Houston Astros Rumors: 4 reasons why the team will win the AL West in 2019
By T.A. Mock
The bullpen looks to put the team on their backs
The Houston Astros have had some up-and-down play from their bullpen the past couple of years. Ken Giles epitomizes that in his play in 2017 and 2018. He had some incredible peaks and some serious valleys, the last one got him sent out of town.
But, the Astros have added some serious players to their bullpen over the past year or so and this squad looks ready to be amongst the best in the league. Of course, there are still spots that need to be filled that will ultimately determine how good this bullpen can be but, that is what Spring Training is for.
The bullpen will be anchored by Roberto Osuna at closer. Osuna, whom some view in a negative light due to his history and allegations, is an excellent, young pitcher with terrific stuff. He is the ideal closer in today’s MLB and a full year of him will be extremely beneficial to the Houston Astros.
The guy that will most likely get the chance to bridge to Osuna is advanced metrics darling, Ryan Pressly. Pressly has a good fastball and a tremendous curveball that ranks among the best in spin rate. With him will likely be Hector Rondon who did an admirable job in spot closer duties last year.
Beyond these three guys, Chris Devenski will look to rebound after a miserable, injury-plagued season and return to his top tier form that the team has grown accustomed to. The rest of the bullpen isn’t settled and a combination of Brad Peacock, Framber Valdez, Cionel Perez, and other guys will fill out the rest.
This looks like an obvious strength and Spring Training will be of the utmost importance to ensuring that the bullpen is, indeed, a strength. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out so, this is definitely something to watch over the next month or so. But, the bullpen appears to be a great strength and will help ensure that the Houston Astros will win the AL West yet again.