Friday Morning Hot Links

A few years ago, when the Astros were *really* bad with no hope of getting demonstrably better before that season's playoffs, I started doing this thing which became known as The Thing. I would do a Twitter search for some variation of "lose" "Astros" "joke" "Lastros" "Disastros" "Asstros" "Trashstros" and so on, and retweeted them. It was great fun because it showed that other team's fans weren't prepared for the possibility that baseball can be a very random game where you can have Jason Castro hitting 3rd and still win. The Thing exposed people that didn't understand that bad teams are going to beat pretty good teams every now and then. You might even get swept.

Like yesterday I'm not going to talk you out of panicking. You want to panic? Go for it. I hope it makes you feel better. Let the cold, wet, smallpox-ridden blanket of Houston sports return you to your preferred state of discomfort and anxiety. Astros scored five runs when Dallas Keuchel gave up eight. Then scored one run when the White Sox scored seven. Last night the bats disappeared behind a strong Peacock start. It's a bad stretch. The Astros are 71-43. The Mariners lost, so the Astros have a 13-game division lead with 48 games remaining. The Red Sox - who have done this season precisely what the Astros are currently doing - are six games back in the AL.

*Yoan Moncada hit a game-tying home run off Ken Giles in the bottom of the 9th, and then Francis Martes got the ground balls he wanted in the 11th, both past Altuve - one bobbled by Reddick - as the latter, by Moncada again, drove in the walk-off run. Giles:
I threw a good pitch. I looked at the video, right on the outside corner, right on the black. I have to tip my cap to him. He put a good swing on it and drove it the other way. You can't really be mad at it...It's frustrating. We've had a lot of success early and haven't really had bumps in the road. Right now, we're going through it and trying to find ourselves again. But we'll get it together as a team again and find ways to win.

*Hinch:
We needed to find a way to win the game. We did escape a lot of innings that they put runners on base, and this game could have easily turned our way by pushing across a couple runs. Obviously there at the end, we made some mistakes.

*Houston was 1x8 w/RISP and left nine men on base, and were 2x21 w/RISP this series.

*The Astros have lost seven of their last nine, ten of their last 14, and are 11-14 since the All-Star Break.

*Josh Reddick went on MLB Network Radio and talked about the trade deadline, which passed eleven days ago, and didn't exactly help matters. I'll put the whole quote because there's no page views to be had, and it's sort of hard to read in the original tweet:
Deep down everybody in that clubhouse knew we were going to make some move to turn us from a really great team to a team that would put us over the edge, especially with all the moves you saw around the league. It's nothing against our guys but any time you can make your team better you should have the opportunity to do that and take full advantage. I think deep down, we were all down in the dumps because we had a pretty good shot to help this team get over the hump to where we need to be. That time has passed and we can't dwell on that, we have all the confidence in everybody we have now, we just have to get out of this slump right now.

It's inconsistent to not put Reddick on blast the same way we did Keuchel. Reddick and Keuchel may feel that way, but the only reason to go public with comments such as this is to:
a) Have a ready-made excuse for if/when the Astros aren't the last team standing at the end of the postseason.
b) Make sure that the front office knows how pissed the players are about the Trade Deadline That Wasn't. It also echoes what Correa, Keuchel, and Beltran told Bob Nightengale back in early June. Don't remember?

Correa: I really believe this can be the year....I think we need one more guy, a No. 1 or No. 2 type of guy in the rotation, and another reliever. We get that, it would be a dream come true. And I think Jeff is going to get it done for us. I really do. This is the year

Keuchel: I'd like to see us get somebody who can dominate...so if we're going to go out and get somebody, I'd rather get somebody who's a proven winner and who can dominate a game.

Beltran: I'm sure ownership will step up and do something to help us. I sure hope so, because I really believe this can be our time. 

So Reddick is simply echoing what had been going around the clubhouse 6-7 weeks before the Trade Deadline. You can defend Luhnow and the front office for not making a move. You can blast the players for letting factors outside of their control send them into a tailspin of depression. But you can't say that Luhnow & Co. weren't aware that key members of the team were looking for some help.

I didn't hear the interview live, but 790's Michael Connor did, and Reddick's tone (not pissed off, not venting) is important.

OR you can tell the players to maybe take it as a compliment that Luhnow thought the team is good enough to win the World Series and to resume playing like it.

*A.J. Hinch has a little message for Reddick and maybe Dallas Keuchel, who are among the already-loud gaggle of people clamoring for the Astros to add (or have added) a starting pitcher:
I think the starting pitchers should take offense to it. We roll guys out there that are trying to do exactly what everybody says they can't do or we don't have....I think we have great chemistry, great culture, a lot of pride and a ton of competitive guys. At the end of the season, we will be able to evaluate exactly what we were or what we are or where we're going...We've got to find other ways to get better than to defend ourselves to the external world. 

*To that end, Jon Morosi notes that there is language in the new CBA which would allow Justin Verlander to opt out of his contract after this season or the 2018 season, if he wasn't sure of spending too much time in Houston. Why he would opt out of $56 million for the next two seasons is unclear to me, but  maybe the $170m he'll have made through this season is "enough."

*Joel Sherman doesn't think the Astros and Tigers will make a Verlander deal, so he has four pitchers the Astros could target before August 31 in order to avoid "an epic collapse."

*Jon Heyman has a number of interesting notes in his column about the reticence of the Astros, namely that the Padres asked for Franklin Perez and/or Yordan Alvarez in a Brad Hand trade, and the Astros said no; The Astros pushed A.J. Reed and Colin Moran as centerpieces of a trade, and other teams weren't on board; and a rival GM's take on the failed Britton talks, "If you're dealing with the Orioles, you better have a backup plan."

*Dale Robertson writes that the Astros' true test is still to come.

*Will Harris is making an adjustment to his delivery that will, ideally, put less strain on his shoulder.

*Today in "You Don't Say," Jake Kaplan notes that Francisco Liriano is struggling with his command.

*Hunter Atkins is turning in some quality pieces: here's the story of the 28-day road trip the Astros took in 1992 thanks to the GOP Convention at the Astrodome.

*Quad Cities' Abraham Toro-Hernandez and Fresno's Rogelio Armenteros were the Astros' minor-leaguers of the month. Toro-Hernandez hit .315/.431/.607 between Tri-City and Quad Cities in July. Armenteros was 5-0 for Fresno in July, throwing 28.1IP, 24H/9ER, 32K:10BB.

*A.J. Reed homered for the 3rd straight game, and has 13 home runs in his last 28 games.

*Yordan Alvarez was 4x5 with 4RBI in Buies Creek's win last night. Stephen Wrenn was 4x6 with four runs scored.

*Pinky Deras: 18 complete games, 16 shutouts, 10 no-hitters, 298Ks in 108IP. 33 home runs. The legend of the only Michigan team to win the Little League World Series

History Lesson: The Astros, Phil Nevin, and the 1992 Draft

Today we get to unveil the latest in our History Lesson series, an effort in which we try to write too many words about every interesting episode in Astros history. Do to the length of the piece we have put it on a separate page. So here is the link to 2800 words about the Astros, Phil Nevin, Derek Jeter, and the 1992 draft.

That 26-game road trip

Thanks to a tweet from the Houstorian (an excellent Twitter feed), we were reminded that it was 20 years ago today that the Astros had to embark on a month-long road trip, due to the Republican National Convention's attendance at the Astrodome.

Some thoughts on that '92 Road Trip:

*The 1992 Astros flew 9,024 miles on the road trip (Houston to Atlanta to Cincinnati to Los Angeles to San Diego to San Francisco to Chicago to St. Louis to Philadelphia to Houston)

*They went 12-14 in those 26 games. Which is funny, because the Astros have won 12 road games all season, in 60 tries.

*They won more extra-innings games (2) in those 26 games than the 2012 Astros have all year (1).

*While the Astros weren't exactly in the race to begin the road trip (5th place, 14.5 games back), they did lose 4.5 games on the division leader Braves.

*Houston pitcher Jimmy Jones went 3-1 on the trip, with a 3.82 ERA.

*Craig Biggio hit .326/.434/.411, with 8K:15BB and seven stolen bases.

*Jeff Bagwell hit .269/.363/.441 with nine extra-base hits, 17 RBI, 12K:14BB.

Drayton didn't want Jeter

Yeah, we're back to this for now - because otherwise we'd be talking about Ryan Braun, and I just don't want to do that.

Phil Rogers had a little note this morning about the 1992 draft, and that Phil Nevin pick:

According to the guy that we spoke to, the Houston Astros were poised to select Jeter with the first overall pick in the 1992 draft. Their area scouts in Michigan had been all over him for years and scouting director Dan O'Brien Jr. was sure that the high school shortstop was the best player in the country.

Unfortunately for them , Drayton McLane wanted them to take a college player who could get to the Astrodome quickly. And because McLane had just purchased the team from John McMullen, his word was the only one that counted.

How did the four teams behind the Astros whiff on Jeter? Because the Yankees called his parents and said they'd take him with the #6 pick. So when the Indians, Expos, Orioles, and Reds called Jeter's family they said that he was intent on going to the University of Michigan. And then the Yankees called.

Just how close the Astros were to drafting Jeter

Baseball America has a good read today, giving a little insight into why the Astros didn't draft Jeter with the #1 overall pick in 1992 - going instead with Phil Nevin:

In his book "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," Buster Olney details how Hall of Fame pitcher Hal Newhouser, the Astros' area scout responsible for covering Jeter as Kalamazoo (Mich.) Central High, told Houston brass that Jeter was a special player and person. There were rumors Jeter wanted a seven-figure bonus to pass up a Michigan scholarship, however, and Houston was worried about signability as much as ability.

The Astros were in the process of being sold, and they had declined to sign No. 6 overall choice John Burke when he held out for $500,000 the year before. Houston was determined to work out bonus parameters with 1992's top pick before the draft, and did exactly that, negotiating a $700,000 deal with Nevin...

...As for Jeter, he signed for the same $700,000 that the Astros gave Nevin. Disgusted that his team disregarded his judgment, Newhouser quit his job with Houston.

Anyone else see the irony in previous ownership not wanting to spend money on the draft?

The Astros and the lack of homers

As you know, the Astros are terrible. Joe Sheehan said the 2010 Astros had the "worst offense of my lifetime."

The Astros have hit 48 homers in 83 games. Let's look at just how bad this is:

*The National League average is 75 home runs.
*The Toronto Blue Jays have three players (Bautista, Wells, Gonzalez) who have hit 55 combined.
*This is obviously the lowest total in the Minute Maid Park era.
*The last time the Astros hit this few homers in 83 games was in 1992, when they had hit 46. Still, somehow, those Astros went 81-81. If the Astros were to finish at .500, they would have to finish the season 49-30, or a .671 Win%.

Astros will pick 8th next June

Keith Law has confirmed the Astros will pick 8th in next year's June Draft.

This will be the first time the Astros have picked higher than 10th since 1992, when they had the first overall pick, and nutted that Phil Nevin pick.

Ringolsby: Houston has always been cheap, and stupid

Nothing like kicking you when you're down. Tracy Ringolsby takes some time in Baseball America to discuss the draft, and specifically the 1992 draft, which AC has discussed. What happened in 1992? That was the non-Jeter draft, but we get some insight as to how that went down.

When Derek Jeter became the all-time Yankees hits leader in September, it underscored the failures of other teams.

Jeter was no secret. He was not a matter of the Yankees outbidding anybody else. He slipped to the Yankees because four other teams did not understand the value of the investment they could have made in drafting Jeter.

If the late Hal Newhouser, a Hall of Fame pitcher turned scout, had gotten his way, the Yankees would have never had the chance to draft Jeter. Newhouser was an area scout for the Astros in Michigan in 1992, when Jeter was drafted out of high school.

The Astros had the No. 1 pick in the draft. Owner John McMullen set a $700,000 limit on the signing bonus. While the word among scouts was that Jeter, who had a scholarship to Michigan, would take $1 million to sign, Newhouse lobbied for the Astros to draft him and claimed he could sign Jeter for $750,000.

That was $50,000 over the Astros' self-imposed limit, so they instead drafted Phil Nevin, prompting Newhouser to quit.

Nevin became a solid big league player—though after the Astros essentially gave up on him. No knock on that. But Jeter has evolved into an eventual Hall of Famer, a team leader in addition to an excellent shortstop with offensive ability.

And he would have been an Astro if the organization had been willing to invest in adding the best young players available. New­houser knew that. Nobody in Houston, however, would listen.

Weep, friends.

Bleak Moments in Astros Draft History

It's not bad to have a Hall of Famer scouting for you, like the Astros did in 1992 when pitcher/consecutive MVP ('45-'46) Hal Newhouser was on the staff, and would be inducted into the Hall of Fame later in the summer of '92. Newhouser liked this kid from Michigan, Derek Jeter. The Astros had the #1 Overall Pick in the draft. And took Phil Nevin.

In the lead up to the 1992 draft, Newhouser insisted that the Astros draft Jeter. Newhouser, in fact, apparently discovered Jeter. The Astros passed, drafting Phil Nevin instead. Newhouser was so incensed that he quit. Nevin played 18 games for the Astros, before being traded to the Tigers and having a creditable career.

It takes skill to get a Hall of Famer to scout for you. It takes even more skill to make that Hall of Famer quit.