MiLB's Organizational All-Stars

So Minor League Baseball posted the Astros' organizational All-Stars today, and it's well worth your time. You can click the link and read the full descriptions for yourselves, but here's the short list:

C: Tyler Heineman
1B: Jon Singleton
2B: Delino DeShields
3B: Matt Duffy
SS: Angel Sanchez
OF: George Springer, Domingo Santana, Brandon Barnes
DH: Erik Castro

RHP: Mike Foltynewicz
LHP: Brian Holmes
Closer: Jason Stoffel

Angels sign Angel Sanchez

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have signed long-time Houston Astro of Houston Angel Sanchez to a minor-league deal, meaning that Sanchez will be able to tell the Angels all of the Astros' secrets, and ensuring that he must be eliminated. 

Not to be outdone with such a clever name signing, the Astros signed Astro McGillicuddy to a minor-league deal. 

Three elect free agency

According to Baseball America, Brian Bixler, Angel Sanchez, and Travis Buck - Astros sometimes-minor-leaguers - have elected free agency:

Bixler got 96 plate appearances in 36 games, "hitting" .193/.253/.330 with 2HR, 36K:7BB. At OKC, he hit .269/.346/.361.

Sanchez went from being the Astros' Opening Day shortstop in 2011 to a minor-league free agent at the end of 2012. In 102 games for OKC in 2012, he hit .320/.390/.407, with 25K:40BB - the best minor-league season of his career.

In 33 games (81 PAs) for Houston in 2012, Buck hit .216/.284/.311, with six extra-base hits. In 22 games for OKC this season, he hit .359/.414/.469.

PreStros Farm Report: June 17

PreStros: June 17

Oklahoma City (41-29) 

The RedHawks couldn’t match up against former Astro Roy Oswalt as OKC lost 4-2 to Round Rock (TEX).

Paul Clemens threw 6 innings and gave up 4 R on 13 H with 4 K. Enerio Del Rosario finished out the last 2 innings with 1 H and 1 K.

2B-Jimmy Paredes was 1x3 with 1 BB, 1 SB, 1 R, and 1 2B. SS-Angel Sanchez was 3x4 with 1 SB and 1 RBI.

Man of the Match: Angel Sanchez

*Notes: Dallas Keuchel was called up to Houston to start Sunday. Brett Wallace was optioned back to OKC. Brad Snyder has a current hitting streak of 15 games. He is the only player in the PCL to have at least 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases right now. Mike Hessman has hit 14 home runs since May 15th.

Corpus Christi (36-32) 

The Hooks won a rare 11 inning blowout by scoring nine runs in the final inning to beat Frisco (TEX) 14-5.

Brett Oberholtzer threw 6 innings and gave up 3 R (1 earned) on 2 H and 1 BB with 5 K. Henry Villar threw 1.2 innings with 2 H, 1 BB, and 2 K. Josh Zeid had 1 BB in .1 innings. Jason Stoffel pitched 1 inning and allowed 2 R on 2 H and 1 BB with 1 K. Erick Abreu went the final 2 innings with 1 H and 2 BB.

SS-Jonathan Villar was 2x6 with 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, and 3 RBI. 3B-Andy Simunic was 2x5 with 1 BB, 1 2B, 1 R, and 1 RBI. 2B-Jose Martinez was 3x7 with 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 SB, 2 R, and 3 RBI. DH-Kody Hinze went 1x4 with 2 BB, 1 HR, 2 R, and 3 RBI. LF-Adam Bailey was 3x5 with 1 BB, 1 2B, and 1 R. C-Jair Fernandez went 3x6 with 1 HR, 2 R, and 3 RBI. CF-Drew Muren was 3x6 with 2 SB, 2 2B, and 3 R.

Man of the Match:  Jose Martinez

*Notes: Kody Hinze has homered in three straight games.

Lancaster (37-33) 

OFF – All-Star break

*Notes: George Springer and Bobby Doran will be representing the JetHawks at the California League All-Star game Tuesday night. Springer will also participate in the Home Run Derby.

Lexington (39-30) 

The Legends finished the first half with a 2-0 win over Asheville (COL).

Nick Tropeano threw 7 scoreless innings, allowing 3 H and 5 BB with 7 K. Murilo Gouvea pitched 1 inning with 1 H and 2 K. Dayan Diaz earned his 8th save with a perfect inning.

DH-Brandon Meredith was 2x3 with 1 3B and 1 R. CF-Justin Gominsky was 1x3 with 1 R, 1 RBI, and 1 outfield assist on a play at the plate.

Man of the Match: Nick Tropeano

*Notes: Jason Chowning, Delino DeShields, Matt Duffy, Mike Foltynewicz, Zach Johnson, Carlos Quevedo, and Nick Tropeano were all named to the South Atlantic League All-Star game, to be played Tuesday afternoon. Zach Johnson will also be participating in the Home Run Derby to be held on the deck of the USS Yorktown Monday.

Tri-City (0-0) 

Season begins June 18.

*Notes: 2010 2nd round pick Vincent Velasquez will be starting Monday in his first appearance since 2010. 13 members of the 2012 draft class will begin their careers in Tri-City, including 3rd round pick Brady Rodgers and 5th round pick Andrew Aplin.

Greeneville (0-0) 

Season begins June 19.

*Notes: Players of note on the Greeneville opening day roster include: Tanner Bushue, Adrian Houser, Ariel Ovando, and D’Andre Toney. Also, ten players selected in the 2012 draft are slated to begin their careers with the G-Stros.

GCL Astros (0-0) 

Season begins June 18.

*Notes: This will be the first season stateside for many former DSL Astros. 2012 1st round pick Carlos Correa will also be starting his Astros career in the Gulf Coast League.

DSL Astros (6-7) 

OFF

PreStros Farm Report: May 1

PreStros: May 1

Oklahoma City (16-10) 

After falling behind 4-0, the RedHawks fought back valiantly but fell just short as they lost 7-6 to Albuquerque (LAD).

Henry Sosa threw 4 innings and gave up 5 R on 8 H and 1 BB with 1 K. Mickey Storey went 2 innings, allowing 2 R (1 ER) on 3 H and 1 BB with 2 K. Sergio Perez, Xavier Cedeno, and Jose Valdez each went .2 scoreless innings to finish out the game.

SS-Angel Sanchez was 3x4 with 1 BB, 1 R, and 1 RBI. LF-Fernando Martinez was 1x5 with a 3 run HR. RF/1B-Justin Ruggiano went 2x4 with 1 HR and 2 R.

Man of the Match: Angel Sanchez

Corpus Christi (12-13) 

The Hooks fell back below .500 after losing to Midland (OAK) 5-3.

Jake Buchanan went 6 innings, giving up 3 R on 7 H and 4 BB with 2 K. Kevin Chapman threw 1 inning and allowed 1 unearned run on 2 H and 1 BB with 2 K. Jonnathan Aristil allowed 1 R on 2 H and 2 BB in 1 IP.

CF-Brandon Barnes was 2x4. 2B-Jose Martinez was 2x4 with 1 RBI. 3B-Andrew Simunic went 2x4.

Man of the Match: Jose Martinez

Lancaster (11-14) 

The JetHawks held off a ninth inning rally by Bakerfield (CIN) to win 5-4.

Wes Musick had a strong outing, throwing 8 innings while giving up 1 R on 4 H and 2 BB with 4 K. Pat Urckfitz gave up 2 R on 1 H and 1 BB in .2 innings with 1 K. Jorge De Leon gave up 2 H and 1 R without recording an out. Kirk Clark came on to shut down the Blaze rally by recording the final out.

1B-Rafy Valenzuela was 1x3 with 2 BB, 1 2B, and 2 R. CF-George Springer was 1x3 with 2 BB, 1 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI and 1 outfield assist. LF-Adam Bailey was 3x4 with 1 2B and 2 RBI. 2B-Kike Hernandez went 1x3 with 1 HR.

Man of the Match: Wes Musick

Lexington (11-14) 

OFF

Tri-City (0-0) 

Season begins June 18.

Greeneville (0-0) 

Season begins June 19.

GCL Astros (0-0) 

Season begins June 18.

DSL Astros (0-0) 

Season schedule not yet posted. Opening Day June 2nd.

More major league cuts

As reported by the triumvirate of Astros newsbreakers Houston has removed five more from the major league roster this morning. Infielders Angel Sanchez, Scott Moore, and Brian Bixler have been reassigned to minor league camp, infielder Joe Thurston was released, and pitcher Enerio Del Rosario was optioned to the minor leagues.

Once you factor in the pending move to the DL for Sergio Escalona, that leaves 33 in camp fighting for 25 spots.

Monday Morning Link Dump

To catch you up from yesterday's news:

*The idea is for Cosart to be in Major-League Camp next Spring.

*Paul Clemens has been listening to Brett Myers, Bud Norris, David Carpenter, and Livan Hernandez.

*Greg Lucas says there's no reason not to pick Mark Appel with the 1-1 in June.

*Lyon didn't feel right, Escalona seems to be healthy, and Angel Sanchez was supposed to make his Spring debut yesterday - but the game was rained out (+1, God.)

Monday Morning Update

Some updates for you on this fine day...

Carlos Lee will return to the lineup tomorrow.

Humberto Quintero is still "a few days away."

Jimmy Paredes and Angel Sanchez will take some BP today in preparation of live BP tomorrow.

On the mound today against the Braves, who gave up nine homers yesterday (six from Julio "Tater" Teheran), will be Jordan Lyles and Zach Duke.

Meat Wagon Updates

Here's your Monday morning Meat Wagon update:

Sergio Escalona threw a bullpen, instead of throwing to hitters.
Jimmy Paredes has inflammation in his left wrist
Angel Sanchez has back problems.

Angel Sanchez DFA'ed

To clear room for Chris Snyder, the Astros have DFA'ed Angel Sanchez.

I feel bad for Angel Sanchez, but he was a singles hitter who didn't hit singles all that often. He was decent enough in 2010, hitting .280/.316/.348 (which isn't all that decent), but hit just .240/.305/.285 in 2011, and went 106 PAs, from July 7 to September 23, without an extra-base hit. He had six extra-base hits in April, and then five for the rest of the year. As a starter in 2011, he hit .234/.297/.287. It just had to happen.

Notes from Brad Mills' press conference

Alyson Footer is giving live updates on Twitter of Brad Mills' press conference. Among the things she shares with us:

-2012 Opening Day 1B is Carlos Lee, unless Brett Wallace beats him out of a job in Spring Training.
-Jimmy Paredes' transition from 3B to SS is "unlikely."

Mills says, via Stephen Goff that Angel Sanchez, Brian Bixler, and Anderson Hernandez are your internal candidates for SS1.

Zach Levine says that the bullpen coach position won't be in place until after the GM is hired.

WHAT THE HELL

How in the hell did Angel Sanchez win Best New Astro?

It's true that Sanchez, who can also hold his own at the second and third base positions, doesn't pack a lot of punch, but with mini hitting streaks here and there, the 28-year-old may very well be prime for a breakout campaign next season. Now let's see if the rest of these bums, uh, minor-leaguers, um, Astros players can follow suit.

Pardon me, while I go and toilet plunge my face.

What in the world...

Courtesy of Steve Campbell, we read about Mills' logic in using Angel Sanchez as a pinch-hitter against the Rockies instead of J.D. Martinez:

"If there was a man on first, (Martinez) was going to hit. If somebody was in scoring position, it was going to be Sanchez. J.D. just hasn’t pinch-hit here at the major league level. Putting him in that role, expecting him to get a hit, I don’t know if that’s really fair. Sanchez has done a really good job getting some big pinch hits for us."

This makes not one bit of sense to me. First of all, as a pinch-hitter in 2011, Sanchez is 8x29 with no extra-base hits, and a .276/.344/.276 line. With a runner on 2nd, Sanchez - in 35 PAs - has six hits (one homer), and a .207/.303/.310 line. In the last 28 days, Sanchez is also 5x23 with no extra-base hits. In fact, it's been 72 plate appearances since Sanchez has gotten an extra-base hit, and he has three hits since July 30 (23 PAs).

J.D. Martinez, in the lat 28 days, is hitting .308/.347/.582. No, he doesn't have the "pinch-hitting experience" (whatever the hell that means) - in his only pinch-hit appearance, he ripped an RBI double. Moreover, Martinez has a .440/.483/.960 line with RISP. Is it a small sample size? Of course. But Sanchez is in the same boat.

I'm curious about these "big pinch-hits" that Sanchez has picked up for the Astros. We can debate the merits of the RBI another time, but that can only be what I assume Mills means. He had an RBI single as a pinch-hitter in Game 85 against the Red Sox. And one against the Pirates on May 8. So that's two games where Sanchez drove in a run as a pinch-hitter, and he's only gone on to score three times as a pinch-hitter.

If you want Martinez to get the experience where he could provide a bat off the bench in the (ideally) rare case that he isn't in the lineup, maybe when you're 40 games under .500 is a good place to gather that experience.

Astros' #2 hitters have been worth #2

Perhaps you've noticed the revolving door of hitters from the #2 spot over the course of the last handful of games, as Brad Mills tries to find someone, anyone, who can hit.

Because it just hasn't been happening.

Over the course of the season, #2 hitters are posting a .246/.316/.311 line. The .627 OPS is 57 points lower than the #9 spot, but not as bad as the #6 spot, with a .206/.275/.300 line, and we'll do the math for you: .275 OBP + .300 SLG = Caca.

Since May 7, the Astros have trotted out Angel Sanchez, J.R. Towles, and Clint Barmes. In those ten games, here's what you've had:

Angel Sanchez: 0x10, 2BB
J.R. Towles: 0x12, 2K:2BB
Clint Barmes: 1x14, 2K:3BB, HBP

Yes, that's 1x36 with 4K:7BB and an HBP. So just to make this more quantifiable, that's a line of .027/.182/.027.

Barmes gets the start at St. Louis today, so let's see what happens.

Mills had a conversation with Sanchez about bunting. Mainly when to do it.

Zach Levine has a story on Mills talking to Sanchez about when to bunt.

The other night, when Sanchez bunted with two strikes in the 8th inning to move runners over, he did it on his own.

Mills:
“There’s reasons that we want him to hit because he’s a good hitter. Sanchie takes it upon himself to do whatever he can to help this ballclub win. We’ve had some conversations about things of that nature, but at the same time, that’s the type of individual that he is.”

Many plethoras of reactions to today's moves

First, about the Cancel re-assignment to Big Boy Camp, from Zach Levine:
Robinson Cancel was brought up to major league camp but will return to Class AAA after last exhibition game.

From McTaggart, on Bourgeois' and Shuck's continued presence:
The two have emerged as the only candidates to win the final outfield spot after Brian Bogusevic was optioned to Minor League camp on Thursday. Bourgeois has certainly had a strong camp, entering Thursday hitting .314 with four stolen bases. The fact Bogusevic swings the bat from the left side was a bonus for him, but Bourgeois' good spring couldn't be ignored.

On Manzella's departure:
His departure leaves four infielders -- Matt Downs, Anderson Hernandez, Angel Sanchez and Oswaldo Navarro -- battling for two spots. Downs might have the upper hand because he can play anywhere and has swung the bat well, but Hernandez can also be moved all over the diamond and is a switch-hitter. Sanchez is out of options and performed well last year with the Astros.

Levine astutely noted that those two spots are actually one spot, because once Keppinger returns, somebody is visiting Oklahoma City. Sanchez would have to clear waivers in order to even get to Oklahoma City (which may happen), but it's still a risk - even if the Astros do have a ton of middle infield possibilities. We still give the nod to Downs.

Who do you want as OF5?



It is the opinion of Astros County that it should be Bourgeois, and Shuck can continue to develop at Triple-A.

Sanchez expected back Wednesday

Angel Sanchez' back has been an issue all Spring, but he's expected to be in the lineup against the Pirates on Wednesday.

Also, in the Astros' search for their OF5, you may have noticed that J.B. Shuck is still in Major-League camp, joining Brian Bogusevic and Jason Bourgeois as candidates for that OF5 spot.

Shuck:
"Hopefully, they know what my style of game is, and I just wanted to come in here and give the manager and coaches up here a chance to see it so they can see that I'm a hard worker and I just do what I have to do to get it done. Hopefully, I've been able to show that."

While You Were Drinking: March 21

Here's a recap of what you may have missed over the weekend because you were puking in the kiddie pool:

-Good Lord, Reid Ryan is happy not to be with the Astros anymore. ("“Our fans are really going to see the difference on the field: the amount of hard-throwing pitchers we will have, we really haven’t had a guy that can hit the ball out of the ballpark the last couple of years. We’ll have that, and just speed and some younger players coming through,"

-Something that's not news, is now news, as the Astros won't be attending Doug Davis' workout.

-With a captip to SBN Houston, Ken Rosenthal reports that the Astros are apparently still in the market for a lefty off the bench, and another catcher. Click the TCB link for some good reaction.

-In a McTaggart notebook, Mark Melancon is working on a cutter and has a good shot at the OD11 roster.

-Everyone went guano crazy over the return of St. Louis Cardinal Lance Berkman over the weekend.

-J.A. Happ feels good.

-Brett Myers gets the Opening Day loss start against Roy Halladay on April 1.

-Angel Sanchez' back concerns Mills (and may earn him a trip to Oklahoma City).

-Ryan Rowland-Smith is out of the running for SP5. Nelson Figueroa is your likely SP5 candidate.

-In Former Astros news, Hector Gimenez just may make the Dodgers' OD11 roster.

-J.R. Towles is hoping this is his year.

Meat Wagon Update

And using the same link as before, we have some Meat Wagon updates:

Wandy played catch yesterday, and will have a bullpen session tomorrow as he tries to get over that "mild" tendinitis (which sounds to me like "mild diarrhea." There's nothing mild about that. At all.)

Angel Sanchez was out again with a back sprain - the second time he has sprained a muscle.

Michael Bourn was out of the lineup for the third straight game with an "illness."

Optionless Astros

MLBTR has a nice list of everyone who is out of options. This means that, if the Astros send them to the minors, then they have to clear waivers first.

Who's on this list?
Alberto Arias
Nelson Figueroa
Jeff Keppinger
Humberto Quintero
Ryan Rowland-Smith
Angel Sanchez

Of this list, the only players who run the risk of getting sent down are really Arias and Sanchez. Of those two, would they clear waivers? Sanchez might, but I'm not so sure about Arias (though his injury may scare off enough teams).