Fernando Nieve and Felipe Paulino have struggled through injuries and inconsistency in their short tenures with the Astros organization. With our dearth of starting pitching depth, however, they'll be given every chance to prove themselves worthy of making the starting rotation during Spring Training.
While they are both in the same boat as far as trying to make the team, they are not in similar situations in terms of their future with the organization. Nieve may be optioned to the minors if he doesn't impress the Astros brass, and is liable to be picked up by another team. Only if he clears waivers will he be an Astro minor leaguer. What complicates his situation even more is that Fernando will pitch for his native Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic. Missing up to three weeks of Spring Training with the Astros will set him back in this competition to become a starting pitcher for the big league club.
Paulino is more than a year younger than Nieve but has never been healthy enough to show the Astros he is ready to be a major league starter. A pinched nerve in his pitching shoulder kept him from toeing the mound in 2008. He was expected to make the jump to the starting rotation last year, as the team had many question marks heading in the spring. This year this are more veterans under contract, and Pualino is far from a model of consistency.
Regardless of the roadblocks that seem to be in their way, Nieve and Paulino may not have a better opportunity to make a major league starting rotation than this season with the Astros. Neither CHONE nor Bill James' projections are all that optimistic about either one contributing anything meaningful to the Astros this season, but that is to be expected. Only Paulino has pitched more than 100 innings on any level over the past two seasons, when he tossed 112 pretty decent innings of work for AA Corpus Christi in 2007. Nieve's closest thing to a "full season" was in 2006, when he posted a 4.20 ERA (but 5.46 FIP) over 96.1 innings for the Astros. Neither pitcher has displayed much control or the ability to induce groundballs over their short careers, but then again, rarely has either pitcher been healthy enough to show their true colors for a full season's worth of work. With our veterans being far from sure things, it would be great timing for both of these players to put together sustained efforts for the first time this season.
0 recs | 4 comments
Nieve's decision to play in the WBC....
in what will be a very important spring for him seems like poor judgement. Wouldn’t it better for him to be working with the Astros’ coaches who will be making important decisions about his career? At one time, I had very high hopes for Nieve. He had a lot going for him, including his good fastball/slider combination and a calm but competitive mound presence. But his career seems close, at this point, to going the route of Carlos Hernandez’s. In 2006, he started out very sharp in the rotation, but was sent down to Round Rock (I think when Clemens returned) in order to be prepared for late inning relief work. The Astros’ thinking was that he could dial up his fastball into the high 90’s for a couple of innings. And he was very good in relief when he returned after his Round Rock training stint…a 3.38 ERA in relief with almost a K per inning. However, in his last few outngs, his velocity seemed to decline and he complained of arm soreness. I sometimes wonder if the sudden change from starter to “closer candidate” led to his arm problems.
Like Backe, we can hope that Nieve just needed an extra season to recover from TJ surgery. (Heck, maybe the odds are with us that one of those two guys will make that step up after the surgery.) Nieve’s velocity seemed fairly decent last year, but he had a lot of issues with control and command in the strike zone. That is fairly common for pitchers coming back from elbow surgery.
As for Paulino, it’s all a matter of whether he can completely get over his nerve/arm issue. If he can, I have high hopes for his future. It’s not like he has pitched himself out of prospect status. But the health question is a big one.
clack - January 27, 2009
Really, it doesn't make any sense
Stephen Higdon - January 27, 2009
I would like to see Paulino win a starting job, but I think Nieve is better suited to a bullpen roll. I also don’t know why we are giving up on Backe after one bad season. I know expectations were high, but I think he should start the season as the fith starter, and if he stinks, we could insert Paulino or Clay Hensley.
hunterpencefan - January 27, 2009
Open Competition in Spring . . .
will probably favor Backe since he seems best when put under pressure and is the veteran who has been there before. Paulino and Nieve in AAA ready to come and fill in for injuries or underperformance sounds like a good deal to me . . . mostly because it will mean that Hampton, Moehler and either Backe or Ortiz has stepped up enough in the spring to solidify the rotation.
On a side note, in case you missed it . . . Carlos Hernandez signed with the Rays in an MiLB deal and had a really impressive 6 starts at their A+ league affiliate in the Florida State League. 26IP, 11H, 3ER, 6BB, 25K, 93 total batters faced . . . I honestly hope he is back and making his way to the majors . . . I always thought he was going to be a long term solution for the Astros until injuries de-railed him.
mestifo - January 27, 2009
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