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unconventional
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Awesome 1st outing for Kazmir. 7 shutout innings while allowing 3 hits on only 91 pitches against the AL best Royals.
The absolute icing on the cake for the Astros getting Kazmir is that he's not only spent his entire career in the AL but the last 5 of 6 seasons in the AL West. An away game in the AL West at this point probably isn't so much different than a home game for him. Not only is he used to pitching in all of these parks regularly but he's used to pitching against all of these guys as well. Seeing as his two best seasons were the past two seasons, I think not really having to change scenery within the game will be very helpful in continuing his dominance. Even outside of baseball, Houston is familiar to him because he's from there. After last night, his chances of maintaining his current dominance looks solid.
Also, the Astros within the next week or two will most likely upgrade two more times without even having to make another trade. Jed Lowrie and George Springer will be returning. The Astros are looking to move Lowrie to 3rd in place of Valbuena because he's played 3rd before and Altuve/Correa have solidified 2nd/SS. Valbuena will probably split some time Chris Carter at 1st while Springer will shuffle into the outfield and replace Marsnick's bat I'm assuming. Lowrie and Springer were both batting .260-.270 range I believe before injury while Valbuena is batting .200 and Marsnick .235. If Lowrie/Springer can both bounce back from injury down the stretch, will be a nice increase in batting average/consistency for a team that probably starts some of the worst batting averages in all of baseball. Last night they had Valbuena(.201), Castro(.209) and Singleton(.171) starting. Yikes.
Still wouldn't mind if the Astros made another trade or two despite the addition/return of Kazmir, Lowrie and Springer. Especially if they can find a cheaper deal similar to that of Kazmir as opposed to the insane packages it would take to get a Price or Hamels. Though, I wouldn't be opposed if the Astros aimed for a star. None the less, it's also nice having a good farm system to go with your winning team. There have been star studded teams that were insanely good one year and like two years down the road they flame out completely. You'd hate to trade your farm system for something like that to occur so I don't want them to deplete for their run this year. There is still time for players in the farm system to develop and turn into stars. Don't need to trade 5 potential future MLB players for 1 current star that an injury or age or whatever could ruin at any given moment.
You'd really hate though to not do everything you can to win this year with the possibility being a real one. The Astros could miss the playoffs altogether but they could also win the WS's this year should they get in. It's such a crap shoot at this point in getting into the playoffs. As of right now, the Astros are battling it out with the Angels for the division and the Twins for the wild card. And that's just for now. Who says KC doesn't slip back to the Twins? or the Yanks/Rays/Jays don't catch up for the wild competition. I think the Astros have a real shot at the title if they can get in. But getting from where they're sitting is going to be a brawl down the stretch. Hopefully they can string together a 10 game winning streak or something for the knockout blow. Both win the division and avoid the 1 game playoff. I hate the 1 game playoff. After playing 162 games, to decide it on a single game... pretty absurd imo.
The absolute icing on the cake for the Astros getting Kazmir is that he's not only spent his entire career in the AL but the last 5 of 6 seasons in the AL West. An away game in the AL West at this point probably isn't so much different than a home game for him. Not only is he used to pitching in all of these parks regularly but he's used to pitching against all of these guys as well. Seeing as his two best seasons were the past two seasons, I think not really having to change scenery within the game will be very helpful in continuing his dominance. Even outside of baseball, Houston is familiar to him because he's from there. After last night, his chances of maintaining his current dominance looks solid.
Also, the Astros within the next week or two will most likely upgrade two more times without even having to make another trade. Jed Lowrie and George Springer will be returning. The Astros are looking to move Lowrie to 3rd in place of Valbuena because he's played 3rd before and Altuve/Correa have solidified 2nd/SS. Valbuena will probably split some time Chris Carter at 1st while Springer will shuffle into the outfield and replace Marsnick's bat I'm assuming. Lowrie and Springer were both batting .260-.270 range I believe before injury while Valbuena is batting .200 and Marsnick .235. If Lowrie/Springer can both bounce back from injury down the stretch, will be a nice increase in batting average/consistency for a team that probably starts some of the worst batting averages in all of baseball. Last night they had Valbuena(.201), Castro(.209) and Singleton(.171) starting. Yikes.
Still wouldn't mind if the Astros made another trade or two despite the addition/return of Kazmir, Lowrie and Springer. Especially if they can find a cheaper deal similar to that of Kazmir as opposed to the insane packages it would take to get a Price or Hamels. Though, I wouldn't be opposed if the Astros aimed for a star. None the less, it's also nice having a good farm system to go with your winning team. There have been star studded teams that were insanely good one year and like two years down the road they flame out completely. You'd hate to trade your farm system for something like that to occur so I don't want them to deplete for their run this year. There is still time for players in the farm system to develop and turn into stars. Don't need to trade 5 potential future MLB players for 1 current star that an injury or age or whatever could ruin at any given moment.
You'd really hate though to not do everything you can to win this year with the possibility being a real one. The Astros could miss the playoffs altogether but they could also win the WS's this year should they get in. It's such a crap shoot at this point in getting into the playoffs. As of right now, the Astros are battling it out with the Angels for the division and the Twins for the wild card. And that's just for now. Who says KC doesn't slip back to the Twins? or the Yanks/Rays/Jays don't catch up for the wild competition. I think the Astros have a real shot at the title if they can get in. But getting from where they're sitting is going to be a brawl down the stretch. Hopefully they can string together a 10 game winning streak or something for the knockout blow. Both win the division and avoid the 1 game playoff. I hate the 1 game playoff. After playing 162 games, to decide it on a single game... pretty absurd imo.
