Saturday Morning Hot Links

 Well that was very stupid. Lance McCullers didn't record an out, the Astros rallied late, but fell even later in extra innings where the bullpen had to record all the outs prior to a double-header today. Houston is 21-16, 5-10 on the road. Houston is 2-6 in extra-inning games.

*The Astros were 3x24 with runners in scoring position. Reddick, Maldonado, and Toro each had three ABs with RISP, and all three came up empty. After scoring three runs in the top of the 9th to tie it, they were 0x6 w/RISP in the 10th and 11th Innings. Dusty:

We did fight back in the ninth, but a lot of times you lose the game before the ninth. It was very frustrating tonight to see opportunities squandered.

*Abraham Toro was 0x4 with two strikeouts. In 24 games in 2020, Toro is "hitting" .149/.230/.299. His 47 wRC+ ranks 284th out of 308 MLB players with at least 60 PAs. 

*Michael Brantley had his 10th multi-hit game of the season. 

*Lance McCullers failed to record an out for the first time in his career, walking three and allowing two hits to the first five batters he faced. Five of his 18 pitches were strikes. McCullers:

Just dealing with a weird period right now, kind of started a few days ago. But I'll be fine. My stuff wasn't there...Dusty didn't want me to have to battle through that in this period and kind of save it for another day.

McCullers: 0.0IP, 2H/3ER, 0K:3BB

Bullpen: 10.1IP, 5H/3R (2ER), 10K:8BB

McCullers told Chandler Rome:

I had TJ and also had some cleanout in the back. They basically split your triceps and go in there and shave bone and take out old scar tissue. I'm just dealing with a little bit of discomfort and just an awkward feeling back there.

Every part of my reproductive organs retreated to the safety of the inside of my body just reading that. 

*Luis Garcia - who had not pitched above Fayetteville - made his MLB debut in relief and threw 4.1IP, 1H/1ER, 2K:3BB. Dusty, on Garcia:

He saved us. Had he gone out there and spit the bit, I would have really been upside down for [Saturday]. The whole bullpen did an outstanding job. The kid saved us.

*Jose Altuve is likely out for the weekend with a knee sprain, and an IL stint hasn't been determined yet.

*Game 4 Hero Jose Urquidy said he was quarantined with COVID-19 symptoms for 35-40 days in Houston.

*Let's get weird! Brandon Bielak will start Game 1 today, Game 4 Hero Jose Urquidy will start Game 2. With Peacock close to returning, this may be Bielak's last chance to impress and stay on the team.

*Bregman is close. Bregman:

I'm ready and I'm excited. Hopefully, that's soon. I'm just working out with the trainers and strength coaches, and they've done an amazing job helping me out. And I'm looking forward to it, looking forward to getting back to doing what I love and competing and playing the game.

Bregman hasn't played since leaving the game on August 19. After an 0x5 on July 29, Bregman was hitting .174/.321/.348. From July 31-Aug 19 he hit .304/.392/.551. The Astros are 7-5 since he's been on the IL. 

*Austin Pruitt - who was acquired from the Rays a matter of days before Luhnow was terminated, leading to the Rays' James Click (Jiminy Clicket) taking over the reins - had surgery to repair a hairline fracture in his right elbow, and will be out until early 2021. We also find that Joe Biagini was optioned to the alternate training site, with Chris Devenski activated.

Biagini, with Toronto: 309.1IP, 340H/163ER, 276K:115BB, 4.74 ERA/1.43 WHIP, 4.28 FIP

Biagini, with Houston: 19IP, 31H/22ER, 14K:13BB, 10.42 ERA/2.32 WHIP, 8.56 FIP

Biagini, 2020: 4.1IP, 10H/10ER, 4K:4BB, 20.77 ERA /3.23 WHIP.

Biagini has made 17 appearances for the Astros. He has allowed a baserunner in 15 of them, and didn't allow a hit in just four. His 10.42 ERA is the 4th-worst in Astros history among relievers with at least 10IP thrown, behind Felipe Paulino, Stephen Randolph, and Casey Daigle.

*Just a bloodbath of Former Astros Greats as Domingo Santana was outrighted and Jake Elmore was released.

*Roger Clemens talked to SI about what he learned from Tom Seaver. Tom Seaver and the enduring hope of the 1969 Mets.

*It is one week until Leeds United opens the Premier League season at Liverpool. I'm already shaking.

*Psyche: How to be indistractable.

*Wired: How to solve a Rubik's Cube in five seconds or less

*Black Troops were welcome in Britain, but Jim Crow wasn't: The Race Riot of One Night in 1943.

*A Musical Selection:

Saturday Evening Hot Links

There's another one of those intrasquad thingies tonight.

*Check out Chandler Rome's 60 Things To Watch in 2020 piece. It looks cool but, even though I subscribe to the Chronicle - and the website tells me my subscription is active - it wouldn't actually let me read it. Great service.

*Brian McTaggart: Kyle Tucker stands to benefit the most from Yordan's absence. Click that link to see the piecemeal bullpen the Astros are trying to put together for 2020.

*McTaggart also projected the Opening Day roster.

*MLB.com's Mark Feinsand has one trade candidate for all 30 MLB teams and buddy the Astros one is a shocker.

*The Astros have one of the easiest early schedules in MLB.

*Kiley McDaniel mentions Bryan Abreu and Forrest Whitley as intriguing possibilities, but lists Abraham Toro as the most-likely Astros prospect to have a big impact.

*The Athletic: The Astros are deploying a First Amendment-ish strategy in their defense of sign-stealing lawsuits.

*Daniel Bard came back from the yips.

*Canada won't let the Blue Jays play in Toronto in 2020.

*ESPN: Streaks and records that will get cut short by a 60-game season. One note:
The Astros have won at least 100 games in each of the past three seasons. Houston was seeking to become the first team in history with four straight 100-win regular seasons. That's not going to happen...Including the postseason, the Astros won 336 games over the past three seasons, the most by a team in any three-season span in MLB history.

The 2009-2013 Astros won 312 games, 24 fewer wins in six seasons than in the last three seasons. That's nuts. Mike Fiers can go to hell.

*Brentford had won eight straight games. After yesterday's shock West Brom loss to Huddersfield, Brentford lost to Stoke this morning, confirming Leeds United as Champions of the Championship (not as impressive as it sounds, but still...it's wonderful.)

*A Musical Selection:





It can happen here. It is happening here, and all that needs to continue for it to happen here is silence.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

Short one today - I'm exhausted.

*The Astros lost 7-4 to the Marlins. Chas McCormick (21st Round - 2017) hit a grand slam. Taylor Jones, Jeremy Pena, and Drew Ferguson had the other hits. Chris Devenski and Jared Hughes saw their first action of the Spring and combined for 2IP, 3H/0ER, 1K:0BB.

*Chris Devenski dropped 20 pounds this offseason and is looking to return to his All-Star form. Devenski:
I worked this offseason on getting my fastball right, getting my command right and spinning the ball out of my hand the right way. I went back and did a bunch of drills on that. I think everything for me is mental. I know the way my body feels and when I'm in the shape I'm in right now.

*In this McTaggart piece, we find:
-Dusty Baker really likes the young pitchers.
-Dustin Garneau is settling into the analytics side of being an Astros catcher.

*Myles Straw is among the fastest players in MLB. Straw:
(Astros Strength & Conditioning Coach Brendan) Verner would wear me out about it last year and kind of pushed me and motivated me. I'll probably work with him a lot this year and try to be the quickest in the league.

*Abraham Toro was supposed to start on Tuesday but was scratched with an eye irritation.

*The Astros play a split-squad game against the Mets and the Cardinals. Jose Urquidy and Forrest Whitley will be on various mounds, George Springer and Michael Brantley will play. I'm sure Boos are coming.

Sign-Stealing Stuff

*The Ringer: The Astros' Trash-Can Cheating Scheme is a Window Onto Human Nature.

Other Stuff

*Texas Southern beat #6 Mississippi State in Starkville.

*A Red Sox prospect arrived at Spring Training from Taiwan...and was immediately quarantined.

*The New Yorker: Survivor's Guilt in the Mountains.

*Esquire: How a former mechanic became one of America's best bread wizards.

*A Musical Selection:

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

Alright, some things happened. Let's talk about them:

The Astros hired 42-year old Yale- and Baseball Prospectus-grad James Click to be their general manager. Click was the Rays' VP of Baseball Operations. He's the 15th General Manager in Astros history - actually maybe he's considered the 12th general manager in Astros history since Tal Smith served as GM on three separate occasions (1965-67, 1975-80, 2007). Click apparently signed a multi-year contract. Click will be introduced in a press conference at 10:30am on Tuesday.

Click:
I am excited to join the Astros family. The Astros are a progressive and innovative organization with a deeply talented group in the front office. I am grateful to Jim Crane and the Astros for giving me this opportunity to help lead this team to more championships. 

Crane:
James has had an impressive career. He is a respected leader who has progressed in this game across all aspects of Baseball Operations and he has built great relationships with both front office and clubhouse personnel.

You can read this Tampa Bay Times article from January 29 regarding Click. Marc Topkin:
Click...joined the Rays in 2005 as an intern to help build a database for new baseball operations chief Andrew Friedman. Click got hired full time in 2006, and the Yale history major has worked his way up to vice president of baseball operations. He has had a hand in all facets of the operation, including systems, research and development, logistics, player evaluation, contract negotiations and more.

Listen to Mark Feinsand's interview with then-Rays executive Click on his podcast.

Keith Law approves of the Click hire.

Click is basically the Outside-Hire That Feels Like It's An Internal Promotion GM hire. You couldn't draw up a better story for a GM that would fit the Astros' current MO more than Click. It's a fresh start, but it feels like a continuation.

Click may have to hire a new manager here in about 11 months.

*ESPN's David Schoenfield: One stat that will determine each team's 2020. For the Astros: 500 - the number of innings pitched by 2019 Astros pitchers who are not returning to the team in 2020.

*Check John Sickels' Top 100 Prospects:
Forrest Whitley (32)
Cristian Javier (69)
Abraham Toro (78)

Bryan Abreu, Korey Lee, and Freudis Nova all ranked "In The Picture."

*Buster Olney wrote himself a column saying that Other MLB Players would like the Astros Players to be Sorry Harder.

Plot Twist: There is no level of contrition the Astros could possibly show before the start of the regular season that will suffice. There's nothing that will satiate the bloodlust. MLB has their villain, it's the Astros, and nothing will change that. It's how it is now. Alex Bregman could come out in an alternate uni of sackcloth & ashes and get on his knees and beg the media for forgiveness, and the goalposts will move.

*SI's Matt Martell: Ten Questions for the Unofficial Start of Baseball Season. #9 is "How Good Will The Astros Be?"

*Tony Fernandez is fighting for his life.

*The Hardball Times' Chris Bouton: To Forgive Is Baseball.

*Three New(ish) nature documentaries you need to watch.

*Vice: Inside Skinwalker Ranch, A Paranormal Hotbed Of UFO Research.

*California Sunday: The Mysterious Lawyer X.

*A Musical Selection:

Friday Morning Hot Links

*The biggest news of January 2nd wasn't what the Astros got, but what they lost - specifically, Will Harris, to the Nationals for 3yrs/$24m.

So let's recap what the Astros lost this offseason (with 2019 fWAR in parentheses):

Gerrit Cole - 212.1IP (7.4 fWAR)
Wade Miley - 167.1IP (2.0 fWAR)
Collin McHugh - 74.2IP (0.5 fWAR)
Hector Rondon - 60.2IP (-0.2 fWAR)
Will Harris - 60IP (1.1 fWAR)

Not only is that 575IP that has to be replaced, that's right at 10.8 fWAR from a pitching staff that won 107 games. The total Astros' pitching fWAR was 23.7 in 2019, so that's 45.6% of their "value." Obviously most of this - the innings and the fWAR - are due to the departure of Gerrit Cole to the greener pastures of north Manhattan and shaved heads, track suits, gold chains, and getting booed when he doesn't win the World Series in April. And don't get me wrong, combining McHugh and Rondon (135.1IP and an aggregate 0.3 fWAR) is mainly an exercise in counting innings. But that's a lot of attrition to a pitching staff that lost 500IP after 2018 with the departures of Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton, and the injury to Lance McCullers.

Of course McCullers is coming back in 2020. Forrest Whitley might actually have his head on straight this time around. But let's not forget that, in five seasons, Will Harris threw 297IP, allowed 221H/78ER, 315K:72BB, a 2.36 ERA / 0.99 WHIP. In 2019 Harris posted a 1.50 ERA / 0.93 WHIP. He made 68 appearances and threw a clean outing in 32 of them. The opponent did not score a run in 60 of those outings. When he did allow a run, he only allowed more than one run in two of his 68 appearances.

Harris, on watching the Nationals receive their World Series rings:
Will it be awkward for a second or two? More than likely, but that stuff fades and it's about playing baseball. I've done my homework, and the guys they have that I know who have played there and been there, everybody has told me I'm going to love it.

Now, it would be remiss to...miss that Harris pitched in 2015 ALDS G4. He allowed a run in Games 6 & 7 of the World Series, including Howie Kendrick's Fing Miracle Home Run. But in between 2015 ALDS G4 and 2019 WS G6 he threw 14IP in the postseason, allowing 12H/2ER, 14K:3BB.

But hey, the Astros didn't have to add $8m to a currently-projected payroll of $216m. Adding Harris at $8m per year would have resulted in the Astros paying a penalty of [squints] $3.2m instead of the $1.6m they're already projected to pay (assuming Josh Reddick is still an Astro in 2020). As a Jim Crane Bottom-Line Lover, this is fiiiiiiiine. [I know full well that Crane opened up for Verlander, Greinke, Altuve, Bregman, etc. and deserves credit for that].

Chandler Rome writes that replacing Harris may be impossible.

Other stuff:

*Robinson Chirinos is "close" to making a decision on where to play in 2020.

*Jake Kaplan writes in The Athletic about the Astros "questionable" rotation depth and who can be the 5th starter behind Verlander, Greinke, McCullers, and presumably Game 4 Hero Jose Urquidy.

*MLB Pipeline says Jeremy Pena (3rd Round - 2018) is set to break out in 2020.

*Baseball America has the Astros' Top 10 prospects in 2020:

1. Forrest Whitley
2. Game 4 Hero Jose Urquidy
3. Jeremy Pena
4. Freudis Nova
5. Bryan Abreu
6. Abraham Toro
7. Korey Lee
8. Cristian Javier
9. Hunter Brown
10. Grae Kessinger

Let the record show that I LOVE Cristian Javier, who will be 23 in 2020 and struck out 170 batters in 113.2IP for Fayetteville, Corpus, and Round Rock.

*Why would Yankees pitcher Domingo German not appeal his 81-game suspension for domestic violence?

*Rich Roll is the guru of reinvention.

*A Musical Selection:

Sunday Morning Hot Links

Jeez, okay. Let's get to the current hellscape that is Base Ball:

*There's a report from SNY's Andy Martino that the Astros admitted stealing signs but denied using a special camera. Martino:
Believing that other teams used technology to decode signs, a group of Houston Astros asked the organization for access to a live feed from a centerfield camera in 2017. They did not install a new camera for sign-stealing purposes, and the players and coaches involved did not even know which camera the feed was coming from. They wanted a monitor closer to the dugout, because their video room was too far away. They considered their actions to be in line with industry standards. The above narrative represents the picture painted by some of the interviews conducted by MLB investigators this fall, according to sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.

Please do click the link, because there's a lot here, including "harsh discipline for GM Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch remain in play." Also, Phil Nevin was ready to throw down on Alex Cintron because Cintron flipped off Aaron Boone. How Aaron Boone survived this calamity is beyond me. God bless him and his fractured Being. Thoughts and prayers. Brett Gardner is currently banging the ceiling of his efficiency in Yonkers in solidarity with Boone. His upstairs neighbors are not pleased.

Clayton Kershaw talked to Bleacher Report about The Whole Thing:
When the team and the players are doing what they can on the field to get the signs, that's obviously part of the game. But when technology comes into play, if that is really true, it sucks. Unless we get to the World Series, I don't really care what the punishment is. But it does suck, no matter what.

Nice crocodile tears, Dallas Boy, the Dodgers have been credibly accused of doing the same thing (maybe without the trash can).

Regardless, this isn't going to be pretty.

*The Athletic's Sean Gordon: From a Montreal suburb to The Show, how Abraham Toro's road to MLB could be a precursor for others.

*The Astros avoided arbitration with Lance McCullers, paying him $4.1m - the amount he made in 2019 while he recovered from Tommy John Surgery.

*SNY, who is apparently better at finding Interesting Astros Stories than anyone in southeast Texas (which means someone in New York is straight up willing to straight up Talk), says that Houston's discussions with the Mets regarding Carlos Correa began in November and fizzled out at the Winter Meetings.

*MLB Commissioner and Professional Baseball Hater Rob Manfred - a noted morsel of rodent feces - threatened the very existence of Minor League Baseball. Click that link, it's crazy. Rob Manfred is actually worse than Bud Selig, insane as it is to think about. See if you can't get that Anti-Trust Exemption revoked, there, Robbie. Manfred's actions drew the attention of Senator Bernie Sanders. Probably not ideal.


*The roof, the roof, the roof was on fire. We don't need no water let the motherf

This is coming from the new Rangers ballpark right now. pic.twitter.com/iKxDlCitQa

— Anthony Andro (@aandro) December 14, 2019

*Dang the Rangers were only a year and $53m away from landing Anthony Rendon. So close.

*SI's Stephanie Apstein: Why the 2019 Winter Meetings were a success.

*The Winter Meetings: The unhealthiest week of baseball's year.

*A Musical Selection:

Friday Morning Hot Links

Let's get caught up, shall we?

*On his honeymoon, Carlos Correa called Jeff Luhnow to ask about the trade rumors, Luhnow told him to get back to being a married man and not worry about [waves hands] all that. Luhnow, on 2020:

We'll probably be favored to win our division, depending on what happens, and have a chance to go deep in the playoffs again. Last year we lost Charlie and Dallas and we were able to get back to the World Series, so we're going to have to reload. That's part of operating as a successful baseball operation. You've got to plug in for the pieces you lose every year and losing pieces is inevitable. This isn't going to be the last year. It's going to continue. That's why we work so hard to find the next version of hopefully Gerrit Cole that we can bring in...and someday he may leave.

And on Gerrit Cole and the Yankees, Luhnow:

We prefer he went to the National League, but he's in the American League. We faced the Yankees three out of the last five years in the playoffs, so maybe we'll do it again. But I'm glad he's not in our division. We'll face him but we won't face him quite as much. The Yankees will be strong. They'll be favored to win their division, but we plan to be right there. 

*Luhnow would like to add a catcher (Chirinos and Jason Castro make the most sense, in which a whole bunch of us will have to go back and scrub some tweets if the Astros reunite with Castro), a starting pitcher, and a reliever. Chandler Rome wrote up how the Astros now have a limited pool with which to work behind the plate. Garrett Stubbs, one of the two backup catchers on the 40-Man Roster, will play some infield this spring, a season after playing some outfield.

*The Astros have apparently received a ton of interest in Abraham Toro, while the Astros have allegedly asked the Dodgers about catcher Austin Barnes.

*The Astros lost three players in the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday: pitcher Brandon Bailey (Baltimore), pitcher Yohan Ramirez (Seattle), and infielder Jonathan Arauz (Boston).

-Bailey, 25, had a nice season in Corpus, striking out 103 batters in 92.2IP with a 3.30 ERA / 1.22 WHIP. He came to the Astros in the Ramon Laureano trade so, I guess you can chalk that win up to Oakland (though there wasn't exactly room for Laureano in the outfield at the time, or at the present, so...whatever).

-24-year old Yohan Ramirez split time between Fayetteville and Corpus and put up really impressive strikeout numbers (158 in 106IP), but walked 6.3 batters per nine innings.

-21-year old Jonathan Arauz has consistently played at levels in the minors 2-3 years younger than his competition. He's generally been ticketed as a glove-first guy, but didn't hit a whole lot between Fayetteville and Corpus in 2019 (.249/.319/.388 in 473 PAs). Arauz came to Houston in the Ken Giles trade.

Baltimore taking Bailey makes a lot of sense because they're where the Astros were in the depths of their rebuild, and Mike Elias knows the Astros' system really well. The Mariners taking Ramirez makes a lot of sense because it had been about 15 minutes since Jerry Dipoto had acquired literally anything (the latest being "Pizza for Cash Considerations"). The chances of the Red Sox turning a 21-year old .700 OPS guy into Dustin Pedroia in 2020 seem remote, but with carrying the extra active roster spot, I guess there's a chance. Don't get too broken up about losing these guys. You can't keep everybody and, if you care about these dudes on a personal level, well, they're probably in a better spot in regards to their Major League careers. And, whose spot are they going to take on the Astros in the near future, anyway?

Kevin Goldstein:
We thought we'd lose one or two, and we lost three. I don't use the word, 'loss.' I think we have three guys taken and we don't count them as a loss until they stick on the roster all year for the big league teams that took them.

There are a couple of scouting report write-ups on the Rule 5 picks at FanGraphs. The Astros didn't take anyone in the Rule 5 Draft because it's not 2013.

*Long-time Dodgers reporter Molly Knight has a piece in The Athletic about how the Astros' silence regarding the Sign-Stealing Scandal is reflective of their guilt. It's...something. I tended to think that their silence showed that the investigation was still ongoing but to each their own. Knight:
Hinch seemed somber and defeated. His shoulders hunched forward in protection as tiny sweat droplets formed on his forehead. During what were probably among the most uncomfortable 19 minutes of his career, Hinch didn't appear anxious. He just looked resigned.

Okay.

St. Louis hitting coach Jeff Albert, who was the Astros' minor-league hitting coordinator in 2017, was interviewed by MLB, which is an impressive amount of detail. MLB is reviewing 76,000 emails as well as telephone records with over 70 in-person interviews as they try to find evidence of a loss of "institutional control" by the front office. SI notes (previous link) that the investigation could wrap up in January. Can't wait. LA Times:
It is considered unlikely that the league would strip the Astros of their World Series title. Fines, suspensions, and the loss of draft picks are among other possible sanctions.

I would welcome the opportunity to open my front door and find Rob Manfred standing there demanding the return of all of my 2017 World Series gear.

*Mattress Mack and Alex Bregman surprised a pregnant mom of eight with $10,000 worth of furniture.

*Today would have been Larry Doby's 96th birthday. Larry Doby was the first man to integrate the American League, playing with the Cleveland Indians and hitting .283/.386/.490, led the League in home runs twice, RBIs once, and Runs Scored once. His career was good enough for a 136 OPS+ and a rightful place in the Hall of Fame.

*Things aren't looking good for disgraced baseball writer Jonah Keri. In July 2019 Keri was charged with assaulting his wife and then later breaking the conditions of the separation related to that case. Wednesday Keri received eight new charges from incidents prior to that July charge that include assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, criminal harassment, and uttering threats involving his wife and a child.

*ESPN: Inside the troubled life and death of 1994 Heisman winner Rashaan Salaam.

*The wartime spies who used knitting as an espionage tool.

*There's a new kind of inequality, and it's not about income.

*The gore, guts, and horror of an NFL fumble pile.

*A Musical Selection:



The Hot Links Music playlist is at 247 songs lasting over 15.5 hours. After the last six weeks of being an Astros fan, there are days I wish this was just a music blog.

Friday Morning Hot Links

Okay, some news! That doesn't involve sign-stealing! For now!

*The Astros traded Jake Marisnick on Thursday to the New York Mets for two prospects. In 631 career games for the Astros (90.9% of his career MLB PAs were with Houston), Marisnick hit .232/.285/.396 with 53 HR / 173 RBI, 505K:91BB. Marisnick's career-high was a 1.8 fWAR in 2015. In 2018-2019 Marisnick posted a career 2.1 fWAR. Of course his defense - and his hair - was show-stopping and above-average. We all will miss Jake Marisnick.

The two prospects:

Blake Taylor is a 24-year old lefty pitcher who transitioned to the bullpen in 2019. Regard this 2013 2nd Round pick by Pittsburgh, in 2017-2018: 172.1IP, 166H/99ER, 155K:103BB, 5.17 ERA / 1.56 WHIP.

Now, 2019: 66.2IP, 49H/16ER, 74K:24BB, 3.38 ERA / 1.10 WHIP. Did I mention he's a lefty? He also replaces Marisnick on the 40-Man Roster, which still stands at 38.

Kenedy Corona is a 19-year old outfielder (he'll be 20 in March) who just finished up his first season of professional baseball, splitting time between the Dominican Summer League and the Gulf Coast League, with four games in the New York-Penn League. In the GCL Corona hit .311/.401/.483 with 25K:17BB in 181 PAs.

What does this mean for the Astros? In the bestest of case scenarios, Taylor could be a lefty option in the bullpen. For the immediate roster, however, obviously it opens up a spot in the outfield. Luhnow:
We really like Jake and he's been such an integral part of all of our success. He's played an important role on our team, but when you look at the number of outfield options we have next year, we do have a lot of options.

Verdict: True! In addition to the final year of Michael Brantley, Josh Reddick, and (gulp!) George Springer, the Astros have Myles Straw and Kyle Tucker.

Jake Kaplan thinks that, between the above five, the 2020 outfield is set.

On July 31, 2014 the Astros sent Jarred Cosart, Enrique Hernandez, and Austin Wates to Miami for Marisnick, Colin Moran, Francis Martes, and a Comp Round A pick in 2015.

Colin Moran was traded to Pittsburgh, in part, for Gerrit Cole.
Francis Martes is still with the Astros.
The Comp Round A pick in 2015 became Daz Cameron who was traded to Detroit, in part, for Justin Verlander.

*The Astros are targeting pitchers and catchers at the Winter Meetings, a little over two months before pitchers and catchers report. Luhnow:
I'm excited the market seems to be moving more quickly this year and we're certainly going to be having all the relevant conversations in San Diego and I'd love to make a transaction or two. We'll have to wait and see how it goes. It is encouraging teams are active and players and agents are willing to do things earlier [than] they have in the past two years. That all bodes well for a more active San Diego Meetings.

*Speaking of pitchers, ESPN's Jeff Passan has a report in which sources tell him that the Yankees are making the signing of Gerrit Cole a priority. Passan:
The Yankees' fondness for the 29-year-old Cole, whose fantastic 2019 season with the Houston Astros set him up to smash David Price's record contract for a pitcher of $217 million, was only reinforced during a meeting with him earlier this week, sources said...New York and the Los Angeles Angels, a team similarly smitten with Cole and in even greater need of pitching than the Yankees, are prepared for a bidding war that executives expect will reach well beyond $250 million, according to sources.

*You should really read David J. Roth in The New Republic on the Astros and the McKinsey connection. The close:
All those merciless cullings and endless organizational refinements, all that data and all the brilliant minds and machines working it over, all resolving to some underpaid grunt in a folding chair whaling away on a garbage can because the members of the team's brain trust of thoroughbred data nerds simply took it for granted that they could get away with it. All that data, all those numbers, all those shifting variables continually delivered the same answer: What are you going to do, stop us?

*Heeeeey! Ryan Pressly got married!

*Abraham Toro earned the prestigious Canadian Offensive Minor-League Player of the Year award.

*The great Sam Miller broke down a single play to determine how WAR is calculated.

*GQ: Chaos at the top of the world.

*A Musical Selection:

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

Short list this morning, which is fine by me:

*McTaggart has an inbox in which he says the Astros will want to add one, maybe two starting pitchers, perhaps a starting catcher, and maybe some bullpen depth. He addresses what the rotation could look like, the possibility of trading Reddick to the White Sox, the difficulty of extending George Springer, and Abraham Toro's possibility as the 26th Man (which is a thing starting in 2020). My main concern for this offseason is the Astros avoiding someone getting a lifetime ban from baseball. 

*MLBTR has the offseason outlook for the Astros, which does a deep dive into the financials going into 2020.

*The Athletic's Dan Connolly says Baltimore GM Mike Elias needs to learn as much from the Astros' controversies as he has their ascent. 

*SI: Giving thanks for the good things in baseball right now.

*FanGraphs: Mapping the new MiLB landscape.

*The Hardball Times: Jackie Mitchell, the woman who struck out Babe Ruth, and then Lou Gehrig.

*A Musical Selection:

Sunday Morning Hot Links

I spent the weekend in Galveston for work and took a couple of days off from the blog. Someone broke into the Work Car and stole all of our backpacks, it was fantastic. Let's see what has happened over the last couple of days...

*Josh Reddick had an apparently successful surgery on his AC joint in his shoulder. The Astros said he'd be ready for Spring Training.

*From Friday: Tom Verducci notes that MLB has already interviewed "15 to 20" Astros personnel, including A.J. Hinch - "Some more than once." One "official:"
I don't know if MLB wants to turn over every rock, because this is the culmination of where the game is going. Whatever comes out of this has to be good for the game. This gives MLB ample opportunity in this day and age to do whatever they want with protocols. You can reshape where technology is in our game. You have a golden opportunity to restructure some processes in baseball.

*From Friday: Jeff Passan reports that MLB officials are asking questions about the Astros' efforts to steal signs. Key paragraph:
Players have been asked about "buzzing," via the use of Band-Aid-like wearable stickers; furtive earpieces; pitch-picking algorithms; and other potential methods of sign-stealing, the sources said. Accusations about the extent of the alleged wrongdoing have streamed into commissioner Rob Manfred's office from officials of other teams, the sources said. MLB officials are endeavoring to separate fact from fiction, the sources told ESPN, and the league has not concluded whether any such methods actually have been used. 

So it's open-season on the Astros from basically anyone who has a score to settle (i.e, "officials of other teams.") Got screwed in a trade? Call Manfred and tell him that the Astros keistered electrode-addled tampons for an extra edge in knowing if the pitch coming in is breaking.

Next key paragraph:
Players who might have violated league rules have been told by MLB officials they can expect leniency in exchange for answering questions truthfully. But members of the Astros' front office and coaching staff could face significant punishment upon the investigation's conclusion if they're found to have cheated, the sources said. The league has requested to search the phones of certain members of the Astros' front office, the sources said. 

What Manfred wants (again, this is my opinion with absolutely no one in the organization talking to me, because Active MLB Investigation) is to get enough guys to flip so he can go after Luhnow. Passsan notes that "multiple players no longer in baseball" are refusing to cooperate with the investigation. I'm gonna go out on a really thick limb and guess that McCann and Gattis have told Manfred to shove it.

Evan Drellich had an update on Thursday in which Manfred promises they're chasing down every lead in regards to sign-stealing across baseball. But Manfred was clear in noting that the sign-stealing thing wasn't, but also was, related to the Taubman thing:
Started separately, ended up as one big thing. It's hard to separate them out. I hope at the end of this undertaking, I'll put both of those issues to bed at one time.

So that's it. MLB wants to tie one issue that is ongoing and apparently league-wide to the other issue that resulted in a firing. Cool.

*Baseball Prospectus' Rob Arthur (remember he's the one who isolated the audio and found evidence of trash can banging) notes that the Astros' transformation into a Murderers' Row-esque offense coincides with the sound of banging on trash cans. The close:
New details are bound to come out, but in the meantime we can tentatively conclude that their sign stealing probably had a major impact on the team's plate discipline numbers. This was not innocent cheating that barely affected the game; according to the available data, it may have yielded an unprecedented improvement in the Astros' ability to make contact and lay off outside pitches, helping to turn a talented lineup into one of the best-hitting teams of all time.

*Yahoo's Tim Brown giddily works through some consequences.

*Jon Heyman knows some scouts and, of the dudes he asked about the emails who had Some Concerns regarding the sign-detection from the dugout, one got fired and one got promoted by a different team. Heyman loves Teh Scouts.

*In the wake of the trades for Verlander, Cole, and Greinke, Jim Callis tackles the strength of the Astros' farm system. Callis:
All the graduations and trades have left the Astros system thinner than it has been since it was one of the game's worst at the beginning of the decade. Unlike then, they aren't about to string together a slew of last-place finishes. Their lone Top 100 Prospect, Forrest Whitley, should be ready for the big leagues in 2020, but they lack other impact talents who can make a difference in the next couple of seasons...That said, Houston has excelled at using analytics and technology to create pitching prospects out of unheralded signees, with Bryan Abreu, Cristian Javier, and World Series hero Jose Urquidy three prime examples currently looking to stick in the big leagues.

Callis' Top 5 Astros Prospects:
Whitley
Freudis Nova
Korey Lee
Bryan Abreu
Abraham Toro

This is a really thorough look at what the Astros have in the pipeline. Click the link.

*David Schoenfield: Which free agent pitcher could be the next Gerrit Cole? We were so blessed to watch two full seasons of Gerrit Cole.

*The Mariners signed a Double-A guy to a 6yr/$24m deal. Reminder that in September 2013 the Astros apparently offered George Springer a 7yr/$23m deal. He obviously declined it.

Astros offer, 2014-2020: $23m
Springer earnings, 2014-19: $28,935,300

He's about to blow that $23m out of the water.

*Jomboy got what he wanted. It's really cool that The Athletic basically accepted as gospel the narrative Jomboy provided for his "rise to legitimacy" and published it on a reputable platform. Very cool.

*Peter Gammons: How do teams restore pitching after a period of historic offense?

*Ken Davidoff: Labor talks between MLB and MLBPA don't seem to be going very well.

*Texas Monthly: From Rick Perry to Kenneth Starr, here are the Texans involved in the impeachment hearings.

*NY Times: Viking treasure could have made them a fortune. Instead, they sold it.

*Tuna...Cartel?

*Leeds United 2 Luton 1. LUFC take the 2nd automatic promotion spot (with so much more to come)  by 3 points clear....

*A Musical Selection:

Friday Morning Hot Links

The Astros were off yesterday. There is one more off day (Monday) during the regular season, which ends in ten days. Houston is 100-53. Prayers up for those of you affected by Imelda.

*The Yankees beat the Angels to clinch their first division title since 2012. Can't relate. The A's and Dodgers were off, so..

Houston (100-53): -
New York (100-54): -0.5
Los Angeles (98-55): -2.0

Houston plays Anaheim starting tonight, meaning that Anaheim could get to watch their two opponents this week clinch their respective divisions against them in back-to-back series.

*Milestones to look for over the next ten days:

-Jose Altuve's next home run will be his 30th, giving the Astros four batters with 30+ home runs.
-Alex Bregman's next walk will give him 111 and taking sole possession of 6th place on the franchise single-season walk total.
-Justin Verlander is 17 strikeouts away from 300, 11 strikeouts away from 3,000, and eight strikeouts away from a season-high.
-Justin Verlander is after a Major-League record, as well. Among SPs who threw 180+ IP, Justin Verlander's 0.79 WHIP ranks third all-time, a tick behind Walter Johnson's 0.78 in 1913, and 1999 Pedro Martinez's 0.74.
-Gerrit Cole is trying to maintain his place at the top of the all-time MLB leaderboard in K/9 (among SPs with more than 180IP), at 13.57, which is better than 2000 Randy Johnson's 13.41 and 1999 Pedro's 13.20. He's also 12 strikeouts away from setting the Astros' single-season strikeout mark.
-The Astros have struck out 1104 times, lowest in MLB, and have struck out 1570 batters, highest in MLB. They're trying to become the first team in MLB history to lead the majors in both categories.

In the other MLB races, the Indians and Rays are tied for the 2nd AL Wild Card spot while the Cubs and Brewers are a game apart for the 2nd NL Wild Card spot.

*Jake Kaplan: The Astros' three most important storylines of the next ten days.

*FanGraphs has your 2019 AL Cy Young Voting Guide.

*Chandler Rome has a mailbag in which he discusses Alex Bregman's MVP chances, a George Springer extension, Aaron Sanchez's shoulder surgery, Francis Martes, and who should start Game 1.

*Richard Justice ranks the 12 best trade deadline deals.

*Hunter Atkins: How Abraham Toro made it from Venezuela to Canada to Oklahoma to Houston.

Related: MLB Pipeline has ranked Abraham Toro and Cristian Javier as the Astros' prospects of the year.

*The Yankees have put starter Domingo German on administrative leave for a minimum of seven days due to domestic violence allegations. Jeff Passan:
Manager Aaron Boone recently said he expected German to be a big part of the team's postseason plans, but Boone said Thursday the team needs to prepare for the postseason like German won't be available.

German is 18-4 this season with a 4.03 ERA / 1.15 WHIP, 153K:39BB in 143IP. The Athletic's Lindsey Adler: What we know so far about German's suspension.

*Kerry Crowley: Inside the Green Monster with Bruce Bochy, one of baseball's biggest fans.

*Dusting off my dude Adam Sternbergh's column, in honor of Friends' 25th anniversary: Is Friends still the most popular show on TV?

*I Believe I Can Fry: How a mild-mannered database analyst became the undisputed king of the fair park fryers.

*A Musical Selection from Trevor, who turned me on to this song. By now you should have an idea of the type of music I like, so feel free to send recommendations my way. Thanks, Trevor.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

The Astros won again, and are one win away from hitting 100 for the third year in a row. That'll do.

Justin Verlander finally got some OK run support in the 4-1 win over Texas, thanks to three big home runs. JV is now one win away from hitting 20. Oh, and this happened.

Other notes from tonight:

Correa may have gone 0-4 in his return, but he "feels healthy"

Alex Bregman talked about wanting wins more than any personal accolades:

• "The reason we all live to play the game of baseball is to win...We don't show up to Spring Training to try to put up numbers, we show up to try and win a World Series."

Verlander claimed "Correa has one of the best arms he's ever seen"

The injury updates for, Pressly, Peacock, and McHugh have released as October approaches. 2/3 isn't bad.

Gerrit Cole is making the Astros look scary good for the postseason.

So what's the roster going to look like in three weeks?

Is the Astros farm system *really* in that big of danger?

CBSSports posted what managers will and won't be doing in the 2019 postseason.

Who should the Astros want to matchup with in the 1st round of the playoffs?

Abraham Toro and Cristian Javier were named the Astros minor league players of the year.

Cavan Biggio hit for the cycle last night, and he's in very few company.

Also last night, Yu Darvish set a Cubs record for most consecutive strikeouts, had 11 K's in 4 innings, and got the loss.

Somebody has stolen a golden toilet from Winston Churchill's boyhood home.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

The Astros lost 4-2. They're 12-4 in their last 16 games and stand at 90-50 on the season.

*The Yankees beat the Rangers, so they take the AL's best record by one game. There are 22 regular season games remaining, and four of them - Oakland at home next week - feature an opponent over .500. The next eight games are at Minute Maid Park.

*Zack Greinke threw one bad pitch to Eric Thames, which resulted in a 3-run home run: 6IP, 8H/4ER, 4K:0BB. It's his first Loss since July 14 and the first game he has started in which the Astros didn't win. Greinke smoked a single off Lyles, and then was promptly picked off. One of those kind of games. How did Greinke get picked off? Greinke:
I was trying to steal. Got nine career steals, trying to get 10. Don't know if I'll ever get there now. That was probably my last chance.

Next Astros game in a National League park is ideally World Series Game 3.

Worth noting that the Astros selected Eric Thames off waivers from the Orioles on September 5, 2013. He had not appeared in an MLB game since 2012, and he did not play for the Astros that September. The Astros released Thames on December 9, 2013 and went to play in Korea for three seasons, hit 124 home runs, and signed with the Brewers prior to 2017. I guess what I'm saying is that this loss is Luhnow's fault.

Maldonado caught Greinke for the first time since they were both with the Brewers in 2012, in order to get ready for the playoffs.

*Abraham Toro got his 1st career triple. Good work, Toro.

*Josh Reddick has not hit a home run since June 28, a span of 186 PAs, or 48 starts - extending a career-high set all the way back in 2018.

*George Springer had to be carted off the field after robbing Ryan Braun of extra-bases and crashing into the outfield wall, hitting his head on the way down. He was in considerable pain, but sitting upright as the cart took him for evaluation. Updates will be forthcoming as they're available. Reddick told McTaggart post-game that Springer was alert. He's scheduled to fly back to Houston with the team, in advance of the off-day on Wednesday. Reddick:
When me and Mike got there, (Springer) seemed to be very alert. He just kept saying he had a headache. That was a positive sign. He wasn't dizzy. He didn't have any memory loss out there. He made sure he answered all the questions right.

I don't want to talk about this game anymore.

*A.J. Hinch did some actual talking prior to the Brewers game, and tried to downplay whether or not Roberto Osuna was, actually, on fire:
I don't carry one game into the next. The last thing I'm going to do is show any sort of concern or any sort of panic when it comes to him. He's really good, he's got good stuff. He made a mistake to one of the best hitters in baseball, and [Yelich] tied the game. That's really the extent of his quote-unquote struggles yesterday.

Osuna, March 28-May 20: 21.1IP, 7H/1ER, 19K:2BB. 0.42 ERA / 0.42 WHIP. It is impossible to sustain that level of dominance over the course of a season.

Osuna, May 24-ASG: 15.2IP, 16H/7ER, 20K:4BB. 4.02 ERA / 1.28 WHIP. A little bit of a course correction? Osuna allowed an earned run in five of those 16 appearances.

Osuna, ASG-Sept 2: 17.2IP, 17H/11ER, 19K:4BB. 5.60 ERA / 1.19 WHIP, allowing an earned run in eight of 19 appearances.

Or taken as a Tale of Two Seasons:

Osuna through May 20: 21.1IP, 7H/1ER, 19K:2BB. 0.42 ERA / 0.42 WHIP.
Osuna, May 24-Sept 2: 33.1IP, 33H/19ER, 39K:8BB. 4.86 ERA / 1.23 WHIP.

There's not much else to say. I don't think that Osuna is a 4.00+ ERA pitcher. He's not a sub-1.00 ERA pitcher. He's giving up 1.3 HR/9, but doesn't get the number of innings a starting pitcher gets to even that out. Verlander is giving up 1.5 HR/9, but routinely pitches 6-7 innings. Osuna gets one inning, tops. It's so hard to statistically evaluate relievers, especially closers. They're brought in to face the best of the lineup in a close game, and sometimes things don't go their way. Or, if the OSUNA SUCKX narrative suits you better, no one is going to talk you out of it.

Osuna:
Right now, I've got to be honest - I got my mind thinking about October. Obviously, you think about winning games every day, but what I'm taking September to do, for me, is getting ready for the postseason. I gave up the home run yesterday, but, I mean, Maldonado and Chirinos and myself, we had a dinner [Monday] night and we were talking about, 'OK, we've got to learn from this and move on and make sure this will not happen in the playoffs.' 

If you think of it in that regard - that it was just an interleague game on Labor Day - you can see how Osuna's mind might not be focused 100% on the task at hand. The playoffs start in a month, and that's what Osuna is looking forward to. It's not ideal, I guess, but you can't expect every player to play 162 games like it's Game 7. I'll withhold judgment on Osuna's pitching performance. Feel free to disagree.

Within that link, we find that Pressly is doing agility drills, Correa hit off a tee, and McHugh thinks his elbow is a similar issue to the one that caused him to miss 34 games earlier in the season...which would be right at ALDS time, if not ALCS time (should we be blessed with such a roster).

*Alex Bregman was named the August AL Player of the Month. He hit .404/.487/.747 in 26 games. Justin Verlander was obviously AL Pitcher of the Week, and Yordan Alvarez was the August AL Rookie of the Month, an award he has won in every month he has spent in Houston.

*Reymin Guduan was reinstated from the suspended list, the day after Round Rock's season ended, and subsequently DFA'd. About a week and a half ago I found out some things that led to Guduan getting suspended for a month. Since I wrote that, the story is maybe more complicated than that initial report, but no one is willing to talk even anonymously. Still, the story hasn't been refuted - or even addressed, really - by the Astros, Astros.com, or the Houston Chronicle.

*Jake Kaplan notes that every single domestic Astros affiliate (Round Rock, Corpus, Fayetteville, Quad Cities, and Tri-City) led the league in K/9. Related: home runs at Triple-A ballparks in 2019 - reminder that for the first time Triple-A used the same baseballs MLB uses - increased by 60% over their 2018 totals. Jayson Stark talked to a baseball exec who said, "from a development perspective, the PCL has now become essentially useless, and they are sending prospects to Double-A instead because the juiced ball is preventing clubs from accurately assessing players."

Yordan turned out okay so far.

*Not that these types of articles actually mean anything, but SI says the Astros' rotation gives them the edge over New York and Los Angeles in the postseason.

*Ken Rosenthal: The Yankees almost traded for Ken Giles at the deadline.

*Reuters: A climate-change frontier in the world's northernmost town.

*The Saturday Evening Post: America's first Opioid epidemic.

*SI: The Story of Tom Herman, Ed Orgeron, and LSU's Wild Coaching Search of 2016.

*NPR: Being optimistic might help you live longer.

*A Musical Selection:

Monday Morning Hot Links

Well. Justin Verlander threw a no-hitter, so I guess that's cool. Could have had one on August 21, but I guess now works, too. Houston won 2-0. The Astros are 89-49 and with the Yankees win/Oakland loss, maintain a 10-game lead in the division. There are 24 regular season games left.

*Justin Verlander threw his 3rd career no-hitter, and was a 1st Inning walk to Cavan frickin Biggio away from a perfect game. The Astros last threw a no-hitter on August 3, the combined no-no against Seattle.It's the 13th no-hitter in franchise history. Eighteen teams have thrown multiple no-hitters in the same season.

Shortest span between a team's no hitters, MLB History (1903-present):

1 Day: St. Louis Browns (Ernie Koob / Bob Groom), 1917.
5 Days: Cincinnati Reds (Johnny Van Der Meer / Johnny Van Der Meer), 1938.
25 Days: Los Angeles Dodgers (Josh Beckett / Clayton Kershaw), 2014.
30 Days: Houston Astros (Combined / Verlander), 2019.
30 Days: Milwaukee Braves (Lew Burdette / Warren Spahn), 1960

Verlander had lost two no-hitters in the 9th inning:
I'd be lying if I said I didn't know that. Definitely a big hurdle to get over, and a special moment for me.

It's the first single-pitcher no-hitter for the Astros since Mike F. Fiers no-hit the Dodgers on August 21, 2015. Verlander:
It's elation. It's so cool to be able to have everybody jumping up and down and have everybody else that excited.

Verlander's 9IP, 0H/0ER, 14K:1BB performance is just the sixth such performance in MLB history. The other five, organized by number of strikeouts:

Max Scherzer: October 3, 2015. 17K:0BB vs New York
Clayton Kershaw: June 18, 2014. 15K:0BB vs Colorado
Matt Cain: June 13, 2012. 14K:0BB vs Houston :-(
Sandy Koufax: September 9, 1965. 14K:0BB vs Chicago
Nap Rucker: September 5, 1908. 14K:0BB vs Boston

Verlander needed 27 pitches to get from the 4th-8th Innings.

*Our Dude Robert Flores: Verlander is the first pitcher in MLB history with multiple no-hitters as a visitor in one ballpark. Other pitchers with multiple no-hitters against the same team: Addie Joss (vs the White Sox in 1908 and 1910) and Tim Lincecum (vs San Diego in 2013 and 2014)

Verlander is the fifth pitcher in MLB history with five separate 250K seasons, joining Max Scherzer, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, and Roger Clemens. Verlander and Cole each have 250 Ks, making them the 2nd pair of teammates with consecutive 250+ K seasons in MLB history. The other? Randy Johnson and Curt "Dipshit" Schilling.

*The Astros needed a two-out 9th-inning home run from Abraham Toro - the second home run of his career and easily the biggest hit of his career - to let Verlander get the no-hitter in regulation. Verlander:
Where the f*ck is Toro?

Verlander, on Toro:
The moments matter in this game. The scene was scripted for him in his hometown (Ed. Note: Toronto is not Montreal.) All the guys were so fired up. You take everything into account that moment. That's baseball. Those are the special moments that I don't think you can create anywhere else.

Hinch, on Toro:
I know he wanted to do really well here. He's gotten as much attention these last three days as he's gotten in his entire career. To do it in front of family, friends in a park that he's been to before is special.

Toro:
It's unreal. My first no-hitter. First time playing in Canada as a professional. It's something I'll remember forever.

Hell yeah, Abraham Toro.

Astros' runs scored in Verlander's starts:

0 runs: 1
1 run: 2
2 runs: 3
3 runs: 5
4 runs: 5
5 runs: 4
6 runs: 1
7 runs: 3
8 runs: 1
9 runs: 1
10 runs: 1
12 runs: 1

So the Astros have scored four or fewer runs in 16 of Verlander's 29 starts this season, including today. Verlander is 17-5 and still has taken the L in three starts in which he allowed two or fewer runs. He has recorded a No Decision in four more Quality Starts. It's not out of the question for Verlander to be 21-3 right now.

*Other pitchers to have three no-hitters:

Nolan Ryan: 7
Sandy Koufax: 4
Larry Corcoran: 3
Cy Young: 3
Bob Feller: 3
Justin Verlander: 3

Here's Robert Ford's call of the last out:

Here’s what it sounded like as @raford3 called @JustinVerlander’s no-hitter on SportsTalk790!! @AstrosRadioMLB #TakeItBack pic.twitter.com/rTjQlOzkA6

— SportsTalk 790 (@SportsTalk790) September 1, 2019

Bregman:
Hopefully when he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame, it's with an Astros hat.

Chirinos:
It seems like JV is getting better and better. They don't come easy. He really works hard. He spends a lot of time in the video room to get to hitters' weaknesses. He's unbelievable. He's just getting better.

Bo Bichette, who grounded out to Toro to complete the no-hitter:
He was the most aggressive pitcher I've ever faced. He kept coming after me no matter what.

*Verlander, on his Apparently Extremely-Famous Wife, who is currently in Venice to watch some movies, I guess:
She was the first one I called. She was actually up very late watching the whole thing, so that's awesome. 

*Chandler Rome, on the only mound visit of the day. Verlander, on Chirinos:
It's been a pretty special year for him and I. Right from the get in Spring Training, he works his butt off and tries so hard to get on the same page as pitchers and do whatever he can to help us win. I share this with him as much as anyone.

Hinch:
[Verlander] has been around so long that one of my coaches was an active player on his team during his last no-hitter.

*Tom Verducci: How Justin Verlander has found the sweet spot between pitching at the intersection of youth and wisdom.

*Verlander has 2,757 strikeouts. If he pitches every 5th game, he has four starts left. If the Astros get creative with off-days, he could have five starts left. He needs 43 strikeouts to get to 3,000 for his career, and would need 10.75 K/start if he has four and 8.6 K/start if he has five to get to 3K Ks. It's gonna happen in 2019.

*Verlander's WHIP is 0.77. Chandler Rome notes that the MLB mark is 0.73 in 2003, by Pedro Martinez.

*Bradford Doolittle: Verlander's 3rd No-Hitter adds to his Hall of Fame legacy.

*It's the 30th game of the season in which the Astros have scored two or fewer runs. They're now 4-26 when that happens.

*Josh Big Flames James is back with new confidence and a revamped delivery. James:
Just shortened up my arm swing a little bit just to kind of help me sync up a little bit. The longer delivery just led to some inconsistency. Now that I've shortened up, I'm able to be around the zone a little bit more, leverage some stuff and leverage my off-speed and feel better.

*Kyle Tucker and Garrett Stubbs were not in Round Rock's lineup on Sunday. Some call-ups will take place Monday, and again on Thursday. It's officially Bullpen Savings Time.

*Ken Schrom, Former Astros Great and Current Corpus Christi President, retired on Sunday.

*Fayetteville beat Down East 2-1 and are your Carolina League 2019 regular season champs.

*Frankie Tuesday, who got hurt and suspended, made his first start of 2019 - for Quad Cities - on Sunday. He threw 2.2IP, 1H/2ER, 6K:3BB in 35 pitches. Quad Cities lost 3-2.

*Got some extra cash lying around? Help out that Rays minor-league pitcher whose brother-in-law killed his wife, son, and mother-in-law.

*Jim Leavelle, the Dallas Police Detective (yeah, capitalized) handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when he got shot, died over the weekend at 99 years old.

*A Musical Selection, from a guy with whom I went to college and is not my normally-preferred genre, but I like it regardless:

Friday Morning Hot Links

Here's the thing about baseball that I love: it absolutely mirrors real life. You go to work damn near every day. People come and go. You get the promotion you don't really deserve. You win games you otherwise have no business winning. Someone else gets the promotion you do deserve. Sometimes you lose games you absolutely have no business losing. Then you get back at it tomorrow. Every now and then you have really good days and feels like there's a parade waiting for you as you leave. Sometimes you have five really bad days in a row (some of them in Boston), and you find yourself looking for meaning. Sometimes an arbitrary person straight up ruins what you thought was special. The St. Petersburg Devil Rays won 9-8.

Point is, the highest compliment I can pay the Rays is that I hate them and I hope they move to Montreal. Team full of youth pastors and accountants and frisbee golf enthusiasts.

Houston is 87-48. They've lost one of their last one games. They went 8-2 on the homestand and, typical Astros who crap the bed in August are [squints] 18-8 in August. There are 27 games left in the regular season. Oakland beat Kansas City 9-8, if you like unhappy coincidences. Houston has a nine-game lead on the A's. They play four games against each other from September 9-12. The Yankees were off, the Dodgers lost to Arizona.

New York: 88-47
Los Angeles: -0.5
Houston: -1.0
Oakland: -10.0

The Astros lost a game they had no business losing: Greinke vs the Bullpen. It's just the 4th game in MLB this season in which a team scored at least eight runs, got at least eight hits, and walked at least ten times and lost. The only time it has happened before in franchise history was April 26, 2000 when the Astros lost 13-8 to the Cubs. It happens. Not often, but it happens. It doesn't make it less stupid.

Six of the nine hitters in Houston's lineup have an OPS of .900 or higher. Greinke was on the mound. None of the starting nine hitters in Tampa's lineup have an OPS over .900. Hinch:
You get a close game like that - and certainly, a crazy game like that - you always look back at the opportunities. We didn't play particularly clean, but we did fight and I love the fight. It was a weird back-and-forth game, but we didn't do quite enough at the right times to win the game.

Greinke: 5.2IP, 6H/5ER, 8K:1BB. His 8Ks are the highest he's posted as an Astro, and the highest since July 20 against the Brewers. One of Greinke's earned runs came when Smith couldn't close out the inning.

The pitching staff of Greinke, Smith, Devenski, Rondon, and Sneed allowed 14H/9ER. It was stupid. The Astros' offense was 2x11 w/RISP and left 11 on base. Everyone was the unclutchiest.

Devenski, especially. In recording precisely one out, Devenski allowed 4H/3ER, two of those hits for doubles.

Devenski, 2016-2017: 189IP, 129H/50ER, 204K:46BB, 2.38 ERA / 0.93 WHIP.
Devenski, 2018-2019: 105.1IP, 103H/56ER, 115K:32BB, 4.78 ERA / 1.28 WHIP.

This may be the emotion talking, as I'm writing this a couple of hours after the loss, but I'm sort of done with Chris Devenski.

*Rays 1B Ji-Man Choi was 2x4 with a walk and 2RBI. He was 2x3 with a double, home run, walk and 2RBI on Wednesday.

*Josh Reddick "struck out" "looking" with one out in the bottom of the 9th. He got ejected after this pitch:

RoboUmp says no, Blue. Should be 1 on, 1 out in a 1-run game. @MLBUA pic.twitter.com/bo6PL0ZL56

— Anne (@AnneRN79) August 29, 2019

Another angle:

this was a called strike three on Josh Reddick

The Atlantic League’s robot umps can’t get here fast enough pic.twitter.com/LTa5V6nVB2

— Nick Bromberg (@NickBromberg) August 29, 2019

This is asinine. The home plate umpire was Jordan Baker. Not the one from The Great Gatsby, though she was a professional tennis player and would have done a better job - at 100+ years old - than this side of rancid bacon behind the plate. Reddick went nuts. Reddick:
Weird thing is (Baker) thought I called him - how do I say this? - a four-letter word for a male's private area.

So not only is Jordan Baker bad at his job, he also can't hear. Good job, MLBUA.

Hunter Atkins: Josh Reddick was right.

It's really easy to blame the Dumb Jordan Baker, but the Astros lost this game as a team. They left the bases loaded in the 4th and the 5th innings. They dunked on themselves, with an alley-oop assist from The Idiot Jordan Baker. That doesn't make it easier. Springer up with the tying run on 1st and one out is different than Springer up with two outs and no one on. But if the Astros go 4x11 w/RISP, or even 3x11 w/RISP, it's a non-issue. I'm glad the Astros are mad.

*Lost in the shuffle of the game was Abraham Toro, who went 1x2 with a home run and 3RBI. It's the first home run of his career. Good lookin' out, AB. Enjoy Toronto and your hundreds of family and friends. Get your Tim Horton's.

*Jose Altuve hit a home run in the 6th to give the Astros a 6-5 lead. It was his 25th home run of the season, which is now a career-high. He hit 24 home runs in 2016 and 2017.

*Check this Mailbag with Chandler Rome.

*No hurt dudes (Correa, Pressly, Peacock, Sanchez, James) will go on this road trip.

*For no reason, I was looking at Travis D'Arnaud's Baseball-Reference page (he had 4RBI in the 9-8 loss). D'Arnaud, he of a career .718 OPS, was drafted 37th overall by the Phillies, traded to Toronto for Roy Halladay in 2009, then traded to New York - with Noah Syndergaard - to New York for R.A. Dickey in 2012. That's nuts.

*BreakingT (of which Ya Boi is but a small part) is having a Labor Day Weekend Sale including the Hugs For Homers shirt. Click the link and buy an inexpensive shirt and I get a cut of the sale. Here's my sales pitch on the shirts they make: I run in these shirts. I run a decently-long distance in these shirts (5-10 miles). Not once have these shirts angered my nipples, and they're a quality organization. Not only do I get a (small) cut, but due to the licensing agreement with the various professional leagues they service, so do the players. There's Astros and Rockets stuff, as well, just scroll through. No Texans gear, because Bill O'Brien's dimple won't sell but still.

*Recent Round Rock/Former Astros Great Felipe Paulino has asked to leave actual affiliated baseball to rejoin the Sugar Land Skeeters, if that makes any sense.

*SI, on Dallas Keuchel's recent success and his possible playoff role for the Barves.

*SI.com: The day former Oregon WR Keanon Lowe encountered a school shooter.

*The other day we mentioned Rays Double-A pitcher Blake Bivens, whose wife, son, and mother-in-law were killed by his brother-in-law. Morgan Ensberg is his manager, and flew home with him.

*After Hurricane Katrina hit, a priceless musical archive was thought lost. Then it showed up in southern California.

*A Musical Selection: