Thursday Morning Hot Links

Well that's better. The Astros took a no-hitter into the 9th against the Oakland AAA's and won 6-2. The Mariners and Rangers both won, so everything is as it was. Houston is 83-64 and was able to salvage Not Getting Swept. 

*AL Playoff Picture:

1. Baltimore (91-54)

2. Houston (83-64)

3. Minnesota (76-70)

4. Tampa (90-57)

5. Azle (81-64): 

6. Seattle (81-65):

7. Toronto (80-66): +1.0

*AL West Odds (Change from Yesterday)

FanGraphs:

Houston: 66.3% (-0.1%)

Seattle: 20.6% (-0.1%)

Azle: 13.1% (+0.2%)

The Game

*Dusty:

We got some runs early, which we hadn't been getting against the A's because they've been dealing on us. Yeah, that was big. That was a monster shot by Alvarez. It was huge. We needed this victory...badly before we go on the road. We've got a day off [today]. It was a good night.

*The Astros went 3-3 on this little homestand against the Padres and A's, two teams who are a combined 52-95 on the road. In the three losses, Houston scored a total of four runs. In the three wins, they scored 25 runs. 

*Houston is 4-5-1 in their last ten home series. 

*There are 15 games remaining in the 2023 regular season - nine of them are thankfully on the road.

*Houston hit three home runs in Wednesday night's game. They had two home runs in the previous five home games.

*Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez each hit their 27th home runs of the season last night. Alex Bregman hit his 23rd home run. The three home runs accounted for five of the Astros' six hits. Yordan's home run left the bat at 117.7mph, the hardest-hit homer by any Astro since Statcast became a thing.

Kyle Tucker's homer was the 100th of his career. His 105 RBI lead the American League.

*Number of games to reach 100 Home Runs, Astros:

Yordan: 372

Berkman: 452

Tucker: 541

Bagwell: 619 

Biggio: 1258

Tucker is 3rd all-time among lefties on the Astros' home run leaderboard, behind Jose Cruz (138) and Yordan Alvarez (125). 

*Home Runs Accounting For Total RBIs, 2023: Here is each of the eleven-ish Astros, with their home run totals, and the percentage of their total RBIs that came off of homers:

Jake Meyers: 9HR/32RBI (19 of his 32RBI - 59.3% of his total RBIs - came from home runs)

Yainer Diaz: 21HR/56RBI (57.1%)

Jose Altuve: 16HR/42RBI (57.1%)

Yordan Alvarez: 27HR/88RBI (56.8%)

Chas McCormick: 20HR/63RBI (52.4%)

Martin Maldonado: 13HR/33RBI (51.5%)

Alex Bregman: 23HR/94RBI (45.7%)

Kyle Tucker: 27HR/105RBI (43.8%)

Jose Abreu: 14HR/77RBI (41.6%)

Jeremy Pena: 10HR/49RBI (36.7%)

Mauricio Dubon: 9HR/41RBI (20.5% - Dubon has not hit a home run with a runner on base since July 29, 2022)

*Hunter Brown: 5IP, 0H/0ER, 7K:2BB. At a 72, Game Score-wise, this is Brown's 3rd-best start of the season, behind his 79 against Tampa and his 76 against Minnesota - both in April, both on the road. It's only his fourth start of the season in which he didn't give up an extra-base hit. 

Brown was lifted after 78 pitches and 15 outs, but that was kind of the point. Dusty:

That's the first real positive that he's had in a few starts. He probably only had one more inning, but we wanted to send him out on a high note.

Brown (same link):

My curveball was probably better than it's been in a month or so. I felt the line out of hand was a lot better, and then pair that with the fastball that I thought had a little bit more ride today, that was a difference-maker for me.

Brown vs Oakland, 2023: Four games, 24IP, 15H/5ER, 30K:5BB, 1.88 ERA / 0.83 WHIP.

Most strikeouts, Astros rookie pitcher:

1. Tom Griffin: 200 (1969)

2. Hunter Brown: 169 (2023)

3. Luis Garcia: 167 (2021)

4. Don Wilson: 159 (1967)

5. Collin McHugh: 157 (2014)

*Alex Bregman has struck out twice in 53 Plate Appearances in September. Last night was his first home run since August 29.

*Jeremy Pena drew two walks last night - his first walk since August 29, and his first 2BB game since August 22. It's just the 6th 2BB game of his 2023 season and the 7th of his career. 

*Rafael Montero threw a perfect inning. Since bottoming out with a 7.76 ERA on June 25, Montero: 30.1IP, 19H/7ER, 36K:13BB, 2.08 ERA / 1.05 WHIP. He has struck out at least one batter faced in each appearance since July 6 - a span of 25 games.

*At 20 consecutive outings without allowing a run, Bryan Abreu is currently leading the Majors for the longest scoreless outing streak.

*Ryne Stanek threw a bullpen session for the first time since obliterating his ankle on September 4.

*Dusty is on-board with all these players-only meetings.

*Corpus' Jacob Melton, last six games: .423/.444/1.039 - he has five homers in the last six games.

*Max Scherzer is probably out for the rest of 2023. 

*Former Astros Great David Stearns has been named as the Mets' President of Baseball Operations. Here are three things he can do quickly to "fix" the Mets (lol this won't happen. Fix three things, and ten other dysfunctional issues will pop up). 

*Rolling Stone: Their band ended in tragedy. 20 years later, the last surviving member is ready to talk.

*What To Watch, September 14:

MLB: Rangers @ Blue Jays: 6:07pm Central

NCAAF: Navy @ Memphis: 6:30pm (ESPN)

NFL: Minnesota @ Philadelphia: 7:15pm (Amazon Prime)

*A Musical Selection:

Monday Morning Hot Links

The hits just keep on coming.

There is a plan currently working its way through MLB in which 42 minor-league teams - most of them in the short-season leagues - would essentially be contracted. Among them would be the Quad Cities DJs River Bandits, the Astros' Low-A Midwest League affiliate. In September, Travis Sawchik noted that the Astros reduced the number of their minor-league affiliates from nine to seven, with the article wondering if we even needed minor-league baseball. The New York Daily News' Bill Madden leads his article (1st link):
As if they aren't squarely involved in enough transgressions against baseball, we should not be at all surprised to know the Houston Astros - the Jeff Luhnow Houston Astros - were the ringleaders of the MLB plan to essentially destroy grass roots baseball and contract 42 of the 160 minor-league teams. 

You should click that link. Bill Baer has a good recap of the whole thing.

Why would MLB do this? Why would MLB put a slot value on each pick in the first ten rounds of the draft? Why would they cap international spending? To save money. You don't have to pay the pennies you pay for 1000 minor-league players, or staff. So if the outcry is going to be that MLB teams should take better care of their minor-league players, then MLB's answer is to have fewer minor-league players. Then you can pay them more and not be out any actual extra money.

What's the problem, exactly? Well, minor-league baseball provides affordable access to baseball for a large number of people, and that's not taking into account geography. I have never taken my daughter to an Astros game. Why would I spend that much money to go to a game when I know that she's going to want to go by the 6th Inning? I can take her to Round Rock (closer to me), and if she gets through six, it's fine, because I'm out maybe $40 total.

What if you're a baseball fan in Billings, Montana (one of the teams proposed to get the axe)? You lose your team, and you're a 12-hour drive from Seattle. It's a terribly short-sighted idea by people who have all the money in the world trying to save a little bit more of it. Baer:
They'll get their PR win by increasing pay for minor leaguers while drastically reducing its minor-league workforce. They may even save money overall. But the ripple effect of slashing 42 minor league teams across the country will stunt the sport's growth in the long-term. And that's bad for everyone.

Also included in that first link are the other components of the plan: Move the amateur draft to August and limit it to 20 rounds. Madden:
It was the contention of the Astros and most of the smaller market clubs, that there is too much money being wasted on players who will never come close to reaching the majors. They may have a point, but between the reduction of the draft and the limit on the number of players in an organization, who knows how many Mike Piazzas, Luke Voits, or John Gants, will ever be signed.

Interesting that - apparently - the three teams to spearhead this movement were Houston, Baltimore, and Milwaukee. Milwaukee GM David Stearns and Baltimore GM Mike Elias worked under Luhnow in Houston.

Or J.D. Martinez (2009 20th Round), or Tyler White (2013 33rd Round, or Josh Rojas (2017 26th Round, traded for Greinke), to be more personal. When we lived in upstate New York, the closest affiliated baseball team was the Oneonta Tigers. The stadium was terrible and I was wearing a sweatshirt in August, but I do remember seeing Casper Wells play for Oneonta. When Tri-City would come to Oneonta, I saw Jason Castro, J.B. Shuck, Fernando Abad, Bud Norris, and Brian Bogusevic. Apparently Chris Johnson was on that 2006 ValleyCats team but I don't remember him. We moved to Nashville about three months before Jose Altuve put up a .653 OPS for the 2009 ValleyCats. It was a very fun, cheap way to see guys that - clearly - I remember 10-13 years later. I don't know if the minor-league contraction thing is going to happen. I also don't think that one team/one person can destroy the very fabric of baseball, but between Taubman, trash cans, and taking away minor-league baseball in 42 communities across the country, the Astros are making a run at it.

Is Manfred going to make an example of the Astros? Well when Buster Olney writes that teams have treated him "like a high school crossing guard" it's certainly a possibility.

*Something I was recently thinking of FOR NO REASON AT ALL: Atlanta general manager John Coppolella got banned from baseball for life for being cute with international signings for a three-year period from 2015-2017. There is no way Atlanta was the only team playing with signing bonuses. To be fair, Coppolella was banned from baseball in part for trying to mislead MLB's investigation.

*Sean Pendergast notes that the email allegedly sent by Kevin Goldstein to scouts - the "see what you can (or can't) do email - came in August 2017. He found this Chronicle piece from August 18, 2017 about the Astros firing eight scouts.

*Wired: How the dumb design of a WWII plane led to the Macintosh.

*Yes, you can catch Insanity.

*Bloomberg: Inside the most watched YouTube channel in the world.

*A Musical Selection:

I'm a middle-class white guy who will be 40 in February. OF COURSE I love Ben Folds. I've seen Ben Folds play live at least three times. I have never seen anyone play a piano solo by banging the microphone on the actual strings inside the piano before, which I saw him do at Numbers (on Westheimer) in 1998 about ten days after my 18th birthday. Click here if you want to see this song live at Bonnaroo in 2015.

Monday Morning Reset

With the Astros beating the A's 5-1 yesterday, the Twins beating the Angels and the Mariners beating the Rangers, Houston picked up a game on everybody. So the situation is:

Rangers: -
Astros: -1.5
Angels: -4
Twins: -4

FanGraphs gives the Astros a 32.6% chance of winning the division and a 79.4% chance of making the postseason.

*Dallas Morning News' Kevin Sherrington:
Now that the Rangers don't have the Astros to kick around anymore - at least not until next week - it's time they lived up to their first-place billing in the West. 

*Colby Rasmus hit his 20th and 21st home runs in Sunday's win, giving him 20+ HR for the third time in the last four seasons. It was the 6th multi-HR game of his career.
It's always good to answer back when they score or be able to push your foot on their throat when you can.

*George Springer hit his first homer since coming back from the DL.

*The Astros have a two-game winning streak for the first time since August 25-26.

*Collin McHugh threw 8IP, 4H/1ER, 8K:2BB yesterday, his longest outing since June 28, and a much-needed outing after allowing 14H/10ER, 9K:5BB in 9IP against the A's and Rangers in his previous two outings. It was the 9th time in McHugh's 30 starts this season where he has allowed 0-1 earned runs. He has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 15 of his 30 starts.

The next six games are against the Angels and Rangers, so who's down for a heart attack this week?

*ESPN's Christina Kahrl breaks down whether the Angels have a chance against the Astros, which is a little too much fate-tempting, if you ask me.
Considering the decent advantages the Astros have as far as the pitching matchups, a romp here might not just put the Angels away to stay, it might answer questions over whether Houston is resilient enough to win the West after all.

*Jeff Passan breaks down the insanity that could lie ahead in the AL Playoff picture.

*Bunch of reports are out saying that the Astros are sending 30-year old Assistant GM David Stearns to Milwaukee to complete the Carlos Gomez trade and to be the Brewers' GM.

*Evan Drellich writes that Stearns is likely the first of many Astros' PYTs to be lured away by promotions with other teams.

*Mark Appel struck out ten batters in 5.2IP as Fresno won Game 5 and the PCL title from Round Rock. Appel:
I thought today was one of my best outings on the year as far as my stuff and location and consistency of it. It's a great way to end my season and win Game 5. You can't draw it up any better.

Tony Kemp was named Pacific Coast League playoff MVP. Fresno will play International League champ Columbus on Tuesday in a 1-game "series" to determine the Triple-A champion. This time it counts!

*Now that the playoffs are (for the most part) over in the minors, we could be seeing Jon Singleton and probably a pitcher in Houston soon.

*Carlos Gomez swung a fungo bat yesterday.
I feel better when I move. The most difficult thing is to bat. On Saturday I did some very strenuous exercises with the medicine ball throwing it while simulating like I was batting, and I felt very good. 

*Funeral arrangements have been announced by Milo's family, and includes a public viewing on Friday, Saturday, and Saturday.

*Scary news out of Atlanta as Mike Foltynewicz is in the hospital with blood clots in his arm.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

Oh man. Oh man oh man oh man oh man. Check out the Masked Marvel's recap of G127, or The Game That Luhnow Built, a 15-1 win over the Yankees in Yankee Stadium. It's the 2nd time this season the Yankees have allowed 15 runs (on May 23 the Yankees lost 15-4 at home to Texas), but the 14-run margin is the largest in a Yankees loss since April 19, 2014 when the Rays beat the Yankees 16-1. It's the largest run margin in a Yankees loss at home since Cleveland beat New York 22-4 on April 18, 2009. The Astros' win last night matches the 2014 season total for wins, at 70.

Anyhow, the Angels beat the Tigers, the Blue Jays scored two runs in the 9th to beat the Rangers, and the Mariners beat the A's. The Astros now have a 4.5 game lead on the Rangers who have a half-game lead on the Angels. FanGraphs gives the Astros an 84.2% chance of winning the division and a 94.7% chance of making the postseason, and both are season-highs. There are 35 games left in the season.

With an ever-present level of calm, reasoned perspective, NY media reacted appropriately and with zero exaggeration to the rout. Like NJ.com:
Take news footage of a 10-car pileup. Add it to an Internet montage of slips and falls. Throw on a laugh track. That doesn't equal the mess the Yankees called baseball Tuesday night.

Or Newsday:
If the Yankees are going to collapse between now and Oct. 4 and miss the playoffs, Tuesday night's 15-1 loss to the Astros is what it's going to look like. U-G-L-Y.

*Mark Teixeira, on Keuchel:
If he isn't the best pitcher in the American League he is in the top two or three.

*The New York Times' Billy Witz has the line of the night, on Keuchel who, in two games against the Yankees this season, has thrown 16IP, 9H/0ER, 21K:1BB:
The way the Yankees have hit Keuchel this season - finding crumbs in his thick beard might be easier than finding a way to score off him - the game was over about the time it began.

*The game had a little controversy, as Carlos Gomez was frustrated by an AB in which he flied out to center field, yelling at himself and flipping his bat with the Astros up 9-0. The Yankees' bench, and manager Joe Girardi, didn't like it:
I just told him to play the game right. They're kicking our rear ends, just show a little professionalism to the pitcher.

Gomez:
If they feel like I disrespect them when I throw my bat for frustration, they take it the wrong way, because I don't mean to do that. I'm a passion guy.

Mike Fiers:
He mishit the ball and he was pissed at himself, and said the guys were chirping at him from the other dugout. What's he supposed to do?

The Yankees' John Ryan Murphy said:
That's the way he plays, he's an energetic guy, everybody knows that, and we respect him as a baseball player. Just, there's a right and a wrong way to play the game...Just staring into the dugout, I don't think - none of that's called for.

Girardi:
(Gomez is) a kid that, he plays hard, but there have been a number of clubs that have taken exception to some of the things that he does on the field, and it just got a little heated.

I guess the main example of that is when Gomez hit a homer off Paul Maholm, jawed the entire way around the bases, and Baseball Sheriff Brian McCann, of the McCann Baseball Police Department, blocked Gomez's progress at home plate on the trot. Don't remember? It's pretty legendary:



McCann is now the Yankees' catcher, of course, and Gomez threw him out at home plate two nights ago.

Other Links

*If things progress as normal, Springer could return to the lineup next week.

*Expect Assistant GM David "Bear" Stearns to get some looks at GM openings in the future.

*Carlos Correa picked up his first major endorsement, a "seven-figure" exclusive deal with Topps.

*Carlos Gomez doesn't want to face the Mets in a possible World Series matchup:
It'd be unbelievable facing the Mets. We have a chance in the World Series. We'd like to face somebody else. The Mets have too good pitching.

In that link, he also talked about the almost-trade to New York:
When I heard I got traded to the Mets, I got really pumped and excited, because I know I have a lot of friends there...I got excited, but this is the job and this is the business. Now I'm in Houston, and I love Houston.

*Fresno clinched the PCL Pacific North division last night with a 79-51 record, 13.5 games better than 2nd place Sacramento. It's Fresno's first division title since 1998. Mark Appel threw 6IP, 4H/3ER, 5K:4BB for the win.

Monday Lunchtime Hot Links

Here are a few items of interest as you get ready to eat your anger and drink a cup of your own tears:

*Dexter Fowler has been working with Barry Bonds over the last few months. On what? "It's a plethora of things...mentally, it's physically, it's everything...We might just sit there and talk for an hour." Good luck getting into the Hall of Fame, now, Dexter.

*Jason Castro expects the team to be better this year.

*Assistant GM David Stearns is not surprised by Jon Singleton's start at OKC.

*Here's an interesting piece on how Quad Cities is using the running game to power their offense. 

Two articles of note from The Oklahoman

Here are a couple of articles in this morning's Oklahoman on Cosart and Jonathan Villar, both of which have some interesting quotes from Assistant GM David (Bear) Stearns:

On Jarred Cosart:
We never really put timelines for any of these guys. There has to be a confluence of circumstances for somebody to get called up but he's certainly put himself in a very good position.

On Jonathan Villar:
It's part of the development process for any talented young middle infielder. The first step is acquiring the knowledge. The second step is consistency. He's made major strides with his (defensive) consistency the past couple of years and we feel that progress will continue..He's a young guy who has plenty of time. This is his first crack at Triple-A. There's nothing wrong with being patient. He's doing everything he should be doing. We're very happy with how he's performing.

The second is a really good piece on Villar with quotes from just about every coach on the OKC staff. The Oklahoman calls Villar "the shortstop of the future" for the Astros, which apparently means that they've never heard of Carlos Correa, but whatever. Can't have too many middle infielders, amirite?

Astros name David Stearns as Assistant GM

Brian McTaggart just tweeted that the Astros have named David Stearns as the new Assistant GM.

Stearns, 27, is a Harvard graduate, and was the Indians' Director of Baseball Operations - the youngest in his position in MLB. While with the Indians, Stearns focused on player contracts and analysis. Prior to joining the Indians, he spent three years with the Commissioner's office working on "salary arbitration, contracts, and was a member of MLB's negotiating team on the new basic agreement."

Stearns:
“At some point, [age] doesn’t matter a tremendous amount. It’s more about what you can bring to the table, if your skill set matches what is needed for the particular position.”

From the linked story, Stearns' college roommate:
“[Stearns] was always a very analytical guy, very rational, a real problem solver. He’ll approach any problem or challenge...with the same focus and sense of responsibility and really the same temperament.”

As Zach Levine astutely noted, the CEO, Assistant GM, Marketing VP, and Baseball Operations Coordinator are all Harvard-educated.