Friday, August 26, 2016

Friday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros were off last night, and there are only three off-days left this season. The Astros close the season with 35 games in 38 days.

*Mike Petriello writes about how Altuve became one of the league's top sluggers

*Jake Kaplan writes that Alex Bregman needs to be the 3B of the future.

*September Call-ups are just around the corner, but the Astros probably won't add too many players.

*21st Round pick Jon Kemmer is busting it in Fresno with a 1.021 OPS since the All-Star Break.

*It is both hilarious and suicidal that Carlos Gomez ripped a 3-run homer in his first AB for the Ramgers. The Mariners lost

*The Tigers won, Red Sox lost, Orioles lost, Blue Jays lost, Royals won

*The Astros are 8.5 GB of the Rangers, 1.0 GB of Seattle in the division. They are 5.0 GB of the Red Sox/Blue Jays (tied for the AL East lead), 4.0 GB of Baltimore, with the Tigers, Mariners, Royals, and Yankees all within 2.5 games.

FanGraphs is giving the Astros a 13.5% chance of making the postseason.
FiveThirtyEight is giving them a 16% chance of making the postseason.
I do this too early to account for BP's playoff odds each morning.

*Jon Heyman: Lamenting trades that didn't happen is a cheap excuse.

*The Sunday, September 11 game against the Cubs will be on Sunday Night Baseball.

*Why did the Dodgers trade A.J. Ellis?