It would be great, but it has to be on their side also. If we can reach an agreement at some point it needs to be [before] the season starts because once the season starts, I don't want to be involved with any negotiations.
The deadline to offer contracts to arbitration-eligible players was Monday night, and the Astros decided not to offer SP Aaron Sanchez a contract for 2020. Ol' Hurt Shoulder Sanchez is now a free agent. Related, the Astros and RP Joe Biagini agreed on a one-year deal to avoid arbitration. Biagini and Sanchez were acquired in July from Toronto (as well as Cal Stevenson) for Derek Fisher.
Carlos Correa ($7.4m)
Aledmys Diaz ($2.4m)
Chris Devenski ($2m - club option for $2.825m)
Jake Marisnick ($3m)
Lance McCullers ($4.1m)
Roberto Osuna ($10.2m)
Brad Peacock ($4.6m)
George Springer ($21.4m)
Add that up...carry the one...and that's a projected total of $55.1m in arbitration salaries. Richard Justice writes that Springer should never play a game in another uniform.
*Catcher James McCann agreed to a deal with the White Sox, and Jake Kaplan maintains (and I agree) that bringing back Robinson Chirinos makes the most sense for the Astros behind the plate.
*The Rangers are probably going to sign Anthony Rendon. The only possible adjective for Anthony Rendon is "swashbuckling." They may also sign Zack Wheeler. Rangers are clearly tired of 4th-place trophies.
Three cities in five days including two flights and one rental car, two time zones, one concert, a couple of days with family, a couple of days with friends, and it's been an absolutely exhausting week. Thank God it's over. It was great. Hope you had at least a restful Thanksgiving break. Except for Aubrey Huff. I hope Aubrey Huff's anti-gonorrhea medication didn't work this month.
*Would you tender a contract to the following arbitration-eligible players?
Aaron Sanchez. Sanchez threw 131.1IP in 2019 (18.2IP for Houston after getting traded for Derek Fisher (along with Joe Biagini and Cal Stevenson), but underwent shoulder surgery that will keep him on the IL into 2020. He's projected to make about $5.6m in 2020.
Obviously no one knows how long Sanchez will be out, but given that the Astros seem to be ready to lose Gerrit Cole and Collin McHugh. Sanchez could be useful at a (baseball-wise, anyway) reasonable rate in 2020.
Chris Devenski. Devenski is more of a known quantity since coming over as the [snicker] PTBNL in the White Sox' 2012 trade for [belly-laugh] Brett Myers. Devenski ERA / FIP / fWAR, 2016-2019:
I didn't think I'd say this two years ago, but I might not tender Devenski a contract. He's only projected to make $2m, so maybe there's something fixable in there, but he's been trending downwards - severely - for the last two seasons. He's been almost a perfect Replacement Level reliever for the last 116.1IP.
*Jim "Ralph" Bowden: The Angels should go spend half a billion dollars on Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg.
*FanGraphs: Which Astros players might have benefited most from sign-stealing? Jake Mailhot:
...When you have an organizational culture that values the cumulative effects of many marginal improvements, implementing a sign-stealing system to help your batters gain an edge, even a small one, might be just what you're looking for. This article is not fun! *Mike Piazza will be the manager of the Italian national baseball team.
*The Astros made their first free-agent signing of the season, 32-year old catcher Dustin Garneau to a 1yr/$650K deal with an opportunity for $75K in incentives. He and Garrett Stubbs are the only catchers on the Astros' 40-Man Roster. You can bet the Astros will try to get a more top-line name behind the plate to catch Verlander, Greinke, & Co.
The Astros will be Garneau's fifth team and 2020 will be his 6th year in the Majors. He's a career .207/.290/.343 hitter in 123 MLB games (381 PAs). If Dustin Garneau is the Astros' Opening Day catcher, then something gone awry.
The Astros held the Angels to nine scoreless innings on Thursday night and lost because they allowed three runs in the first two innings, and then the walk-off in the 12th, pissing away chance after chance in between. Houston is 104-55 overall, 44-34 on the road. It's their 2nd loss in the last eleven games.
Scoreboard watching: New York was off, Los Angeles beat San Diego 1-0.
Houston (104-55): -
Los Angeles (103-56): -1
New York (102-57): -2
A Houston win or a New York loss tonight clinches home field advantage through the ALCS. World Series home field is going to go down to the wire. A Houston / Los Angeles tie would result in the Astros winning the tiebreaker, thanks to their better intra-division record.
*Since the Trade Deadline, AL Standings:
Houston: 35-15
Oakland: 34-15
Tampa: 33-16
New York: 34-18
Minnesota: 33-19
Cleveland: 30-22
Boston: 24-26
*The Astros are 7-4 in their last 11 games against Anaheim. The Angels' walkoff came in the bottom of the 12th when Kyle Tucker sorta misplayed a ground ball after going 1x6 with a home run and 4Ks. Not exactly a Dear Diary kind of day for Kyle. Houston was 1x13 w/RISP (Anaheim was 1x12). Houston loaded the bases three times in the final five innings and did not score a run.
Chances!
Top 7: Runners on 1st and 2nd, 1 out. Bregman K, Tucker K.
Top 8: Bases loaded, 1 out. Springer GIDP.
Top 10: Runners on 1st and 2nd, 2 out. Stubbs K.
Top 11: Bases loaded, 1 out. Tucker K, Diaz fielder's choice
Top 12: Bases loaded, 2 out. Marisnick K.
Houston left 17 runners on base. Hinch: Especially in a one-run game, that's a lot. We had our chances. A lot of at-bats, contact even to the outfield would have been good for us. Couldn't come up with the big swing, or even the small swing to get someone across. They did at the end.
*Wade Miley needed 93 pitches to get through 4IP, allowing 5H/3ER, 2K:2BB. 54 of his 93 pitches were for strikes and he only threw a first pitch strike to eight of the 19 batters he faced. Miley: A lot more positives than I've been getting. I felt a lot better tonight. I felt I attacked the zone a lot better. The first inning, I gave up the double on a mistake up and over, but for the most part, I felt like I made some really good pitches in and got some swings.
On Miley's postseason roster spot, Hinch: We have a long time before we have to make any sort of decision. So after a walk-off loss, it's not going to be a time where I assess anything.
*Josh Reddick was 5x6 with a double and his first stolen base since June 14, six games after the first 5-hit game of his career. In between he was 1x14 with 2K:2BB.
*Myles Straw was 3x6, getting three hits for the third time this season.
Reddick and Straw: 8x12, 1K:1BB
Rest of Team: 4x34, 10K:8BB
*Jack Mayfield hit the 2nd home run of his career, tying the game at 3-3. Mayfield's eight hits with the Astros:
Double, Home Run, Double, Double, Double, Single, Double, Home Run.
*Carlos Correa was not in the lineup, nor was Altuve or Springer or Gurriel or Yordan. Carlos Correa, unlike Altuve and Springer and Gurriel and Yordan, will not be in the lineup the rest of the weekend. Correa saw a doctor on Thursday in Los Angeles and "nothing more or serious" was found in his back, which is good, I guess. Correa will have gotten 11 PAs between August 19 and October 4. Add "airplane rides" to the list of things that make Litos' back hurt. Reminder that Correa's latest 6-week back rehab occurred after he swung a bat. He turned 25 on Sunday. This is all very exhausting. Hinch: Given that he's been off for a couple of days, we could need a full day of baseball activity anyway. That's pushed to tomorrow, and then if there's any sort of movement or activity over the weekend, it doesn't look like we're going to have enough time to get him a lot of game action....We saw him come out of this with one rehab game and hit two home runs. He's an excellent player. He's a former All-Star. He'll be just fine when we get him back here.
More Hinch: We do have workouts prior to the division series where we'll have some live (batting practices), some (simulated) games and stuff like that. That's going to be what we're going to have to judge him on.
*Aaron Sanchez, who once had two arms, had a capsule tear in his right shoulder and will be out "into next season." This paper said the average recovery time in MLB pitchers is 13 months. That's October 2020. Aaron Sanchez went from throwing a no-hitter to being out for most of 2020 in less than a month.
*SI's Jon Tayler makes the case for the Astros winning the 2019 World Series. Talyer: That is, with no qualifiers or doubts, the best rotation in baseball and the postseason, and that's with Literally Wade Miley as the fourth starter, only Literally Wade Miley has actually been good this year (3.91 ERA, 119 ERA+) because the Astros are dark wizards.
*Jayson Stark gave out his end-of-season awards. Click the link, but the relevant notes are Trout for AL MVP, Verlander for AL Cy Young, Yordan for AL Rookie of the Year. A.J. Hinch didn't even finish in Stark's AL Manager of the Year top five.
*Check out the Wall Street Journal's write-up of a Luhnow/Morey lunch conversation. It's fascinating. They throw shade at pretty much all of Astros Twitter, and we deserve it. When it comes to their jobs, they're literally smarter than all of us combined (I still think I could take Luhnow in a Pub Trivia night, but only because I've filled my brain with useless information...unless that information becomes valuable in a Pub Trivia setting, for which Luhnow did not plan.)
*This Levi Weaver account of the Red Sox swinging at three straight pitches to try to prevent West Forney's Mike Minor from getting to 200 strikeouts on the season, which resulted in the Ramgers dropping a pop-up in foul territory with two strikes in order to give Minor another shot at it...is hilariously petty and worth it.
The Rangers intentionally let a popup drop in the 9th inning so Mike Minor could have another shot at notching his 200th strikeout of the season.
*Former Astros Great Tyler Heineman got his first MLB hit Thursday night against Jacob DeGrom.
*Over on the AL Wild Card side, the Indians lost to the White Sox, so they're two games back with three to play. Since trading Tyler Bauer, Cleveland is 30-22 while Bauer threw 56.1IP for the Reds, posting a 6.39 ERA / 1.35 WHIP. File this under See, Things You Just Hate To.
*The Cubs' dreams of a dynasty appear to be over. Place this in the previous file.
The Astros beat the piss out of the Royals, and the 2019 Astros should absolutely beat the piss out of the 2019 Royals. Houston won 12-3 and improved to 98-53. There are 11 regular season games left. The Astros would need to go 6-5 down the stretch in order to set the franchise record for wins in a season. And they're about to get Carlos Correa, Ryan Pressly, and Brad Peacock back. The Astros are off today. Houston is 10-4 in September and 41-20 since the All-Star Break.
*The Blue Jays beat the Yankees, the Dodgers beat the Mets.
So...
Houston (98-53): -
New York (98-53) -
Los Angeles (97-54): -1
Houston has Texas, Anaheim, at Seattle, at Anaheim to end the season. New York has Anaheim, Toronto, at Tampa, at Arlington. Los Angeles has Tampa, Colorado, at San Diego at San Francisco. There are 13 days left in the regular season.
*To the Astros sweep of the Royals: Wade Miley pitched well! 6IP, 7H/2ER, 4K:2BB. Miley's 6IP are the most since August 2. He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 19 of his 31 starts. Reddick - more on him in a minute - said that Sunday's game helped Miley more than anybody: The biggest boost forward was for Wade. He's been the same guy. After his first (bad) start, he came in and was the same guy. The second start got to him a little bit more. He lost his confidence, I think. He was kind of quiet.
Miley established his inner-half fastball. Miley: Once I got out of the first inning, a big weight came off my shoulders. So just go in and attack and I was able to go six.
*Josh Reddick enjoyed the first 5-hit day of his career. He had five hits in his previous 24 PAs. It's his 32nd multi-hit game of the season. It's only the 5th time in his career he's gotten on base five times in a game, the first since September 8, 2017. Reddick has hit three home runs in September, and his 3RBI equaled his September total coming into Sunday. Reddick: [The dugout is] telling me to go out and get the fifth one and, as soon as I hit it and it got through the infield, I could hear my dugout as I was running down the baseline. A great feeling all around. These days don't come around without a few lucky hits in there.
*Springer and Altuve had Sunday off, in advance of an off-day today, and another on Thursday, as Hinch remains committed to the regular rest leading into October. Hinch: These guys are going to get rest days. I've tried to warn everybody and tried to explain it over and over that [Sunday's lineup] is a team that we think we can win with.
*Aaron Sanchez had surgery last week but, as of yesterday, Luhnow had not received an update on the surgery or his prognosis. Aaron Sanchez is literally dead to Jeff Luhnow.
*Brittany Ghiroli has a great story in The Athletic on Aaron Barrett.
Another day another Astros win over the Mariners, though this one was a bit of a struggle. Oh well, they all count the same. Houston is 92-50. There are 20 regular season games left. The Astros are 14-1 against Seattle, and 25-2 at home against the AL West.
Scoreboard Watching:
Oakland, New York, and Los Angeles lost.
Houston (92-50): -
New York (92-50): -
Los Angeles (92-51): -0.5
*Hinch: We've played well in our division and we've played very well against this team across the way. A lot of September baseball is returning to the division play. When you play well against them that's a good time to play well.
This quote is absolutely hysterical.
*Framber: 4IP, 2H/3ER, 6K:6BB. He walked 5+ batters for the second consecutive start. That happened to McCullers in 2018 on either side of the All-Star Break, but before that it happened to Erik Bedard in July 2013. The Astros' franchise record of consecutive starts with 5+ BB is four, by Darryl Kile (1994) and J.R. Richard (1975). Hinch: I saw a guy who battled his way through his outing. He just had a hard time throwing strikes when he wanted to. When he's spraying the ball all over the place, he's a little hard to hit. He's hard to catch. He's hard to do a lot with.
Bullpen: 5IP, 2H/1ER, 5K:1BB.
*Alex Bregman was 2x4 with a walk. Oh yeah, he stole home while Aledmys Diaz was caught in a rundown. Bregman: We talked about some things we can try and exploit before the series. We thought we had an opportunity to do it there. Diaz and I made eye contact. He took off, and I was able to get a big lead.
*Josh Reddick homered in back-to-back games for the first time since May 31/June 1.
*The Astros stole three bases for the 3rd time in 2019.
*Yuli Gurriel exited last night's game in the 5th Inning with the dreaded "hamstring discomfort." He's probably out for the weekend.
*Ryan Pressly made "10 or 15 throws" off the mound on Friday and his prognosis is "better than good, it's been excellent."
*Impending runway model Carlos Correa did baserunning drills on the field prior to Friday's game. Hinch: I saw him - the cliche everyone hates - free and easy, and lighthearted and happy. To me, that means he's getting back in shape as opposed to trying to overcome a little bit of soreness or adversity. I think that's a step in the right direction.
In that link, we get a Hinch quote on Kyle Tucker: Given how long the year was for him - successful in the Minors, but no opportunity here - he's trying to make a push for more playing time and maybe a little more prominent role. Step up and deliver a couple of times and get to high-five some guys and celebrate with 'em, that makes you part of the culture and part of the winning.
*Jake Kaplan notes that Aaron Sanchez's shoulder injury may be so bad that, depending on the result of his surgery next week, the Astros may not even tender him a contract for 2020: Much of the calculus depends on the nature of the surgery and the post-operation prognosis for Sanchez, neither of which the Astros have disclosed. General Manager Jeff Luhnow said on Thursday that the team will have more information about Sanchez's rehab after the procedure is complete.
Should Sanchez not get tendered, or miss a significant portion of the 2020 season, that would leave the 2020 Astros rotation - as of now - as Verlander, Greinke, McCullers, and two fat question marks. The actual question marks have a spin rate that can be improved through pitch sequencing and the Astros' trademarked fairy dust.
At this point I'd like to mention that J.B. Bukauskas started two games for Arizona's Double-A Jackson after getting traded in the Greinke deal, and threw 7IP, 10H/6ER, 11K:5BB.
Verlander is Pitcher A, Cole is Pitcher B, and Matt Kelly writes that they just might be the most dominant pitching duo ever. Kelly: The duo is on the verge of doing something we haven't seen since baseball began expanding in 1961, finishing 1-2 in their league in ERA, WHIP, and Ks.
*Jim Ralph Bowden says the Astros absolutely must extend George Springer. Bowden: At 29, [Springer] is having his best season with an impressive 150 OPS+ and 5.3 WAR to go along with 30 home runs and a career-high .389 on-base percentage. The three-time All-Star also has not only been a leader but hasn't let success change him, as he continues to set time aside for the fans, charities, and the media. His positive energy and passion for winning never subside. His two-year, $24 million deal expires at the end of the season and although he is arbitration-eligible, there's no reason not to extend him now.
*Round Rock had a chance to clinch their first round series, but lost 3-2 to Iowa in Game 3. Rogelio Armenteros threw 5.2IP, 5H/3ER, 9K:2BB. The Express were 1x7 w/RISP. Game 4 is tonight.
*Due to the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian in the Carolinas, Games 3&4 of the Carolina League Southern Division playoffs will be a double-header today, starting at 3pm Central. If necessary, a deciding Game 5 will be on Saturday.
*And just like that, Quad Cities' season is over with a 4-2 loss to Cedar Rapids. Jose Alberto Rivera threw 5IP, 4H/1ER, 13K:1BB in relief. Quad Cities went 79-57 in 2019.
-IF the A's, Rays, and Indians are tied for the two Wild Card spots...
THEN the A's get to choose if they want to play the Rays and Indians at home in two sudden-death games...
AND the Rays get to choose second...
WHICH MEANS the Indians could have to play two sudden-death road games to advance to the ALDS.
The Rays are 84-59, the A's are 82-59, and Cleveland is 82-60.
*I will literally never understand how the 2018 Astros lost to the Red Sox in five games in the ALCS (I mean, of course Altuve and Correa were hurt, but still). I hope you choke on a bowl of chowdah, Sully from Braintree, you piece of crap.
Wade Miley had a historically bad start for the Astros at a really bad time. Again. The Astros were down 7-0, 7-1, 7-3, 7-5, 8-5, tied it up at 8-8, down 9-8, tied at 9-9, and finally walked it off with a Michael Brantley home run to win an improbable game 11-9. Relievers got 39 outs. Houston is 91-50, 52-17 at home. There are 21 regular season games left.
*Oakland scored seven runs in the 7th to beat Anaheim 10-6. So the relevant leaderboard looks like this:
Best Record New York (92-49): -
Los Angeles (92-50): -0.5
Houston (91-50): -1.0
AL Wild Card
1. Tampa (83-59): +0.5
2. Oakland (81-58): 0.0
3. Cleveland (81-60): -1.0
*Houston has won 13 of their last 17 games. They're 10-3 in extra-innings. The Astros are 13-1 against the Mariners in 2019, having won eight straight games, three of those being walk-offs. They're 24-2 against the AL West at home in 2019.
*The Astros' largest previous comeback in 2019 was five runs, so last night's game set a new season-high. McTaggart notes that it's the biggest comeback win since July 18, 1994, when the Astros beat the Cardinals 15-12. Hinch: We just hung in there, we kept chipping away, we got some big swings and we look up and we tied the game. We kept that game alive and ultimately the big swing at the end with Mike. A lot happened in that game and obviously it started out terribly for us but finished in dramatic fashion.
*On August 14, the day after Gerrit Cole couldn't take the mound for his start in the second game of a double-header against Chicago (on the front end of a 17-games-in-17-days stretch), Wade Miley threw 3.1IP, allowing 9H/7R (3ER). Thursday night, on the first of 11 games in 11 days, Miley didn't even record an out, allowing 5H/5ER, 0K:1BB. He threw 31 pitches. It's his worst start since September 14, 2017 when he allowed 6H/6ER in 0.1IP to the Yankees, but it only took him 19 pitches to do that.
Miley is the 3rd pitcher in 2019 (White Sox' Dylan Covey and the Mets' Steven Matz) to start a game and not record a single solitary out. The Astros' Scott Elarton did it on July 8, 2001 and Jim Deshaies did it on July 16, 1991, but both threw less than five pitches each. Though the pitch data for the franchise is incomplete, Miley is the first Astros SP to throw more than 20 pitches in a start and not record an out since Jim Clancy did it on August 3, 1989. Miley: It's the best I felt in a month. They had me today. Tip your hat. Sometimes you get your butt whipped and I got my butt whipped.
Having only thrown 31 pitches, he should be good here in a couple of days to go back out and try it again.
Cy Sneed, Jose Urquidy, Joe Biagini, Joe Smith, Roberto Osuna, Hector Rondon, and Josh James combined to throw 13IP, 7H/4ER, 15K:3BB.
*Kyle Tucker hit the first MLB home run of his career in his 78th PA, and then added an RBI single to push the game to the 13th inning. The Astros are 1-0 all-time when Kyle Tucker hits a home run.
*Before Brantley's single in the 6th, he was on an 0x17 slump since his 19-game hitting streak. It was Brantley's first walk-off home run since August 3, 2014, when he did it against the Ramgers. Brantley: I think that's what makes a team special, a never-give-up attitude and we're always in every game, and we did that tonight.
Brantley's 20th home run of 2019 ties his career-high.
*Josh Reddick was 3x3 with a walk and hit his first home run since June 28.
-Springer is day-to-day with a "mild concussion."
-Pressly will play catch from the mound on Friday.
-Peacock will play catch for the first time and could rejoin the team before the regular season ends.
-McHugh hasn't played catch since going back on the IL on August 31.
-Correa: We've got to take it slowly because I don't want to rush into it and play a week and then get hurt again and miss the playoffs. We're building up for me to play every playoff game we're going to play. That's the main goal. Focus on the rehab and get back to 100 percent and show up and keep playing all the way until November.
Carlos Correa was called up on June 8, 2015. The Astros played 104 games after, and including, the game in which he joined the Astros. Including Thursday night's game, the Astros have played 731 regular season games in the Carlos Correa Era. Correa has played in 543 of those games, or 74.3%. He'll be 25 on September 22.
In that same span, here's the percentage of regular season games in which various Astros have played since June 8, 2015 (note: some of the following will include games played while members of other organizations, but everyone ):
Correa has played in 72 games in 2019 (massage, back), and has missed 40% of the Astros' regular season games since the beginning of 2018. Yordan Alvarez - called up on June 9 - will match Correa's 2019 season total in games played next week.
MEANWHILE, Correa has switched representation on the advice of [shuffles notes] Alex Rodriguez, and will be represented by Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, and Al Roker's agent, Jon Rosen. Correa will be his first MLB client. This - every word of this entire section - is all so very tiring.
*Well well well Aaron Sanchez's tiddy issue turned into an apparently massive shoulder issue as he will have surgery next week that will shut him down for the season. Hinch: We may see him back here at some point in September just as a teammate. It's a bummer for him. It's tough for us. We expected him to contribute down the stretch and unfortunately he won't be able to pitch. At this rate, given the "good news" surrounding Springer, it'll be amazing if Springer's brain is actually still in his head.
*Might have linked to this earlier (in the week, in the season, you never know with SI) but the Astros' pitching revolution is a remarkably simple fix, writes Stephanie Apstein...shortly before Wade Miley crapped the bed.
Minor-League Playoffs! *Another night, another walk-off win for Round Rock as they take a 2-0 lead in the Best-of-Five round with a 4-3 win in the 10th. Brandon Bielak threw 6IP, 8H/3ER, 3K:1BB and Bryan Abreu and Riley Ferrell combined to throw 4IP, 1H/0ER, 4K:2BB. Taylor Jones got the game-winning knock. Game 3 is tonight in Iowa.
*In the wake of Hurricane Dorian, now a Category 1 aiming forAlabama North Carolina's Outer Banks today, Fayetteville and Down East (tied 1-1) will resume play tonight.
*Quad Cities dropped the potential clincher in the 1st Round Best-of-Three to Cedar Rapids, 2-1. Brett Daniels threw 6.1IP, 5H/2ER, 10K:2BB. The top five in the lineup were 0x17 with 9K:0BB. The deciding Game Three is tonight.
*Miami pitcher Brian Moran recorded his first career MLB strikeout...against his younger brother, Former Astros Great Colin Moran.
*The Guardian: "London Bridge is Down:" The secret plan for the days after the Queen's death.
*Outside: The Legend of Baltimore Jack (one thousand baseball writers just woke up from their sleep, smiling at the Springsteen reference, and they do not know why).
*True Story: I thought about this song yesterday morning and spent three hours trying to remember the melody, piecing together nine years of almost-constant music listening in order to get a snippet of a line, which finally turned into something Google-able, which ultimately led me to actually getting the name and artist. A Musical Selection:
Apologies for yesterday's absence. It was the first day of school, my kid was super-jacked and woke up really early, and I had to leave early to get to my own classroom. Two things I'll need to reteach myself from this summer (and from last year when my conference period lasted all three lunches):
1) Learn to eat in 25 minutes. I ate half of my grilled chicken and broccoli.
2) Remember that you can't just go to the bathroom whenever you feel like it. Yesterday was the closest I've come to pissing my pants in 30 years.
Anyway, the Astros beat the Tigers 6-3. They're 81-46. There are 35 regular season games left. It's their 8th straight home win. Houston is 12-6 in August.
Houston, after 127 regular season games:
2019: 81-46
2018: 77-50
2017: 77-50
*Aaron Sanchez threw 46 pitches over 2.1IP. 19 were balls. To the 37-85 Tigers. He left the game with right pec soreness. His titty hurt, and has hurt for "six or seven starts" - something I'm sure the Astros weren't exactly thrilled to hear. Sanchez: It's been an ongoing thing. I've been trying to push through it. It's been up and down.
So now Sanchez is going on the IL. More Sanchez: Obviously today when my (velocity) drops the way it did, there's no sense in trying to push through it. Especially knowing where this team is going, and I want to be a part of that down the stretch. So the best bet is to just figure out what's going on and work from there.
*So the Astros basically got another bullpen game. Collin McHugh threw 2IP, 3H/0ER, 4K:0BB. McHugh, since the Trade Deadline: 12.1IP, 7H/0ER, 16K:7BB. He has walked two batters in his last 9.1IP.
*Springer and Altuve hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the bottom of the 1st. It's the 10th time this season the Astros have gone back-to-back. Springer's 10th leadoff home run set a single-season franchise record. It's Springer's 34th career leadoff homer - he needs 20 more to break Craig Biggio's franchise record. Altuve: We've gotten stronger. I see a lot of homers by Springer when I'm on deck and I love it. I think the fans love it, too. We need to keep hitting homers.
*Michael Brantley has a 14-game hitting streak.
*Yordan was 0x0 with 4BB. It's only the 4th time in 2019 that an MLB player has walked four times in four plate appearances. It's also only the 4th time in franchise history that an Astro has gone 0x0, 0K:4BB, and the first since cHRis carter did it on June 5, 2014.
*So of course Monday's game featured Carlos "Mr. Glass" Correa leaving the game in the 1st inning with "back discomfort." Last night's update is that Correa is "likely" headed to the IL. Hinch: [Correa's] doing a little bit better, but he's not doing well enough to play. I'm not optimistic that he's going to be able to avoid the IL. We'll make the determination tonight and into tomorrow. We haven't seen anything that's made us believe that this is anything major or massive, but it's going to take a couple days - and certainly up to 10 days - to mend.
I am extremely happy that Carlos Correa is an Astro for a long time to come. Carlos Correa is a generational talent, and his career has been extremely weird, given that he's had to deal with numerous fluky injuries to various parts of his body. I would very much appreciate Carlos Correa moving past the Fluky Injury stage of his professional career.
2014: Correa breaks his leg sliding into third at High-A Lancaster.
2017: Correa tears a thumb ligament on the catcher's shin guard while sliding into home. He later re-injures the thumb celebrating the Astros' ALCS G2 win over the Yankees, but deals with it.
2018: Correa misses significant time - and isn't the same for the rest of the season - when he hurt his back.
2019: Correa misses time with a broken rib he suffered during a massage. Then lower-back tightness is about to force him to the IL.
All of these are fluky. But a lot of flukes in five years isn't exactly fluky. I'm not about to say the dude is injury-prone, but I'm saying it's going to take a season of 140+ games to put a lot of this to rest.
Myles Straw got the start at SS for Round Rock last night. So that's how the next 10+ days is going to go. I bet Myles Straw doesn't post a .929 OPS like Correa did in the 22 games since he got activated from his last injury. The reasonable take is that the Astros don't need Correa to win the division, but they will absolutely need him to win another Pennant and World Series. This team should not be satisfied with just making the postseason. I will go to my grave thinking the Astros should have won the Pennant in 2018 but didn't, in part, because Correa wasn't healthy.
*Hey, why did Miguel Cabrera get ejected on Monday night? Cabrera, who has done nothing to Wrong anybody: So, after the inning, I was talking to Altuve about [Yordan], because I think the guy is pretty awesome but he's 22, at such a young age, he's really good, he's got a good approach at home plate. And if you see the pitch he threw me out on, it was down. So it's no reason for me to argue that pitch. So I say it's unbelievable how he called the pitch and then he threw me out. I was saying that to Altuve and not the umpire. Miguel Cabrera is a Hall of Famer, for his baseball skills and also for his passive-aggressive umpire burns. Fire all the umpires and replace them with non-titty-baby automatons.
*Tom Verducci says that Bregman vs. Matt Chapman is a Golden Age of 3Bs.
*Roger Clemens has apparently been encouraged to run for Congress. Who encouraged him to even consider this is unconfirmed. Clemens won't run for Congress. God bless us, everyone.
One highlight to the game was Yordan Alvarez hitting a home run on a 3-0 pitch. Here are the stats on that home run:
Yordan would finish the night 2-3 with two home runs.
The Astros bullpen is getting some reinforcement today. Brad Peacock is being activated from the IL today and he'll pitch out of the bullpen. Largely, because Aaron Sanchez has pitched well. Sanchez has a 3.86 ERA in three starts for the Astros.
Josh Reddick was given a day off. In his last 365 days Reddick is hitting .257/.309/.383 good for a .693 OPS. It's even worse the closer you get to yesterday:
Worth remembering that the hot New York Mets have a similar record to the Astros in August.
Gerrit Cole is expected to miss only, "one start" which means he'll be available for the playoffs. In all seriousness, I like the approach the Astros have taken with injuries. The Astros have a significant lead in the division. There is no rush to get Cole or any other player that feels discomfort back into the starting lineup. I've already planned to take a week off for the day games the Astros will play in the division series.
Rogelio Armenteros will start Saturday's contest against the A's. He'll make one start and be sent back down. Martin Maldonado is expected to catch.
Hinch on Armenteros:
“He’s thrown very well. Righties [perform] better than lefties against [the A's] lineup, and we think he’s the right option for us.”
Armenteros has allowed 8 ER in 14.1 innings since being sent down. Six of those came in his July 28th start, in which he only lasted 2 innings. In the last two games he's allowed 2 ER over 12.1 innings.
While putting this post together the below poll was thrown up on the broadcast. I'll take Jose Altuve all day. ALL DAY!
Altuve's similar batters through age 28 include five Hall of Famers:
Ryne Sandberg
Billy Herman
Roberto Alomar
Frankie Frisch
Bobby Doerr
Stay tuned.
For those curious about the other guys Hall of Famer similarity batter scores through similar age:
George Springer - 0
Carlos Correa - 3
Alex Bregman - 2
"The Astros represent the promise land, the big rock candy mountain of baseball," according to the New York Times and Asher Wojciechowski. Wade Miley, A-a-ron Sanchez, and Zach Greinke weigh in on the Astros revolution.
Here's a money quote from Miley, “I checked the data and it was spinning faster and it had more break on it. It’s amazing.”
During the broadcast Todd Kalas mentioned that Justin Verlander needed 73 strikeouts to get 3000 strikeouts this year (he had four strikeouts into the game at this point). With eight more starts he has a chance.
He finished the night with strikeouts. Prior to tonight, Verlander has a 2.65 ERA and 84 strikeouts at The Coliseum.
More stats from last night's game (Geoff Blum and Todd Kalas are great!).
Altuve and Correa being healthy helps this team go deep into the playoffs. The fact that Correa is hitting 6th is crazy!
The dude that lit up the radar game and signed with the A's, struck out the side in his organizational debut.
Man, I'm ready for Flick to get back. The Astros made one worse pitch than Oakland did, and lost 7-6. I'm told the game was Weird. I could not stay awake for the whole thing. The Astros are 78-44, 8.5 up on Oakland. They have lost three in a row, and four of five. But they won eight straight before that. It happens.
*I'm having a hard time this morning with only complaining about home runs when the other team hits them.
*There were eleven extra-base hits in last night's game. Ten of them left the yard. Hinch: They hit the most important one at the right time. We hit some big ones. It was a little bit of 2019 home run derby with the ball flying out of the ballpark everywhere.
*Astros pitchers have allowed 7+ runs in three of their last five games.
*Aaron Sanchez threw 5.1IP, 7H/6ER, 3K:2BB, 4HR. It's the first time this season an Astros starting pitcher has allowed 4HR, and the second time in his career Sanchez has done it (June 12, 2016).
*It's the 6th time in franchise history the Astros have hit five home runs and lost. It's the 2nd time that's happened this season.
*Five of the Astros' seven hits were home runs. As a team in August the Astros are hitting .310/.385/.610. They're 9-4 in August, with a team .995 OPS.
*Michael Brantley was 3x4 with two home runs and a double. Brantley's last nine games dating back to August 3: .500/.537/868. It was the 7th 2HR game of his career.
*Carlos Correa got two jacks himself and became the youngest Astro to hit 100 career home runs, and it's not even close. He's 24 years and 328 days old. Alex Rodriguez and Cal Ripken, Jr. are the only other shortstops in MLB history to hit 100 home runs before turning 25. Correa: I called my dad and told him, and he was crying. Obviously, it was a lot of work put in to get where we are right now. It was an emotional moment. It's very special.
Astros' all-time home run leaders, by shortstops:
Correa: 100
Marwin: 76
Adam Everett: 35
Dickie Thon: 33
Craig Reynolds: 32
Correa is hitting .290/.366/.579 for a currently-career high OPS of .945. Shut up about Correa. He needs six more home runs to set a career-high, at 25.
*Alex Bregman hit his 29th home run of the season. In August he's hitting .439/.521/.902
*Yordan Alvarez has one hit in his last 18 Plate Appearances. Brett Wallace lookin ass boiiiiiiii.
*On May 19 Josh Reddick went 2x2 with two doubles and 2BB to put his OPS at .860. In the 69 games since, he's hitting .229/.259/.339. Reddick last hit a home run on June 28 - a span of 30 starts. He went 44 games without a home run in 2018, let's see if he can break that streak. Chandler Rome understatedly writes that Reddick is having some trouble shaking off his slump. Hinch: Reddick has obviously gone through a very slow time. There's a lot of issues that come with that. There's reasons beyond pitch selection, how hard he swings, swing path, all that stuff. There's not one thing that you can pinpoint exactly what's going on. Otherwise, we would have corrected it quite a few at-bats ago.
Dude just looks lost.
*George Springer snapped a 7-game hitting streak with an 0x3, BB night.
*Oakland's Matt Chapman has two straight 2HR games. Chapman: That was pretty cool. I've never seen the ball carry like that here. It was like we were playing on a normal park. That was a rarity. I've never seen this park play like that. Usually it's pretty cold here and the ball doesn't travel, but that was nice.
More Chapman: It feels like that kind of game, a playoff game. That's a really good team we respect and want to beat. This is the Astros' division until somebody knocks them off. To take the first game of the series like that is huge.
Manfred must have made sure that the Coliseum got the extra-jumpy balls for this division matchup.
*Ralph Bowden reports that Gerrit Cole "should be good to go" next week. And the Astros are confident that Cole will only miss this weekend's start. Hinch: He's going to rest for the next couple of days. He may do a little throwing while we're here in Oakland and then gear towards a bullpen eventually. A lot of therapy, a lot of conversation, a lot of making sure that he doesn't do anything to irritate his hammy, and get him back on the hill eventually.
*The Astros could start Armenteros or Framber on Saturday. Or they could have another bullpen game, since that worked out so well on Tuesday. It just kind of depends.
*Remember that Colorado game where Bregman couldn't come up with a Daniel Murphy liner, and it was ruled a hit? Yesterday it was changed back to an error, so Greinke's line is now officially 6IP, 6H/5R (2ER). Greinke has now given up 4ER in 12IP as an Astro.
*Andrew Simon asks: Is Yordan is having the best start to a career ever?
*The Astros are trying to become the first team in baseball history to not intentionally walk a batter. The previous low for intentional walks by a team in a season was four, set by the...2018 Astros.
*Baseball America published their 2019 Best Tools winners. Click to see where Justin Verlander, Justin Verlander, and Justin Verlander rank on the overall winners, and where Alex Bregman, Michael Brantley, Gerrit Cole, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Ryan Pressly, and A.J. Hinch fall.
*Some Minor League transactions:
-A.J. Lee (2019 - 34th Round) and C.J. Stubbs (2019 - 10th Round) went from Tri-City to Quad Cities after Lupe Chavez went on the IL and catcher Orlando Marquez was released.
*Hakai Magazine: A tiny Alaskan island faces a threat as deadly as an oil spill - rats.
*How two superstars, four words, and 15 seconds of TV influenced a decade of pop culture.
*The Ringer: Welcome to the world of competitive wiffle ball.
The Astros curb-stomped the Orioles. It was fun at first. Then I felt badly about the damage done to those 25 Orioles, to the actual structure of Camden Yards. This game was so one-sided that I wanted it to just end. Do what my alma mater did to A&M in 2003 (I was there) and just bunt for the last five innings. It was depressing. But the Astros were in the same position from 2011-2013. Still, I take no pleasure in announcing that the 77-40 Astros did, in fact, do it again. They beat Baltimore 23-2. Every other AL West team lost. Houston is 11 games up on Oakland. There are 45 regular season games remaining.
The win gives the Astros the best record in baseball by percentage points (.658 to the Dodgers' .655). They have a one-game lead on New York for the best record in the AL.
The Astros won their 34th away game of the season. The Orioles have half as many home wins (17, if you want to check my math).
Houston has won eight in a row, 11 of their last 12, and 18 of their last 21 games.
Houston runs vs. Baltimore in four games before last night: 12 (3-1)
Houston runs vs. Baltimore last night: 23
Hinch: It was obviously a pretty explosive night from the beginning. From top to bottom just incredible at-bats, productive at-bats, explosive at-bats and ultimately a comfortable win.
Altuve: It's really hard to explain what happened today.
*The Astros have scored 20+ runs in a single solitary game only once before in franchise history: October 2, 2015 against Arizona.
It was the first 20-run margin game in franchise history. The previous high for margin of victory was 18 runs, in a 19-1 win over Toronto on July 9, 2017.
The 25 hits tie a franchise record, set twice in 1976 (May 30 and July 2). It's the 24th time in franchise history they've recorded 20+ hits.
*On September 9, 2000 the Astros recorded 11 extra-base hits (four doubles, seven homers) in a 14-4 win against the Cubs. Last night the Astros set a franchise record with 13 extra-base hits (seven doubles, six home runs).
*It's the 6th time in Orioles history they've allowed 20+ runs, and the most since West Forney beat them 30-3 on August 22, 2007.
*17 of the Astros runs came with two outs.
*Yordan hit three home runs, his 15th-17th home runs of the year. He's the first Astro to hit three home runs in a game since Carlos Lee did it on April 13, 2007. Yordan joins Astros lore as one of ten Astros to hit 3HR in a game. He joins Carlos Lee, Morgan Ensberg, Richard Hidalgo, Lance Berkman, Vinny Castilla, Jeff Bagwell (three times), Glenn Davis (twice), Lee May, and Jimmy Wynn.
Yordan has an OPS of 1.175. It's the 3rd time this season an MLB player has had 3HR/7RBI in the same game (Josh Bell, Christian Yelich). He has now caught Brandon Lowe and Mike Tauchman on the AL Rookie fWAR leaderboard. All three have posted 2.5 fWAR.
Games played:
Yordan: 45
Tauchman: 64
Lowe: 76
Yordan has already posted the 10th-highest fWAR by an Astros rookie in franchise history, joining Luke Scott for 10th. Again, Yordan has played in 45 games. The record is 4.9 fWAR, set by Joe Morgan and Bill Doran.
Yordan just became the quickest player in MLB history to post 50 RBI, beating Joe Freaking DiMaggio by one game. Joe DiMaggio. Yordan has 51 RBI in his first 45 games, breaking Ted Williams' 1939 record for most RBI in his first 45 games (Williams had 47).
Aaron Sanchez, on Yordan: Yordan is special, watching from afar. And now I get to see him every night...To follow this guy's career is going to be something special, for sure.
Yordan: When something goes well for one of us, it goes well for all of us.
The Astros came into last Wednesday having had six instances of a player recording 7+ RBI in franchise history. Between Yuli and Yordan, they've gotten two more in the last four days.
*Altuve hit his 20th home run. It's his third season with 20+ HR, and his previous career high was 24, set in 2016 and 2017.
*Gurriel got the 4th 4-hit game of his career. Since June 9, Gurriel: .359/.395/.733.
*Bregman's heating up. After going hitless in four straight games from July 22-26, Bregman is hitting .439/.511/.829 in his last eleven games, including a six-game hitting streak in which he has 12 hits.
*Aaron Sanchez pitched well, though you may have forgotten the Orioles even held a bat. 5IP, 3H/1ER, 6K:3BB. Sanchez's last four starts: 21.2IP, 14H/6ER, 28K:5BB, 2.49 ERA / 0.88 WHIP.
*Check this MLB.com story on how Hinch manages a lefty-less bullpen. Hinch, on Will Harris: I trust him as much as I trust anybody in my managerial career so far. He's been really good for us over the last five years or so.
Harris, 2012-2014: 99.1IP, 104H/47ER, 107K:30BB, 4.26 ERA / 1.35 WHIP.
Harris, 2015-2019: 280IP, 215H/76ER, 292K:69BB, 2.44 ERA / 1.01 WHIP.
*Gerrit Cole, on his impending free agency: If I'm just being honest with you, we hold each other accountable so well here to stay focused on what we've got to do. When we get a guy like Greinke, my mind goes to being better equipped to win the World Series. I kind of leave the financial stuff for another day. We'll see how free agency plays out and see how it goes.
*The Astros plan to continue to develop Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez at 1B. Luhnow: We'd like that to be options for next year. It would be helpful if both of those guys were playable at first base, it gives A.J. some more options and gives us several more options in trying to form the team next year. On Tucker, specifically: I'm impressed by how he has just continued to go out there, compete, and played well. He hasn't had his agent call me, ask 'When am I getting called up?' He knows our situation our situation. He knows this team is playing well and we have a full outfield. He also knows September is right around the corner.
Tucker was 1x4 with a strikeout and played 1B in a 13-3 loss to Albuquerque last night. Abraham Toro was 2x4 and has a 1.144 OPS in his first eight games at Round Rock.
*Jeff Luhnow commented on Reymin Guduan's season-long suspension in that it ends when the minor-league season ended. Guduan was suspended for violating team policy and it broke early last week. I don't know what Guduan did (the couple of Sources I have weren't talking) but I can't imagine that getting suspended for the final month of the season and it not being PED-related or domestic violence-related is the result of a good thing. I also can't imagine that Guduan would be brought up for mop-up innings in September in Houston when they won't let him get mop-up innings in August in Round Rock.
*The Astros released Akeem Bostick yesterday. Brought over from Aren'tlington in the 2015 Carlos Corporan trade, Bostick has a career 4.62 ERA / 1.40 WHIP in seven minor-league seasons. He got two seasons at Triple-A (one in Fresno - granted, for only 5IP - and one in Round Rock) and in 85.1IP allowed 103H/69ER, 81K:44BB, for a 7.28 ERA / 1.72 WHIP. Guess RamgerFan69 won that trade.
*I don't know what's crazier: that Mike Trout just turned 28 or that, with a home run at Fenway last night, he has now homered in every single AL ballpark, or that it took him 22 career games at Fenway to hit a home run.
Related, the number of AL ballparks in which the Astros have hit a home run:
Springer: 15. Haha Springer > Trout.
Altuve: 15. Haha Springer and Altuve > Trout.
Bregman: 15. Haha Springer and Altuve and Bregman > Trout.
Correa: 15. Haha-
Reddick: 15. Hah-
Brantley: 13
Gurriel: 10
Yordan: 4
*NY Post: Brodie Van Wagenen's trade for J.D. Davis is looking like a winner. In 100 games for New York, Davis is hitting .308/.373/.525.
Apropos of nothing: Tyler White is 1x21 with the Dodgers, hitting .048/.200/.048. Since the Astros traded White on July 25 Houston is hitting .310/.380/.589 as a team.
