Thursday Morning Hot Links

The last 9pm start is on August 24. There are four more off-days between this morning and the end of the regular season. That's crazy.

*2018 Record: 73-42

*2017 Record: 71-44

Houston has a 5-game lead on Oakland and an 8-game lead on Seattle, who are now 15 games over .500 with a -29 run differential.

Playoff Odds Check

FanGraphs (103-59): 98.3% to win division, 99.6% to make playoffs, 23.6% to win World Series
FiveThirtyEight (102-60): 95% to win division, >99% to make playoffs, 20% to win World Series
Baseball Prospectus: (102-60): 96.3% to win division, 99.9% to make playoffs, 16% to win World Series

-A couple of notes here: FiveThirtyEight gives the Red Sox a higher percentage of winning the World Series. Baseball Prospectus hadn't updated since yesterday morning.

*Houston is +450 to win the World Series again, slightly behind the Vegas' favorite Red Sox, at +400.

*Change in OPS through 115 games, 2017 to 2018:

Alex Bregman: + .065 (.835 to .900)
Evan Gattis: -.020 (.820 to .800)

Yuli Gurriel: -.087 (.803 to .716)

Josh Reddick: -.095 (.830 to .735)

Brian McCann: -.115 (.721 to .606)
Jose Altuve: -.134 (.991 to .857)

Carlos Correa: -.134 (.966 to .832)
Jake Marisnick: -.156 (.830 to .674)

George Springer: -.198 (.970 to .772)

Marwin Gonzalez: -.255 (.962 to .707)

I'm going to cherry-pick a stat here, but Jake Marisnick - May 24-August 7 (97 PAs): .282/.371/.529.

Jake Marisnick, June 1 - present:   .303/.410/.576
George Springer, June 1 - present: .214/.326/.383

ERA/WHIP through 115 games, 2017 to 2018:

Dallas Keuchel: 2.87 / 1.11 : 3.53 / 1.24

Lance McCullers: 3.92 / 1.29 : 3.93 / 1.19

Charlie Morton: 3.83 / 1.25 : 2.81 / 1.14

Brad Peacock: 3.07 / 1.26 : 2.96 / 0.97

Will Harris: 2.86 / 0.95 : 4.24 / 1.22

Collin McHugh: 5.32 / 1.36 : 1.00 / 0.72

Chris Devenski: 2.76 / 0.85 : 4.19 / 1.19

Tony Sipp: 6.47 / 1.48 : 1.61 / 1.07

By Game 115 of the 2017 season, pitchers who are no longer on the active roster (Fiers, Musgrove, Gregerson, Feliz, Giles, Hoyt, Martes, Paulino, Dayan Diaz, Guduan) had thrown 479 IP. That's insane. A team that won the World Series shed 479 IPs through 115 games and got better. 

*The Astros have 11.2 fWAR currently on the DL.

*Hinch will go with a four-man rotation, thanks to the three days off in the next nine. Hinch:
We knew the off-days in August were going to be important. But never did we know that we were going to be talking about them being an advantage to maybe take a couple of games from a DL stint for a large number of our players. 

*Jake Kaplan discusses who might replace Lance McCullers in the rotation. So does Chandler Rome. Hinch:
Trying to get to September is key. There's only a couple starts before September, when we will have as many pitchers as we want to take the innings.

*Josh James leads the leaderboard for FanGraphs' Triple-A pitching call-ups.

*SI's Ben Reiter with a story about which I'm sure you're not tired of hearing: How J.D. Martinez became the Astros' greatest mistake.

Sheryl Crow's "My Favorite Mistake" > J.D. Martinez

*FanGraphs' Sheryl Ring: Roberto Osuna, Immigration Law, and Crimes of Moral Turpitude

*The Astros have agreed to meet with "representatives of several organizations" that provide services to victims of domestic violence.

*Carlos Correa had a foul ball land in his fiancee's lap.

*Wanna see something crazy? On Tuesday, Buies Creek struck out 20 times...and won.

*Framber Valdez, who has struck out 120 batters in 94.1IP at Corpus, has been promoted to Fresno.

*Be sure to check the Masked Marvel's Reinforcing the Astros posts each morning, this morning's included.

*Former Astros Great Tim Federowicz signed a minor-league contract with Cincinnati after refusing a Triple-A assignment from the Astros.

*Oh man Future Astros Great Buddy Boshers was claimed off waivers by the Pirates, making the Astros' 40-Man Roster totally devoid of grown men answer to "Buddy."

*Carlos Beltran makes Tim Brown's list of the next wave of MLB managers.

*Please read my friend Levi Weaver's account of how Jeff Baker sprained his thumb during a high-five celebration for the Arlington Ramgers.

*Lookout Landing's Isabelle Minasian writes about the potential end of King Felix's reign in Seattle's rotation. I take no pleasure in linking to this, but it is well-written.

*From a couple of days ago, here's ESPN's Alden Gonzalez on how the shift ruined Albert Pujols.

*Sex Offender Luke Heimlich may or may not have signed with a team in Taiwan.

*Justin Verlander will go for Career Win #200 tonight against James Paxton, who is going for Win #200 against Houston.

*Watch Hero Home Plate Umpire Greg Gibson save Baseball from the temptations of exciting young player Juan Soto. Take a breath. Baseball lives another day.

Juan Soto ejected. Didn’t do a whole lot. pic.twitter.com/H3E5Go1OmF

— Rudy Gersten (@DCBarno) August 9, 2018

With our next homestand on deck, today’s #DK60 moment shares a clip of insight into preparation and approach. As the old saying goes we are in the #DogDaysofSummer ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/NFNFxiyenr

— Dallas Keuchel (@kidkeuchy) August 9, 2018

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

The Astros completed the most frustrating sweep of the season as they somehow won again, this time 2-1 yesterday afternoon against San Francisco. Tyler White hit the go-ahead home run and is now batting .267 with 4 home runs and 7 RBIs in 60 at bats this season. We are now 6-2 this road trip, playing without a lot of key players. Here is an excellent recap of yesterday's game here.

Cody Poage talks Andrew McCutchen to Houston on Climbing Tal's Hill.

Jake Kaplan has the pitching matchups for the weekend series with Seattle. Yes, we have to face James Paxton again.

In an unfortunate turn of events, Buddy Boshers was claimed by Pittsburgh. We will not have Buddy in Houston.

AP Sports Writer Noah Trister assesses all of the bullpens that added new pieces post-deadline.

There is a happy ending for the boy with Down Syndrome who lost his Woody doll at the Astros game I wrote about last week.

ESPN announced the Astros will be playing Sunday Night Baseball 2 straight weeks in a row September 2nd and 9th.

Its time to face facts: most sports organizations just aren't "The Great Moral Crucible" we wish they were. Michael Baumann wrote an excellent piece on lying, winning, and morality in sports.

Derek Fisher's confidence has been renewed after being recalled from Fresno.

Carlos Correa went 0-3 with a walk in a Hooks rehab assignment yesterday. He should join the Astros either Thursday or Friday. There is no new news since the @AstrosCounty Meat Wagon Update from yesterday.

Read Katie Strang writes about how the Osuna ruling could change MLB's domestic violence policy. People such as Jay Jaffe and Ken Rosenthal did and loved it. ($)

Episode 19 of Baseball Stories featured Jeff Bagwell. He is so interesting to listen to and I highly suggest you find 22 minutes of your day to sit down and watch/listen to this (I'm listening to it as I write this).

641 men are getting screwed over by the MLB. They aren't receiving a Major League Baseball pension because they played in the league before 1980.

These baby capybaras look JUST LIKE this big capybara.

THERE IS A WORLD DOG SURFING CHAMPIONSHIP!

These goofballs in New York thought that if they wrapped their cocaine package in Minnie Mouse gift wrap that the police wouldn't eventually find out it was a cocaine package.

On This Day in Baseball History:

In 1976, the White Sox decided to wear shorts.

In 1988, Wrigley Field had the first ever night game. It was not an official game however as it was rained out in the 3rd inning.

In 1998, Paul Molitor becomes the fifth player ever to have both 3,000 hits and 500 steals.

In 2014, B.J. and Justin Upton both hit home runs in the same game for the fifth time, setting a sibling major league record.

Monday Morning Hot Links

The Astros beat the Mets yesterday, 5-2.

-Lance McCullers threw 3.2IP, 4H/1ER, 5K:1BB.
-Chris Devenski allowed an unearned run.
-James Hoyt threw 1IP, 1H/0ER, 2K:0BB to lower his Spring ERA to 11.37.
-Kyle Tucker was 1x3 with an RBI and a stolen base.
-Garrett Stubbs hit a home run.
-Jack Mayfield was 2x2 with a double.
-A.J. Reed was 2x3.

*McCullers' only blemish was a home run to Yoenis Cespedes, and was worried about the GIFs.

McCullers, on using Spring to work on adjustments:
I'm trying my new pitches out, trying my new grips out. I'm trying to see what has movement and where I'm locating pitches the best. If I'm just throwing breaking balls and I'm punching guys out, it's great and looks good on paper, but I'm not really growing as a pitcher.

*The Astros are off today, so they're headed to the White House. Can't wait for hot political takes. Why now? The Astros don't have a series at the Nationals, and don't play in Baltimore until the last weekend of the season. Hinch:
That would have been odd for us to wait all the way until that time to celebrate a team that's another year older. I'll take this day over the other options. 

*In The Athletic, Jake Kaplan writes that Peacock will likely get more innings than Devenski, who will likely be a one-inning guy in 2018 after tiring in the second half of the season.

*Hinch told Jerome Solomon that he's fine not having any drama this Spring. Hinch:
I don't miss it for a minute. You can give me the 25 guys at the beginning of camp, and I'll suffer through the lack of news any day. It feels like only bad things can happen when you have a team that's basically set, because of injuries, but I don't miss the agonizing over (decisions).

*In McTaggart's notes, we find:
-Hinch had McHugh throw a 50-pitch simulated game on three-days' rest to try and build him up a little. Hinch:
We're having him come back short this time as a semi-simulation on a bullpen usage because it's only three days of rest. He's not going to throw a bullpen between now and Thursday. Once he's at three innings and 50 pitches, you can accelerate him if we need to lengthen out...but you have to build him up into that 50 range to do it. 

-Reymin Guduan and Buddy Boshers - both lefty relievers - were optioned to minor-league camp, leaving Tony Sipp to handle those duties.

*Michael Baumann writes about Clayton Kershaw, Lance McCullers, and the end of the starting pitcher. Baumann:
What the Dodgers and Astros proved is that if you get a little lucky with injury timing and plan ahead, you can fill two rotation spots with three above-average pitchers without having to trawl the scarce market of above-average pitchers who can also throw 200 innings a year.

*Rich Dauer, who collapsed during the World Series parade and subsequently almost passed away, is happy to be alive and back in Astros camp. Dauer:
I still have people I have to text back. All I did was open my eyes and everything was all right. I'm not sure I'll ever get the full knowledge of what the heck happened. I'm very thankful and very happy to be here, but I'm happy to be anywhere. 

Saturday Morning Hot Links

Six days until the first Grapefruit League game of the year. Forty days until Opening Day at East Weatherford.

*The Astros are looking at viable lefty relief options in what basically amounts to an open tryout for that spot, which Hinch admitted they might not even bring one along for the Great Adventure of 2018. Could be Tony Sipp, Buddy Boshers, Anthony Gose, and Reymin Guduan. Hinch:
I think, going into this camp, the hope is Tony Sipp returns to form and that he has the stuff that made him a high-leverage reliever a couple of seasons ago. He has the capabilities to do that. We want to take the best team we can.

At $6m for 2018, Tony Sipp will cost the exact same amount of money as Jose Altuve.

Later in that link, Carlos Correa talks about what the Astros can build:
We don't want to be just a team people are going to remember for one year. We want to be able to build a dynasty and be able to win two, three years in a row if we can do that. We have the team to do it. It's just on us to put in the work and do what we need to do to win again.

*McCann:
We're as strong as it gets top to bottom. A lot of these guys came up together and...it's a big reason for our success. Everyone's pulling in the same direction and everyone knows how special this group is and we want to make the most of it.

*The Astros could possibly carry three catchers, and that's good news for the out-of-options Max Stassi.

*Bovada is giving the Astros' O/U a 96.5, 12 games better than the Angels.

*Would Dallas Keuchel shave his beard?

*Riley Ferrell grew up an Astros fan and talks about getting invited to Camp.

*The new Bob Watson Educational Center will be a part of the Astros Youth Academy complex.

*Here's a cool report from the Miami Herald about Miami-Dade County suing the ever-classy Jeffrey Loria over the sale of the team to a group PR'd by De2ek Je2er.

Meanwhile Real G and Former Astros Great Dan Straily is happy that his whiny-ass teammates Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich are gone.

*The Rangers are reloading their rotation with the likes of Bartolo Colon and Edinson Volquez, who won't pitch in 2018.

*True Heroes Jon Heyman and Buster Olney got into it about who broke Eduardo Nunez's Red Sox deal first.

*

Goes through Houston. #houstonstrong https://t.co/dXbQRFljAr pic.twitter.com/LDJKA8OHcC

— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) February 16, 2018

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

Things actually Happened yesterday.

*The Astros claimed Buddy Boshers off waivers.

Vs LHBs, 2017, lowest OPS-against to highest:
Chris Devenski (157 PAs): .111/.178/.236, 61K:10BB
Ken Giles (115 PAs): .196/.270/.314, 37K:11BB
Will Harris (76 PAs): .233/.263/.342, 19K:3BB
Buddy Boshers (62 PAs): .224/.258/.397, 10K:2BB
Joe Smith (77 PAs): .246/.325/.377, 24K:8BB
Brad Peacock (243 PAs): .249/.342/.418, 70K:28BB
Hector Rondon (86 PAs): .230/.337/.473, 23K:12BB
Tony Sipp (73 PAs): .247/.304/.548, 18K:5BB

Boshers allowed a .904 OPS to right-handed batters, so unless Brent Strom is an actual miracle worker, the Astros could plan on Boshers being the LOOGY they thought they were giving Tony Sipp $18m to be. It's also worth mentioning that Boshers still has a minor-league option remaining, so if things don't work out in Spring Training, he can go to Fresno without having to pass through waivers. Though the fact that Boshers fell all the way to the Astros in the first place indicates that may not really be an issue.

Boshers, Rule 5 pick Anthony Gose, and Sipp will fight each other to the death at the Ballpark of the Seven Isles or Whatever the New Kissimmee is Called starting next month.

The Masked Marvel has a round-up of Twitter reaction to the move.

*Baseball America released their Top 100 Prospects list yesterday. Here's where the Astros fall:
#10: Forrest Whitley
#15: Kyle Tucker
#62: Yordan Alvarez
#76: J.B. Bukauskas

Also on the list are former Astros prospects:
#35: Franklin Perez (traded for Justin Verlander)
#77: Albert Abreu (traded for Brian McCann)
#80: Brett Phillips (traded for Mike Fiers and some scrub outfielder)

Number of prospects on BA's Top 100, AL West:
Houston: 4
Oakland: 4
Anaheim: 3
Arlington: 2
Seattle: 1

Only the Astros, Rays, White Sox, and Blue Jays have two prospects in the Top 20.

*Alyson Footer writes that J.D. Martinez's impending payday (any day now, surely) got its foundation in Houston.

*Richard Justice: Carlos Correa, Francisco Lindor, and Corey Seager highlight MLB's great young shortstops.

*Jose Altuve got a bat made of Swarovski crystal.

*Every time the Annunciation Catholic Church sold out of their handmade Astros-themed rosaries, the 2017 Astros dominated that night's game. Now the Pope will receive one.

*Here is a 28-minute long condensed version of Game 5.

*The Brewers have made an offer for Yu Darvish, apparently.

*Naomi Parker Fraley aka Rosie the Riveter passed away at 96 over the weekend.

An Example of a Hidden Benefit of the Gerrit Cole trade...

... like claiming DFA'd lefties off waivers!!!

The Astros have claimed left-handed pitcher Buddy Boshers off of waivers from the Minnesota Twins.

— Houston Astros (@astros) January 22, 2018

Let's just say the reaction on Twitter was muted...

HELL YES, BUDDY BOSHERS!!!!

***looks up who Buddy Boshers is***

— Matt Weaver (@matteweaver) January 22, 2018

To all other replies asking what a Buddy Boshers is, I looked: 5.0 K/BB and .224/.258/.397 slash against 62 LHB PAs last year.

— Lee Green (@_leegreen) January 22, 2018

 

Good move imo pic.twitter.com/n0TwIeNS2j

— Astros Memes (@astros_memes) January 23, 2018

 

This offseason is so painfully slow that Buddy Boshers is trending on Twitter. Lit.

— Paul Sporer (@sporer) January 22, 2018

 

Wow, he is undefeated in his career!!!!!

— gohtown (@GoHtown) January 22, 2018

 

pic.twitter.com/hEQL1Yx8Id

— AngryModerate (@FuriousModerate) January 22, 2018

 

My prediction is that Buddy Boshers turns into the next left-handed Will Harris.  Anything less will be a disappointment, or the fault of someone or something outside of the Astros' Front Office.

The 40-man roster stands at 39 now.  I will be back later in the week with some thoughts on how the bullpen may shake out in another overly wordy instalment...