Josh Fields Optioned, Josh Zeid Recalled

Today the Houston Astros announced that RHP Josh Zeid will get his second stint of the 2014 season. As someone who is desperately hoping for some stability in the bullpen, as well as some success, I hope that Zeid is here to stay.

The corresponding move, as expected, was optioning RHP Josh Fields to AAA.

Zeid has continued to pitch well for the Oklahoma City Redhawks. In 12 1/3 innings and 11 appearances, Josh has a 2.19 ERA with 9 saves. His previous stint with the Astros saw him pitch 3 innings and yield 2 earned runs.

With the Astros bullpen being notoriously bad again, the move correlates to the “if you don’t perform, someone else will replace you” statement that Cosart mentioned earlier in the season. Astros relievers have established an ERA of 6.24 on the year which is last in all of MLB.

Last night, Fields entered the ballgame with the Astros already trailing by a 5-1 score. After 8 batters had come to the plate, the score was 10-1 as Fields had yielded 5 runs on 6 hits. The only two outs he was able to record were via the strikeout.

But the outing was a continuation of batters stringing hits together and him failing to limit the damage. In the middle of April, Josh had appeared to have locked down the closing job. But for every good outing Fields had there was a poor outing. Fields departs the roster with a 12.00 ERA in 12 innings pitched covering 14 appearances.

Josh Fields showed flashes of being a great pitcher early in April. Hopefully some time with the Redhawks will give him some opportunities to regain confidence.