by Justin Verlander and Zack Greinke, though neither is a youthful hurler and there are questions after that point. Jose Urquidy was likely already ticketed for a spot before his impressive recent World Series outing, but he’s largely unproven and that still only accounts for three spots. There’s always talent to work with in Houston, but high-ceiling prospect Forrest Whitley and other options have even lesser track records than Urquidy.
There’ll surely be some kind of outside addition to ensure adequate depth, though it’s unclear how much cash president of baseball operations Jeff Luhnow will be able to dedicate to that purpose. The status of McCullers will therefore weigh heavily on the Astros’ offseason planning and, perhaps, its fortunes in 2020.
Talk about an embarrassment of riches. The Stros crushed it on their rebuild. The cubs, not so much. lol
to be fair, the Astros were the worst team in baseball for 3 years straight and near the worst a few other years. as bad as the Cubs were before, they didnt tank as hard as Houston did. even Detroit and Baltimore arent there yet.
Each rebuild is different and the Astros succeeded in their rebuild, the Cubs didn’t maintain their farm and stretched the budget beyond the owner’s comfort level. Baltimore and Detroit have terrible contracts they have to deal with, the Astros didn’t have that experience either.
and the Cubs also won the world series and still have the chance to win another in this window. if their rebuild is an unsuccessful one then the bar is well high.
Yes, Detroit has two lousy contracts on the books. As a Tigers fan, I don’t see that as justification to keep the payroll at such a low level, since the two total about $55 million.
This market should support something in the $150-$160 million range, yet Illitch has it way below that range. Entering 2020 this team will have 3 players earning a total of about $60 million. Let’s hope there is a sale in the works.
@darkside, I think you misunderstood what I was saying about the “rebuild”, obviously the Cubs were successful in winning the World Series, but if you are going to compare the degree of tanking (I.e Astros “tanked” harder than the Cubs), then it’s only fair to compare the success of the franchises post rebuild. In my mind, the Astros has been more successful than the Cubs based on division titles, pennants, payroll and farm system after the tanking period.
I see a few cubs fans still suffering from short term memory loss.
The cubs aren’t getting back to a WS without major changes to the roster.
In regards to Detroit, spending that kind of money during a rebuild doesn’t work. That would actually be a reload.
Illitch isn’t selling with owning the Red Wings and spending all the money developing the areas around the stadium/arena. Way to much invested in that to think about selling a prized asset to someone else who could screw up the team even more.
Also “to be fair”, the Astros were forced to move to the American League, necessitating roster reconstruction due, in part, to the Designated Hitter.
I wouldn’t call it an embarrassment of riches, I would call it a number of high ceiling pitchers with some question marks. .
Their number 1 and number 2 pitches are 36 and 37 years old. They are both hall of famers. At some point they have to age. I’m not saying it’s going to be next year. But that has to have someone thinking.
That said, you certainly have to like what’s there.
They have the AL West locked down for the next couple of years with only the A’s to nip at their heels.
The Astros are the best team in baseball. Things change quick in this game, there is not reason to believe it will in this case, but things change quick.
I wouldn’t worry about the As until they develop some young pitching. It may happen, it may not.
Then start worrying, because the A’s young pitching is sitting at the doorstep to the majors. You saw what Luzardo and Puk did last year. They’ll join Fiers, Manaea and Montas in the rotation. If one of those 5 stumble, Kaprielian, Jefferies, Holmes, Cotton (meh) and Gossett (meh) are expected to be healthy and ready to fight for rotation spots in 2020.
I know there is potential, you have every reason to be excited, but Manaea, Puk and Luzardo are all coming off injuries. They didn’t pitch 150 innings combined last year. Montas was suspended for PEDs. Fiers has a long history of being mediocre.
If they come around, then the As will be nipping. But sometimes pitchers comes around, sometimes they don’t. So when the As develop them, I’ll start worrying about them.
Eh that’s debatable at best, from a lineup perspective they are in good shape.
Cole is expected to leave, so unless they have internal candidates step up and fill Cole’s production, and Greinke & Verlander keep producing at elite level, Astro’s have payroll flex, but they havent been giving out FA mega deals during Lunhow era so doubt that will change. Cubs struggles with not drafting & developing pitching shows how hard that is, & FA isnt the answer there either.
Uh, the A’s gave pretty good pitchers.
The A’s won 97 games in 2019 with a patched up pitching staff. They have many more arms that will be available in 2020. Let’s not act like that the A’s aren’t gonna be a much improved team in 2020. There’s such a huge drop off after the Astros, and A’s in that division.
I’m an Astros fan and I think the A’s are a threat in 2020 and beyond. they are good and they have arms in the pipeline.
The Cubs got a title out of it, at least. Then Theo gave away all his good prospects while trying to keep the window open a little longer.
Kinda like Dumbrowski.
To be fair Lunhow didnt draft Spring & Altuve, those two account for 59 WAR, Lunhow did good with Correa and Bregman. But those were both high picks,
Honestly Astro’s should have lost draft choice to Bregman in their bait & switch dealings with Aiken and Nix..
That’s an interesting take on a draft pick that after medical examination showed a ligament deformity that they were advised might lead to a career ending injury….which happened 8 months later to the poor guy.
Correa did EXACTLY what they proposed to Brady Aiken—sign for less so we can pay top 10 money to a late first rounder….which turned out to be Lance MCCullers. God Bless you Carlos Correa!
I’d say the Cubs rebuild went just as well, they just did a worse job sustaining the success afterwords. Eg: Chapman vs Verlander, Heyward vs Grienke.
Not drafting a single productive pitcher is kinda a big deal.
I question if they are going to fork out the money to keep a lot of these obvious talents come time. Hope they do, would like to see them be good for a while
Yet the Cubs have won as many championships as the Astros in that time period.
Lets see how the White Sox rebuild crushes it in comparison to either the Cubs or Astros.
McCullers is arb eligible. What kind of offer should they make him? What should he ask for in arbitration?
I believe there is a rule that in arbitration for a guy that missed the entire season, he gets paid the same as the missed the season. Not a big price to pay
it’s not exactly a written rule or anything, but at this point, so many players have signed for the exact same amount, that if a team tried to lower the pay, they’d probably lose the case (and hurt their chances of getting the player to sign a long term deal).
in short, the small savings isn’t really worth both the bad rep with players, the union, and fans
$4.1 million in 2019. Maybe not a written rule but precedent says $4.1 million for 2020. Not a big price. All-Star and invaluable member of 2017 World Series Champions. Was it 27 straight curveballs he threw to the Yankees in Game 7??? The crybaby team that makes such a big deal about some kind of unfair advantage when hitters read their pitchers tips….after about the 4th or 5th straight curveball, MCCullers basically said, “here come 22 more curveballs” and not a peep from the Yankees bats was registered!
McCullers seems like a guy who would thrive in a late inning role. He doesn’t seem to have the durability to pitch 180~ innings a year. But he racks up a lot of strikeouts, and is pretty good with his control.
Shaky control sometimes at the beginning of his outings doesn’t mesh with this idea
They could have used him
Shrugs
It seems like the Astros really need Forrest Whitley to hit for them the way Walker Buehler was a hit for the Dodgers.
I agree. If Whitley can take over a rotation spot, and be as good as he was projected to be, the Astros will continue to be very good for the next few years. They could also use James as a starter next year and move McCullers into the pen.
The Author forgets that in the 2017 World Championship season, Brad Peacock was the #4 starter on that team, and was probably the top #4 starter in the game that year. Had some injuries the last 2 years but if he’s healthy in 2020, he’s an excellent starting pitching weapon as well.
Peacock was 34th in WAR MLB among SP. Peacock was good in 2017, but not top 4 pitcher in MLB good. lack of IP is biggest factor. Peacock is 31 now, so expecting him to become a TORP is illogical. Not saying he cant be good but Peacock has already HAD his career season most likely.
He said the top #4 starter, which being #34 means he was Well above a #4 starter.
Yeah, 34/30 teams….hmmm, math says that would have made him the 4th best #2 starter! Ha, thanks for the statistical analysis to back up my claim!
Peacock is a solid #4 starter on every single roster next year if healthy.
Many teams could use a guy like Peacock for sure
Peacock is a very very good middle / multiple inning relief pitcher.
With the Astros losing Rondon, Harris, Smith, and McHugh along with possibly nontendering Devenski and Biagini
Plus
Having Verlander, Grienke, McCullers, and Urquidy 1-4 in the rotation and a handful of prospects to fill out #5
This is the role that I see him fill in 2020.
Especially if they decide to stretch out James for a possible starting spot.