'Rona-Free Hot Links, Vol. 21

*Apparently people don't know that Craig Biggio started at Catcher.

*Make sure you check out John Wessling's podcast, with this episode featuring the Brandon Backe of Astros Twitter: StrosFanUKnow.

Mayor @SylvesterTurner and @HoustonISD team up with Alex Bregman (@ABREG_1) and his fiancé, Reagan, at NRG Park to hand out food to families in need. More than 10K vehicles were expected on hand for the much-needed supplies pic.twitter.com/4ERvWnHHHs

— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) May 2, 2020

*Former Astros Greats on KBO teams:
Dan Straily (Lotte Giants), Preston Tucker (Kia Tigers).

*Tim Kurkjian: Lou Gehrig was way more than just a streak.

*Wired: An excerpt from Keith Law's new book on human fallibility and the case for robot umps.



*The big guy from the Dragon Show (I think) deadlifted over 1,100 pounds.

*Two words: Murder Hornets.



*What it feels like to compete at the biggest ice swimming race in North America.

'Rona-Free Hot Links, Vol. 18

*The Astros had a contractual right to prevent a 2017 World Series Ring from being auctioned off, and they exercised that right, even if the proceeds were to go to COVID-19 relief.

*Bill Brown shared the favorite call of his career.

*Dodgers-loving historic Bakersfield theatre taunts the Astros on its marquee. Yeah I find it weird that the Astros teed off on Yu Darvish, whom they faced from 2013-2017.

*It's Lima Time Time, Episode 127:



*The report that the 2020 minor-league season has been canceled is apparently not true.

*Dr. Anthony Fauci to the Boston Globe, on the possibility of Sports in 2020.

*Sam Miller: Cracking the mystery of Don Mattingly's birthday.

And speaking of Sam Miller, now is probably a decent time to find some time to read one of my favorite baseball books of all-time.

*Tim Kurkjian: When baseball was played without fans.

*FanGraphs: Would Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs have been different hitters today?



*Jayson Stark: Let the players take ownership of the game, and let the billionaires make their money and get the hell out of the way.

*The 2020 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony has been postponed to 2021.



*With all apologies to AstrosFansUK, I hate Chelsea. That said, Christian Pulisic made ESPN's top 36 players under 21 list.

*How Carl Yastrzemski became the godfather of USMNT's coach Gregg Berhalter.

(Mostly) 'Rona-Free Hot Links, Vol. 6

Saturday, April 4 at 7:30pm Central! There will be a Zoom meeting set up for Astros fans while AT&T SportsNet Southwest shows the Astros/Yankees game. There's a ton of special guests and giveaways lined up. It's going to be pretty epic.

*What we absolutely do NOT need: The Astros prepare for the possibility that George Springer (and Michael Brantley and Josh Reddick) has played his last game for the team. Chandler Rome:
Owner Jim Crane said in January he "made it clear" to Springer and his representatives that there was interest in an extension. Springer and Mookie Betts will be the most coveted free agents of an otherwise light position-player class.

*AT&T SportsNet Southwest will continue to pay its free-lancers at least through mid-April.

*Looking back at Zack Greinke's 59mph pitch.

*RIP Bill Withers, one of my absolute favorites:


*Craig Biggio was on Buster Olney's podcast.

*Jake Kaplan wrote about the 2012 Draft, and why Clint Barmes' one season in Houston mattered long-term.

*Rudy T got elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The city of Houston is hosting a #COVID19 protective equipment donation drive at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday from noon to 3 p.m., per @SylvesterTurner. Items will go to first responders and city employees. The city is asking for N95 or surgical masks, gloves, gowns, etc.

— Jasper Scherer (@jaspscherer) April 3, 2020

*A judge dismissed the Daily Fantasy Sports lawsuit against the Astros, Red Sox, and MLB.

*For the first time in 28 years, Sid Bream will watch 1992 NLCS Game 7.

*

East Texas long toss #QuarantineLife pic.twitter.com/EV0ROe5DXZ

— Grayson Rodriguez (@G_Rodriguez16) April 2, 2020

*Jon Miller broadcasts Strat-O-Matic.

*Learn Something:


*HBO will stream about 500 hours of free programming.

*Check out one of my favorite baseball novels: The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach.

*Vice: I followed a kilo of cocaine from field to street.

*The Ringer: The 30 Best (Truly) Independent Films of the 21st Century.

*Outside: Try this 10-minute stretching routine.

*A Musical Selection:

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

The Astros followed the gameplan yesterday afternoon: win the Verlander and Cole starts to win the World Series. You can find the full recap of the game here.

Here are 8 key takeaways we learned from last night's game.

Jeff Nelson was also officially diagnosed with a concussion after taking a foul ball off the mask during our game.

Josh Reddick called out the mean Yankees fans in right field.

Deadspin went a wrote a whole article about how clean the Astros baserunning was on this hit-and-run.

The Astros bullpen is fortunately not messing around this October.

Mike Francesca was very not happy that Giancarlo Stanton didn't sacrifice his body to lose 4-2 or 4-3 yesterday afternoon.

Both teams are planning on a bullpen day for tomorrow (weather permitting).

Speaking of a rainout, how would this unfortunate weather sequence play into the rest of the series?

Surely the Astros bats will wake up eventually right?

Free donuts thanks to the Astros this morning! You may want to stop reading these and get driving.

Richard Justice wrote once again about Altuve's path to the MLB, and it's always a good read.

A story you may not have heard yet, however, is rookie phenom Yordan Alvarez's path to the majors and what it took for him to get to where he is.

Somebody in Texas Astro-fied his 2017 Corvette to look v rad.

Mattress Mack might actually have a gambling problem.

Craig Biggio photobombed a kid who fell asleep in the extra inning Game 2 a couple days ago.

Here is the very official 100% accurate study involving when and where to get food at MMP.

The Nats are going to the World Series. While I am happy for them, I already have a very low tolerance for this and I'm pretty sure I will handle it especially un-well starting next week.

Is this managerial free agent pool the best ever?

the Bronx Zoo has announced their new exhibit for these adorable Asian foxes called "dholes" and I want one.

You can know find directions to "Joker Stairs" via Google Maps.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

Welcome to the Wednesday Morning Hot Links, or today we can call it, the Houston Chronicle Sports section.

2 days until Spring Training baseball and I got the #1 pick in my fantasy draft. Big day for Flick already.

Cavan Biggio's dad decided to hang out at camp today and talked about stuff.

Alex Bregman is continuing to progress from his surgery he had over the offseason.

The Astros won the popularity contest of "best uniforms in baseball".

I don't have a Daddy's Home joke at the ready, but there is definitely one here somewhere.

Chandler Rome talks Garrett Stubbs.

The first televised Spring Training game begins Sunday. 9 other games will be televised.

Bregman and Jake crashed Yuli's photoshoot and we found out the age old question to what happens to Yuli's new hairdo when a hat is pressed on it: it bounces back with authority.

On This Day in Baseball History

In 1963, Willie Mays signed the largest contract at the time in MLB history at $105,000.

In 1992, Mr. Montgomery Burns hired 9 professional MLB players to beat Shelbyville in the big softball game.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

Hello! I love your hat!

We can finally take a break from politics finally again finally. Elections are finally over, so we can go back to finally only worrying about football until spring training finally starts.

Lance McCullers is indeed needing Tommy John surgery, which makes the decision to put him in with the bases loaded in a 1 run contest in game 4 in the ALCS even more head scratching to me.

Is Alex Bregman overlooked in the MVP race?

Alex Bregman has a YouTube channel now. Our little boy is a content creator now! Check it out here.

Should the Astros trade Tucker or Whitley? CTH says no. I tend to say yes. I used to be a "prospect hoarder" but ever since we got that World Series, I have changed my philosophy on this. You don't get many opportunities to win the league, and all we need is a couple free agent signing to get back into a position to be a favorite. Do we NEED to get Realmuto? No. But I just don't support the notion of absolutely not trading these guys. If we're getting good value back, I don't care.

But speaking of Tucker, he was statistically the unluckiest hitter on the team.

Tags wrote an article talking about the Astros with their numbers retired and how good they really were, complete with videos!

Here's a look at the Houston Astros minor league organization All-Star roster.

The Indians are...selling? Anything good?


Free Agency. Garrett Richards? Adam Jones?

Craig Biggio had his Sunshine Kids Day in MMP yesterday, which is cool.

You can't walk your dog when the sun is out in China anymore. 

Return the turts!

I got some pretty #nasty #foods to show you for the holidays because this always happens and nobody ever likes them but you still need to stay informed.

~fin

Friday Morning Hot Links

The Astros finally won since the last time I wrote for the blog, so now it is officially time to start putting forth a significant about of effort into writing Hot Links again. This will have to start Monday, however, as the Astros were hit with yet another off day yesterday. In fact, Oakland and Seattle didn't play either, so the only other semi interesting game to the Astros was the fact that the Rangers beat the Angels 8-6, because I guess the Angels still have time to pull off a miracle run and win the west.

Anyways, this means we are still 2 games up on Oakland and 4.5 on Seattle going into a huge series against Oakland. I don't want to alarm anybody, but there is a chance that we will be in 2nd place by weekends end. But let's not go there. Let's talk Astros.

Alex Bregman (#19), Justin Verlander (Tied for #23), and Jose Altuve(Tied for #23) are all in the Top 25 WAR leaders of this 2018 season. The only team with more is the Cleveland Indians (Ramirez, Lindor, Bauer, Kluber at #2,#7,#11, and #15 respectively).

Derek Fisher was sent down to make room for George Springer, who will be returning to action today!

A.J. Hinch won't tell anyone who will start in place of McCullers on Tuesday. McHugh, Peacock, Joe Smith? Whoever it will be, it will only be the 6th person to start a game for the Astros this season.

Tyler White cannot stop hitting.

Neither can J.D. Davis, but in Fresno.

Martin Gallegos asks the question: do the A's need to sweep the series this weekend to have a chance to win the division?

Jake Kaplan gives us some insight as to what the Astros plans are for Brian McCann and the catching situation ($).

Yankees bloggers are starting to freak out because they realized that they might have to face Justin Verlander in the one game playoff.

The Houston Astros RBI Softball team won its first softball World Series.

Speaking of the RBI Softball team, Kayla Robinson won the Breaking Barriers Essay Contest.

Charlie Pallilo tells why the Astros are clearly the best team in the AL West.

Post Oak broke out the rainbow jerseys at the Little League World Series.

Just in case you haven't been paying attention to just how good the Red Sox have been, they are currently 11-2 in August, a .846 winning percentage.

Watch umpire Manny Gonzalez catch a bat flip.

Shoutout to George O. May, the first ever inductee into the Accounting Hall of Fame. good stuff, George.

Have you watched the twelve and a half minute video about the literary analysis of the Google Chrome T-Rex Runner Game? None of you will, but I enjoyed it.

There is a 100% chance I will see Alpha in theatres either this weekend or next.

ON THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

In 1973, Willie Mays hit his 660th and final home run.

In 1984, a stamp of Roberto Clemente was unveiled, the fourth stamp in a series of American sports heroes.

In 2008, Craig Biggio's number was retired.

Also in 2008, Josh Hamilton is the sixth player ever to be intentionally walked with the bases loaded.

In 2012, Clay Buchholz threw an immaculate inning. 

Also in 2012, Uganda became the first African team to play in the Little League World Series.

In 2014, Michael Cuddyer became the 3rd player ever to hit for the cycle in both the National and American League.

Monday Morning Hot Links

IF THE ASTROS AREN'T GOING TO TRY TO WIN BASEBALL GAMES, THEN I'M NOT GOING TO WRITE ABOUT THEM. Well, maybe I will, but I can assure you I will be very sad when I write these.

Here's the Astros "Legends" Home Run Derby results. Who would I pick for the 2019 Home Run Derby? Well, I'm glad you asked! Give me actual legends like Craig Biggio, Lance Berkman, Chris Carter, and I guess we can keep Luke Scott if he continues to hit dingers like he did. Now THAT'S what I call a Home Run Derby! (and yes I am aware Chris Carter is much younger than the other Astros I listed and therefore, he would probably win but I don't care because dangit he IS an Astros legend and deserves this honor. Miss u Trogdor. Come back to Minute Maid Park, flick your wrist, and send some baseballs over the oxy sign </3)

If you missed the derby or just want to listen to Steve Sparks hurl high pitch screams into a handheld microphone he clearly forgot he was holding, you can check out the entire competition here.

Well we knocked out the pregame festivities. The Astros lost again. Let's not drag this out any longer than it needs to be. For the first time in history, the Mariners have won 4 in a row against Houston.

Edwin Diaz is ridiculously elite.

Really the only good thing the Astros did was this.

Officer John Barnes, who was vital in stopping the Sante Fe school shooting in May, threw out the first pitch at yesterday's game.

Forrest Whitley will be off the DL very soon.

Chandler Rome talks the bright spot that is Tyler White.

Relief pitcher Devin Raftery has made a pretty cool comeback to professional baseball after the Astros cut him due to a devastating injury.

Here is your daily injury roundup!
Altuve - Still can't run. Still a very fuzzy timeline for a return.
Devenski and McCann - Expect a rehab assignment sometime this week.
Marisnick - Probably won't be back until September.
McCullers - September
Springer - Eligible to come off the DL Thursday. He cannot swing a bat right now, so he will likely need more than the minimum time.

Look at my dudes, the crows, keeping our planet clean.

Some students in Egypt created an air-powered car.

On This Day in Baseball History

In 1951, the Dodgers had Musical Depreciation Night, where you got in free if you brought your musical instrument to the game.

In 1979, Lou Brock got his 3000th hit.

In 1995, 63 year old Mickey Mantle lost his battle with liver cancer.

In 2006, Greg Maddux pitched to Barry Bonds three times. This is the only game that a 300+ game winner pitched to a 700+ home run hitter.

Friday Morning Hot Links

Carlos Correa Is Back!

But anyways, I suppose we should talk about last night's Astros game. I had to work but got home just in time to catch the 8th inning so as far as I'm concerned, we won 1-0 off a Tyler White walk-off in the 9th. Sick game!

No but for real, JV got tattooed harder than a guy who gets tattoos really hard..and deep..into his skin. Okay but anyways, he allowed 6 earned runs in two innings before being ejected "arguing" a balk call.

The highlight of the game offensively had to have been Tony Kemp. He was 3-4 with 2 RBIs and now is back to hitting .300 on the season. He also can hang his hat on this fun fact. We may have found our answer to James Paxton (who by the way is the only Mariners starting pitcher to beat the Astros this season).

Houston is now 4.5 up on Oakland and 7 up on Seattle. Also, the Chicago Cubs now are the first NL team to have a better winning percentage than the AL West 3rd Place team Mariners.

Let's post some Hot Links now, shall we?

Player's Weekend jerseys have been revealed. One player missing from this list is Roberto Osuna, who will be wearing 'No Panic' on his jersey. Probably not the best idea, but the reasoning can be found here.

The Best and Worst Player's Weekend jerseys from across the MLB can be found here.

Lookout Landing has posted a pretty cool series preview for all the numbers folks.

Roberto Osuna's role will develop with time in the Astros system.

Mookie Betts completed his cycle thanks to Ken Giles. His ERA with Toronto sits at a cool 20.25 with a 2018 ERA of 6.21.

Justin Verlander opened up about his injuries and depression, and how Kate Upton kept him on track to succeed.

I guess people were conflicted about watching an Astros game against an AL West rival, who can still very much take the division if we start to slide, over an exhibition football game.

Craig Biggio will join Geoff Blum, Preston Wilson, and Luke Scott in the *ahem* Legends Weekend Home Run Derby.

Is Kyle Tucker the left fielder of the future and if not, who might be the one to take that spot?

LMJ hurt himself swinging a bat because the National League is super stupid.

The Post Oak Little League team from Houston will meet the Astros before they head to Williamsport.

Chandler Rome talks Hector Rondon.

Jeff Sullivan from FanGraphs writes about the Astros' emerging superstar.

Dallas Keuchel has found his changeup, which is probably why his ERA in the last 2 months is 2.29.

Consuming crickets is actually very good for you.

Cow poop is the reason for the E. Coli in the lettuce.

This guy nicknamed "Uncle Pokemon" attached 11 smartphones to his bike so he could pedal around and play Pokemon Go! on 11 smartphones.

On This Day in Baseball History

In 1944, Red Barrett defeated the Reds 2-0 throwing a 58 pitch, complete game shutout. The game lasted 75 minutes.

In 1971, Harmon Killebrew hit his 500th home run.

In 1995, the Dodgers had to forfeit against the Cardinals because people wouldn't stop throwing baseball on the field.

In 2004, Adam Dunn cleared the wall, cleared the boat, and dropped the ball in the Ohio. The ball traveled am estimated 535 feet, a Cincinnati record.

Also in 2004, Tom Glavine was injured in a taxi accident. He required over 40 stitches to his face.

In 2010, the Reds and Cardinals got in a massive brawl that injured catcher Jason LaRue and pitcher Chris Carpenter. Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto was also suspended 7 games for kicking and spiking Yadier Molina.

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

When I graduated from college I weighed 305 pounds. Within a year I was at 206. But I moved to marry the woman who is now my wife of almost 15 years (14 years, 11 months yesterday) and since I was happy and back in Texas and there was a burrito place around the corner from my apartment, I got back up to 270. Since then it's been a battle to get closer to the 206 side. I need to lose about 30 pounds. I can run forever, though, and I'm figuring out how to enjoy lifting weights (those things are heavy, though). As you know, I'm on vacation. Yesterday morning, my first morning at 10,000 feet, my brother-in-law and I went for a "trail run," which basically meant meeting up downstairs at 6:45am even though we'd both been up since 4:15am thanks to altitude and jogging for 30 yards before we both felt like we were going to have a heart attack and then proceeded to get a day-long headache. Vacation is awesome.

*The Astros game was weird. I found a place that was showing the game so I got to see the middle innings. Definitely did not see The Pride of Rosenberg Randal Grichuk pull back a George Springer game-tying home run. Or Jose Altuve get caught looking to end the game. The Astros are 52-28, 3.5 games up. They're 16-10 in series opening games.

Holy crap Randal Grichuk pic.twitter.com/YQVgL7zTvt

— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) June 26, 2018

*Hinch, on Grichuk's pullback (after he hit a home run in the top of the 8th):
Baseball can be pretty cruel. That's a tough one. Right off the bat, I thought George got one. It carried and carried and carried and looked like he had to go pretty deep into the stands to get it.

Springer:
That sucks. There's really not anything else to say about it. It's tough. It is what it is. They win.

*Toronto's starting pitcher and Former Astros Great J.A. Happ threw 6IP, 7H/3ER, 4K:2BB. In nine career starts against Houston, Happ is 5-2 with a 3.46 ERA / 1.42 WHIP.

*George Springer was 0x5 - his second 0x5 in three games - and is in an 0x16 stretch, though he has drawn four walks. Springer is hitting .220/.354/.402 in June, with 17K:16BB.

*6-9 in the lineup (Gattis, Marwin, Stassi, Marisnick) went a combined 1x13.

*Hunter Atkins is not here for it:

Jake Marisnick strikes out, flicks his bat and swats it down to the dirt, then throws down his helmet and begins a lonely walk to the field. How many times have we seen this? How many MORE times we will see it? OF Kyle Tucker is 28 for his last 57 in AAA Fresno.

— Hunter Atkins (@HunterAtkins35) June 26, 2018

The answer is 63. 63 times in 142 Plate Appearances we have seen Marisnick strike out. George Springer has struck out 64 times...in 353 Plate Appearances.

*Stacheless Alex Bregman hit his 12th home run of the year.

*Justin Verlander threw 6.2IP, 7H/4ER, 6K:2BB and allowed two home runs for the third time this season. After allowing five home runs in his first 13 starts (87.1IP), Verlander has allowed six home runs in his last four starts (26.1IP). Last night's game was the first time in 28 starts for the Astros, postseason included, in which he gave up 4ER.

Hunter Atkins writes about how Verlander had to pitch without his curve.

Both of Verlander's home runs came against former teammate Curtis Granderson. He joins an illustrious list of now-seven hitters to take Verlander deep twice in the same game: Nick Swisher, Carlos Quentin, Shelley Duncan, Pablo Sandoval (2012 World Series Game 1) Desmond Jennings, and J.J. Hardy.

*Will Harris allowed 1H/2ER, 2K:1BB in 1.1IP on Randal Grichuk's two-run home run in the 8th. Harris, June: 8.2IP, 10H/6ER, 16K:2BB, 6.23 ERA / 1.38 WHIP. Opponents are hitting .294 off him in June.

*Hinch, on the increased use of the bullpen:
We'll have to adapt to a guy not being (available) for a day or two. They've been asked to do a lot lately, but it's ok. There was a portion of the season where they weren't asked to do a lot because the rotation was taking up all the innings. It's flipped a little bit, but we'll be fine. 

*All six of Toronto's runs came with two outs in the inning.

*Jake Kaplan in The Athletic: Will the Astros regret trading away Teoscar Hernandez? Luhnow:
Any time a player goes off and has success you feel happy for them, but you wonder what could have happened if they had stayed...We always knew he had the potential to be an everyday player. He wasn't going to get that chance here any time soon, and we really felt like adding a left-handed pitcher with good stuff would help us immediately and it was a worthwhile tradeoff. 

*Mark July 11 down on your calendar. It's a Wednesday game against Oakland but is also another replica ring giveaway. There will probably be one in August, as well, so pick a random midweek game that would otherwise draw 17,000 fans and that's probably gonna be the one. I'll pick Tuesday or Wednesday, August 14 or 15 against Colorado.

*Kyle Tucker was named the Pacific Coast League Player of the Week after hitting .577/.607/.769. Cy Sneed was the PCL Pitcher of the Week.

*Craig Biggio made his MLB debut 30 years ago today. He went 0x2 with a walk, stolen base, and run scored in a 6-0 Houston win over San Francisco. The Astros were 1417-1295 when Biggio started.

*There's an SI story that they're tweeting out every 20 minutes about how the Red Sox are now J.D. Martinez's team. So it seems appropriate to point out that:
Martinez, Houston, 2011-2013: .251/.300/.387. Hit a home run every 40.63 plate appearances.
Martinez, DET/ARI/BOS, 2014-: .303/.366/.582. Home run every 16.32 plate appearances.

*Kirk Gibson is opening a batting cage in Johnson City, Texas.

*FanGraphs: The AL Central is historically bad.

*The Athletic: An oral history of how James Harden grew the beard.

*Bleacher Report: Ken Griffey, Jr., A-Rod, and the Greatest Home Run Hitting Team in MLB History.

*This story is nuts. From OregonLive.com, the quest to stop the next school shooter and its unintended consequences.

*Wired: Twitter users are analytical in the morning and full of ANGST at night. Premise holds up.

*Russia declassified a 75-year old case against four Russian soccer legends accused of plotting to assassinate Joseph Stalin.

Friday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros beat the Braves yesterday 6-4.

-Francis Martes threw 3IP, 2H/0ER, 3K:1BB.
-James Hoyt pulled a James Hoyt and allowed 3H/3R (2ER), 1K:0BB in 1IP.
-Tyler White was 2x3, hit his 1st home run of the Spring, and had a double.
-Derek Fisher went yard off Scott Kazmir.
-A.J. Reed was 2x3.
-Tony Kemp was 2x4.
-Jake Marisnick was 2x4.

*A.J Hinch is in no rush to name an early-April successor to Yuli Gurriel. Hinch:
Obviously, Whitey had a good day today; Davis has had good days; Reed's swinging the bat better. Those three guys, in particular, are fighting for the job.

*Hunter Atkins writes that Jose Altuve is just about in mid-season form. Altuve:
I feel good. I've been working really hard to the point where I want to be. I don't know yet if I'm ready, but I'm really, really close to where I want to be. I've had enough workouts to feel like I'm prepared for the season. 

*The Astros renewed Carlos Correa and Alex Bregman for 2018, with a nice little increase (though still well below what they're worth, but that's how baseball economics go):
Correa: $1m
Bregman: $599,000

Can't wait to hear about how the Astros are destroying baseball now.

*Hall of F. Famer Craig Biggio said the Astros have the talent and chemistry to repeat.

*Dallas Keuchel said there won't be a World Series hangover (for God's sake, there's no such thing as a World Series hangover. Just because the Cubs dryhumped their way into April 2017 doesn't mean that it's a given). The way he said it, though, caused a Bit Of A Stink among Cubs fans. Keuchel:
We're not the Cubs. I firmly believe we have better players. 

I linked to the post yesterday morning where he said this to Dave Sheinin. I didn't give it a second thought - not enough to pull that quote. Keuchel's statement is another post for another time - a tale of the tape between the 2018 Astros and the 2017 Cubs. Nobody write that up. I call dibs. I'm in Houston this weekend, so it's a busy time, so it won't be in the next 72 hours. But let's go back to the aforementioned Hunter Atkins article:

Altuve:
We know we are good - the World Series champions - but I think we are doing a really good job of leaving that behind us. It's nice to win a World Series, but it's really nice to win another one. For us, in order to get another one, we have to forget what we did last year.

Hey let's ask Lance McCullers what he thinks:
The Yankees are a good team. We duked it out until Game 7...to see who was going to go to the World Series, and they're a great team. They went out and got the MVP, but we have Verlander for a full year.

OH NOES STOP THE PRESSES. REVERT TO DRAFT. The defending champions are confident going into the next season? They've learned from any possible mistake their World Series predecessors made? THAT'S DISRESPECTFUL.  (Ed. Note: Feel free to set yourself on fire if you believe this.) The Astros are not responsible for the insecurities of Cubs fans. Give Dallas Keuchel an extension.

*Jake Kaplan writes about how Joe Smith - who picked the Astros over a similar offer from the Rockies - gives the Astros a different look. Smith:
I didn't sign here to pitch the eighth or seventh or anything. I just signed here because I know they're going to have a good chance to win another ring. 

Hinch:
Everybody in the bullpen has to be willing to understand what our goal is. Our goal is to have a really good reliever available and ready to pitch in leverage innings...I'm trying to break down to them and be honest with them that the days of having a regimented role, I don't know if they're over, but it's not the way this team is built. 

*This SI Fantasy Guy says to avoid Justin Verlander:
We shouldn't expect much, if any, dropoff now that he's in his Age-35 season. What this does reflect, however, is that Verlander has been among the most fortunate pitchers in baseball the previous few seasons, especially last year, and that regression could be coming for him in a big way.

WE SHALL SEE.

*Astros players are buying scooters, I guess.

*Jon Heyman actually listed the Astros as one of the winners of the offseason.

*Jeff Sullivan: Why Mike Moustakas' market didn't develop.

It's a really good look at why Moustakas got "screwed." He didn't really get screwed, but in baseball economics...yeah, he did. Last night I mentioned on the cursed website Twitter dot com that maybe he got bad advice from his agent (Scott Boras). Let's not forget that the Royals made him a qualifying offer to renew for 2018 at $17.4m. He turned that down. Most everybody turns that down, unless you're Colby Rasmus and actively take pleasure in not giving a f...

Still baseball economics seem to be changing. I've opined before that, if you're cool with front offices getting smarter by valuing defensive shifts, spin rate, launch angles, then it's only a matter of time that they maximize player value by...maximizing the value of actual dollars they spend. Could be that everyone is saving their money for next year's free agent class. Could be that teams would rather use their money extending their younger guys (cough Bregman Correa Altuve Springer McCullers cough) than spending it on a 29-year old 3B with a career .730 OPS (yes, I know he's been much better over the last two healthy seasons.)

We need to wait a couple more years to determine if this is how front offices do business. But all parties involved don't get to determine when the paradigm shifts. If you hate Scott Boras, you win. If you think players should get paid something related to what they're worth, you lost, and players lost. Manager has spent a long time trying to screw over the labor as much as possible: draft slotting, luxury tax, colluding with the MLBPA to sell out minor-leaguers. That's the focus of a post coming this week. But this financial offseason felt inevitable.

*Follow this guy:

And, now, some personal news: that story was one of my last on the #Alabama beat.

I'm thrilled to announce I've accepted a job as the #Astros beat writer at the Houston Chronicle. I'll start next week.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) March 8, 2018

Thursday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros blasted (get it) the Nats 8-2 yesterday. Jon Kemmer was 2x2 with 2BB and a 3-run homer. Brian McCann was 3x3 with a homer. Yulieski Gurriel was 1x2 with a walk, and George Springer was 2x4 with two runs scored. Joe Musgrove threw 4IP, 3H/2ER, 2K:2BB. Tony Sipp walked one in a scoreless inning. Chris Devenski struck out three in 2IP.

*Musgrove said he'll take yesterday's start as a learning point.

*The Chronicle says that SP5 spot is still up in the air.

*Phil Rogers wrote that the Astros' rotation could be among baseball's best.

*Will Leitch picked the Astros to win the AL West with a 96-66 record.

*Anthony Castrovince says the 2017 Astros are one of six teams that need to start strong.

*As Jeff Bagwell leaves, Craig Biggio enters.

*MLBTR looked back at Houston's offseason.

*Alex Bregman reached base three times last night in Team USA's comeback win.

*2016 1st Round pick Forrest Whitley is focused on being persistent.
There's a lot of distractions in pro ball, a lot of ups and downs. You're happy, you're sad, you're bored...Last year was tough. It was a punch in the face. I wasn't really expecting it. 

*The Astros sent Brady Rodgers, Andrew Aplin, LHP Ashur Tolliver, and Reymin Guduan to minor-league camp.

*Nolan Ryan was on Buster Olney's podcast.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

Angels 5
A's 4

Rangers 8
Mariners 0

Check out Cockroach's recap of the 3-2 G8 loss to the Royals.

*Hinch:
With Medlen, we came out and answered with a couple of runs, and then he just sort of bended but never broke. We got a couple guys on but couldn't get a two-out hit.

*Evan Gattis said the best way to recover from sports hernia surgery is to go back to work, which Gattis did by going 0x4 with 3Ks.

*Now that the Astros are a few months removed from the playoffs, Brian T. Smith says Hinch's every move is in the spotlight. For instance, sitting the hot Preston Tucker in favor of freshly-shorn Evan Gattis. (Alt Link)

*Lance McCullers will make a second rehab start for Corpus at Tulsa on Saturday.

*AT&T Sports - who owns Root Sports - is negotiating with MLB to stream Astros games online.

*Don't want to pay for Minute Maid parking? Go to Ninfa's on Navigation and get the shuttle.

*Ahhh, the good old days of Hands Across America when the Astros, Texans, and Panthers can all be best friends thanks to dabbing.

*(Sighs) The Cubs and Astros "tanking" when they did gives them a less-congested road to October, writes the Chicago Tribune's Gordon Wittenmyer.

*Craig Biggio is partnering with the Marriott Marquis Houston to open a sports bar in November.

*Spec Richardson, the Astros' general manager from 1967-1975, passed away at the age of 93. Richardson is best known for his trading away of Rusty Staub and Joe Morgan.

*Must-Read: ESPN and Medium are teaming up to present 1927: The Diary of Myles Thomas.
The goal of the project, says its creator, Douglas Alden, is "to create a work of real-time historical fiction that explores the nexus of baseball, jazz and prohibition, a deeply personal exploration by one fictional ballplayer from the 1920s of race, sex, and the meaning of heroes and greatness.

*How to make fastballs look faster, by Mike Petriello

*Nationals' pitching coach Mike Maddux has his pitchers sit with a clipboard taking notes during games.

*Miguel Sano says umpire John Hirschbeck cursed at him "two or three times," and that he needs to be professional.

*Vin Scully has begun his goodbyes.

Before you go:

Here's my diagnostic tool to decide if you should be panicking about baseball-related things. pic.twitter.com/m5gL8kuozT

— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) April 11, 2016

Monday Morning Hot Links

Well now that I have to go back to work, it's back at it for Astros County. Spring Training starts next month, so we can start growing our playoff beards and gear up for the final push to Survivor: Kissimmee. Here's what you missed while you were watching the Texans make the playoffs.

*The Astros and Dallas Keuchel have not yet actually talked about an extension. Keuchel's agent Derek Braunecker:
At this point, we have not engaged the club in any sort of long-term discussion. It's common knowledge that we had some discussion during the season last year and it was just preliminary seeing where one another stood. They approached us, kicked the tires, and got a sense where both parties were at that time.

This is true. Back in August the Chron ran a piece on how an extension was discussed. Keuchel:
Me personally, it's not about the dollar amount. It's about winning, because it doesn't last forever...So at the end of the day, I just want to win. I want one of those rings. With that being said, it's got to be something that's fair and that's right for both parties. I'm not trying to break the bank. I'm just out here to have fun and pitch and do the best I can.

Astros don't even want to use the word "extension" around Keuchel so they asked him for "that long cord that connects a plug to an outlet"

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) January 3, 2016

*Brian T. Smith writes that suspicion isn't enough to keep Jeff Bagwell out of the HOF. Dayn Perry breaks down the numbers on Bagwell. With 143 ballots known, Bagwell is around 82%.

*Not that it matters for this year's HOF election cycle, but last January Mike Berardino posted a transcript of an interview with Bagwell from 2001 regarding steroids on the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The election announcement is this Wednesday.

*In this Insider-only column, Jim Bowden hears that the Astros trading for Freddie Freeman is "not going to happen."

*The Yankees tried to get Lance McCullers in a trade for Andrew Miller, and "were quickly rebuffed."

*Phillies.com's Todd Zolecki likes the Ken Giles trade from the Phillies perspective because:
30-start, 200-inning pitchers are more difficult to find than effective closers. They also are much more expensive.

*John Perrotto heard from an executive that there are so many bats still available (Upton, Cespedes, Chris Davis, etc) because teams spent all their money on pitching.

*I absolutely despise the idea of giving this dude page views but Murray Chass got mad online yesterday and went HAM on ESPN's Dan Szymborski, said he heard that Biggio took PEDs, and compared sabermetrics to ISIS.

Sunday Morning Hot Links

And of course the Astros beat Zack Greinke - read the Masked Marvel's recap. Notably, the Angels lost and the Rangers won, giving the Astros a 4.0-game lead in the AL West over...the Rangers, who move into 2nd place for the 2nd time this weekend. The A's and Mariners both lost, as well. FanGraphs gives the Astros a season-high 78.1% chance of winning the division and a 91.1% chance of making the postseason. There are 38 games left in the season.

On to the links...

*Hinch doesn't care that the Astros beat Greinke and took the series with an opportunity to sweep the 1st place Dodgers:
We don't care who we're playing. I'd like to sweep these guys. And it's going to be a tough matchup. We're going to have to bring our best to beat the Dodgers again. I think people outside this room, outside this clubhouse care more about what these series mean. I think our guys know it's another win under our belt.

That is a lot of thinking.

*Between Fiers and Kazmir the Dodgers made 30 consecutive outs.

*Mike Fiers donated his cap and the Justin Turner strikeout ball from the no-hitter to the Hall of Fame. And no, Don Mattingly won't be asking about pine tar.

*The career ups-and-downs of Mike Fiers.

*Now is apparently a good time to ask Mike Fiers about hitting Giancarlo Stanton in the face.

*The Dodgers and their $300m payroll have a wider margin for error than the Astros.

*The Astros have optioned Preston Tucker to Fresno to make room for Lance McCullers, and to give Tucker a chance to figure out his swing. Hinch:
He's in the area of the roster where he's got options and we have the opportunity now to get him some at-bats. I don't think his swing has been particularly sharp in the last couple of weeks, really since the road triple. 

The "road triple" to which Hinch is referring came on....I don't know. Tucker hasn't hit a triple this season. But in August, Tucker is hitting .152/.188/.304 with 11K:1BB in 48 PA. This arbitrary endpoint ignores the five hits Tucker got in the last three games of July but whatever.

So your outfield will be a combination of Springer, J.D. Martinez, and Delino DeShields Gomez, Rasmus, Marisnick, and Gattis. Why Tucker and not, say, Chris Carter? Carter doesn't have any options left, and would have to pass through waivers in order to get sent to the minors. Rather than run the risk of letting him go to another team, the Astros can stash him on the bench, let him get his 8-10 PAs/week until the rosters expand in nine days.

*The Astros honored Craig Biggio in a pre-game ceremony at Minute Maid last night. If you don't remember, "Craig Biggio" was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame last July. His teammate Jeff Bagwell should be inducted next summer, and if he is not, the moon will turn to blood.

Monday Morning Hot Links

AL West Recap: Dallas Keuchel had a rare terrible 1st inning and the Astros lost to the Royals. Rangers and A's lost, leaving the Angels (who beat the Rangers) and the Mariners with wins. The Astros are a game back of the Angels with an off-day today and a three-game series with the Angels starting tomorrow. FanGraphs gives the Astros a 42.1% chance of winning the division and a 78.9% of making the playoffs.

*Keuchel's streak of five straight quality starts comes to an end after yesterday's 6.2IP, 10H/5ER performance, and he gave up 5ER for just the 2nd time this season.

Keuchel:
This wasn't a terrible day. I had good stuff. I had a good slider. I made good pitches with my changeup...This is one I wouldn't take back. The only thing I would take back is some of those first-inning runs, but against a quality team like the Royals before a good crowd, I can't ask for more except a few inches to the left or right and those balls going into somebody's glove.

*Velasquez made his first relief appearance of the season, and it reminded him of the old days with the piggyback system.

Hall of Fame Links

*Here's Biggio's plaque.

*You can watch Biggio's speech in its entirety (scroll down).

*A good tweet:

The fetishization of intangibles turns a gold glove 2B w .400 OBP and big SB totals over long career into "a guy who played the right way".

— Internet Contrarian! (@bogcommenter) July 26, 2015

*A.J. Hinch would like MLB to rearrange start times of games on Induction Day so players can watch speeches.

Another good tweet:

Next year's @BaseballHall induction ceremony should have Griffey, Bagwell, Piazza, and @TimRaines30. Anything less is unacceptable.

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) July 27, 2015

Trade Deadline Links

*The Rangers and Dodgers became the weekend favorites to land Cole Hamels, while the Astros (among others) had scouts present at Wrigley for Hamels' no-hitter. One scout, who apparently is narrow-minded and is perfectly willing to give undue weight to a mediocre half-season and ignore years of Hamels' pitching excellence:
After watching that, there's no doubt in my mind he's still one of the best pitchers in baseball. He's a difference-maker for somebody.

*The Tigers want an MLB-ready starter in return for David Price, says Jon-Paul Morosi, and the Astros weren't one of the teams he named as showing interest...which may actually mean more than if they were.

Other Link

*4100 words about Ed Wade, Shawn Chacon, and the crazy 1st half of the 2008 season.

Sunday Morning Hot Links!

Good morning, and Happy Biggio And Three Scrubs Hall of Fame Induction Day!

Quick Hall of Fame story, if you don't mind: In 2007 Cal Ripken, Jr and Tony Gwynn were inducted into the HOF. There were 80,000 people in Cooperstown that weekend - 95% of them had driven up from Baltimore to see Ripken. On the morning of the ceremony the weather forecast called for early afternoon storms, so the decision was made to flip the order, and let Ripken go first and then Gwynn - that way, if storms did delay some of the ceremony, it would be during Gwynn's speech, and Ripken would have already finished. Well of course when Ripken's speech ended, at least half the crowd got up and walked off the lawn of the Clark Sports Center. When I got back to my house (and we lived right in town), my buddies were having a cookout in our shared backyard. They asked how the ceremony went and I said, "It was good. Although a bunch of people walked out in the middle of Gwynn's speech because Ripken was done." They replied, "Well, that sucks," to which I responded - just as a gaggle of Orioles fans walked by - "Ehh. Orioles fans are used to leaving early." A fight was narrowly avoided.

AL West Recap: The Astros, Angels, Mariners, and A's all lost, with the Rangers taking care of the Angels to ensure that the AL West remained tied atop the board. FanGraphs actually now gives the Astros the edge over the Angels, with a 49.2% chance of winning the division, compared to a 47.5% chance to the Angels, and an 82.2% chance of making the postseason in some capacity.

*There is a "good chance" that the Astros make at least one more move before Friday's Trade Deadline. Luhnow:
I think there's a good chance that we'll be involved in one other deal, but you never know, you never know who else they're talking to...The intensity of the conversations across the board is picking up, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some things happen in the next day or two. Not necessarily with us, but I mean, there's a lot of activity going on.

*The rotation for the series against the Angels beginning on Tuesday: McHugh, McCullers, and Kazmir.

*Hinch wants Lowrie to get more reps in the field on his rehab assignment. Lowrie will get the day off in Corpus today and play 3B tomorrow.

*The Royals very nearly acquired Johnny Cueto yesterday.

*Jim Crane, Jeff Luhnow, and longtime trainer Rex Jones will be in Cooperstown today.

*We posted a...post from Friend of Astros County Michael Driscoll about the space between his first Astros game and Craig Biggio's induction.

*You can read a ridiculously long article about the Astros' chase for Randy Johnson here.

*Non-Astros link of the day: The Insane Story of the Guy Who Killed The Guy Who Killed Abraham Lincoln

The Trip to Cooperstown

By Michael Driscoll

The road to the Hall of Fame is long, for players and fans. Craig Biggio, and a few others, will be able to say it began at the Astrodome on a summer afternoon a few decades ago, wound through a ballpark in downtown Houston and ended in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Sunday.

In the summer of 1988, Steffi Graf was ruling the tennis courts. Lloyd Bentsen was getting ready to tell Dan Quayle he was no Jack Kennedy. A movie ticket cost $4. And I was more a fan of spectacle than of sports. When good grades got me an unexpected pair of tickets to a baseball game in Houston, a trip to the Astrodome sounded like a good a way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The stadium wasn't quite the Eighth Wonder anymore, but it was still big-city, bigtime, big deal. It would be the setting of many standout memories for someone growing up in Central Texas in that era: a trip to the Livestock Show & Rodeo to see Charley Pride; football games at the Dome when our high school team made it to the state finals; looming in the background on birthday trips to Astroworld.

My dad dropped us off outside the stadium and went to shop for the sheet music he couldn't find in College Station. He'd pick us up later on a street corner nearby--something that seems vaguely irresponsible in 2015, not to mention impractical, given the lack of homing devices we would use today. I don't recall it being the source of much debate or difficulty.

I also don't remember much about the game, but I do remember we sat on the third-base side, and I remember the small thrill of being loose in Houston with the friend who came along as my plus-one. When they announced that a young catcher, Craig Biggio, was coming to the plate for his first major-league at-bat, I wouldn't have known whether he was the team’s most promising prospect or a scrub who had finally lucked into a cup of coffee in the bigs. I remember being disappointed that he didn't hit a home run--we could have said, “We were there!” my friend and I lamented.

Over the next two decades, I did much to bolster my fan bonafides, following the team from the vantage point of another National League city, Atlanta, while in college, then catching the yearly game when the Astros came to play the Mets (and now, sadly, the Yankees) once I moved to New York.

Early one fall morning in 2005, I sleepily hit “Reload” again and again on my computer until I was, suddenly, awarded the right to buy four World Series tickets. I made an 18-hour trip to Houston for Game 3. My friend from 1988 flew in too, from Los Angeles. With two other friends, we agonized as the Astros scrapped through all 14 innings of a game that remains tied for the longest in World Series history. (Fun fact: Babe Ruth pitched all 14 of the other.) Sure, the home team lost, and the next day it got swept. But the Astros delivered the first World Series game ever played in Texas. We were there. Biggio went 2 for 6.

We gathered again two years later for Biggio’s final game. It was another overnighter for me, sandwiched between shifts at the newspaper. But how could we be there for his first game--then for the World Series!--and not for his last? Unlike most of those in attendance that afternoon in 1988, all in this crowd knew they were seeing something special. Biggio crossed the plate for the last time that day, once, just as he had on that Sunday in 1988.

It's been 27 years since my high school gave its freshmen free Astros tickets in exchange for modestly-above-average performance, and jobs, marriages and families have intervened since. The plus-one who saw Biggio’s first hit with me, and his 3,060th, won’t be at the Hall of Fame; he’s expecting a baby to arrive any minute. I hope to get to Cooperstown sometime Saturday night or early Sunday, and I’ll be back at work Monday morning. I’m looking forward to saying, “We were there!”

Michael Driscoll has been an Astros fan since June 26, 1988. He lives in New York City.

Friday Morning Hot Links

AL West: The Astros won on Altuve's walk-off (you can read the Masked Marvel's recap here), the Mariners won, the A's and Angels both lost, and Texas had the day off. Thus, the Astros are 1.0 back of the Angels, 7.5 up on the Rangers, 9.5 up on Seattle, and 10 up on the A's. FanGraphs gives the Astros a 43.4% chance of winning the division and a season-high 81.9% chance of making the postseason in some capacity. That's a 14.8% jump in winning the division, so I'm guessing FanGraphs adjusted for Kazmir's addition to the rotation.



On to the links:

*Luhnow struck the first blow in the race to October, writes Brian T. Smith. Luhnow:
They talk about high leverage for relievers. This is a high-leverage opportunity for our club. We're in a division with one other team that seems to be our biggest challenge to winning. We owe it to ourselves to take advantage of this.

Hank Conger:
It just shows the level of commitment from the front office and how the organization is committed to winning this year.

*Trading for Kazmir gives the Astros credibility, within the team and with the rest of the league, writes Evan Drellich.

*Lancaster's J.D. Davis sounded like Jacob Nottingham died, not got traded:
I spent my day off with Nottingham and Fisher in Anaheim on Wednesday and hung out. It was kind of a shocker...

*Keith Law says the Astros paid dearly (Insider only):
The Astros paid dearly for two months, maybe a dozen starts in the remainder of the regular season, of Kazmir, giving up a top young catching prospect and a quality right-handed starter prospect who was buried in the team's surfeit of right-handed arms.

*SI's Cliff Corcoran said the price really wasn't that high.

*Beyond the Box Score writes about how Kazmir improves the Astros' already-solid rotation.

*George Springer raised over $100,000 for charity.

*Here's the Chronicle's Big Ol' Biggio HOF section.

*We wrote about the 2014 A's as a cautionary tale yesterday about an hour before the Kazmir deal.