Hector Neris and Justin Verlander are back??! Houston Astros recent roster moves discussion!

hello I'm Clark Crawford and welcome back to the latest edition of Clark Crawford Sports talking Astros baseball of course here on YouTube as I have all season long and coming up on my one-year edition of Clark Crawford Sports here on YouTube a big thing for me but anyways we're talking Asos baseball here today I know I missed my latest edition my bad of the Asos versus Red Sox had some things going on but anyways we missed the Astros versus Red Sox series preview and we're going to do things a little differently today but anyways to update you on the Astros and Red Sox series if you missed it the Red Sox take two of three against the Astros and it's a disappointing home stand as the Astros went three and three against the socks yes the White Version and the red version the white socks and Red Sox what a funny kind of home stand that was facing both pairs of socks so the Astros in the homand three and three not ideal he had four- two or five and one potentially in your grasp but you were unable to secure some victories there so a disappointing home stand to say the least we did have a return of Justin verer he goes five innings yesterday picking up the loss he pitched pretty well but that's not what we're going to talk about here today what we're going to talk about here today is all of the latest and gets you up to date because I don't always update all of the Astros you know roster moves because it's been a flurry of them here lately so really today's edition is going to be updating you on the Astros flurry of roster moves and a small amount of Astros versus Oriol series preview but let's get right into the Astros flurry of roster moves and we're going to start with if you missed it last week they released the letus Diaz that is the first roster move then on the 17th they recalled Seth Martinez from the Sugarland Space Cowboys because relief pitcher Ryan Presley goes on the 15-day is retroactive to August 14th with a lower back strain that is part of the problem with the Astros Presley is not been the best Ryan version of Ryan Pressley we've ever gotten but he is still a key piece to this team so we're going to talk about that a little bit later as well then on the 19th they recalled Trey cabbage from the Sugarland based Cowboys and they optioned Pedro Leon who if you remember a couple videos back I predicted he's probably not going to be here much longer because well he's kind of stunk it up other than recording his all-important first MLB hit so congrats to him on that but Pedro Leon did not play well and he is back in Sugarland then of course JP well the asers recalled JP France that's just simply to put him on the 60-day iil which was the same day he kind of recalled and then that's just a different version of you know saying he's been transferred from the 15 day to the 60-day iil and then the Astros claimed right fielder Ben gaml off waers from the Mets we're going to talk about him the Astros have a new left-handed hitting outfielder who is been gamble what we're going to find out and then they sent Seth Martinez down and then also recalled him on the same day on the 21st because Caleb ort was placed on the paternity list and so essentially Caleb bort to the patney list to activate as I mentioned a about a minute or two ago Justin Verlander was activated and they had to make a roster move for that move and so Justin Verlander is back and Caleb board is off the roster which he will probably be maybe miss the whole Baltimore series maybe catch the tailin but I expect it I expect he'll be activated sometime soon after that so like I said a flurry of roster moves in the last week maybe week and a half and that's what we're talking about here today so that first brings us to a roster move that we kind of knew that was coming I predicted this was going to happen weeks back and we're going to start with Luis Garcia who was not on the transaction page because he's been on the 60-day I and Luis Garcia will not Pitch for the Astros this was as of August 19th I'm recording on the 22nd Luis Garcia will not Pitch for the Astros this season Joe spot said Garcia resumed playing catch this weekend but he is targeted to getting him ready for spring training in 202 25 that is the right move stop trying to push Luis Garcia let him do some long toss some short toss throw a bullpen every now and then but just get his arm back and ready all of his bullets ready to be fired for the 2025 spring training because it's just not not the right move he's had multiple setbacks and well just get him ready for spring training because like I said he said too many setbacks already and there's just not enough time left in the regular season it's unfortunate but it's the right move I think Luis Garcia will be ready to go by then as long as you know things don't continue to go wrong for him as they have throughout the 2024 Seasons so that will take us to the Astros as I mentioned in the roster transactions portion of early in the video the Astros claimed right fielder outfielder whatever you want to call them Ben gaml and he's going to be activated and in the lineup if you haven't already seen tonight's lineup he is in the lineup playing right field the Astros have gotten one of the worst Productions out of the right field position since Cal Tucker went down and well Ben gaml he's a left-handed hitter and here are his career numbers I don't expect a ton out of Ben gaml but with how abysmal Pedro Leon was Trey cabbage who Pedro Leon and Trey cabbage are now back at Triple A Sugarland and of course we all know how bad chass mccorn because been this season I really wish 2023 Chaz would come back but it's starting to look like more and more and more as the day goes the days go on that is long gone he has a couple homers this year but he's simply not the same player so Ben gaml he's going to get a chance he has played for the Mets in 23 atat so far this season 18 games he hit 217 a 400 on base percentage that is because of his seven walks and 23 at bats so that's a good sign but with the high on base percentage but realistically Ben gel as you can see from his numbers here he had 15 aats last year for San Diego so we're really looking at his 2022 numbers as they're up here on the screen as the last time he got real playing time in the major leagues he played 115 games for the Pirates nine homers 46 RBIs 232 average and 324 on base percentage honestly if Ben gaml can give the Astros that about a 230 240 average pop a couple of home runs you know in the playing time he's going to get and have a about a 330 on base percentage roughly rounding up the Astros will certainly take that because that's better than what they've gotten out of their right fielders since Kyle Tucker has gone down so we'll see what B gaml can do I don't have High Hopes because well you can see he's only had 38 at bats in the last two seasons in the major league so that tells you a lot he's 32 years old he's an outfielder kind of just a guy that's going to be just a guy who who maybe you get some production out of him maybe you don't it's one of those moves of you're desperate so whatever Bing gamble can give you out of the positive sign he's not going to come in here and hit 350 320 315 you know roughly right around where Altuve is and Alvarez and of course seor Diaz right around that 300 Mark he's not going to do that but heck even if he gave you 250 because his career batting average is 252 the Astros will certainly take anything they can get out of Ben Gamble because well their thought process is it can't be worse than what they're getting out of mccormic cabbage and Leon who have taken the most of the playing time in right field since unfortunately the Kyle Tucker injury happened on June 3 so there's been gaml he is your newest Astro on the roster as of today and we have another new astro well he's a new old Astro but as of this morning if you haven't heard ready the Astros have signs for the rest of the regular season they resigned Hector nerys and if you remember he signed with the Cubs in the off season for a one-year deal with an option and that option is now gone because the Cubs cut him if he appeared in x amount of games his option kicked in I believe it was 60 and I will show you Hector's numbers here in a minute well Hector nerys is back with the Astros but what has Hector nerys been up to so far this season and we're going to go over his season numbers as I did kind of go over them in the Astros versus Cubs series preview but what is Hector nerys done since then now I want to preface this as in I predicted Hector Hector Dar a little bit of a drop off not to say he'd be the worst pitcher in baseball and my Astros offseason review and getting you ready for spring training you should go check that video out to you know if you want to fact check me but I did predict some Hector nerys regression and I think that's what we've seen not to say the asers can't turn him around but so far this season Hector nerys has regressed a little bit now looking at his numbers last year and in the previous year in 2022 he had a 372 ra he was pretty good and he was Elite and was a Wipeout setup man in the 2022 postseason for the Astros and then last year he had a career best year 171 ER so what is Hector n has been up to this year well he was the Cubs closer for the most part and he had 17 SA and 22 opportunities that's pretty good not Elite numbers but it's still good for a closer to blow five saves not ideal but I'll take 17 out of 22 for most closers I know people might think I'm crazy but he still had solid closing numbers so he's eight and4 a 389 erra which is over double what he had last year so that's a little bit of the hector nerys regression he pitched in 71 games and also remember Hector nerys is 35 years old now that's why I predicted some regression and so Hector nerys is pitching 44 Innings to 389 erra 17 of 22 saves 44 Innings and he's given up 20 runs 19 of them earned and last season he only gave up a total of 13 runs in 71 games 68 in the third Innings pits also Hector nerys is whip which is something I'm definitely pointing towards his regression he has a 105 whip in last season and then season he has a 152 whip so Hector nerys I'm not saying he's had a major major drop off I just said he would have some regression before the season started and we've seen a little bit of that I'm not saying he's the worst pitcher in baseball don't get me wrong and I'm not saying the asers can't turn Hector nerys around but he's had a little bit of progression if you disagree with that you're just flat out wrong he's been worse than he was last season and that concludes to some regression so hopefully Hector nerys and the Astros as they've had a history of turning some pitchers around especially in their run of dominant Astros baseball over the past seven and hopefully this year making it back to another ALCS would be eight straight ALCS but nonetheless Hector nerys is back so that kind of leads me to the question of here I'll get to in a second so Ryan Presley is on the ilil and the earliest he can return is August 29th and the ast's latest roster move is the reunion with teor nerys is where we're talking about right now when I first heard of it is heard of the potential move a few days ago I honestly predicted because I didn't know at the time that somebody would probably put in a waiver claim for Hector n that was my original thought well nobody did and it came out as of yesterday or the day before that Hector nerys was just flat out released he was on waivers and nobody claimed him so that surprised me at first and so Hector and arys cleared waivers and was free to sign with anybody and the Asos said hey for a minimum contract pro rated for the rest of the year we'll give Hector nerys another chance so what do you think Hector nerys will do as an astro do you think he'll be elite again or what but let me know Down Below in the comments what you think of the hector move I know a lot of people are a big fan of it but as of right now Hector nerys is an Astro and well if you're not a fan of it let me know do you think naris as I predicted earlier in the year I don't think he's going to be washed but Hector nerys is certainly a hopeful good addition to the Astros Bullpen and the Astros pitching staff in total so the Astros are currently in a stretch of 18 games in 18 days so Hector nerys has not been added to the roster yet I believe it might not be till the Philadelphia series or maybe the last game of the Baltimore series which starts tonight that he will be activated just because he still has a physical to go through and there's some other things going on that are potentially holding up the deal so the deal may not be official for a couple of days but it is expected he's going to pass his fysic schal and then he'll be free to sign with the Astros sign his name on the dotted line and then they can get him either to Baltimore hopefully by Saturday or Sunday or even Monday for the Philadelphia Fe Philly Series so with that being said Hector nerys and the Astros are in a stretch of 18 games in 18 days so this is potentially some stability for the bullpen but my biggest question is and I don't have anything to back this up as of right now but is the hector nerys move because maybe Ryan Presley is going to be out a little longer than expected I don't think that's the case but what if you know Ryan Presley has a setback or something the hector nerys move is used to bolster the bullpen and also if Ryan Presley who I think could have potentially been hurt longer than you know he went on the iil on August uh 14th essentially because it was retroactive to the 14th but was Ryan Presley pitching heart because I know Ryan Presley had a ton of struggles in his recent outings his last seven or eight outings he had allowed runs in what five or six of them something similar to that so Ryan Presley was he hurt for longer than he what he was leading on and how serious is the Ryan Presley injury they think he's going to be back hopefully maybe September 1st and Ryan Presley maybe is your kind of September call up so with the Ryan Presley news is it bad news on Ryan Presley I don't think so but it's just another thought that came up in my mind of is the Presley injury more severe than the Astros are leading on because they've had a lot of bad look with injuries already this year and Hector nerys how is he going to pitch this an astro we're going to find out and the other Fallout from the hector nerys the hector nerys signing is the Astros current Bullpen as of today I'm recording this as I mentioned earlier in the video on August 22nd the current Astros Bullpen with the six-man rotation you can carry 13 pitchers on your roster on the 26-man roster and then of course it expands to a 14th pitcher in a 28 man roster on September 1st so maybe they wait till September 1st to activate Ryan Presley that's probably my thought give him a couple extra days as he can be activated on August 20 9 is the earliest the Astros can activate him because he is on the 15-day iil so the current Astros Bullpen as of right now is Josh ha Brian abrau Caleb Ferguson Brian King Seth Martinez Shawn Dubin and Taylor Scott some pretty good names there Taylor Scott having a career year he said struggles as a blate but with the hector nerys also addition they can pitch Taylor Scott a little bit less because Taylor Scott like I said he's had his recent struggles and also he's at a career-high in Innings the whole nine yards with ronal Blanco that whole situation and everything that's going to help with the Astros leverage situation pitch Taylor Scott a little less and everything you expect Hector nerys Ryan Presley and probably Caleb ort to be added back to the as bulpin here in the coming days or in the next week or so with the names I listed haer Abu Ferguson King Martinez tubin and Scott who are the other big question is who is going to be who are going to be the odd ones out obviously you can add one of those guys on September 1st or are you gonna add a name such as maybe a forest Whitley we're going to get to that later on and see if that bridge is crossed on September 1st so with nari and probably or in the next three to four days needing to be added I believe probably Shawn Dubin and Seth Martinez are the odd guys out for now but when Presley comes back back it's likely going to come down to Brian King or Caleb Ferguson though the thing is with Caleb Ferguson who was traded to the Asos at the deadline from the Yankees I think he's going to get a longer leash in the bullpen I know a lot of people do not agree with this perspective though Caleb Ferguson was an acquisition and I don't think the Astros want to give up on him that quickly he's a left-hander so I think the last move in the bullpen not counting well counting the SE setember call up which could end up being Ryan Presley as the extra pitcher call him up on September 1st it might come down to Caleb Ferguson or Brian King that's something to watch out of the bullpen that I'm going to have my eyes on because with potentially three pitchers coming back within the next week week and a half or being added to the roster whichever way you want to see it who's going to be the odd man out on the bullpen that's something to keep an eye on for the Astros because K laort has simply earned a rock spot and also if you just signed Hector nerys he's definitely being added to the roster as well the last situation we need to talk about because well it's going to become a storyline and well it already is the Alex bregman situations if you remember from the weekend Alex bregman did not play for five straight games and he was inserted back into the Astros lineup yesterday on Wednesday and now Alex bregman who was DH yesterday is also the DH again tonight for the Astros lineup I'm not going to go into it but Ben gaml is in the lineup in right field and Alex bregman is sitting second at DH these are the comments for Alex bregman when he was asked about his injury and trying to get back to playing Third Base Alex bregman said it's going to be a fluid situation for the rest of the season there is still swelling in his elbow some Gremlins in there are causing it he said but bregman did presume throwing today this was as of yesterday yesterday they he was interviewed after the game by several reporters i showing you a little clip from Chandler roome there a little blur of it that's not promising and it causes further problems in the asor lineup that they already had because well the Astros lineup has been pretty bad it's been hit or miss as of blate but leaning towards it's not been a good lineup for really the majority of the Season you can argue was part of the reason for their slow start well the whole team was but at the same time the Astros lineup has just not been great especially as the blate and everything so it just further complicates things because the Astros like to DH yordon Alvarez playing in left field maybe do more of a platoon DH left field DH left field he's played the over half of his games as the DH this season I believe he's played 71 games as the DH this year he's played about 40 games in left field as well so they like to play him both but if Alex bregman has to be more of your fulltime DH for the rest of the season that takes giving guys days off their feet and having to give them full days off now not that I think Alex bregman yordon Alvarez soos altu who have gotten days off recently are going to be at be out of the lineup very much but it really limits your roster flexibility as of right now and going forward so I bregman's dhing in tonight that puts yordon Alvarez in left field a lot more often which the Astros probably didn't want to play yordon Alvarez and left field in the Baltimore Oriol series a lot due to the fact that a couple years ago the Baltimore Orioles already extended their left field and made it even deeper the Astros like to hide yordon Alvarez in left field as much as they can just because due to the fact yeah he can move around a little more but they want to keep him as healthy as possible because well you know when you think of the Houston Astros and power and the big bats in the lineup most people would say the first name that comes to mind is Jon Alvarez he's a key part of this team and they want to keep him as healthy as possible so the best way to do that DH him it's just gonna cause further problems as I mentioned bregman missed five straight games and likely up to d8 for the short short term and probably long-term rest of the season future so how does this factor in to get both catchers and the lineup which both catchers are in the lineup as they are tonight Victor kartini is catching and Jer Diaz is at first base that further impacts guys like John Singleton Zack disenzo Shay wickom you know just because one of those guys might play first base and now they're going to be losing more time because Alex bregman is going to be needed to d8 it's really a complicated matter the as already had enough lineup problems and roster flexibility that's why I've been imploring as I mentioned for several videos now the Astros need to call up Cesar Salazar there to have a third catcher but I really think when the rosters expand to 28 and you can add another position player the easy roster move it's got to be Cesar Salazar just because if you're going to be playing yanor Diaz at first base fit your Keri catching or even let Cesar Salazar catch and maybe even go crazy and get all three catchers in the lineup but bregman is healthy enough to play first ba or third base maybe put Yer at first kartini DH and have Salazar as the catcher that'd be a little crazy but I mean heck why not give it a shot once if you are going to call Cesar Salazar up because he deserves some playing time as well on September 1st just a little thought I had not to say they're going to do it I think it's pretty doubtful but it's definitely a thought why not play all three catchers get a little crazy maybe he gets an offense out of it that's my thoughts on the Alex bregman situation it's a mess the as's roster is a mess I mean with all the roster transactions that's the whole point of my video today it's just to talk about it and say man there's so many new faces or old faces coming back or you know a new face then an old face new face it's just a mess the Astros are just trying to hold on and maybe you know hopefully make the playoffs and then try to make some noise in October not to say they you know they have 111 to 14 don't get me wrong though some of these games coming up they play the Orioles for four the Phillies for three all on the road and then the Kansas City Royals for four it's a tough 11 game stretch let me know Down Below in the comments what you think their record is going to be in that tough 11 game stretch because well the asers are going to have to play well because even though Seattle's been a stinker especially as of late and I'm going to talk about some Seattle Mariners news here in a minute you might think I'm crazy but it's kind of a little funny news with how bad Seattle's been out of late the asterid at least that's up today still remain because the Mariners got swept by the Dodgers the last three days thank you Dodgers I will not say the words you know go Dodgers ever again but thank you Dodgers for taking care of the Mariners because the as didn't take care of business the last few days but thank you Dodgers for that and the Mariners are five games behind you so luckily they're still in their heavy Funk that they've been in for the last couple months that'll take me to the last thing I'm going to get to here on Clark Crawford sports today and a little bit of Seattle Mariners news that impacts the Astros and that is sources from Ken Rosenthal Mariners are have fired this was expected to fire since then they have fired Scott service Scott service is a former Astro but he's been a pain in the butt for the Astros since he's been the Seattle Mariners manager for almost nine Seasons now he did not make it for the ninth full season but Scott service has been fired and let the door hit him on the way out he's been a mega douche especially towards the Astros lately I think he's been a solid manager but Scott servis I mean you've collapsed how many times and they should have won the division probably multiple times in the last couple years he's failed to do so and of course thank you to the Mariners for choking the series away to the Astros they had multiple chances to win multiple of those games in 2022 of course when the Astros swept them in the divisional round of the playoffs and went on to win the World Series but nonetheless Scott service is out the door I hate to see him go just for the fact that you know I don't like the guy but the Astros sure love putting a beaten on him and his Seattle Mariners but nonetheless Scott servis is gone I how does this make you feel let me know Down Below in the comments and we'll see who the Seattle Mariners manager is for the 2025 season so with all that being said said that is your latest edition of Clark Crawford Sports we are going to end the episode here thank you all for watching like my video down below comment down below let me know what you think of this video maybe I'll have some more of it in the future and of course subscribe to my channel as I move closer to 200 subscribers I'm still sitting on 190 but I hope to get to 200 before late September when my one year anniversary of posting videos on YouTube comes up so let me know if you'd like to be a subscriber Please Subscribe and help me get to my goal of 200 before my one-year middle to late September comes up and I will end the video there thank you all for watching and I'll see all of you in the next edition of Clark CER Sports on Monday for an Astros versus oreol series recap and an Astros versus Philly series preview