Thursday Morning Hot Links

Good morning. It is 20 days until Pitchers & Catchers Report.

*The BatGuy wrote about Hall of Fame voting.

*The Astros feat. Max Stassi, Myles Straw, and Corbin Martin took ten kids on a shopping spree at Academy in Corpus.

*Stassi talked about the Astros' adding Robinson Chirinos and the mindset going into 2019:
The offseason was obviously 10 days longer, but the guys are hungry as ever and ready to roll for this upcoming season. It drives you a lot and you are obviously disappointed when you didn't win the whole thing, but ultimately guys are going to have the same mindset as they did last year.

*Josh Reddick got married and stayed extremely On Brand by wearing customized wrestling belts.

*Trent Thornton, traded to Toronto for Aledmys Diaz in November, didn't know he was talking to the Blue Jays' GM when he got the call. Also:
In the back of your mind when you're with an organization like [Houston] you kind of wish you'll get traded because it's so log-jammed.

*J.D. Davis, on going to Spring Training with the Mets:
[I'll be] trying to outwork everybody, and trying to take those extra swings in the cage, those extra reps on the field, doing work in the gym. I feel like if I get the opportunity...I will start turning some heads. I have absolutely all the confidence in the world in myself.

*Former Astros Great Chris Johnson, now somehow only 34, signed a minor-league deal with the White Sox.

*Tim Brown: Rather than declaring war on baseball, here's how to fix it.

*

An MLB Network oral history: Roy Halladay's 2010 NLDS no-hitter for the @Phillies. #HOF2019 pic.twitter.com/daXtXdffJh

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 22, 2019

*To save the sound of a Stradivarius, a whole city must keep quiet.

*A Musical Selection:

Chris Johnson traded to Diamondbacks

The overhaul continues - Houston has announced today that they've traded third baseman Chris Johnson to the Arizona Diamondbacks for AA outfielders Bobby Borchering and Marc Krauss.

Borchering, 21, is a 6'3", 200 lb. switch-hitting corner outfielder converted from a 1B/3B earlier in his pro career. He's struggled to a .130/.183/.208 line in 77 AB since getting promoted to AA Mobile, but he put up a .277/.340/.534 line with 18 HR and 60 RBI in 307 AB at High A Visalia before that. He was Arizona's 1st round pick (16th overall) in the 2009 draft out of Bishop Verot HS in Fort Myers, FL.

Krauss, 24, is a 6'2", 235 lb. left-handed corner outfielder who has also seen a bit of time at 1B. Krauss has a .283/.416/.509 line with with 15 HR and 61 RBI in 346 AB for AA Mobile this year. He was a 2nd-round pick (64th overall) in Arizona's 2009 draft out of Ohio University in Athens, OH.

Yesterday's waiver claim Steve Pearce will take CJ's spot on the 25-man roster today.

Tranzactionz and potential tranzactionz

In McTaggart's Notebook we find a few things:

*Matt Dominguez has been optioned to OKC, and Justin Maxwell is likely to take his roster spot.
*Chris Johnson will likely slide back to 3B, possibly making room for Brett Wallace.
*Marwin Gonzalez could be rehabbing in OKC for another week and a half.
*Wilton Lopez is probably coming back to the bullpen after the Break.

Chris Johnson out with strain

Chris Johnson was scratched from today's finale against the Cubs due to a left-side muscle strain.

He says the injury is not serious, and does not expect to miss significant time.

Corresponding Move: Brian Bixler

Brian Bixler has been called up with the news of Marwin Gonzalez heading to the DL with his bruised heel, which sounds quite bad:

"The doctors told us that he would definitely be out a minimum of 10 days. Hopefully, he's able to at least play catch to keep his arm stronger, but it's going to be tough to have him ready to play."

-

In other Meat Wagon news, Chris Johnson had to leave the game after getting a stomach bug in the 6th inning. Mills:
"He was tossing his cookies, you might say."

From the Office of the County Clerk: G10 @ Nationals

Hey, at least the Astros got two earned runs off Strasburg. Astros fall to Washington, 6-3, for their 2nd straight loss, and fifth in their last six games.

Stephen Strasburg got six of the first seven batters he faced, allowing a Chris Johnson single in the first two innings, while Kyle Weiland allowed two hits in the first two innings. Altuve singled to open the 3rd inning and Weiland sacrificed him over, but Jordan Schafer struck out looking and Jed Lowrie fouled out to third to strand Altuve in scoring position.

Meanwhile, in the bottom of the 3rd, Ian Desmond doubled to left, and scored when Lombardozzi bunted Weiland into committing a throwing error. Ryan Zimmerman then drew a walk, but Jayson Werth (the $126m man) flied out to center with two men on to end the inning.

Strasburg got another stretch of six out of seven batters through the 4th and 5th, while Weiland gave up a Wilson Ramos homer in the 4th with two outs to make it a 2-0 game. In the top of the 6th, Strasburg allowed the Schafer and Lowrie singles and walked Martinez to load the bases (uh-oh). Carlos Lee flied out to center, but not deep enough to score Jordan Schafer. Travis Buck struck out swinging to bring the Astros' 0-fer stretch with the bases loaded to 0x13 until Chris Johnson knocked in two runs with a two-out single. Jason Castro lined out to shortstop with runners on 2nd and 3rd to end the inning.

Then the bottom of the 6th happened. Kyle Weiland got two outs (bookended by a Rick Ankiel single, then walked Roger Bernadina and Ian Desmond to load the bases (again, with two outs). Steve Lombardozzi doubled in two runs, and Ryan Zimmerman singled in two more. Four Nationals runs with two outs. Wesley Wright came in to relieve Weiland (and Astros fans), and got One of The LaRoche brothers to strike out looking.

Jose Altuve doubled to lead off the 7th, and then two Nats relievers struck out the side to strand him at 2nd. Brandon Lyon came in for the bottom of the 7th, and managed to allow four baserunners - but prevented them from scoring with the help of a Jordan Schafer outfield assist at home, nailing Ryan Zimmerman to end the 8th inning.

Between his two innings, an error by Rick Ankiel allowed Travis Buck to score after Buck doubled with one out to cut the Nationals lead to 6-3, but in the bottom of the 9th, the Astros got a walk from Jed Lowrie, but left him right there.

*The Nationals rapped out 13 hits, including four extra-base hits (three doubles, and a homer). The 13 hits allowed were a season-high for Astros pitchers, and it's the 5th time in the last six games they've allowed double-digit hits.

*After starting the season with nine earned runs in the first four games, they've now allowed 30 earned runs in their last six.

*Kyle Weiland, what the heck? After a ridiculous Spring Training, Weiland has allowed 18H/10ER in 10.2IP with 9K:4BB. And after an 0-3 season in 2011 with a 7.66 ERA, Weiland is now 0-2 with an 8.44 ERA.

*Meanwhile, the Astros were 2x14 w/RISP, bringing them to 29x101 on the season. But hey, Chris Johnson got that first hit with the bases loaded to bring that up to 1x14.

*J.D. Martinez snapped his 9-game hitting streak with an 0x4, 4K performance, which is of course a career-high. That's bad, but Preston Wilson struck out five times on April 17, 2006, and four times on April 19, 2006, with two Ks in the April 18 game - for 11K in 14PAs, all against Milwaukee. And the Astros went 2-1.

*Chris Johnson was 3x4 (when, an hour after the game was over, the official scorer gave Johnson an RBI triple, instead of an error on Ankiel) to extend his hitting streak to nine games, with multi-hit games in four of his last six. He (43PAs) and Chris Snyder (14PAs) are the only Astros with 10+PAs to not draw a walk.

*Jose Altuve was 2x4 with a double to bring his slash line to .351/.390/.486. So the first four batters in the lineup were 2x17, with 8K:2BB. The next four batters (Buck-Johnson-Castro-Altuve) were 7x16.

*Speaking of Jason Castro, his 0x4 puts him at .125/.222/.167.

*Man of the Match: Chris Johnson.

*Goat of the Game: Kyle Weiland.

*Tipping Point: It's an easy one, but the bottom of the 6th, when Weiland couldn't put the inning away with two outs. He walked two batters with two outs, and then allowed two hits for four runs. After scratching two runs back to tie the game, Weiland let it slip away.

Wandy won't necessarily go out of his way to help you

There's a funny little quote from J.D. Martinez on Wandy Rodriguez, the longest-tenured Astro.

Martinez:
"He's not afraid to help you. Not so much that he'll go out of his way, but if he sees something, he'll talk to you if he sees you down and he'll tell you something. It's always nice to have guys like that. If he sees something, he'll let you know, but he's not an all-over-the-top-of-you type of guy, which is cool."

Here are your longest-tenured Astros:
1. Wandy - 2005
2. Carlos Lee - 2007
3. Wesley Wright - 2008
4. Bud Norris - July 29, 2009
5. Chris Johnson - Sept 9, 2009

They're the only players on the Opening Day roster to make their team debut prior to 2010.

Johnson, Weiland are full of confidence

Over here, we see that Chris Johnson and Kyle Weiland both dealt with over- and under-confidence in 2011.

Johnson, on 2011:
"A lot of things happened last year. I didn't quite make the adjustments as early as I should have. I may have gotten a little cocky, and thought I was just going to come in last year and do it again. That's one thing I learned. You never want to get comfortable here. You have to keep working every single day."

And for Weiland? He called his wife and parents first, before dishing out the wisdom:
"You have to have confidence in this game no matter what your situation is. I knew there was a chance I could break [camp] with the team. I knew there was good talent I was going against to win a spot. The biggest thing for me was not to try to do too much."

From the Office of the County Clerk - Spring Training G31: White Sox @ Astros

The Astros fell to the Chicago White Sox 5-1 at Minute Maid Park tonight. It was the first of two exhibition games the Astros will play at MMP against the White Sox, with the other being tomorrow afternoon. The Astros then get a day off on Thursday before Opening Day on Friday evening.

*The Astros Spring Training record dropped to 14-17.

*Jordan Schafer made his return to the lineup and looked pretty solid from the leadoff spot. He had an infield hit in the 1st inning and had tough-luck out in his next at-bat when he absolutely hammered one - but right at the second baseman.

*Astros batters struck out a total of 10 times tonight. They are going to have to make better contact during the regular season to give themselves a chance of putting guys on base.

*Carpenter gave up back to back homeruns to Dunn and Konerko in the 5th inning. He also gave up a walk. It was by all accounts a very ugly outing.

*Brett Wallace looked very comfortable at 3rd base on a couple of hot shots his way in the top of the 9th. Chris Johnson on the other hand looked lost at the plate and bobbled a ball in the infield that resulted in an infield hit. Although it wasn't a 'gimme' by any means, Johnson is going to have to play better defensively and have his bat heat up to hold off Wallace from coming back up to the big league club and stealing his spot.

*Altuve had a couple of great at bats where he really worked the count. It finally paid off on his last at bat when he got lucky on a bloop single. With such a small strike zone it would be nice to see him walk more this year.

*The bullpen had its ups and downs but really didn't look that effective. The White Sox had 14 hits to our 7 tonight. 

*The Astros were very agressive on the basepaths tonight. A lot of it likely has to do with AJ Pierzynski only throwing out 20% of attempted base stealers in his career...but I hope they keep it up in the regular season and put some pressure on the other teams.

*Even Carlos Lee attempted a stolen base - and although there wasn't  a great slow motion reply provided, he looked safe to me. He sure thought he was.

*I know it is only one game and it was against some good major league pitching...but JD Martinez and Chris Snyder stood out as two guys to me who I thought would make some solid contact tonight, but really didn't look good at all swinging the bat.

Man of the Match

Tough choice on a bad night for the offense and not a great night all around, but going with Jose Altuve here. Went 1 for 2 and drew a walk - worked the count deep on both of his first trips up. Also made a couple of nice knockdowns in the game. Perhaps they could have been done better and converted to outs, but they likely saved runs regardless.

Goat of the Game: 

Split decision:

1. Chris Johnson - 0 for 3 at the plate with 2 strikeouts and a bobbled ball in the infield that resulted in an infield single. 

2. David Carpenter - came into a close 2-1 game, promptly gave up back to back homeruns and put the Astros in a 4-1 hole.

Spring Training Awards!

What with the end of the Grapefruit League season, and with a few exhibition games remaining, it's time to announce the 2012 Spring Training Award winners...

The J.R. Towles Memorial March Hitter of the Spring Award

Chris Johnson. Johnson led the team (min. 20 ABs) in batting average (.368), SLG (.737), homers (5), doubles (6), and OPS (1.116), staking a claim to the 3B1 job and sending Brett Wallace back to Triple-A.

The Taylor Buchholz Memorial March Pitcher of the Spring Award

Wilton Lopez. In 9IP, Lopez allowed 4H/1ER, 11K:0BB, and a .138 BAA.

Paredes among latest round of cuts, moved to 2B

This morning Zachary Levine reported that the Astros sent six more players down to minor league camp. Jimmy Paredes may have been the most surprising, as some considered him the favorite for the starting third base position after he came into this year as the incumbent. That job will likely fall to Chris Johnson to start the season, although Brett Wallace is still in the mix. Additionally, it was announced that Paredes would move back to second base, which had been his primary position before last season.

Also sent down were outfielders Fernando Martinez and Brad Snyder and pitchers Aneury Rodriguez, Xavier Cedeno, and Jose Valdez.

Profile on Chris Johnson

Culture Map had a profile on Maybe 3B Chris Johnson as he prepared to leave for Spring Training, and that dude had some interesting things to say.

What happened in 2011 for Johnson?
“Last year was tough. I came into the season thinking I was the shit. I had to get out of my own way. Pitchers and teams started looking at me and they had a game plan of how to handle me at the plate."

And on realism replacing optimism for 2012:
“We’re a young team. There’s no denying that. As a team we need to stay away from super lofty goals and keep improving. We’re headed in a really good direction — there’s really only one way to go."

Click the link for the full piece, it's a good one.

Wallace to try out 3B

Now this is interesting. Brett Wallace will go into Spring Training trying to earn a spot at 3B.

Since the Astros can't get rid of Carlos Lee, and Carlos Lee is like the Kool-Aid Man in Left Field (OHHHH YEAH), and the Astros are light on 3B, Brett Wallace will head back to the position he played at Arizona State, and to begin his pro career.

Wallace:
"I've been happy with how quickly I've been able to get in a rhythm over there and feel comfortable again."

Luhnow:
"Wallace needs to get back to the swing and offensive production we know he's capable of, and whether that ends up at third base or first base, the offensive production is what we need him to do."

Wallace played 3B in 2008-09, getting 164 games at the hot corner, and posting a .943 Fld% (whatever that means to you). For comparison purposes, Chris Johnson posted a .925 Fld% at 3B from 2009-11, albeit at the Major-League level. Still, in parts of six minor-league seasons at 3B, Johnson had a .938 Fld%.

So this would allow Paredes to get another year in the minors for seasoning, and if Wallace can hit, he could slide back over to 1B in 2013. Ideally, the Astros would be able to see exactly what they have in Wallace and give him a fair shot with 500-600 PAs, while allowing their best OFs to do their thing, and minimize Carlos Lee's fielding nightmare, trying to get their $19m worth.

That's a big Ideal Situation, but it's at least worth a shot.

Chris Johnson's dad got a job

With a captip to Hardball Talk, Chris Johnson's dad - Ron - who was fired by the Red Sox last month, will be the manager of the Norfolk Tides, Triple-A affiliate of the Orioles.

Johnson vs. Paredes: Who Ya Got

From the same article, we see that Brad Mills entertained, then rejected, an idea to move Chris Johnson to 1B (for what reason, I have no idea) in Winter Ball. He'll now focus on a Spring Training steel-cage match with Jimmy Paredes to see who opens 2012 at 3B.

You would think Paredes would have the edge, just given the shakeout of playing time over the second half of the season. But let's look at a few things, eh?

Johnson has struck out in 23.3% of his PAs in 2011 (walking in 3.8% of his PAs), with a .132 ISO (SLG%-AVG). He's hitting .253/.292/.385 with a .315 BABIP. Also, FanGraphs shows that his glove is a liability, and gives him a -13.9 UZR. His FanGraphs WAR is -0.7. He's also going to be 27 on October 1.

Jimmy Paredes, the Double-A call-up, will be 23 at the end of November. In limited playing time (43 games, 167 PAs), Paredes has - incredibly - about the same K/BB numbers as Johnson. Paredes walks in 4.8% of his PAs, strikes out in 24.6% of his PAs, and is hitting .293/.325/.395 buoyed by a .383 BABIP. Defensively, he's better than Johnson - FanGraphs gives him only a -0.4 UZR, but at least a positive WAR at 0.6.

The fact that Paredes is a good five years younger than Johnson gives him the edge, but if Johnson was going to lock down a spot for the foreseeable future, it probably needed to be this season.

Callup recap

Here are the six players who will lose playing time to Jason Michaels this month:

Lucas Harrell
Chris Johnson
Jordan Lyles
J.B. Shuck
J.R. Towles
Brett Wallace

Enerio Del Rosario will be activated from the DL to serve as the 7th player. First off, we called a list of potentials, and were spot-on (picking some players who were called-up in the meantime).

That said, it's a traveshamockery that Andy Van Hekken is not on this list.

Even Dierker can't explain Martinez

Larry Dierker spent some time thinking about J.D. Martinez:

Watching him, I can't explain it. Martinez has an odd stutter step in his swing. And he takes it when the pitcher starts his delivery -- too soon. What's more, he holds his hands too far from his right shoulder, which elongates his swing. He shouldn't be able to hit like that. But I guess nobody told him.

Still, haters gon hate:
There is just one thing that's bothered me. As a former pitcher, I wondered why Martinez is playing in the outfield. He'll never be better than average out there.

Jamie Quirk said Martinez is not playing the infield because the Astros are concerned about his knee, and Dierker seems to like the idea of Martinez taking over the 3B spot from Paredes/Johnson, with Paredes moving to the outfield, thanks to his speed. What do you think?

What will Wallace and Johnson be working on in OKC?

I have to be honest, when I wrote the title of the post I mistakenly wrote "Wallace and Gromit."

Anyhow, in this article, we find that a checklist of things for Wallace and Johnson to work on has been passed on to manager Tony DeFrancesco (Mills expects both to be back for September call-ups). What could those things be?

For Wallace, that list probably includes identifying breaking balls (/snicker). FanGraphs says that he has a -5.5 wCB (Runs above average when seeing a curveball), a -3.6 wCH (changeup), and -1.0 wSF (splitty). He's also swinging at 31.8% of pitches outside the strike zone. And if Tony DeFrancesco sits him against LHPs, I'm going to burn down an orphanage.

For Johnson, he's going to have to prove that he won't just swing at everything. In 2009, his K% at Triple-A was 21.8% - which turned out to be fairly accurate for his last two years (it dropped to 14.1% in his short stint at AAA in 2010). In 2010, his MLB K% was 25.1% and was 24% at the time of his demotion. The only pitch type Johnson has a positive value against (again, according to FanGraphs) is the split-fingered fastball (1.1). He's getting killed on curves (-5.0) and sliders (-3.1), and even four-seam fastballs (-4.3). He's swinging at 42% of pitches outside the strike zone, and is seeing a first-pitch strike 63.8% of the time, with 12.1% swinging strikes.

Johnson is just going to have to work on his pitch selection. And his defense. Definitely his defense.

Johnson, Wallace never saw this coming

Mark Berman talked to Chris Johnson, who was predictably shocked by this evening's news:

"They called me and Wally in and said they were sending us to Oklahoma City to clear our heads and get things going. Oh yea, we were shocked. They said they got a month left and we're going to go there and just play. It's really tough. It's a big blow. I know I had a tough start, but the organization is making some changes and I guess me and Wally aren't part of it. We've gone through the grind all year. I've battled, learned and made adjustments. It's shocking. It's tough. It's not something we expected, but the organization is going in a different direction I guess.

They're making changes, going young and bringing up some younger guys and to send us out tells you maybe they don't want you to really be a part of it. We're just going to have to try to work harder and win them back, I guess."

Communication hasn't exactly been the Astros' strong point, but yeah, they're going to have to go back to OKC and win them over again.

I would say that Wallace has a longer leash than Johnson. There's no one really at Triple-A contending for a 1B/3B spot. Kody Hinze is raking at Corpus, but has only been there a month or so. If they can go back and get it going again, it could re-inspire confidence in both.

Super Domingo Tranzacciones!

Holy Hannah. Just because Wandy wasn't traded doesn't mean there wasn't a big-time overhaul of the team today.

Here's what went down:

Chris Johnson and Brett Wallace have been sent to Oklahoma City. Jimmy Paredes - who came over with Mark Melancon in the Berkman/NY trade last July - is your new third baseman, coming straight up from Corpus. Of the six Hooks to ever jump Triple-A, three have been in the last two weeks (Altuve, Martinez).

Carlos Lee is your presumed 1B as Brian Bogusevic has been called up from OKC.

Sucks for both of them, but it's probably for the best. They've both had terrible stretches in the last two months, and with Mills flip-flopping on whether to put them in the lineup, they can go to OKC to get their heads right.

Johnson's OPS, by month (w/BABIP in parentheses):
April: .531 (.231)
May: .714 (.290)
June .801 (.370)
July .578 (.347)

Wallace, same thing:
April: .988 (.471)
May: .719 (.299)
June: .657 (.340)
July .433 (.261)

It's scary that Johnson's .578 OPS was propped up by a .347 BABIP, same thing was Wallace's June.

Paredes isn't exactly lighting up Corpus. First, his primary position is 2B. At Whataburger Field, he's hitting .312/.346/.455, with 44K:10BB. On the road, he's hitting .224/.249/.393. In July, it's a .282/.315/.504 line, with five of his ten homers coming this month. In his last ten games, he's hitting .220/.233/.317.

Can't help but feel as though maybe the Astros are reaching on Paredes. Anderson Hernandez has played 41 games at 3B for OKC, and is hitting .353/.430/.447 in July. Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer the Astros give Paredes a shot, but it just seems odd.