Ken Giles Says The Astros Have More Talent Than The Rangers
Over the offseason, the Astros sent a five-player package to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for right-handed reliever Ken Giles, who was expected to be the team’s new closer.
The Giles in Houston situation has been weird to me since day one. When the players showed up to spring training, the Astros closer of a year ago, Luke Gregerson, was very vocal about the fact that he shouldn’t lose his closer’s spot to anybody, Giles included. And rightfully so — he did a hell of a job closing out games for the 2015 team, which, by the way, was a playoff team. Giles had a 1.80 ERA with 87 strikeouts in 70 innings for the Phillies last year, so you could see why the Astros gave up a ton to acquire him, but Gregerson was right for standing his ground.
After posting a 6.75 ERA and an opponents batting average of .308 in spring training, the Astros named Giles as the setup man and Gregerson would remain the team’s closer. Things didn’t get better for Giles, who comes into Tuesday with a 5.76 ERA, which ranks 130th out of 136 relievers in the MLB with at least 20 innings this year.
Following the Astro’s most recent loss to the Texas Rangers, Giles let the team in the clubhouse across the way know how he felt about them.
“We have more talent than this team does,” Giles said. “That’s what I believe, and we shouldn’t be losing these kind of ballgames.”
If you watch the video of him saying this, his body language comes off as, “I don’t believe a single fucking word of what I’m saying right now.” And he shouldn’t, obviously. The Rangers have the best record in the American League, and despite being winners of 8 of their last 10 games, the Astros are three games under .500. Sure, there is a TON of talent on that Houston Astros team, but it hasn’t really translated in the standings the way that it did last year. At least not yet. And if anyone should be making claims like Giles did, it should probably come from someone who isn’t statistically one of the worst players in the entire game of baseball for what they do.
And not only are the Rangers just a better team overall this year compared to the Astros, but the Rangers have been whooping that candy Astros ass all year long. The Rangers are 7-0 against the Astros in 2016, and if you go back to last season, they’ve won 15 of their last 17 against them, including 11 straight victories against the Astros at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
PS – How much do the Astros regret giving up Vincent Velasquez to the Phillies in that Giles trade? Velasquez has a 3.67 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 61.1 innings this year in 11 starts, he’s only 24 years old, and under team control through the 2021 season. Yikes.