Houston, We Have a Problem
April 03, 2007
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After losing Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte in the offseason, the biggest problem that the Houston Astros figured to be facing entering 2007 was their starting pitching behind ace Roy Oswalt and #2 Jason Jennings. While it's just two days into the season, which means that we haven't seen their weaknesses in the rotation yet, we're already seeing that the Astros are struggling elsewhere as well.
For starters, both Oswalt (7.2 innings of one-run ball) and Jennings (6 innings of one-run ball) were magnificent. They each seemed to locate well, got ahead in the count, and were able to keep the Pirates from doing much damage. Both left with the lead, but neither picked up a victory. Why?
- On Monday, Brad Lidge showed that he's looking just as shaky as he did through much of last season. The former top tier closer left the ball up to Xavier Nady and allowed a two-out solo blast to cost Oswalt his win. He quickly followed that up by allowing two more baserunners before finally escaping the ninth in a 3-3 tie.
- Lidge was followed by the Astros' perceived seventh inning option, Chad Qualls. Qualls has had plenty of success over the past three seasons, maintaining an ERA under 4.00 in each of them. However, he quickly allowed a two-run blast by Jason Bay that would eventually provide the difference.
- Dan Wheeler got the call in a setup role on Monday, and dispatched of Jason Bay on just three pitches. His effort on Tuesday, however, left a little more to be desired. Wheeler allowed a walk and three singles in his inning of work on Tuesday, watching two runners cross the plate as he both coughed up Jennings' lead and suffered his first loss of the season.
So, the Astros combined efforts of their top three arms out of the bullpen so far is about as atrocious as it gets:
4.1 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 K
It's notable that Jennings and Oswalt (essentially the rest of the Astros' staff to this point... Rick White threw a scoreless ninth on Tuesday) have allowed just two runs in 13.2 innings. The bullpen has allowed three more runs in just under a third of the innings that the rotation has.
- While the Astros bullpen has been a sieve early on, their opening opponents, the Pirates, have looked outstanding. Neither Salomon Torres nor Matt Capps have allowed a baserunner in their first two appearances of the season, and are currently 1-0 with a hold and two saves combined. The rest of the bullpen has allowed four hits in two scoreless innings. Torres looks like he's going to be just fine as the Bucs' closer this season, though Capps is a heck of an insurance policy if he falters.
- You have to love how the first week of the season can mess with the novice fantasy owner. A couple of closers have come into non-save situations and allowed a couple of runs, making owners everywhere a little jumpy. It helps a bit that these weren't the most stable closers in the league. Chad Cordero is a solid ninth inning option in Washington this season, but won't likely see many chances because... well... he's in Washington. He allowed two runs in the ninth inning of Tuesday's 9-3 loss to the Marlins. Joe Borowski's track record isn't nearly as strong as Cordero's, but he figures to see plenty of opportunities in Cleveland. He allowed a two-run homer in mop-up duty during Monday's 12-5 win over the White Sox.
- Don't worry about Jose Valverde's blown save Tuesday. He's doing exactly what the Diamondbacks want him to so far. He's getting ahead of hitters and constantly attacking the zone. He looks confident on the hill so far this season, and just got beat by good hitting and (his own team's) mediocre defense on Tuesday. With the exception of Chris Iannetta, every batter he faced beat him by taking the ball the other way.
- There's nothing new on Eric Gagne in Texas. He was placed on the 15 day DL late last week and is beginning the year in extended Spring Training so that he can build his arm strength. Akinori Otsuka will close in the meantime, though Gagne will be their top option if/when he's healthy. The organization's closer of the future, Wes Littleton had such an awful Spring that he didn't break camp with the club.
- Our top closer on the board, Joe Nathan, notched saves in each of the Twins' first two games. He had three total in April last season. If nothing else, the Twins can pretty much pencil themselves in for a W if they're leading after seven innings.
- In what figures to be one of the more interesting ongoing bullpen stories of the year, we've yet to see Dodgers' closer Takashi Saito pitch. Jon Broxton, the closer of the future who looks like he was ready to become the closer last year saw his first action of the season Tuesday and needed just eleven pitches to strike out the side.
Fantasy Baseball 
