How the Astros can bolster their pitching depth
For all the injuries they’ve had, the Astros surprisingly have more than a few options to fill out their playoff rotation.
Valdez, Brown, and Kikuchi are probably locks to start games 1,2 and 3, not necessarily in that order. However, the fourth pitcher is more up for debate. Espada could give the ball to either Justin Verlander, Spencer Arrighetti, or Ronel Blanco. Spencer A and JV are coming off bad starts; however, Justin Verlander has not pitched a quality start in his last six starts and it is clear he isn’t the same guy. Blanco has pitched well this season, but he has similar issues as Arrighetti. Specifically, that he doesn’t not have a long track record of success and he has trouble the second and third time through the order. Luckily there is a simple solution: piggybacking.
Astros fans will fondly remember the Charlie Morton and LMJ tandem in the 2017 playoffs. Perhaps a Blanco-Arrighetti tandem will yield similar results.
The first time through the order, Spencer has pitched to a 3.93 FIP, the second time through the lineup his FIP jumps to 4.51. Blano’s FIP has a similar rise. Given that it usually takes four innings to get through a lineup. The Astros can get through eight innings using this approach. This gives Espada several advantages in a competitive series.
First, considering he probably won’t have to use much of his bullpen in a piggyback game, Espada can be aggressive with Abreu and Pressly earlier in the series. Secondly, without the pressure of having to go through the order multiple times, Arrighetti and Blanco can tailor their game plan to getting nine hitters out, instead of the usual eighteen. In the boom MVP machine, the author writes extensively about how that can be beneficial in a playoff setting.
Verlander would be the odd man out in this scenario; however, he could still be productive as a long reliever. Maybe he could pick up innings in a game where they are down?
Outside of the back four of the bullpen, the Astros lack depth. Allowing Arrighetti and Blanco to pitch high leverage innings will take the pressure off the middle of the bullpen.
What do you all think? Comment below!