The Pecan Park Eagle

Astros Signed Joe Smith for 2018
Smith last pitched for the Indians.

Then the Astros signed Hector Rondon for 2018
Rondon was big for the Cubs in their 2016 World Series Win.

AN EARLY LOOK AT THE 2018 ASTROS PITCHING ROSTER

Important Data Display Explanation

The data contained in the above charts was prepared by Baseball Reference.com. It depicts the winning percentage (PCT.) and earned run average (ERA) numbers for each player’s entire careers. The other data is an averaging estimate of how each player has performed for each of however many 162 game schedules that can be fitted into his actual playing time data for the variables noted.

Example: Joseph Smith

• Smith has won 44 games over 11 seasons. That averages out perfectly to the figure “4” shown in Smith’s “W” column.
• Smith has lost 28 games over 11 seasons too. That works out to 2.545 losses, a figure that Baseball-Reference rounds up to the 3 losses that are shone here in the average Season “L” line.

B-R didn’t explain that methodology so I thought I’d give it a try. Otherwise, you may look at the fact that both Joe Smith and Hector Rondon had identical 4-3 W-L marks, but had wildly different win PCT. Numbers for their average year’s work. And now you should know why. It was because B-R gave the actual win % and ERA numbers for each players total career here.

Some Player Notes

We are a long way from knowing the final composition of this staff going to into the 2018 season, but this much is easy to know. It looks a whole better and brighter today than it did this time last year.

The “gooder” you are, the better you have a chance to become “gooder than all get out down the line!”

The Astros picked up Anthony Gose this past week as an unprotected roster claim. Gose has no prior big league time as a pitcher and a transforming former outfielder. If he’s way ahead of the curve, he could replace Tony Sipp, giving the Astros two lefties out of the pen. Otherwise, he goes back to the Texas Rangers as a “never mind” return of the merchandise.

David Paulino, Frances Martes, and Michael Feliz also could work their ways into the bullpen. We are a long way from knowing the composition of this staff going into the 2018 season. The business of assessment and the always unfolding window on new opportunity is in high gear.

It’s also going to take a while to see how much recovery we can count on from the talented Ken Giles. It’s going to take time, of course, but it may take a return to the circumstance that raised the question before the boogy man gets driven away. It may take another critical circumstance in the 2018 World Series to see if brave young Ken is ready to face whatever shows up in the PTSD corners of his closer mind at the very moment he needs to be ice water cool. It’s easy for the rest of us to say it’s just part of being human, but most of us don’t have to perform on a stage as big and as public as our Astros face every day they go to work.

How would you feel if you knew that the Houston Chronicle and the whole GD Internet was going to show up to write and report on your next bad day at the office?

Closing Thoughts on The Mining of Baseball Goodness.

The Smith and Rondon signings are proof enough. Nobody likes a smart ass, but everybody loves a champion. Our GM guy Jeff Luhnow is pretty darn good at recognizing the good ones that come along too – and now – since we won the 2017 World Series – they are coming to him with a desire to be a part of this rise from the labyrinth of disappointment that had enveloped our hope and ambition in Houston for far too long.

Now we must build on what’s finally airborne.

The Houston Astros are now the Champions. And there are some other good players out there too who also want to be part of that same improving club in 2018. We know the Astros know this fact too because the ever relentless Luhnow Analytic crew just landed two of them as boosts to the 2018 Astros relief staff roster.

Interesting too. Even though Joe Smith and Hector Rondon are different guys, if you go over their individual career stats side-by-side, you may end up thinking, as did we, that “hey, these two pitchers appear to be the same guy!”

It’s obvious that GM Luhnow clearly has a data-based formula that is major to his pursuit of whomever may be available, but what GM doesn’t possess some kind of driving impetus?

Also obvious: The 2018 season  is here. Even if we are still six weeks away from the start of spring training.

********************

Tags: Early View of 2018 Astros Pitching Roster

This entry was posted on December 17, 2017 at 9:37 pm and is filed under Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.