Thursday Morning Hot Links

Well that got weird. The Astros were cruising comfortably - a 96.9% win probability as the 9th Inning opened. Then a couple of throwing errors later it was 4-4. Chaos reigned in the bottom of the 9th (the best time for chaos to reign imo) and the Astros win 5-4. At 39-29, Houston is once again 10 games over .500. Richardson won, so the Astros remain 3.5 back in the division.

*Nationals manager Dave Martinez was Big Mad following the game, in which he held up a screen grab of the camera shot like it was a proof of life video from a terrorist bunker of Jake Meyers on the basepath, presumably because he wasn't on it. Martinez:

There it is right there. Take a look at it. Is that on the line? I don't think so. I'm over this play. Seriously. They need to fix the rule. If this is what the umpire sees that he's running down the line, I'm tired of it. I'm tired of it. Fix it. We lost the game, and he had nothing to say about it because he can't make the right call. Brutal.

Dusty:

I think they were disputing whether he was in the baseline or not. That's always a questionable call. Nobody really has the vantage point very good except really the home plate umpire, and he said it was nothing. 

Meyers, eloquently:

I'm not really sure, but I know we scored, and we won. That's good.

You can watch Martinez's Meltdown in full here.

*McTaggart noted the similarities between last night and 2019 World Series Game 6.

*The Astros have won three of their last four following the season-high four-game losing streak.

*Houston is 7-7 in 1-run games this year. 

*Astros pitchers didn't issue a single walk for just the 5th time this season. They're 4-1 in those games. The starting pitcher in all five of those games? Framber Valdez.

*Framber threw extremely well: 7IP, 5H/1ER, 6K:0BB. Framber's last eight starts: 52IP, 37H/12ER, 58K:12BB. 2.08 ERA / 0.94 WHIP.

*Jose Abreu was 3x4 with a home run and a double. On May 27 Abreu's OPS sat at a paltry .519. Since then (16 games), he's hitting .295/.348/.541. He has five hits in his last seven PAs, and multi-hit games in five of his last six games. Last night was Abreu's 3rd 3RBI game, all of which have come since June 9.

Meat Wagon Updates:

*Well the big news of the day, other than Keibert Ruiz's throwing ability, is that Lance McCullers Jr is officially out for the year, having undergone surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his right arm and remove a "lima bean-sized bone spur," which he injured during 2021 ALDS Game 4. That game was played on October 12, 2021...611 days before having surgery.

Dana Brown addressed what the news means for the Astros' activity at the trade deadline, noting that he's looking more at hitting, particularly a lefty bat.

Dusty:

You hate seeing anybody hurt, especially hurt a second time. From what I've talked to the trainers and the doctore, he has a chance to be back as good as new. If anybody can come back, it's Lance because he's in great shape and works his butt off. I'm sure it's a little bit of a downer, but he knew something was wrong.

Lance will not throw a baseball until November and it's unclear when, exactly, in 2024 he'll return. Chandler Rome put McCullers' injury history into some perspective.

*Yordan Alvarez will be out for at least a month with his bad oblique, which he injured during BP...and then proceeded to play in the game, lasting one PA. Seems like a dumb decision to let him play that game. Yordan will be re-evaluated in two weeks, and then three.

Here's who the Astros play in the next month: vs Cincinnati, vs NY Mets, at LA Dodgers, at St. Louis, at Lewisville, vs Colorado, vs Seattle, All-Star Break. Not having Yordan for four at Six Flags over Texas is not ideal. 

*Jeremy Pena should be back in the lineup today, having last played on June 10, presumably down with the sickness

*Check out Chandler Rome's Notes column, in which he addresses Jose Abreu's batting tweaks, Drew Gilbert's not great start at Corpus (plot twist: his elbow hurts), and more.

*ESPN: How the A's and Raiders' relocations to Vegas compare.

*The USMNT plays Mexico tonight at 9pm Central in the CONCACAF Nations League Semi-Final (I think).

*RIP Gordon McQueen.

*Last night (with the Astros game on the laptop on mute) The Wife and I watched the 2013 movie "The World's End," which I had never seen, but very much enjoyed.

*UT will play A&M at Kyle Field in 2024.

*A Musical Selection:

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

Hey Texas. Go vote.

*Chandler Rome: Five Takeaways from the Astros' Spring Training so far.

*The Reformed Kenneth Giles says he would give his 2017 World Series ring back. It's actually a really interesting interview, and not paywalled, and well worth the time it would take to read it. He says he had no idea that the Trash Can Thing was even happening. Giles:
I feel awful, how the guys are being punished. They're great people, they really are, and great ballplayers. But I guess sometimes you just have to roll with it. Either be quiet or speak up and tell the truth. Go out there and perform, show them what you're made of.

On his time in Houston:
I felt trapped there. I felt out of place.

*Fate, or Happenstance? On Dave Martinez, Dusty Baker, and the What-Ifs that Span Four Decades.

*MLB Pipeline posted their Astros' Top 30 Prospect list. Top 10:
Forrest Whitley, Jose Urquidy, Abraham Toro, Freudis Nova, Bryan Abreu, Cristian Javier, Jeremy Pena, Korey Lee, Hunter Brown, Jairo Solis. Jim Callis:
After going all-in at the big league level for several years, Houston has just one prospect on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 List: enigmatic right-hander Forrest Whitley. There aren't any slam-dunk big-league regulars among the system's position players and its pitching stands out more for depth than difference-makers.

That is very true. The Astros traded Jake Rogers, Daz Cameron, and Franklin Perez for Justin Verlander. They sent Colin Moran, Joe Musgrove, Jason Martin, and Michael Feliz to Pittsburgh for Gerrit Cole. They traded Seth Beer, J.B. Bukauskas, Corbin Martin, and Josh Rojas to Arizona for Zack Greinke. That's a lot of big names. But I also know this:

Yordan Alvarez will play in his Age 23 season in 2020. Carlos Correa in his Age 25 season, Alex Bregman in his Age 26 season. Kyle Tucker and Abraham Toro in their Age 23 seasons. Jose Urquidy and Roberto Osuna in their Age 25 seasons. Lance McCullers in his Age 26 season.

This isn't like the Astros' decline of the late 2000s where they didn't have much of a farm system, and everyone was also Old to Quite Old.

*Keith Law posted his organizational farm rankings, and the Astros rank 27th. Law:
It's funny, but when you get rid of all of your amateur scouts, your drafts get a whole lot worse. If it weren't for the work of the international scouting department, helmed by Oz Ocampo (now with Pittsburgh), this would absolutely be the bottom system in the majors.

Good news: The Tampa Bay Rays have the best overall system in the Majors. How is that good news? Because the Astros got the Click of "Tampa Bay Fightin' Clicks" fame.

*The Athletic's Jake Kaplan and 610's Mike Meltser started an Astros podcast, and it's #Good. Not as #Good as Lima Time Time, but good nonetheless.

*Speaking of Jake Kaplan, he has a mailbag in which he addresses the sign-stealing impact on free agency, etc.

*Jonathan Mayo had a cool conversation with 2018 3rd Round pick Jeremy Pena about Spring Training, being the son of Geronimo Pena, his offensive outburst in 2019, and playing in cold weather.

Pena, 2018: .250/.340/.309
Pena, 2019: .303/.385/.440

*Sunday night I wrote about five minor-league guys I'm looking forward to following in 2020.

*Tom Verducci: MLB is about to change a whole bunch of rules to prevent the Astros *cough anddodgersandyankeesandredsox cough* from gaming the replay room. Of course the article got around to pine tar and Houston and Tyler Bauer. Brent Strom:
Our organization never went to an outside chemist. Never went to get like certain percentages of sticky stuff. Pine tar was used? Yes. It was used, okay? It's been used for the last 50 years and hitters don't complain. If you hang a 28 [hundred] revolution curveball as opposed to a 26 they're going to hit it anyway. But, MLB, Chris Young, indicated the balls are slippery. He actually said that. The things we need to be cognizant of is it can't be Pineda-like.

*Two-Way Player...J.B. Shuck?

*Oh good, ESPN hired another announcer who doesn't like young people.

*ESPN's "Only in Spring Training" stories.

*The Atlantic: Epidemics reveal the truth about the societies they hit.

*Buzzfeed: The leader of the religious sect that spread Coronavirus in South Korea, who previously said the virus was the devil trying to stop his church's growth, says sorry.

*Vice: This group frees people from medical debt, one at a time.

*Harper's: Waiting For the End of the World.

*A Musical Selection:

Martinez, Porter, Bogar are your finalists

According to Jim Crane, the Astros are hoping to finalize the manager search by the end of this week, with an announcement being delayed by potential playoff appearances. 

This sounds an awful lot like something we mentioned yesterday, but according to the MLB.com article, "Among the candidates who have interviewed and are still in the hunt" include Dave Martinez, Bo Porter, and Tim Bogar. 

Crane:
"It will really depend on the selection we make, how quickly we announce that based upon where the teams are and the candidates we're talking to. If they're in the playoffs, we might have to wait until the playoffs are over."

So, if those three are your finalists, if an announcement does not come by the beginning of next week, it likely won't be Tim Bogar as the Red Sox will not be in the playoffs. Tampa Bay is three games back of the 2nd Wild Card spot with eight to play. Of course, if the selection is Bo Porter, we won't hear for a while, since the Nationals have already clinched the NL East. 

Monday Morning Link Dump

Here's your link dump from the weekend:

*Tony DeFrancesco doesn't respect Ryan Howard, this is Charlie Manuel's complete lack of surprise.

*Fernando Martinez is dealing with right knee inflammation.

*The Astros invited Facebook fans to lunch with Joe Niekro, who died in 2006.

*Marwin Gonzalez just might return from his ankle injury this season.

*Joe Maddon thinks Dave Martinez is a worthy candidate for the Astros.

*Here are the Chronicle's Top 50 Astros of all time.

Astros Interview Rays bench coach

The Astros have interviewed Rays bench coach Dave Martinez for the manager position.

Martinez has been the Rays bench coach since 2008.

Click here for a sourced Manager Search timeline.