Thursday, October 6, 2016

Thursday Morning Hot Links

*Can you name the Astro who led the team in bWAR (Baseball-Reference's version of WAR) for each season?

*It's official - the Astros have purchased the High-A club in Fayetteville, North Carolina. This new partnership will begin in the 2017 season. Back in August the Astros and the city of Fayetteville were moving forward on plans to build a downtown stadium that would be ready in time for the 2019 season, so they're going to have to find a temporary place to play. There is Fayetteville State University in town, but they don't have a baseball program. And playing at a college isn't necessarily as ideal as it would seem, as the High-A schedule runs from early April to the beginning of September. A team in the Appalachian League, that is only June to September, would be a little different.

*Buck Showalter had a bad night on Tuesday. But maybe no one in baseball - especially a minor-leaguer - had a worse night than Brooks Marlow last night, who tweeted that "no lady" should be talking on ESPN "specially" (sic) Jessica Mendoza. Marlow, the Astros' 29th Round draft pick in 2015 out of UT, hit .205/.302/.329 in Lancaster this season. When the Astros make Deadspin, it's never good. The Astros released a statement saying that Marlow - who has deleted every single tweet from last night, including ones mocking the people who called him out for being a sexist - understood that his tweet was terrible. Marlow has also deleted his account, which is a good call.

*Major League Baseball is apparently nearing a decision on the Cheatin' Ass Cardinals' breach into Ground Control, as they're about to finish up the investigation. The penalty/ies to the Cardinals could come soon after the World Series. Commissioner Rob Manfred:
We are in the process of finishing up our investigation. Candidly, I wish it had gone a little faster. I wish it had gotten a little more help a little sooner from the U.S. attorney's office. But the cards come up how they come up, and we're going to finish our investigation, and there will be a resolution of that during the offseason. 

*Tim Brown: The bigger the game, the bigger Bumgarner's legend grows.

*Vice Sports: How the Giants created baseball's most boring dynasty

*Deadspin: I covered the Braves for a newspaper that didn't exist.