Saturday Winter Meetings Update

While we wonder what the heck even is the University of Texas football team, here are some updates from Nashville:

*The Astros want to upgrade their bullpen with a strong 9th-inning closer, says Brian McTaggart, specifically mentioning Aroldis Chapman, Brad Boxberger, and Ken Giles. He also mentions there is mutual interest between the Astros and free agent Tony Sipp.

*Jerry Crasnick tweeted that the Astros have discussed Drew Storen as a possible target, but more as a Plan B if they don't land one of the aforementioned closers.

*Jeff Samardzija got 5yrs/$90m from the Giants. So just give Dallas Keuchel 6yrs/$100m already.

OF COURSE the Phillies want McCullers and Velasquez

So Jerry Crasnick - who seems to have his finger on the pulse of the Astros, as much as anyone can, anyway - has this little nugget:

#Astros and #Phillies recently discussed Ken Giles. #Phillies brought up Lance McCullers and Vincent Velasquez, sources say.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 2, 2015

And so of course they want McCullers/Velasquez. The question I have is, "is that 'and' an 'and' or is it an 'or?'"

Another question might be, "Who is Ken Giles that the Phillies would demand such a return?" He's a 6'2" 205lb 25-year old righty reliever - the Phillies' 7th Round pick in 2011. In 2014 he threw 45.2IP, allowing 25H/6ER, 64K:11BB, finishing 4th in the NL Rookie of the Year award race for his 1.18 ERA/1.34 FIP/0.79 WHIP.

Dismissing that it was an entire fluke, Giles followed that up with 70IP in 2016, allowing 59H/14ER, 87K:25BB - a 1.80 ERA/2.13 FIP/1.20 WHIP. So he has faced 464 batters in the majors, and struck out 151 of them. His 11.19 K/9 rate in 2015 was 13th among relievers with at least 50IP thrown and his 2.13 FIP was 6th.

Giles also fits the bill of the "hard-throwing reliever" the Chronicle thinks the Astros so badly want. Giles throws a 96.5mph four-seamer with an 86mph slider.

He's under team control until 2021, so you can see why the Phillies would be throwing around names like McCullers and Velasquez.

Crasnick went on to add:

#Astros have also been engaged with #Rays on Boxberger and McGee. Houston likes relievers with control years.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 2, 2015

and

I've been told that #Astros owner Jim Crane is a big Aroldis Chapman fan. Not sure how that enters into the equation.

— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 2, 2015

That last tweet goes along with what Jon Heyman tweeted on July 31 regarding Crane and Chapman:

word is, houston ownership is interested in chapman. they also are on kimbrel. seek back-end pen help.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) July 31, 2015

As late as 1:09pm on July 31 the Astros were rumored to be talking to the Reds about Chapman.

Monday Morning Hot Links

Just couldn't find it within myself to care about the Astros this weekend, what with everything in Paris, and all. But since I use baseball and the Astros as a defense mechanism for how terrible the world is, I figured it's time to get back on the horse.

*Evan Drellich: Tanking, and the risk of alienating your fan base

*Marc Topkin says the Astros were one of the teams pretty hard in on the Rays' Brad Boxberger and Jake McGee at the deadline

*Christina Kahrl has your Astros' off-season preview

*JJO: A Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year award sweep would put the cherry on top of 2015

*McTaggart makes the case for Carlos Correa

*Scroll down to read this Ken Rosenthal report that the Braves would be open to trading 1B Freddie Freeman, whose salary takes a jump soon. The Braves' GM says nah.