Astros bypassing Mike Burrows promotion with Ronel Blanco raises legitimate questions

It's September 1st, the day rosters expand to 28 in MLB. Every team will get to add an additional pitcher and an additional position player to their roster today.

For the Astros, it has been presumed that they would be calling up SP Mike Burrows. Burrows is on schedule, as he would be on 5 days rest today, to be able to come up and start today's game against the Chicago White Sox. Burrows has pitched better at Triple-A Sugar Land of late, allowing only 3 ER over 13.1 IP and striking out 15.

While he hasn't gotten through 5 full innings in any of his starts (4.1, 4.2, 4.1) the results have been solid. He has allowed just 11 hits and 5 walks in those 13.1 IP. The only 2 HR he allowed were in the desert in Las Vegas in a game with a temperature of 104 degrees at a park known as a launching pad in the very hitter-friendly PCL.

Ronel Blanco, on the other hand, has struggled badly since returning from Tommy John surgery. Those struggles continued at Triple-A following his August 16 demotion. His most recent start followed Burrows most recent start in Vegas.

Blanco was blasted for 10 ER in just 2.1 IP, he allowed 3 HR, and saw his velocity on his four-seam dropping to 91.1 MPH.

Seeing Blanco's velocity dip so much in a short outing should be sending off alarm bells in the Astros front office. Continuing to pitch him through a clear velocity drop can only lead to bad things, a lesson that should have been learned (yet again) from last season when the did the same thing to now former Astro Luis Garcia. They pitched Garcia through a blatant velocity drop, publicly posited that the velocity would return, and then Garcia wound up needing another surgery.

Sending an ineffective Blanco to the mound with a potential red flag as far as velocity is concerned makes absolutely no sense. having him be rewarded for giving up 10 ER in 2.1 IP in his most recent start is completely backwards.

The Astros don't have great options to make starts, but coming down the September stretch with a 2 game lead in a tight division race should result in the team making the best and smartest decisions on who to pitch. There is no argument that can be made right now that Blanco over Burrows is the right move.

There are no more games left in the season to be willing to give away for questionable decisions, making this questionable decision a potentially dangerous one.

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Blanco was blasted for 10 ER in just 2.1 IP, he allowed 3 HR, and saw his velocity on his four-seam dropping to 91.1 MPH.

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