Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros' offense struggled to overcome Marcus Stroman but a Jose Altuve homer had it 1-0 in the 9th behind a very strong outing by Doug Fister. Then came in Will Harris, who blew his third save in five attempts since the All-Star Break, when he gave up a game-tying homer in the top of the 9th. Carlos Correa drove in Jose Altuve in the bottom of the 14th knocking a...(squints) yes, hmm, Scott Feldman pitch to the wall. Astros win 2-1.

Hinch:
We didn't do a lot, but we did enough, just enough to pull that one out. 

On Feldman:
A few hours ago, he's in our clubhouse and a big part of our chemistry and our culture and then we walk him off. Obviously, as competitors, as soon as he changes uniforms, you change your affection for that guy, but I legitimately have some weird feelings about seeing him on the other side. 

*Since assuming 9th inning duties on the reg in early June, Harris has thrown 17.2IP, 23H/10ER, 19K:4BB - a 4.58 ERA/1.53 WHIP.

*The Astros' 15 blown saves are 3rd-highest in the American League. Hinch said he'll look at their options for the 9th.

*Chris Devenski became the 11th reliever since 1913 to throw 4+IP with at least seven strikeouts. Devenski struck out seven Blue Jays...in a row - one shy of Jim Deshaies' franchise record.

*Weird bullpen note: Hinch said in the postgame that Luke Gregerson was unavailable "and will be for a bit." No idea what that means.

*The Blue Jays will have to call some pitchers up today.

*Joe Musgrove will start his time in Houston in the bullpen, presumably filling Scott Feldman's role.

*Yulieski Gurriel will head to Lancaster from Wednesday-Sunday before likely moving to Corpus. It's possible he could be in Houston in time for the two-game set with St. Louis on August 16-17.

*For the 3rd straight night every Fresno starter recorded at least one hit, and the Grizzlies are 34-14 in their last 48 games. A.J. Reed is 17x49 since returning to Fresno and was 3x4 with a two-run homer.

Trade Deadline reactions

*The Masked Marvel wrote up his thoughts on the Trade Deadline.

*The Rangers will add Beltran and Lucroy for $5m this season.

*Brian T. Smith says the Astros took a step back yesterday.

*Jeff Luhnow:
People always celebrate these moves on trade deadline day. The cost of those moves is felt next year, next two years, etc.

*More Luhnow:
Texas took three of their top five prospects out of their system to improve today, and that's a decision they made for their benefit. We are not prepared to do that for our organization at this point. I feel like we've got a young team that's going to be here for a while. We don't have any windows closing. We're just getting into our window...

*Ken Rosenthal, responding to this particular Luhnow quote:
It's a good trend, a healthy trend - a major league team's goal should be to win the World Series, not place first in Baseball America's organization rankings. 

*USA Today's Bob Nightengale:
The Rangers six-game lead over the Houston Astros in the AL West may as well be 60 games, and with Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish atop the rotation, they may have eclipsed the Cleveland Indians as favorites to win the AL pennant. 

*Jeff Passan:
Texas didn't empty its system, but it put a dent in it, and that's fine. Because they've also got Yu Darvish and Cole Hamels and Martin Perez signed for next season, and a power bullpen...all coming back, and damn, the Rangers are loaded on paper, ready to do in 2016 what they couldn't finish in 2010 or 2011.

*David Schoenfield:
The weekend sweep in Detroit was ugly, pushing them six games back of the Rangers, and now they just watched their big rival add three key pieces while they did nothing. Yes, they're hoping Bregman and Gurriel will pump up the team's offense, but it's going to be hard to catch the Rangers now.

*Ramgers Guy Hot Take is hot: