Randy Wolf or Brad Lidge???

[Mookie4ever]

Lidge on the other hand seems to be a prime candidate for overuse and may tire down the stretch.

I think this is over-looked a lot. Even last year people were saying he's being used far too often. He pitched 85 innings last year and is on pace for 93 this year. For a RP, especially a power pitcher like Lidge, that's too much.

Last year August and September were his 2 worst months; selling high after the AS break isn't a bad idea.

the interesting thing is that the astros MUST have realized that by moving dotel, lidge's workload would undoubtedly increase. that is why it is such a luxury to have a stud setup guy, allowing you to play matchups efficiently without abusing your most trustworthy arm in the pen. I would certainly agree with LBJackal that looking into selling high on lidge might not be a bad idea. plus there is always the chance that the stros realize the same thing and acquire a closer, allowing lidge to setlle back into his setup role.

I don't agree.

His spits from '03 do not look that bad. His ERA went from 2.52 to 5.46 but all other numbers stayed the same. His WHIP 1.16 to 1.28 and his K/9 10.49 to 10.05. It's a slight dip but it was his first year in the majors and he was coming off of an injury.

85 to 90 is about the right number of IP for a power releiver. Gagne, Dotel, Wagner, K-Rod were all in that ball park.

I like Lidge to do well and I think that the Astros are more likely to get a set up man than a closer.

[G-Man]

His spits from '03 do not look that bad. His ERA went from 2.52 to 5.46 but all other numbers stayed the same. His WHIP 1.16 to 1.28 and his K/9 10.49 to 10.05. It's a slight dip but it was his first year in the majors and he was coming off of an injury.

85 to 90 is about the right number of IP for a power releiver. Gagne, Dotel, Wagner, K-Rod were all in that ball park.

I like Lidge to do well and I think that the Astros are more likely to get a set up man than a closer.

Was this jump in ERA was attributed to a few bad outings or spread out across the second half? I ask because the other numbers (primarily WHIP), even for a reliever, moved somewhat significantly in the wrong directions. I'm certainly not advocating trading him for garbage and don't really know what the astros plan to do (if they do indeed move beltran, any bullpen help they would acquire would hopefully be top notch) but I can definitely see the team asking him to come in for repeated multi-inning work down the stretch simply because of the hesitancy with some of their other guys (miceli, etc).

[Mookie4ever]

I don't know whether it was one or two outings. It seems from this breakdown that everything stayed the same except for his ERA.

To be fair, I have read in more than one place, that he did tire down the stretch and he did pitch fewer innings post AS last year.

But that was coming off of injury and he has allowed only one run in his past 19 appearances. I am not selling Lidge now.