Felipe Paulino and Wesley Wright, you're on notice. Ed Wade says there's a decent chance Nelson Figueroa will be SP5 in 2011.
Wade:
"I don't see any reason why we would walk past a guy like that. If at the end of the day he's our fifth starter, I don't have any problem with that being the case...
..."It's been a very pleasant surprise that he's been as consistent as he has been. There have been a couple of starts when he's given up a few runs, but by and large, he's kept us in every game he's pitched in."
Is that true? In his nine starts, Figueroa has left the game with the lead, or the game tied in five of those starts. When he has left the game with the opponent ahead, it's been a two-run deficit twice. So in only two of his nine starts, the Astros have been behind by 3+ runs. His opponents have been the Mets (twice), Reds (twice), Cardinals, Cubs, Nationals, Marlins, and Dodgers.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
