IMPORTANT: If you are in a Zoom Meeting with more than two people, and do not mute your mic, you will be brought before a war crimes tribunal.
*I know these are supposed to be COVID-19-free, but here's how the Astros Foundation is helping to coordinate and deliver medical supplies.
*Chandler Rome has a mailbag. He talks about impending free agency, three prospects he thinks will throw 90+ IP in 2020/2021, whichever comes first, Forrest Whitley, and A.J. Hinch.
*Speaking of A.J. Hinch, Buster Olney reported (confirmed by Chandler Rome) that, if the 2020 season is canceled, Hinch and Jeff Luhnow would still be eligible to return to baseball in 2021. This is consistent with MLB's decision on player suspensions not having to spill over to 2021 (Francis Martes, for instance).
*Here are the draft pools and slot bonuses for the 1st 10 Rounds of the 2020 Draft, though how many rounds there actually will be is still up in the air. The Astros' 1st selection of the Draft will be #73, thanks to the Yankees giving Gerrit Cole over $300m. That pick has a slot of $857,400. Their next pick will be 3-102.
*Listen to Part 2 of Evan Gattis' conversation with The Athletic on the Astros' sign-stealing in 2017. Gattis:
I think we got so f***ing caught up that we f***ed up.
*Jon Singleton was the most-hyped Astros' 1B prospect of the last 20 years, says MLB.com. I think I was more hyped for Brett Wallace, but the point stands.
*Lance McCullers is Tags' pick for Future Ace of the Astros.
*Meet "the conscience of baseball."
*Chris Cwik went back and undid all of Jeter's wrongs with the Marlins.
*Tim Kurkjian: Ichiro's love of hamburgers, math, and his bats.
*Sam Miller: The most meme-worthy moments for all 29 teams (yeah, the trash can takes the cake for the Astros. If it's not Coronavirus, it's trash cans. This is what we are now.)
*Outside: The Woman Who Lives 200,000 Years In The Past.
*Explore.org has a ton of webcams for you to pass your time.
*You need Yoga With Adriene in your life.
*Learn Something:
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
Showing posts with label Evan Gattis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evan Gattis. Show all posts
Thursday, April 2, 2020
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
'Rona-Free Hot Links, Vol. 3
*I don't really want to lead off with this but Jim Crane says MLB "explicitly exonerated" him in their investigation, for the expressed purpose of leaving him out of any lawsuits that proceed against the team he owns in the event that the Astros, do in fact, continued to get sued.
*Evan Gattis said he had retired from baseball, and you should absolutely listen to the podcast where he announced it.
*So did 2014 2nd Round pick A.J. Reed. Chandler Rome:
The Astros did not summon Reed for a September call-up in 2017 or 2018. His weight and conditioning were often problems. Frustration grew visible. Houston designated him for assignment last July to clear a spot for pitcher Jose Urquidy on the 40-Man roster.
As a junior at Kentucky, Reed hit .462/.588/.962 (read that again) and had a 2.83 ERA in the same season. That's insane. That 2014 Draft was...hoo-boy. Picks through the 1st 10 Rounds:
Brady Aiken, Game 5 Hero and Current Toronto Great Derek Fisher, A.J. Reed, Current Mets Great J.D. Davis, Current Oakland Gret Daniel Mengden, Jacob Nix, Brock Dykxhoorn, Derick Velasquez, Bobby Boyd, Bryan Radziewski, Jay Gause.
It turns out that the prize of the Astros' 2014 draft was either Josh Big Flames James, the 1006th selection of the draft, who has put up a 0.8 fWAR, or Ramon Laureano, who has posted 5.9 fWAR...for Oakland, because the Astros traded him to Oakland for Brandon Bailey, who will likely be in Triple-A this year.
*Click this MLB.com link to see how Ryan Pressly has the nastiest 10" in baseball.
*Baseball-Reference is using OOTP21 to simulate the 2020 season. The Astros are 2-4.
*Minor-Leaguers will get $400/week until at least May 31, plus medical benefits. It's literally the least a $10 Billion industry can do.
*GQ: Inside the poisoning of a Russian double-agent.
*The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal: Victor Martinez's audacious dream is within sight.
*I have attended precisely one Leeds United game in person. It was this one, a Champions League game against Lazio, with my dad. You can see how I'd be hooked. There's a "What Happened To Leeds United" Astros County post coming in the next few days.
*I highly recommend you to watch Icarus, which is available on Netflix. It's one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.
*This is one of my favorite books of all-time.
*"Cocaine, Speed, and Gallons of Jack Daniel's." The last Rock n Roll Superstars were...Korn?
*Check out this three-part series from ProPublica called "Blood Will Tell." It will take you all afternoon. Then, when you're done with that, read this follow-up, which broke Tuesday.
*Learn something:
*A Musical Selection:
*Another Musical Selection:
*Evan Gattis said he had retired from baseball, and you should absolutely listen to the podcast where he announced it.
*So did 2014 2nd Round pick A.J. Reed. Chandler Rome:
The Astros did not summon Reed for a September call-up in 2017 or 2018. His weight and conditioning were often problems. Frustration grew visible. Houston designated him for assignment last July to clear a spot for pitcher Jose Urquidy on the 40-Man roster.
As a junior at Kentucky, Reed hit .462/.588/.962 (read that again) and had a 2.83 ERA in the same season. That's insane. That 2014 Draft was...hoo-boy. Picks through the 1st 10 Rounds:
Brady Aiken, Game 5 Hero and Current Toronto Great Derek Fisher, A.J. Reed, Current Mets Great J.D. Davis, Current Oakland Gret Daniel Mengden, Jacob Nix, Brock Dykxhoorn, Derick Velasquez, Bobby Boyd, Bryan Radziewski, Jay Gause.
It turns out that the prize of the Astros' 2014 draft was either Josh Big Flames James, the 1006th selection of the draft, who has put up a 0.8 fWAR, or Ramon Laureano, who has posted 5.9 fWAR...for Oakland, because the Astros traded him to Oakland for Brandon Bailey, who will likely be in Triple-A this year.
*Click this MLB.com link to see how Ryan Pressly has the nastiest 10" in baseball.
*Baseball-Reference is using OOTP21 to simulate the 2020 season. The Astros are 2-4.
*Minor-Leaguers will get $400/week until at least May 31, plus medical benefits. It's literally the least a $10 Billion industry can do.
*GQ: Inside the poisoning of a Russian double-agent.
*The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal: Victor Martinez's audacious dream is within sight.
*I have attended precisely one Leeds United game in person. It was this one, a Champions League game against Lazio, with my dad. You can see how I'd be hooked. There's a "What Happened To Leeds United" Astros County post coming in the next few days.
*I highly recommend you to watch Icarus, which is available on Netflix. It's one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.
*This is one of my favorite books of all-time.
*"Cocaine, Speed, and Gallons of Jack Daniel's." The last Rock n Roll Superstars were...Korn?
*Check out this three-part series from ProPublica called "Blood Will Tell." It will take you all afternoon. Then, when you're done with that, read this follow-up, which broke Tuesday.
*Learn something:
*A Musical Selection:
*Another Musical Selection:
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Tuesday Morning Hot Links
Good morning everyone it's game day. Gerrit Cole Day. There are an awful lot of hot links today to delve into, so let's get started.
Let's start with an in-house piece with Brian Arbour's take on the World Series preview.
The Astros are opening up as the biggest World Series favorites since 2007.
MLB.com has your series preview that centers heavily on pitching.
ESPN has a bigger, much more detailed piece on the series.
Here are the 7 main storylines to follow for this World Series.
Who has the edge in this series, position-by-position?
There has been quite the buzz on Brandon Taubman's comment regarding Roberto Osuna and his comments directed towards female reporters. Sports Illustrated originally broke the story.
The Astros vehemently denied the story, but witnesses seem to say otherwise ($). I'm sure there will be more to come regarding this story in the coming days.
Yordan Alvarez will start the first two games of these series, but the next few games are kind of unclear.
Some tickets for tonight's game are going for up to $10,000 dollars.
Joe West and Angel Hernandez are still not doing playoff baseball games. Thank you, Major League Baseball.
The umpires will be sporting 'COOP' patches on their shirts to honor the life of Eric Cooper, who died tragically recovering from knee surgery.
The Astros are powered by Jose Altuve. This is his team.
Yuli is trying to make history by playing a full postseason not striking out all October
Gerrit Cole spoke to the media yesterday about the upcoming series.
Brian McCann and Evan Gattis are coming back soon, among other Houston living legends.
Myles Straw has the potential to cause a real problem for the Nationals this week.
Joe Smith is the active leader in games played without experiencing the World Series. That changes today.
The Astros and Nationals share spring training facilities, and they almost shared players as well.
There are 5 new Astros-themed T-shirts you may want to consider purchasing.
#TBT when Jim Crane got a discount because the Astros were not good.
Here's the most important things coming to the World Series: the brand new concessions menu!
Goodwill is trying to help you out with some upgraded Astros gear.
This child was born at precisely the same time the Astros took the field.
This Astros fan is recovering well from being hit by a foul ball during the ALCS Game 6.
And to round everything out, of course, is a piece talking about all these celebrities that are rooting for the Astros in this series that we already knew about years ago.
Monday, January 21, 2019
Monday Morning Hot Links
Happy Monday! We have the total number of Hilbert's problems days left until spring training begins.
George Springer is going to be the co-marshal of the Houston MLK Day parade today with Congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis.
The Astros have proved that analytics are good for player contracts.
Meet Tanner Duncan, an undrafted free agent pitcher who is turning heads and will be playing for OUR Fayetteville Woodpeckers (buy the merch) in 2019.
Part 3 of the Astros trades of the Luhnow Era is up on Crawfish Boxes and they ask the question if we should have kept Jed Lowrie over Marwin Gonzalez (no.)
Gerrit Cole should absolutely not lose his 2019 arbitration case.
Evan Gattis met a young fan and he is looking SHARP.
I have searched the Internet for a very long time and cannot find any rumors with any potential weight behind them or any other Astros-related articles posted within the last 36 hours. Something's gotta happen.
It's MLK Day, so here are some of the best ways to celebrate for people of all ages.
Somebody set up a device to play Toto's "Africa" in a desert in Africa forever.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Sunday Morning Hot Links
Good morning. Pitchers and Catchers report in 24 days. It has been eight days since the Astros even appeared in MLBTR.
*David Nuno talked to George Springer, Carlos Correa, and Lance McCullers, Jr about 2019.
*Brian McTaggart's inbox has a number of questions about free agency, arbitration, and the state of the rotation.
*Chandler Rome discusses the 2019 Hall of Fame ballot and the prospects of Former Astros Greats Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman. It's not, uh, it's not looking good. According to the Tracker set up by the inestimable (FOAC) Ryan Thibodeaux, with about 47% of ballots known:
-Roger Clemens: 71.9%
-Billy Wagner: 16.8%
-Jeff Kent: 16.3%
-Andy Pettitte: 6.1%
-Roy Oswalt: 1.0%
-Lance Berkman: 1.0%
*Evan Gattis played in the UT-Permian Basin Alumni Game.
*Former Astros Great Jason Bourgeois will be the head coach of the Dodgers' Midwest League team.
*Karbach is introducing the Crawford Bock at FanFest on January 26, and will be available across Texas by March.
*Yadier Molina is already mad at the Cubs.
*One possible Mystery Team for J.T. Realmuto is the A's...which would not be Ideal.
*Take this for what it is (I've never heard of this guy, and his journalistic background is a little problematic):
*The Ringer: The Untold Story of the Man Who Sang "I Got 5 On It."
*A Runner/Hit Man's GPS watch led to his downfall.
*A Musical Selection, from the band formerly known as Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.:
*David Nuno talked to George Springer, Carlos Correa, and Lance McCullers, Jr about 2019.
*Brian McTaggart's inbox has a number of questions about free agency, arbitration, and the state of the rotation.
*Chandler Rome discusses the 2019 Hall of Fame ballot and the prospects of Former Astros Greats Roy Oswalt, Lance Berkman. It's not, uh, it's not looking good. According to the Tracker set up by the inestimable (FOAC) Ryan Thibodeaux, with about 47% of ballots known:
-Roger Clemens: 71.9%
-Billy Wagner: 16.8%
-Jeff Kent: 16.3%
-Andy Pettitte: 6.1%
-Roy Oswalt: 1.0%
-Lance Berkman: 1.0%
*Evan Gattis played in the UT-Permian Basin Alumni Game.
*Former Astros Great Jason Bourgeois will be the head coach of the Dodgers' Midwest League team.
*Karbach is introducing the Crawford Bock at FanFest on January 26, and will be available across Texas by March.
*Yadier Molina is already mad at the Cubs.
*One possible Mystery Team for J.T. Realmuto is the A's...which would not be Ideal.
*Take this for what it is (I've never heard of this guy, and his journalistic background is a little problematic):
Hearing rumblings that Major League Baseball has found that the Los Angeles Dodgers are in violation of rules involving the international free agency market. There is word they will get penalized similar to what the Atlanta Braves received a year ago— Dan Federico (@DanJFederico) January 19, 2019
*The Ringer: The Untold Story of the Man Who Sang "I Got 5 On It."
*A Runner/Hit Man's GPS watch led to his downfall.
*A Musical Selection, from the band formerly known as Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.:
Friday, October 19, 2018
Friday Morning Hot Links
Well friends, it was a good effort. We did what we could, but unfortunate events, bad misplays, and poor health ended our season quicker than what we wanted it to. I'm not going to go over the game in detail. There just wasn't a lot that stood out besides the Marwin home run and I don't really want to relive it, so I will turn it over to Tags' recap here.
Before I get started on any Hot Links, I would like to talk what a fun thing I'm adding during Offseason Hot Links. Since the amount of links has a good chance of decreasing since, you know, the Astros won't be playing anytime soon, I am planning on creating online Astros-related quizzes to attach at the end of the Hot Links. There will be no prize, because you could easily just Google the answers. I highly suggest that you don't do that though, because it kind of takes the fun out of the whole thing and c'mon nobody is really going to remember you "the guy who knows everything about the Astros because of his Astros quiz scores" This might decrease the amount of actual links posted on Fridays since I will have to make them from scratch, but it brings more interactivity to the daily posts. Anyways I have a few ideas lined up, so stay tuned for those starting next Friday.
~Now Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Programming~
Was the Justin Verlander trade the best deadline deal in baseball history? Michael Baumann has the answer.
Sure we lost in the ALCS, but it gave us this cool stat.
Remember when Erik Kratz tripped in our 2016 intros? That was on purpose.
2018 playoff games are running long. Is that a problem? Can we fix it?
The Astros were cleared from their sign-stealing allegations and other teams are not happy about the ruling.
No matter how good your team is, you still need at least a little luck on your side.
The fans who tried to catch Altuve's Home Run Ball That Wasn't open up about what they experienced.
There is a report that Lance McCullers was pitching through a torn UCL. LMJ would not comment on the report. Potentially no Keuchel, Morton, and LMJ heading into 2019. We'll see.
Let's start looking at some thoughts about upcoming free agents:
Marwin Gonzalez: I Hot Link'd this video a couple weeks ago and it seems as if Marwin is seen as part of the "core" of Astros, so there is a better chance than not of him returning to Houston. (pls)
Dallas Keuchel: Likely gone. He's going to get paid big money by somebody this free agent season (like the Yankees, probably). He has the 2nd highest 2018 WAR for a free agent pitcher going into this offseason.
Charlie Morton: likely the biggest question mark of them all.
Maldonado and Gattis are both free agents. Which one do we bring back? Or is this Realmuto trade still a thing?
Tony Sipp: Believe it or not, Tony posted a decent 0.9 WAR, but it's good enough for the 7th highest available relief pitcher on the market.
We Might Finally Know What Smacked Uranus Sideways (welcome back, funny headlines. I missed you.)
This is like the third drunk bird story I've shared, but dangit it's just so funny every time.
On This Day in Baseball History
In 1972, the A's beat the Reds 3-2 in Game 4 of the World Series thanks to four 9th inning singles, three of which were hit by pinch hitters.
In 1981, the Expos were eliminated and were never in the playoffs again after Rick Monday hit a 2-out 9th inning home run to move the Dodgers to the World Series.
In 1999, Andruw Jones won the Braves a pennant by taking ball four with the bases loaded in the 11th inning.
In 2004, Alex Rodriguez was called out for interference after swatting the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove. The Red Sox went on to force a Game 7 after winning this game, the first team to ever do so after going down in the series 0-3.
In 2005, the Houston Astros decided they wanted to go play in their first ever World Series.
In 2008, the Rays went on to play in their first ever World Series after defeating the Red Sox 3-1, the first time in franchise history.
Before I get started on any Hot Links, I would like to talk what a fun thing I'm adding during Offseason Hot Links. Since the amount of links has a good chance of decreasing since, you know, the Astros won't be playing anytime soon, I am planning on creating online Astros-related quizzes to attach at the end of the Hot Links. There will be no prize, because you could easily just Google the answers. I highly suggest that you don't do that though, because it kind of takes the fun out of the whole thing and c'mon nobody is really going to remember you "the guy who knows everything about the Astros because of his Astros quiz scores" This might decrease the amount of actual links posted on Fridays since I will have to make them from scratch, but it brings more interactivity to the daily posts. Anyways I have a few ideas lined up, so stay tuned for those starting next Friday.
~Now Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Programming~
Was the Justin Verlander trade the best deadline deal in baseball history? Michael Baumann has the answer.
Sure we lost in the ALCS, but it gave us this cool stat.
Remember when Erik Kratz tripped in our 2016 intros? That was on purpose.
2018 playoff games are running long. Is that a problem? Can we fix it?
The Astros were cleared from their sign-stealing allegations and other teams are not happy about the ruling.
No matter how good your team is, you still need at least a little luck on your side.
The fans who tried to catch Altuve's Home Run Ball That Wasn't open up about what they experienced.
There is a report that Lance McCullers was pitching through a torn UCL. LMJ would not comment on the report. Potentially no Keuchel, Morton, and LMJ heading into 2019. We'll see.
Let's start looking at some thoughts about upcoming free agents:
Marwin Gonzalez: I Hot Link'd this video a couple weeks ago and it seems as if Marwin is seen as part of the "core" of Astros, so there is a better chance than not of him returning to Houston. (pls)
Dallas Keuchel: Likely gone. He's going to get paid big money by somebody this free agent season (like the Yankees, probably). He has the 2nd highest 2018 WAR for a free agent pitcher going into this offseason.
Charlie Morton: likely the biggest question mark of them all.
Maldonado and Gattis are both free agents. Which one do we bring back? Or is this Realmuto trade still a thing?
Tony Sipp: Believe it or not, Tony posted a decent 0.9 WAR, but it's good enough for the 7th highest available relief pitcher on the market.
We Might Finally Know What Smacked Uranus Sideways (welcome back, funny headlines. I missed you.)
This is like the third drunk bird story I've shared, but dangit it's just so funny every time.
On This Day in Baseball History
In 1972, the A's beat the Reds 3-2 in Game 4 of the World Series thanks to four 9th inning singles, three of which were hit by pinch hitters.
In 1981, the Expos were eliminated and were never in the playoffs again after Rick Monday hit a 2-out 9th inning home run to move the Dodgers to the World Series.
In 1999, Andruw Jones won the Braves a pennant by taking ball four with the bases loaded in the 11th inning.
In 2004, Alex Rodriguez was called out for interference after swatting the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove. The Red Sox went on to force a Game 7 after winning this game, the first team to ever do so after going down in the series 0-3.
In 2005, the Houston Astros decided they wanted to go play in their first ever World Series.
In 2008, the Rays went on to play in their first ever World Series after defeating the Red Sox 3-1, the first time in franchise history.
Friday, October 12, 2018
Friday Morning Hot Links
Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to The Post ALDS-Pre ALCS Hot Links Part 3 of 4. Not a lot has changed since we've last met, as we are still waiting for baseball to come back. It has been a long week and I am not ready for the offseason to start.
MLB.com posted some "fun facts" about all the potential upcoming postseason matchups, but honestly I'm just going to tell you now, Fun Fact #1 is "iF tHe BrEwErS aNd AsTrOs PlAy EaCh OtHeR, yOu WoN't KnOw WhIcH tEaM iS iN wHiCh LeAgUe!" If you don't want to read it because of this joke, I get it. If you can push through this joke, it isn't too bad.
Good Guy Marwin Gonzalez was up to his old tricks. Here's my Good Guy Marwin Gonzalez story: When I was down in Houston on vacation, he was doing an autograph signing and they had some thing that was like "first X amount of people for sure will get to meet Marwin." I got there late because I don't live in Houston. In fact, I don't live anywhere close to Houston, so I got there late because I didn't know where I was going and I was definitely not in the first X amount of people. He ended up staying and signing things for everyone who showed up to that session. It was supposed to be an hour long autograph session that started at noon, I met him around 1:15, and there was still probably another 20-30 people behind me. We might have some superstars, perhaps even some future Hall of Famers, but Marwin Gonzalez will always be my favorite Astro.
Jim Bowden reports that Hector Rondon is expected to be added onto the ALCS roster, potentially removing Evan Gattis for the upcoming series.
Here is an excellent article about Martin Maldonado and his love of being a catcher.
When somebody asked Tito if Jose Ramirez killed the Indians hopes of winning the series, he was angry.
Jake Marisnick talks about the Green Monster and how Minute Maid prepares them for playing with it.
Pick up your new Alex Bregman-themed T-Shirt.
Here is an inside look at how Maldonado and Osuna have been integrated and accepted into this Astros team.
Everybody loves George Springer.
You still have time to buy a mattress from Mattress Mack and get it free when the Astros win it all again.
Joe West is our crew chief, which is better than Angel Hernandez who is not umpiring anywhere.
Chris Paul talks about how the Astros will beat you.
Carlos Correa has a wedding date set. Letting you know now before you see it on Good Morning America.
Here are 13 celebrities to look out for at Minute Maid Park this year because for some reason I decided right after making that Chris Paul link that I wanted the rest of this blog post to look like the E! News front page.
Justin Verlander on how he stays in shape and what a typical date night looks like with Kate Upton YES I AM STICKING TO THIS BIT I GUESS THIS IS JUST WHAT THIS BLOG HAS BECOME NOW.
You may not realize it, but Charlie Morton hits a lot of batters.
On This Day in Baseball History
In 1907, Mordecai Brown, a man who had three fingers on his throwing hand, shut out the Detroit Tigers and won the Cubs the 1907 World Series.
In 1929, the A's were down 8-0 and went on to have a 10 run 7th to win the game with a 10-8 final.
In 1949, Vin Scully did his first ever radio broadcast as Maryland University played Boston University at football at Fenway Park.
In 1982, Paul Molitor became the first player in World Series history to collect five hits in one game.
In 2005, a controversial call decided the White Sox/Angels ALCS Game 2 as A.J. Pierzynski reached first base on a dropped third strike. Pierzynski was pinch run for, scored, and the White Sox won the game 2-1.
In 2012, the Cardinals score 4 runs in the 9th off of Drew Storen after being down to their final strike to win the NLDS 9-7.
In 2015, the Cubs became the first team to ever hit 6 home runs in a postseason game.
MLB.com posted some "fun facts" about all the potential upcoming postseason matchups, but honestly I'm just going to tell you now, Fun Fact #1 is "iF tHe BrEwErS aNd AsTrOs PlAy EaCh OtHeR, yOu WoN't KnOw WhIcH tEaM iS iN wHiCh LeAgUe!" If you don't want to read it because of this joke, I get it. If you can push through this joke, it isn't too bad.
Good Guy Marwin Gonzalez was up to his old tricks. Here's my Good Guy Marwin Gonzalez story: When I was down in Houston on vacation, he was doing an autograph signing and they had some thing that was like "first X amount of people for sure will get to meet Marwin." I got there late because I don't live in Houston. In fact, I don't live anywhere close to Houston, so I got there late because I didn't know where I was going and I was definitely not in the first X amount of people. He ended up staying and signing things for everyone who showed up to that session. It was supposed to be an hour long autograph session that started at noon, I met him around 1:15, and there was still probably another 20-30 people behind me. We might have some superstars, perhaps even some future Hall of Famers, but Marwin Gonzalez will always be my favorite Astro.
Jim Bowden reports that Hector Rondon is expected to be added onto the ALCS roster, potentially removing Evan Gattis for the upcoming series.
Here is an excellent article about Martin Maldonado and his love of being a catcher.
When somebody asked Tito if Jose Ramirez killed the Indians hopes of winning the series, he was angry.
Jake Marisnick talks about the Green Monster and how Minute Maid prepares them for playing with it.
Pick up your new Alex Bregman-themed T-Shirt.
Here is an inside look at how Maldonado and Osuna have been integrated and accepted into this Astros team.
Everybody loves George Springer.
You still have time to buy a mattress from Mattress Mack and get it free when the Astros win it all again.
Joe West is our crew chief, which is better than Angel Hernandez who is not umpiring anywhere.
Chris Paul talks about how the Astros will beat you.
Carlos Correa has a wedding date set. Letting you know now before you see it on Good Morning America.
Here are 13 celebrities to look out for at Minute Maid Park this year because for some reason I decided right after making that Chris Paul link that I wanted the rest of this blog post to look like the E! News front page.
Justin Verlander on how he stays in shape and what a typical date night looks like with Kate Upton YES I AM STICKING TO THIS BIT I GUESS THIS IS JUST WHAT THIS BLOG HAS BECOME NOW.
You may not realize it, but Charlie Morton hits a lot of batters.
On This Day in Baseball History
In 1907, Mordecai Brown, a man who had three fingers on his throwing hand, shut out the Detroit Tigers and won the Cubs the 1907 World Series.
In 1929, the A's were down 8-0 and went on to have a 10 run 7th to win the game with a 10-8 final.
In 1949, Vin Scully did his first ever radio broadcast as Maryland University played Boston University at football at Fenway Park.
In 1982, Paul Molitor became the first player in World Series history to collect five hits in one game.
In 2005, a controversial call decided the White Sox/Angels ALCS Game 2 as A.J. Pierzynski reached first base on a dropped third strike. Pierzynski was pinch run for, scored, and the White Sox won the game 2-1.
In 2012, the Cardinals score 4 runs in the 9th off of Drew Storen after being down to their final strike to win the NLDS 9-7.
In 2015, the Cubs became the first team to ever hit 6 home runs in a postseason game.
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Wednesday Morning Hot Links
The Astros have done it again. After beating the Tigers 5-4, Houston has moved up to 91-54 and are now 3 games up on Oakland with 17 to play until October. Tags full recap is here.
The Astros have rejoined The #OnPace Club for 100 wins. Also it reminds us just how bad the Orioles are.
The Astros have the highest Team Rating on FiveThirtyEight! (whatever that means)
Brad Peacock caught that blasted hand, foot, mouth disease that won't stay away from baseball.
LMJ is about to start facing live hitters soon.
Apparently the MLB is having a hard time telling who is Evan Gattis and who is Tyler White? Are they okay?
Felipe Paulino is a dominant pitcher again.
How are the Astros going to get the most out of Charlie Morton this postseason? ($)
First Tri-City won their championship, Buies Creek took home the Carolina League Championship. One may say that the Buies Creek fans are Arauz'd (I am sorry). The series was cut short due to the impending Hurricane Florence storm.
The Fresno Grizzlies dropped game 1 of the PCL Championship 10-4. Game 2 is tonight, with Trent Thornton on the hill for Fresno. Also, just humor me and scroll to the bottom of this article and tell me Yordan Alvarez doesn't look like a player model on MLB The Show in his team profile picture.
The story of just how the Astros landed Alex Bregman.
Who are the best potential starting rotations heading into October? Ted Berg breaks it down.
Spencer Kieboom Home Runs with the correct amount of teeth: 0
Spencer Kieboom Home Runs with an amount of teeth less than the average human: 1
Look at these surfing puppers!
On This Day In Baseball History
In 1930, Al Lopez hit the last "ground-rule home run" before the MLB changed the rule that any ball that bounced outside the field of play is a double.
In 1936, Kid Elberfield pinch hit for the Fulton professional baseball team at 61 years young.
In 1976, Minnie Minoso lined a base hit into left field. He was 50.
In 1979, Carl Yastrzemski collected his 3000th hit. Here is the raw, uncut, 13 minute radio call recorded on a CASETTE and recorded to Youtube.
In 1995, Harry Caray was in hot water after he said something on the air that you probably should not say on the air. The station later offered an apology. Caray did not.
The Astros have rejoined The #OnPace Club for 100 wins. Also it reminds us just how bad the Orioles are.
The Astros have the highest Team Rating on FiveThirtyEight! (whatever that means)
Brad Peacock caught that blasted hand, foot, mouth disease that won't stay away from baseball.
LMJ is about to start facing live hitters soon.
Apparently the MLB is having a hard time telling who is Evan Gattis and who is Tyler White? Are they okay?
Felipe Paulino is a dominant pitcher again.
How are the Astros going to get the most out of Charlie Morton this postseason? ($)
First Tri-City won their championship, Buies Creek took home the Carolina League Championship. One may say that the Buies Creek fans are Arauz'd (I am sorry). The series was cut short due to the impending Hurricane Florence storm.
The Fresno Grizzlies dropped game 1 of the PCL Championship 10-4. Game 2 is tonight, with Trent Thornton on the hill for Fresno. Also, just humor me and scroll to the bottom of this article and tell me Yordan Alvarez doesn't look like a player model on MLB The Show in his team profile picture.
The story of just how the Astros landed Alex Bregman.
Who are the best potential starting rotations heading into October? Ted Berg breaks it down.
Spencer Kieboom Home Runs with the correct amount of teeth: 0
Spencer Kieboom Home Runs with an amount of teeth less than the average human: 1
Look at these surfing puppers!
On This Day In Baseball History
In 1930, Al Lopez hit the last "ground-rule home run" before the MLB changed the rule that any ball that bounced outside the field of play is a double.
In 1936, Kid Elberfield pinch hit for the Fulton professional baseball team at 61 years young.
In 1976, Minnie Minoso lined a base hit into left field. He was 50.
In 1979, Carl Yastrzemski collected his 3000th hit. Here is the raw, uncut, 13 minute radio call recorded on a CASETTE and recorded to Youtube.
In 1995, Harry Caray was in hot water after he said something on the air that you probably should not say on the air. The station later offered an apology. Caray did not.
Thursday, August 16, 2018
Thursday Morning Hot Links
Some diehard football fans on Jeopardy! tonight pic.twitter.com/xY9PGickz2— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 25, 2017
Daggum, Astros. Houston broke their nine-game home losing streak with an emphatic 12-1 win over Colorado. They had scored 14 runs over the course of their five-game losing streak. Houston had gone eight games between 10+ hit games, their longest such streak of the year. The Astros' divisional lead is back to 2.0 games.
*Before last night Houston had not hit five home runs in a single game since August 4, 2017 against Toronto. The last 5HR game before that one was July 9, 2017 also against Toronto. That August 4 game was also the last time, before last night, Tyler White hit two dingers in a game.
*The Astros struck out 32 Rockies in the two-game series and went 1-1.
*Evan Gattis was on an 0x20 before he hit the first of his two home runs in a single game for the 12th time in his career and the 4th time this season. It's his first home run against an NL team since September 11, 2016. The one before that? August 24, 2016 against Former Pirates Great Gerrit Cole.
*Current Astros Great Gerrit Cole: 6IP, 5H/1ER, 12K:0BB. He needed just 86 pitches to get through his outing. The Astros are 18-7 when he starts, and have scored 15 runs total in those seven losses - nine of those Astros runs scored against came in the disastrous bullpen meltdown in the Tyler Bauer game on May 27. He has seven double-digit strikeout starts in 2018.
Gerrit Cole, when he takes That L: 32IP, 25H/12ER, 34K:9BB, 3.38 ERA / 1.06 WHIP.
Gerrit Cole, 10+ strikeouts / 0-walk games, career:
2013: 0
2014: 1
2015: 0
2016: 0
2017: 1
2018: 3
*Gerrit Cole, 10+ K games:
2013-2017 (127 starts): 6
2018 (25 starts): 7
Gerrit Cole, 95mph Fastball and 84mph Knuckle Curve, Overlay. pic.twitter.com/hCqyEtYuSJ— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 16, 2018
*Gerrit Cole has 219 strikeouts on the season, tying 1996 Darryl Kile for 10th most in an Astros season. Here's the list:
1. J.R. Richard (1979): 313
2. Mike Scott (1986): 306
3. J.R. Richard (1978): 303
4. Nolan Ryan (1987): 270
5. Nolan Ryan (1982): 245
6. Don Wilson (1969): 235
7. Mike Scott (1987): 233
8. Larry Dierker (1969): 232
9. Nolan Ryan (1988): 228
10. Gerrit Cole (2018): 219
Astros teammates with 200+ strikeouts in a single season:
2018: Gerrit Cole (219) / Justin Verlander (217)
2004: Roger Clemens (218) / Roy Oswalt (206)
1996: Darryl Kile (219) / Shane Reynolds (204)
1987: Nolan Ryan (270) / Mike Scott (233)
1969: Don Wilson (235) / Larry Dierker (232) / Tom Griffin (200)
Charlie Morton needs 29 more strikeouts this season to join the 1969 team as the only one in franchise history with three 200+ K guys in the same rotation.
*That's the 25th double-digit strikeout game from an Astros starter in 2018, a franchise record.
*Ryan Pressly struck out all three batters he faced in a 14-pitch outing in which 11 went for strikes. It's his 6th appearance for the Astros: 6.1IP, 3H/2ER, 9K:0BB.
*All of the seven hits Rockies starter
*Carlos Correa had his first 3RBI game since June 17. Also Correa:
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 16, 2018
*Since going 3x5 against the Los Angeles Silver Medalists on August 4, Josh Reddick is 5x32 with 6K:2BB and two extra-base hits.
*Holy crap Yuli Gurriel hit his first home run since July 7.
*Holy crap Kyle Tucker got a hit - the 8th of his career.
Kyle Tucker, 2018: .157/.259/.216
Derek Fisher, 2018: .165/.209/.392
*Eight of the 15 American League teams are over .500. Four of them are in the AL West. Cleveland, with a .575 win% and who are a lock to make the playoffs, have the 5th-best record in the American League. The Mariners, at .574, are 6th.
Here's the AL:
1. Boston (86-36)
2. New York (75-45)
3. Houston (74-47)
4. Oakland (72-49)
5. Cleveland (69-51)
6. Seattle (70-52)
*George Springer will be activated for Friday's game against Oakland. Derek Fisher has been sent back to Fresno.
*A.J. Hinch ain't saying crap about who replaces McCullers on Tuesday.
*The Astros OWN Oakland, says the SF Chronicle's Bruce Jenkins.
*guys Guys GUYS: Jose Altuve took grounders ON THE FIELD and ran and stuff and is expected to join the team in the Bay Area today. Hinch:
It's a good step. Look, anything he does moving forward towards playing is a good sign. Everybody wants to know a timeline. I do, too; so does he. We're going to meet after all this activity and put the next step in order.
And George Springer is "almost certain" to be activated ahead of Friday's game in Oakland.
*Check Jake Kaplan's story on Dallas Keuchel's Players' Weekend nickname, and why it has nothing to do with a rapper, and more
*Well I guess we'll see Frankie Tuesday again in 2020, as he underwent Tommy John surgery. Martes had made five appearances in 2018 - four in April at Fresno (18.2IP, 25H/14ER, 16K:17BB). Then he was out until August 2, when threw 1IP for the GCL Astros. Now he's done for all of 2019, so that's cool...
*Czech the Masked Marvel's Reinforcing the Astros post from this morning.
*2017 1st Round pick J.B. Bukauskas threw 7IP, 1H/0ER, 5K:0BB for Buies Creek. Six members of the Winston-Salem lineup that Bukauskas shut down are in the White Sox Top 30. Since returning from the DL, over nine starts since June 29: 37.1IP, 26H/6ER, 41K:10BB.
*Former Astros Great Ben Zobrist explained, very patiently, why the umpires should be replaced by robots.
*Jose Ureña and Don Mattingly and, what the hell, Derek Jeter and okay the entire trash-ass Marlins organization should be suspended for hitting Ronald Acuña on the first pitch of the game.
*Former Astros Bench Coaching Great Alex Cora talked about the similarities between the 2017 Astros and the 2018 Red Sox.
*Former Oakland 1B Nate Freiman has a really good article in FanGraphs about the differences in the minor-league strike zone
*Oh man Brandon McCarthy will retire after this season.
*The Mets are wasting Jacob DeGrom's 2018 season.
*If you want proof that there's no actual accountability in baseball, Joe West is now 2nd on the all-time Games Umpired list in MLB history.
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Wednesday Morning Hot Links
I am so sad this needs to stop Alexa play Pennyroyal Tea.
The Astros dropped another game at home last night against Colorado, 5-1. This is not at all a fun time to be an Astros fan. A.J. Hinch says the team is "frustrated". Thank you A.J. for the new information. I will not discuss another Astros game in detail until we win. Please respect my decision.
Big thanks to the national media for reminding us that the division will be a close race.
Big thank you (for real) to Hunter Atkins to update us on all the injuries so I don't have to go researching about every player.
The Crawford Boxes ask the question: who should be our closer?
Call to the Pen ask the question: is Gattis too streaky to keep?
Gary Pettis' son is hitting dingers in batting practice even though he plays the football.
Don't get scammed by illegitimate parking lot monarchs.
Brad Lidge is selling his big 'ol home for a whole lot of money.
A toddler knows the Astros lineup and their batting stances.
Emily Moore from SI Kids got to see what a typical Julia Morales day looks like.
Some girl on Reddit wrote a 13 page research paper titled "Kiké Hernandez’s Tight Pants: A Longitudinal Study Comparing Performance and Pants Tightness".
THERE WAS A PRISON BREAK AT THE KANGAROO PENITENTIARY.
ON THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
In 1951, Willie Mays made an insane catch and throw against Brooklyn in 1951. Some believe it was allegedly better than The Catch, but sadly there is no video footage of the play.
In 1975, Orioles manager Earl Weaver was ejected twice in one day.
In 1990, Phillies pitcher Terry Mulholland threw a no-hitter and only faced 27 batters (a double play erased a throwing error).
In 2011, Jim Thome hit #600.
In 2012, Felix Hernandez threw the first perfect game in Mariners history. This was also the 3rd perfect game of 2012 (the most in a single season), as former Astros great Philip Humber threw his AGAINST the Mariners and Matt Cain threw his against, well, you know...
The Astros dropped another game at home last night against Colorado, 5-1. This is not at all a fun time to be an Astros fan. A.J. Hinch says the team is "frustrated". Thank you A.J. for the new information. I will not discuss another Astros game in detail until we win. Please respect my decision.
Big thanks to the national media for reminding us that the division will be a close race.
Big thank you (for real) to Hunter Atkins to update us on all the injuries so I don't have to go researching about every player.
The Crawford Boxes ask the question: who should be our closer?
Call to the Pen ask the question: is Gattis too streaky to keep?
Gary Pettis' son is hitting dingers in batting practice even though he plays the football.
Don't get scammed by illegitimate parking lot monarchs.
Brad Lidge is selling his big 'ol home for a whole lot of money.
A toddler knows the Astros lineup and their batting stances.
Emily Moore from SI Kids got to see what a typical Julia Morales day looks like.
Some girl on Reddit wrote a 13 page research paper titled "Kiké Hernandez’s Tight Pants: A Longitudinal Study Comparing Performance and Pants Tightness".
THERE WAS A PRISON BREAK AT THE KANGAROO PENITENTIARY.
ON THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
In 1951, Willie Mays made an insane catch and throw against Brooklyn in 1951. Some believe it was allegedly better than The Catch, but sadly there is no video footage of the play.
In 1975, Orioles manager Earl Weaver was ejected twice in one day.
In 1990, Phillies pitcher Terry Mulholland threw a no-hitter and only faced 27 batters (a double play erased a throwing error).
In 2011, Jim Thome hit #600.
In 2012, Felix Hernandez threw the first perfect game in Mariners history. This was also the 3rd perfect game of 2012 (the most in a single season), as former Astros great Philip Humber threw his AGAINST the Mariners and Matt Cain threw his against, well, you know...
Monday, July 30, 2018
Monday Morning Hot Links
Got swept by the Rangers. We struck out 19 batters in a 9 inning game and lost.
McCann's knee ain't right, Altuve just went on the DL, Correa's back still hurts. Yuli is out here doing this, J.D. Davis is batting .154 WORSE than what he was in Fresno, Stassi hasn't gotten a hit since May, Kempin' aint easy, Devo exploded, fireworks exploded (and it was 80s themed because THE FANS VOTED FOR IT WHAT THE HECK GUYS??) Anyways, it generally hasn't been the best week for our Houston Astros (see above). The good news is we got swept by the White Sox last year and things actually turned out okay. That does not make what we as Astros fans went through any more fun, but I thought it would be nice to share.
Let's knock out some more bad news first before we get to the good stuff.
A.J. Hinch has implied that multiple people will have to play more unconventional positions.
"If you've got (Tyler) White and (J.D.) Davis and (Alex) Bregman and Marwin and Yuli and (Evan) Gattis, getting all of those into the lineup, some guys are going to have to play at a few different positions."
Can't wait to see Evan Gattis play 1st base this road trip!
A young boy with Down Syndrome has lost his special toy at Minute Maid Park yesterday. If you know anything where it might be, make sure to let this family know.
James Paxton is coming back just in time to face the struggling offense. Then we finish up in Seattle, then hit the Dodgers and Giants to finish up the road trip. Correa and Altuve better get fixed fast is all I'm saying.
Ugly Tweets have resurfaced involving Astros outfielder George Springer. I'll link the worst one here, but viewer discretion is advised...
Ken Giles is not having a great time in Fresno either. The Astros are shopping him(?) but I don't know how much interest is there.
GOOD NEWS TIME
Trade Deadline is tomorrow. Get your twitters ready!
Your day probably wasn't as bad as Jurickson Profar's.
There is a chance Forrest Whitley shows up on the team by September.
Max Stassi is a stud and should be blessed to have an opportunity to cheer for him.
Tyler White went 3/3 yesterday, and is currently hitting .286 with 3 home runs in 35 ABs. Pleasant surprise for the Astros thus far in 2018. Maybe he changed his approach and started thinking about Carlos Gomez hitting his Range Rover while he's in the box.
On this day in 2004, the Mets moved former Houston Astros Greats Scott Kazmir and Ty Wigginton to acquire former Astros Great Jeff Keppinger (and others but whatever).
These goofball Egyptians painted a donkey like a zebra and told everyone their zoo had a zebra.
This guy in New Hampshire went to a Planet Fitness naked because "it was a judgment free zone."
If you haven't read this piece on how one guy rigged McDonald's Monopoly, you should.
Sorry for the Springer tweet thing. That was stupid. I will be better.
I hope the Astros will win a game before I have to do this again. Hang in there guys. This slump will all be over soon.
McCann's knee ain't right, Altuve just went on the DL, Correa's back still hurts. Yuli is out here doing this, J.D. Davis is batting .154 WORSE than what he was in Fresno, Stassi hasn't gotten a hit since May, Kempin' aint easy, Devo exploded, fireworks exploded (and it was 80s themed because THE FANS VOTED FOR IT WHAT THE HECK GUYS??) Anyways, it generally hasn't been the best week for our Houston Astros (see above). The good news is we got swept by the White Sox last year and things actually turned out okay. That does not make what we as Astros fans went through any more fun, but I thought it would be nice to share.
Let's knock out some more bad news first before we get to the good stuff.
A.J. Hinch has implied that multiple people will have to play more unconventional positions.
"If you've got (Tyler) White and (J.D.) Davis and (Alex) Bregman and Marwin and Yuli and (Evan) Gattis, getting all of those into the lineup, some guys are going to have to play at a few different positions."
Can't wait to see Evan Gattis play 1st base this road trip!
A young boy with Down Syndrome has lost his special toy at Minute Maid Park yesterday. If you know anything where it might be, make sure to let this family know.
James Paxton is coming back just in time to face the struggling offense. Then we finish up in Seattle, then hit the Dodgers and Giants to finish up the road trip. Correa and Altuve better get fixed fast is all I'm saying.
Ugly Tweets have resurfaced involving Astros outfielder George Springer. I'll link the worst one here, but viewer discretion is advised...
Ken Giles is not having a great time in Fresno either. The Astros are shopping him(?) but I don't know how much interest is there.
GOOD NEWS TIME
Trade Deadline is tomorrow. Get your twitters ready!
Your day probably wasn't as bad as Jurickson Profar's.
There is a chance Forrest Whitley shows up on the team by September.
Max Stassi is a stud and should be blessed to have an opportunity to cheer for him.
Tyler White went 3/3 yesterday, and is currently hitting .286 with 3 home runs in 35 ABs. Pleasant surprise for the Astros thus far in 2018. Maybe he changed his approach and started thinking about Carlos Gomez hitting his Range Rover while he's in the box.
On this day in 2004, the Mets moved former Houston Astros Greats Scott Kazmir and Ty Wigginton to acquire former Astros Great Jeff Keppinger (and others but whatever).
These goofball Egyptians painted a donkey like a zebra and told everyone their zoo had a zebra.
This guy in New Hampshire went to a Planet Fitness naked because "it was a judgment free zone."
If you haven't read this piece on how one guy rigged McDonald's Monopoly, you should.
Sorry for the Springer tweet thing. That was stupid. I will be better.
I hope the Astros will win a game before I have to do this again. Hang in there guys. This slump will all be over soon.
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Saturday Morning Hot Links
The Astros played a dumb game against a dumb team (without Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa, it deserves to be noted; though, with Chris Devenski, who has suddenly turned unreliable). They lost. Houston is 67-38. There are 57 games left to play. At their current win%, Houston would finish the season with a 103-59 record.
*Houston has recorded seven hits and three runs in their last two games. Houston is 12-7 since dropping three straight against the Rays from June 29-July 1.
*The loss to the Rangers snaps an eight-game winning streak against West Tyler. The Ramgers' 15 hits and 11 runs against the Astros are the most since August 29, 2017 - when East Weatherford beat Houston in the first post-Harvey game in Tampa, so as not to inconvenience their season ticket holders. Houston is 12-5 against Upper Waxahachie in 2018.
*Dallas Keuchel needed 102 pitches to get through 5IP with 6H/3ER, 5K:2BB, breaking his streak of four straight wins and taking his first loss since June 22, a 1-0 loss to Kansas City. He allowed a home run to Robinson Chirinos, the first batter in the previous 243 to hit a home run against Keuchel. On June 5, Keuchel gave up three home runs in a 7-1 loss to Seattle. He did not allow another home run until tonight - a span of eight starts.
*Chris Devenski faced five batters and didn't retire a single one, allowing four hits (three singles and a home run) and a walk. The last nine batters he has faced have reached base (7H/8ER, 0K:2BB), and 15 of the last 21 batters he has faced (over four outings dating back to July 12 have reached base. His ERA has gone from 2.33 to 4.19 in his last two outings.
Devenski, July 2018: 35 batters faced, 15 outs. 14H/13ER, 4K:4BB, 4HR. 23.40 ERA / 3.60 WHIP. 0 FUN.
*Yovani Gallardo got his first win against Houston since August 4, 2015.
*The Astros struck out eight times, marking the 10th game in their last eleven in which they recorded nine or fewer strikeouts. After recording 12 double-digit strikeout games in their first 25, the Astros have 10+ strikeouts in a game 12 times in their last 80.
*Evan Gattis went 3x3 with his 20th home run of the season, marking the 5th season out of six with 20+ HR. Last night was his 5th 3-hit game of the season. The Astros are now 4-1 in those games.
Evan Gattis home runs by month:
March/April: 1
May: 6
June: 8
July: 5
*Jose Altuve was held out of last night's game, and Hinch isn't sure about tonight, either. Prior to last night's game:
He's still pretty sore and we're going to hold him out as a precautionary measure. I don't know what that means for this series or anything more than today.
*The big news of the night otherwise was the Astros' acquisition ofoutfielder pitcher Alex Ryan Presley Pressly from the Twins, in exchange for pitcher Jorge Alcala and the astronomically-named Gilberto Celestino. Cionel Perez was optioned to Fresno to make room. Hinch:
He's somebody that we looked at pretty hard and he fits how we like to pitch. He fits in a lot of different roles for us. I need to shake his hand first before I kind of know what we're going to do with him. I knew it was in the works.
Pressly is striking out a career-high 13.03 batters per nine innings, the 7th-highest rate in MLB. McTaggart notes that his four-seam fastball has the 5th-highest spin rate and his curve has the 2nd-highest spin rate in MLB. That worked out pretty well for the Astros, and for Collin McHugh. Oh, and Pressly is under team control through 2019.
Jorge Alcala was the Astros' #10 prospect, with Celestino ranked by MLB at #15 (#7 in BP's offseason list). On the year, Alcala has thrown 79.1IP, 61H/29ER, 82K:35BB between Buies Creek and Corpus. Celestino is in his 2nd year in a domestic league, and was hitting .317/.383/.476 for Tri-City as a 19-year old. Best of luck to both of them with the Twins as the Astros go for their second straight World Series championship.
*Yesterday's trade acquisitionCandy Martin Maldonado is pumped to be out of the perennially-.500 Angels. Maldonado:
They know how to win. They find a way to win. As a player, that's where you want to be.
*Carlos Correa, who is locked in a tiger cage on board a steamer to Fiji, said he tried to ramp his rehab up too quickly, and had to start over.
*Chandler Rome: Kyle Tucker is still trying to figure out big-league pitching.
*Couple of updates from McTaggart on some familiar faces: Jandel Gustave is out until 2019 while Frankie Tuesday could be back in August.
*Check this Jake Kaplan Q&A with Geoff Blum about Vlad and Trevor Hoffman.
*Former Astros Great Brett Phillips is headed to Kansas City in the Mike Moustakas trade.
*Check out this cool story about an 87-year old Cardinals fan, and the Baseball Hall of Fame, who is hosting the 2018 Induction this weekend.
*SI: Have the Mariners found a formula for success?
*
*Houston has recorded seven hits and three runs in their last two games. Houston is 12-7 since dropping three straight against the Rays from June 29-July 1.
*The loss to the Rangers snaps an eight-game winning streak against West Tyler. The Ramgers' 15 hits and 11 runs against the Astros are the most since August 29, 2017 - when East Weatherford beat Houston in the first post-Harvey game in Tampa, so as not to inconvenience their season ticket holders. Houston is 12-5 against Upper Waxahachie in 2018.
*Dallas Keuchel needed 102 pitches to get through 5IP with 6H/3ER, 5K:2BB, breaking his streak of four straight wins and taking his first loss since June 22, a 1-0 loss to Kansas City. He allowed a home run to Robinson Chirinos, the first batter in the previous 243 to hit a home run against Keuchel. On June 5, Keuchel gave up three home runs in a 7-1 loss to Seattle. He did not allow another home run until tonight - a span of eight starts.
*Chris Devenski faced five batters and didn't retire a single one, allowing four hits (three singles and a home run) and a walk. The last nine batters he has faced have reached base (7H/8ER, 0K:2BB), and 15 of the last 21 batters he has faced (over four outings dating back to July 12 have reached base. His ERA has gone from 2.33 to 4.19 in his last two outings.
Devenski, July 2018: 35 batters faced, 15 outs. 14H/13ER, 4K:4BB, 4HR. 23.40 ERA / 3.60 WHIP. 0 FUN.
*Yovani Gallardo got his first win against Houston since August 4, 2015.
*The Astros struck out eight times, marking the 10th game in their last eleven in which they recorded nine or fewer strikeouts. After recording 12 double-digit strikeout games in their first 25, the Astros have 10+ strikeouts in a game 12 times in their last 80.
*Evan Gattis went 3x3 with his 20th home run of the season, marking the 5th season out of six with 20+ HR. Last night was his 5th 3-hit game of the season. The Astros are now 4-1 in those games.
Evan Gattis home runs by month:
March/April: 1
May: 6
June: 8
July: 5
*Jose Altuve was held out of last night's game, and Hinch isn't sure about tonight, either. Prior to last night's game:
He's still pretty sore and we're going to hold him out as a precautionary measure. I don't know what that means for this series or anything more than today.
*The big news of the night otherwise was the Astros' acquisition of
He's somebody that we looked at pretty hard and he fits how we like to pitch. He fits in a lot of different roles for us. I need to shake his hand first before I kind of know what we're going to do with him. I knew it was in the works.
Pressly is striking out a career-high 13.03 batters per nine innings, the 7th-highest rate in MLB. McTaggart notes that his four-seam fastball has the 5th-highest spin rate and his curve has the 2nd-highest spin rate in MLB. That worked out pretty well for the Astros, and for Collin McHugh. Oh, and Pressly is under team control through 2019.
Ryan Pressly's 2018 spin rates ➡️— David Adler (@_dadler) July 28, 2018
4-seamer: 2,580 rpm
5th-highest in MLB, min. 250 thrown
Curveball: 3,199 rpm
2nd-highest in MLB, min. 100 thrown
And does any team get more out of its pitchers' stuff than the Astros? Perfect place for him to get traded.
Jorge Alcala was the Astros' #10 prospect, with Celestino ranked by MLB at #15 (#7 in BP's offseason list). On the year, Alcala has thrown 79.1IP, 61H/29ER, 82K:35BB between Buies Creek and Corpus. Celestino is in his 2nd year in a domestic league, and was hitting .317/.383/.476 for Tri-City as a 19-year old. Best of luck to both of them with the Twins as the Astros go for their second straight World Series championship.
*Yesterday's trade acquisition
They know how to win. They find a way to win. As a player, that's where you want to be.
*Carlos Correa, who is locked in a tiger cage on board a steamer to Fiji, said he tried to ramp his rehab up too quickly, and had to start over.
*Chandler Rome: Kyle Tucker is still trying to figure out big-league pitching.
*Couple of updates from McTaggart on some familiar faces: Jandel Gustave is out until 2019 while Frankie Tuesday could be back in August.
*Check this Jake Kaplan Q&A with Geoff Blum about Vlad and Trevor Hoffman.
*Former Astros Great Brett Phillips is headed to Kansas City in the Mike Moustakas trade.
*Check out this cool story about an 87-year old Cardinals fan, and the Baseball Hall of Fame, who is hosting the 2018 Induction this weekend.
*SI: Have the Mariners found a formula for success?
*
The Astros lost to the Rangers and some dude went for it all.— Christian Boutwell (@byCBoutwell) July 28, 2018
Happy Friday. pic.twitter.com/9u7TqCoZVf
Friday, July 13, 2018
Friday Morning Hot Links
So the Astros came within one of the dumbest walk-offs in MLB history of getting swept at home in a four-game series to Oakland. That's cool. Not irritating at all. Everything is fine. The Astros blew a four-run lead, their 15th loss of the season in which they had a lead. The Astros are 62-34.
*Oakland scored six unanswered runs. Houston was outscored 21-13 in the four-game series. Let's get something out of the way: Oakland is a pretty good team - a team that, outside of the three games they played in March, has a winning record in every calendar month of 2018. They're 31-19 in their last 50 games. I'm bad at math but that's a .620 winning percentage - oh wait that extrapolates to a 100-win season for almost a third of the year. Streaks happen, but don't sleep on Oakland.
Hinch:
We knew coming in they were playing well and we see why. They did a lot more right than we did during the series. They completed games, made us work and kind of wore us out and came up with big at-bats when they needed to. We got outplayed this series.
*Bregman:
Pretty terrible. They're a good team. They battled. There's no easy outs in that lineup, and they threw the ball extremely well.
Reddick:
The last four games stunk. I'll tell you that straight up. They're playing really good baseball. They've got a good, young core over there that can play really well and they can put some at-bats together, and we saw that this series.
Oakland is more of a long-term threat than Seattle. Mark it down.
*Charlie Morton: 4.1IP, 6H/3ER, 5K:2BB. 104 pitches to get 13 outs. It's his 2nd straight start throwing fewer than 6IP for the first time this season.
*Chris Devenski: 0.1IP, 4H/3ER. He has allowed at least one earned run in three of his last four outings.
*Every A's hitter got at least one hit except Jonathan Lucroy. JONATHAN LUCROY. He is definitely cursed for rejecting a trade to Cleveland to go to East Fort Worth.
*Alex Bregman and Tony Kemp had two RsBI each. Bregman was 1x4, Kemp was 1x2 with a stolen base and a two-run shot - his 3rd of the season. McTaggart notes that Bregman is the fourth player in Astros history to have 30 doubles before the All-Star break, and the 3rd player in club history with 50 extra-base hits before the Break.
*Evan Gattis went hitless for the series, going 0x16 with 5K:1BB. His OPS dropped from .832 to .789 in the series.
*George Springer was 0x2 with 2BB. He's hitting .248/.333/.417. That's a .750 OPS. Here are the OPSs of yesterday's lineup, following yesterday's "game."
Springer: .750
Bregman: .934
Altuve: .874
Gurriel: .770
Reddick: .738
Gattis: .789
Marwin: .652
Stassi: .804
Kemp: .824
So, a team that's 28 games over .500 has five of nine hitters with an OPS under .800. Also, Bregman is a BAWSE.
*Two good Jake Kaplan stories in The Athletic yesterday:
- Kyle Tucker's old-school approach
- Q&A with Alex Bregman on the Home Run Derby messing up his swing, where he has made improvements, and Powerade.
*Jon Heyman writes that the Astros make the most sense in a trade for Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto, while Jon Morosi says that the Astros have been in contact with the Rays about catcher Wilson Ramos.
*Over at FanGraphs, Marc Hulet posted an updated Top 10 Astros Prospects list.
*Yordan Alvarez and Jamie Ritchie hit their first Triple-A home runs in a 4-3 loss to Tacoma. Myles Straw was 4x5 with 2 SBs, his 49th and 50th stolen bases of the season.
*Midland scored four runs in the bottom of the 9th for a 6-5 walk-off win over Corpus. Hector Perez made his Corpus debut, and he threw 2IP, 3H/1ER, 2K:0BB.
*There were more errors (9) than runs (7) in Quad Cities' 4-3 win over Dayton, who committed six of the errors. Peter Solomon (4th Round - 2017) threw 5IP, 1H/1R (0ER), 5K:2BB.
*MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo took a question from @StrosBros1 and discussed Seth Beer and the quality of ACC baseball compared to the lower-levels of the minor leagues. Mayo:
As an advanced college hitter with good plate discipline, this is what he should do during his pro debut. Most pitchers in the lower Minors don't have outstanding command and don't yet know how to set up hitters with approaches as good as Beer's.
*Drunk-ass bitch Papa John lamented not being able to say the N-word in a conference call and had to resign from the board of Papa John's and just watch his billion shares of his company depreciate. Minute Maid Park has a Papa John's. The Marlins and Rays ended their relationship with the trash pizza chain. Apparently the Papa John's at Minute Maid Park is actually owned by a third-party group and since they're not the ones who dropped the N-Bomb, the Astros will just remain disappointed, like there's not twenty better local pizza joints in Houston that could step in and raise the quality of the offerings at Minute Maid Park. The Astros:
The Astros are incredibly disappointed with the statements made by Papa John's founder John Schnatter. We do not condone discrimination in any context and his comments do not reflect the mission, vision and values of our organization. The Astros are proud of our 10-year partnership with Houston Pizza Venture, a local Houston business and owner of the local franchises. We feel confident that the local franchisees and their employees share the Astros commitment to diversity and inclusiveness.
Cool. /eyes roll out of head
*ESPN: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tries to figure out, "What now?"
*India's plan to build the world's tallest statue has divided Mumbai.
*Tonight Mike Fiers goes against Dallas Keuchel and I swear if any of you slanders Mike Fiers, then you will taste my pain. From May 30-July 26, 2017 Fiers made 11 starts when pretty much everyone in the rotation was on the DL and threw 65IP, 48H/19ER, 76K:24BB for a 2.63 ERA. That man will get a ring on Saturday and everybody in attendance should cheer.
*Oakland scored six unanswered runs. Houston was outscored 21-13 in the four-game series. Let's get something out of the way: Oakland is a pretty good team - a team that, outside of the three games they played in March, has a winning record in every calendar month of 2018. They're 31-19 in their last 50 games. I'm bad at math but that's a .620 winning percentage - oh wait that extrapolates to a 100-win season for almost a third of the year. Streaks happen, but don't sleep on Oakland.
Hinch:
We knew coming in they were playing well and we see why. They did a lot more right than we did during the series. They completed games, made us work and kind of wore us out and came up with big at-bats when they needed to. We got outplayed this series.
*Bregman:
Pretty terrible. They're a good team. They battled. There's no easy outs in that lineup, and they threw the ball extremely well.
Reddick:
The last four games stunk. I'll tell you that straight up. They're playing really good baseball. They've got a good, young core over there that can play really well and they can put some at-bats together, and we saw that this series.
Oakland is more of a long-term threat than Seattle. Mark it down.
*Charlie Morton: 4.1IP, 6H/3ER, 5K:2BB. 104 pitches to get 13 outs. It's his 2nd straight start throwing fewer than 6IP for the first time this season.
*Chris Devenski: 0.1IP, 4H/3ER. He has allowed at least one earned run in three of his last four outings.
*Every A's hitter got at least one hit except Jonathan Lucroy. JONATHAN LUCROY. He is definitely cursed for rejecting a trade to Cleveland to go to East Fort Worth.
*Alex Bregman and Tony Kemp had two RsBI each. Bregman was 1x4, Kemp was 1x2 with a stolen base and a two-run shot - his 3rd of the season. McTaggart notes that Bregman is the fourth player in Astros history to have 30 doubles before the All-Star break, and the 3rd player in club history with 50 extra-base hits before the Break.
*Evan Gattis went hitless for the series, going 0x16 with 5K:1BB. His OPS dropped from .832 to .789 in the series.
*George Springer was 0x2 with 2BB. He's hitting .248/.333/.417. That's a .750 OPS. Here are the OPSs of yesterday's lineup, following yesterday's "game."
Springer: .750
Bregman: .934
Altuve: .874
Gurriel: .770
Reddick: .738
Gattis: .789
Marwin: .652
Stassi: .804
Kemp: .824
So, a team that's 28 games over .500 has five of nine hitters with an OPS under .800. Also, Bregman is a BAWSE.
*Two good Jake Kaplan stories in The Athletic yesterday:
- Kyle Tucker's old-school approach
- Q&A with Alex Bregman on the Home Run Derby messing up his swing, where he has made improvements, and Powerade.
*Jon Heyman writes that the Astros make the most sense in a trade for Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto, while Jon Morosi says that the Astros have been in contact with the Rays about catcher Wilson Ramos.
*Over at FanGraphs, Marc Hulet posted an updated Top 10 Astros Prospects list.
*Yordan Alvarez and Jamie Ritchie hit their first Triple-A home runs in a 4-3 loss to Tacoma. Myles Straw was 4x5 with 2 SBs, his 49th and 50th stolen bases of the season.
*Midland scored four runs in the bottom of the 9th for a 6-5 walk-off win over Corpus. Hector Perez made his Corpus debut, and he threw 2IP, 3H/1ER, 2K:0BB.
*There were more errors (9) than runs (7) in Quad Cities' 4-3 win over Dayton, who committed six of the errors. Peter Solomon (4th Round - 2017) threw 5IP, 1H/1R (0ER), 5K:2BB.
*MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo took a question from @StrosBros1 and discussed Seth Beer and the quality of ACC baseball compared to the lower-levels of the minor leagues. Mayo:
As an advanced college hitter with good plate discipline, this is what he should do during his pro debut. Most pitchers in the lower Minors don't have outstanding command and don't yet know how to set up hitters with approaches as good as Beer's.
*Drunk-ass bitch Papa John lamented not being able to say the N-word in a conference call and had to resign from the board of Papa John's and just watch his billion shares of his company depreciate. Minute Maid Park has a Papa John's. The Marlins and Rays ended their relationship with the trash pizza chain. Apparently the Papa John's at Minute Maid Park is actually owned by a third-party group and since they're not the ones who dropped the N-Bomb, the Astros will just remain disappointed, like there's not twenty better local pizza joints in Houston that could step in and raise the quality of the offerings at Minute Maid Park. The Astros:
The Astros are incredibly disappointed with the statements made by Papa John's founder John Schnatter. We do not condone discrimination in any context and his comments do not reflect the mission, vision and values of our organization. The Astros are proud of our 10-year partnership with Houston Pizza Venture, a local Houston business and owner of the local franchises. We feel confident that the local franchisees and their employees share the Astros commitment to diversity and inclusiveness.
Cool. /eyes roll out of head
*ESPN: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tries to figure out, "What now?"
*India's plan to build the world's tallest statue has divided Mumbai.
*Tonight Mike Fiers goes against Dallas Keuchel and I swear if any of you slanders Mike Fiers, then you will taste my pain. From May 30-July 26, 2017 Fiers made 11 starts when pretty much everyone in the rotation was on the DL and threw 65IP, 48H/19ER, 76K:24BB for a 2.63 ERA. That man will get a ring on Saturday and everybody in attendance should cheer.
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Thursday Morning Hot Links
The Astros came back from a 4-0 deficit to win their 8th straight game against the Rangers, in extra innings. It's their 24th comeback win of the season. Houston is 57-31.
*The Astros improved to 7-18 when trailing to start the 3rd inning. They're now 3-4 in extra-inning games and 11-16 in one-run games. Houston is 12-4 against West Tyler. Hinch:
Our bullpen did exactly what we needed. Getting down by four, we didn't have much margin for error. The bullpen holds it while we can come back and have a big win. It will be nice to get home.
Since the Harvey series in Tampa, Houston is 15-4 against the Ramgers, outscoring them 114-54.
*Gerrit Cole threw 5IP, 8H/4ER, 7K:2BB. It's the 3rd time in his last five starts that he's allowed 4ER but the 16th time in 18 starts that Cole has recorded at least one strikeout per inning pitched. Houston is 15-3 in games Gerrit Cole starts. Cole:
This was a fun game. Throwing the [pitching] line aside, nobody cares about that. It's about getting the W, it's about guys contributing from all ends - defensively, offensively. McHugh had a hell of a game, Giles looked as good as he can look to lock the ballgame down. Just a complete team effort.
*Collin McHugh threw 3IP, 1H/0ER, 1K:0BB. His season ERA is 0.90. Since allowing his last earned run on May 30, McHugh has thrown 14.1IP, 3H/0ER, 16K:2BB.
*Ken Giles threw a perfect 10th inning, striking out two batters in the process. KENNETH BACK, BABY.
*Josh Reddick was 3x4 with a walk, stolen base, and a two-run home run. It's his 3rd 3-hit game of the year. The Astros are 13-3 when Josh Reddick gets 2+ hits in a game, and 6-0 when he hits a home run. It's the 1st time this season Reddick has hit a home run on back-to-back days, and the first time since April 8-9, 2016.
*Evan Gattis hit the go-ahead sac fly in the 10th and went 1x4 with an RBI.
*Yuli Gurriel homered, doubled, and scored twice. It's his 25th multi-hit game of the season - the Astros are 21-4 in such games.
*George Springer was 0x4 with 3Ks. Marwin was 0x4 with two GIDPs.
*Alex Bregman drew his 50th walk of the season last night. Only four Astros drew 50+ walks in 2017, and George Springer led the team with 64. Bregman has a 13.0% BB-rate. Ten Astros have combined for 36 individual seasons with a BB-rate over 13.0%.
Jeff Bagwell (10 times with at least a 13.0% BB-rate), Lance Berkman (9 times), Joe Morgan (6 times), Jimmy Wynn (5 times), Denis Menke, Joe Ferguson, Bill Doran, Craig Biggio, Morgan Ensberg, and Dexter Fowler (1 time each).
Bregman would be the 11th player in franchise history, should this pace hold.
*Houston has now hit a home run in 27 consecutive road games, three shy of Oakland's MLB record.
*Carlos Correa - eligible to come off the DL tomorrow - still has not been cleared for baseball activities.
*Despite McCann's surgery and Stassi's hand - which is feeling "better than expected" - Evan Gattis will remain the primary DH. Hinch:
Obviously, I like what he's doing as the DH and I want him to do that. Stassi and (Federowicz) will get the innings behind the plate....Gattis is going to catch a bullpen today and is still doing minimum things to keep himself viable in case something happens, but not as a primary catcher.
*Jake Kaplan has a cool article in The Athletic on Justin Verlander's immaculate preparation for a start.
*MLB.com's Mark Feinsand has five relievers the Astros could target this month. A Feinsand source:
It's going to be really hard for them to upgrade given that adding someone means pushing a capable - even good - reliever like Sipp, Harris, or McHugh off the playoff roster. There's pressure to do something, but it doesn't really make sense.
The five possible relievers include Zach Britton, Miami's Adam Conley, San Diego's Brad Hand, Cincinnati's Raisel Iglesias, and Oakland's Blake Treinen.
*Here's a cool story from the Chronicle's A&M beat writer Brent Zwerneman, on his Uncle Jimmy.
*The Astros have a season-long 11-game homestand starting tonight against the White Sox, whom the Astros swept and outscored 27-2 from April 20-22.
*The strange brain of the world's greatest solo climber.
*The Astros improved to 7-18 when trailing to start the 3rd inning. They're now 3-4 in extra-inning games and 11-16 in one-run games. Houston is 12-4 against West Tyler. Hinch:
Our bullpen did exactly what we needed. Getting down by four, we didn't have much margin for error. The bullpen holds it while we can come back and have a big win. It will be nice to get home.
Since the Harvey series in Tampa, Houston is 15-4 against the Ramgers, outscoring them 114-54.
*Gerrit Cole threw 5IP, 8H/4ER, 7K:2BB. It's the 3rd time in his last five starts that he's allowed 4ER but the 16th time in 18 starts that Cole has recorded at least one strikeout per inning pitched. Houston is 15-3 in games Gerrit Cole starts. Cole:
This was a fun game. Throwing the [pitching] line aside, nobody cares about that. It's about getting the W, it's about guys contributing from all ends - defensively, offensively. McHugh had a hell of a game, Giles looked as good as he can look to lock the ballgame down. Just a complete team effort.
*Collin McHugh threw 3IP, 1H/0ER, 1K:0BB. His season ERA is 0.90. Since allowing his last earned run on May 30, McHugh has thrown 14.1IP, 3H/0ER, 16K:2BB.
*Ken Giles threw a perfect 10th inning, striking out two batters in the process. KENNETH BACK, BABY.
*Josh Reddick was 3x4 with a walk, stolen base, and a two-run home run. It's his 3rd 3-hit game of the year. The Astros are 13-3 when Josh Reddick gets 2+ hits in a game, and 6-0 when he hits a home run. It's the 1st time this season Reddick has hit a home run on back-to-back days, and the first time since April 8-9, 2016.
*Evan Gattis hit the go-ahead sac fly in the 10th and went 1x4 with an RBI.
*Yuli Gurriel homered, doubled, and scored twice. It's his 25th multi-hit game of the season - the Astros are 21-4 in such games.
*George Springer was 0x4 with 3Ks. Marwin was 0x4 with two GIDPs.
*Alex Bregman drew his 50th walk of the season last night. Only four Astros drew 50+ walks in 2017, and George Springer led the team with 64. Bregman has a 13.0% BB-rate. Ten Astros have combined for 36 individual seasons with a BB-rate over 13.0%.
Jeff Bagwell (10 times with at least a 13.0% BB-rate), Lance Berkman (9 times), Joe Morgan (6 times), Jimmy Wynn (5 times), Denis Menke, Joe Ferguson, Bill Doran, Craig Biggio, Morgan Ensberg, and Dexter Fowler (1 time each).
Bregman would be the 11th player in franchise history, should this pace hold.
*Houston has now hit a home run in 27 consecutive road games, three shy of Oakland's MLB record.
*Carlos Correa - eligible to come off the DL tomorrow - still has not been cleared for baseball activities.
*Despite McCann's surgery and Stassi's hand - which is feeling "better than expected" - Evan Gattis will remain the primary DH. Hinch:
Obviously, I like what he's doing as the DH and I want him to do that. Stassi and (Federowicz) will get the innings behind the plate....Gattis is going to catch a bullpen today and is still doing minimum things to keep himself viable in case something happens, but not as a primary catcher.
*Jake Kaplan has a cool article in The Athletic on Justin Verlander's immaculate preparation for a start.
*MLB.com's Mark Feinsand has five relievers the Astros could target this month. A Feinsand source:
It's going to be really hard for them to upgrade given that adding someone means pushing a capable - even good - reliever like Sipp, Harris, or McHugh off the playoff roster. There's pressure to do something, but it doesn't really make sense.
The five possible relievers include Zach Britton, Miami's Adam Conley, San Diego's Brad Hand, Cincinnati's Raisel Iglesias, and Oakland's Blake Treinen.
*Here's a cool story from the Chronicle's A&M beat writer Brent Zwerneman, on his Uncle Jimmy.
*The Astros have a season-long 11-game homestand starting tonight against the White Sox, whom the Astros swept and outscored 27-2 from April 20-22.
*The strange brain of the world's greatest solo climber.
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Tuesday Morning Hot Links
Short Hot Links because the Astros were off last night, and there's not much to report or discuss things about which to make jokes. They had played 38 games in 41 days. Tonight starts 13 games in 13 days until the All-Star Break. Houston is 2-6 following an off-day this season.
*Alex Bregman was named the American League Player of the Week after hitting .464/.516/1.179 for the week and also American League Player of the Month after hitting .306/.372/.713 in June.
*It has apparently been confirmed that the Astros have shown interest in Reds reliever Raisel Iglesias. Since taking over the closer role for Cincinnati in 2016, Iglesias ranks 28th among qualified relievers with 2.9 fWAR. For comparison's sake, Chris Devenski and Ken Giles rank 8th and 9th with 4.7 and 4.1 fWAR, respectively.
That said, Iglesias ranks 6th in LOB% at 84.4%. He has a 2.34 ERA belied by a 3.13 FIP and 3.56 xFIP. Iglesias' 9.3% HR/FB rate is tied with Ken Giles for 39th out of 160 qualified relievers since 2016. That said, Iglesias has a 2.52 ERA in 2018 (again outperforming his peripherals: 3.92 FIP, 3.57 xFIP) and has stranded 90.6% of baserunners.
*Today is the Astros' last visit to The Ballpark at The Colony of 2018, and it holds a special place in Evan Gattis' giant heart.
*Yesterday was July 2, the first day teams can sign international free agents - another way that MLB has set up The System to screw over the talent. Anyhow, the Astros signed 14 international free agents:
RHP Reimy Beltre (Dominican Republic), RHP Carlos Calderon (Dominican Republic), OF Omar Diaz (Dominican Republic), SS Cristian Gonzalez (Dominican Republic), OF Jairo Jose (Dominican Republic), OF Jesus Liranzo (Dominican Republic), SS Yohander Martinez (Venezuela), SS Ayendy Ortiz (Dominican Republic), RHP Daniel Pacheco (Venezuela), C Miguel Palma (Venezuela), OF Frank Perez (Cuba), RHP Johangel Ramirez (Venezuela), OF Tomas Ramirez (Dominican Republic), RHP Danny Subero (Venezuela)
*A major British pub chain ran the risk of not having any beer ahead of today's England v Colombia match.
*Alex Bregman was named the American League Player of the Week after hitting .464/.516/1.179 for the week and also American League Player of the Month after hitting .306/.372/.713 in June.
*It has apparently been confirmed that the Astros have shown interest in Reds reliever Raisel Iglesias. Since taking over the closer role for Cincinnati in 2016, Iglesias ranks 28th among qualified relievers with 2.9 fWAR. For comparison's sake, Chris Devenski and Ken Giles rank 8th and 9th with 4.7 and 4.1 fWAR, respectively.
That said, Iglesias ranks 6th in LOB% at 84.4%. He has a 2.34 ERA belied by a 3.13 FIP and 3.56 xFIP. Iglesias' 9.3% HR/FB rate is tied with Ken Giles for 39th out of 160 qualified relievers since 2016. That said, Iglesias has a 2.52 ERA in 2018 (again outperforming his peripherals: 3.92 FIP, 3.57 xFIP) and has stranded 90.6% of baserunners.
*Today is the Astros' last visit to The Ballpark at The Colony of 2018, and it holds a special place in Evan Gattis' giant heart.
*Yesterday was July 2, the first day teams can sign international free agents - another way that MLB has set up The System to screw over the talent. Anyhow, the Astros signed 14 international free agents:
RHP Reimy Beltre (Dominican Republic), RHP Carlos Calderon (Dominican Republic), OF Omar Diaz (Dominican Republic), SS Cristian Gonzalez (Dominican Republic), OF Jairo Jose (Dominican Republic), OF Jesus Liranzo (Dominican Republic), SS Yohander Martinez (Venezuela), SS Ayendy Ortiz (Dominican Republic), RHP Daniel Pacheco (Venezuela), C Miguel Palma (Venezuela), OF Frank Perez (Cuba), RHP Johangel Ramirez (Venezuela), OF Tomas Ramirez (Dominican Republic), RHP Danny Subero (Venezuela)
*A major British pub chain ran the risk of not having any beer ahead of today's England v Colombia match.
Monday, July 2, 2018
Monday Morning Hot Links
Tropicana Field is stupid and no one should ever play there. Not even the Rays, who should be relocated to Nashville or Portland or Montreal or Mexico City. The Astros lost three of four against the Rays and four of seven in the season series. Sure hope the Astros don't catch them in the playoffs. Houston is 55-31, and 16 of those losses have been by one run.
*A.J. Hinch:
We didn't do enough to win the game or win the series. We made some mental errors, we had some big moments that they executed some pitches. One-run games, a couple of losses this series, are tough to swallow. We'll take it to the next city, but this one sucks.
Indeed.
*Houston had the bases loaded with one out in the 8th. Altuve struck out on a 10-pitch PA and Gurriel grounded out to end the inning.
*Houston has scored two or fewer runs in four straight games, breaking the previous season-high of three games from April 30-May 2.
*Charlie F. Morton threw a deliciously symmetrical 6.2IP, 6H/2ER, with 11K:2BB and most definitely did not deserve to lose. Both runs were actually allowed by Chris Devenski. It was his second straight double-digit strikeout game for the first time in his career. Morton has struck out 24 of the last 54 batters he has faced. Morton threw a first-pitch strike to 21 of the 28 batters he faced yesterday.
*Mallex Smith hit what proved to be the game-winning home run. It was his first home run since tagging Yu Darvish on July 21, 2017.
*Blake Snell is a legit starting pitcher. In two starts against Houston this year he's thrown 14.1IP, 7H/2ER, 16K:8BB. He walked seven batters in his start last weekend. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in eight of his last nine starts.
*The Astros got five hits. It's the 17th time this season that Houston has recorded five or fewer hits. They're 4-13 in those games. They went 0x14 w/RISP in the series.
*Evan Gattis got two solo home runs to account for all the scoring. It was Gattis' 3rd 2HR game of the season, the 11th such game of his career. All seven runs the Astros scored in this series were via homer.
*Josh Reddick hesitated on throwing a ball into the infield to protect a 1-0 lead. Reddick:
I just kind of froze. There's no excuse for screwing that up. I've got to get the ball in, and even if I throw it home early, we're still playing the ball game right now.
*Cionel Perez was optioned back to Corpus without having thrown a pitch, but I guess he got to sleep in a nice hotel in Tampa. Why? With Springer nursing a back injury, the Astros decided to keep A.J. Reed.
Common Opponents with the Mariners:
Anaheim: Houston 3-3, Seattle 4-2
Arlington: Houston 10-4, Seattle 5-4
Baltimore: Houston 3-0, Seattle 4-0
Boston: Houston: 2-2, Seattle 3-4
Chicago WS: Houston 3-0, Seattle 2-1
Cleveland: Houston 4-3, Seattle 5-2
Kansas City: Houston 5-1, Seattle 5-1
Minnesota: Houston 1-2, Seattle 5-1
New York: Houston 2-5, Seattle 0-3
Oakland: Houston 8-1, Seattle 6-3
San Francisco: Houston 2-0, Seattle 1-1
Tampa Bay: Houston 3-4, Seattle 5-1
Toronto: Houston 2-1, Seattle 2-1
The Mariners won another one-run game. 26 of their 54 wins have been by one run. This is extremely stupid.
Off-Day Playoff Odds Watch:
Projected Record:
FanGraphs: 103-59
FiveThirtyEight: 103-59
Baseball Prospectus: 101-51
% to win AL West:
FanGraphs: 95.2%
FiveThirtyEight: 82%
Baseball Prospectus: 89.7%
% to win World Series:
FanGraphs: 24.5%
FiveThirtyEight: 23%
Baseball Prospectus: 16.5%
*Josh James threw 5IP, 1H/3ER, 12K:4BB in a hard-luck loss to Sacramento. Fresno out-hit Sacramento 10-3, yet lost 3-1. Myles Straw was 4x5 with a stolen base, his 44th of 2018.
*Andy Pineda, a 21-year old CF who has been in the Astros' system since 2014, playing in his 6th game of 2018 and his 2nd above Tri-City, hit two home runs for Corpus in a 5-2 win.
*Seth Beer was 4x5 with an RBI in a 3-2 Quad Cities win over Kane County. He has seven multi-hit games in his 15 career pro games.
*Here's a great piece from Jesse Sanchez on the five ways MLB teams get international talent.
*Jon Heyman writes that the price tag on Padres' lefty reliever Brad Hand is going up.
*SI's Lee Jenkins: How Lebron ended up in LA.
*A.J. Hinch:
We didn't do enough to win the game or win the series. We made some mental errors, we had some big moments that they executed some pitches. One-run games, a couple of losses this series, are tough to swallow. We'll take it to the next city, but this one sucks.
Indeed.
*Houston had the bases loaded with one out in the 8th. Altuve struck out on a 10-pitch PA and Gurriel grounded out to end the inning.
*Houston has scored two or fewer runs in four straight games, breaking the previous season-high of three games from April 30-May 2.
*Charlie F. Morton threw a deliciously symmetrical 6.2IP, 6H/2ER, with 11K:2BB and most definitely did not deserve to lose. Both runs were actually allowed by Chris Devenski. It was his second straight double-digit strikeout game for the first time in his career. Morton has struck out 24 of the last 54 batters he has faced. Morton threw a first-pitch strike to 21 of the 28 batters he faced yesterday.
*Mallex Smith hit what proved to be the game-winning home run. It was his first home run since tagging Yu Darvish on July 21, 2017.
*Blake Snell is a legit starting pitcher. In two starts against Houston this year he's thrown 14.1IP, 7H/2ER, 16K:8BB. He walked seven batters in his start last weekend. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in eight of his last nine starts.
*The Astros got five hits. It's the 17th time this season that Houston has recorded five or fewer hits. They're 4-13 in those games. They went 0x14 w/RISP in the series.
*Evan Gattis got two solo home runs to account for all the scoring. It was Gattis' 3rd 2HR game of the season, the 11th such game of his career. All seven runs the Astros scored in this series were via homer.
*Josh Reddick hesitated on throwing a ball into the infield to protect a 1-0 lead. Reddick:
I just kind of froze. There's no excuse for screwing that up. I've got to get the ball in, and even if I throw it home early, we're still playing the ball game right now.
*Cionel Perez was optioned back to Corpus without having thrown a pitch, but I guess he got to sleep in a nice hotel in Tampa. Why? With Springer nursing a back injury, the Astros decided to keep A.J. Reed.
Common Opponents with the Mariners:
Anaheim: Houston 3-3, Seattle 4-2
Arlington: Houston 10-4, Seattle 5-4
Baltimore: Houston 3-0, Seattle 4-0
Boston: Houston: 2-2, Seattle 3-4
Chicago WS: Houston 3-0, Seattle 2-1
Cleveland: Houston 4-3, Seattle 5-2
Kansas City: Houston 5-1, Seattle 5-1
Minnesota: Houston 1-2, Seattle 5-1
New York: Houston 2-5, Seattle 0-3
Oakland: Houston 8-1, Seattle 6-3
San Francisco: Houston 2-0, Seattle 1-1
Tampa Bay: Houston 3-4, Seattle 5-1
Toronto: Houston 2-1, Seattle 2-1
The Mariners won another one-run game. 26 of their 54 wins have been by one run. This is extremely stupid.
Off-Day Playoff Odds Watch:
Projected Record:
FanGraphs: 103-59
FiveThirtyEight: 103-59
Baseball Prospectus: 101-51
% to win AL West:
FanGraphs: 95.2%
FiveThirtyEight: 82%
Baseball Prospectus: 89.7%
% to win World Series:
FanGraphs: 24.5%
FiveThirtyEight: 23%
Baseball Prospectus: 16.5%
*Josh James threw 5IP, 1H/3ER, 12K:4BB in a hard-luck loss to Sacramento. Fresno out-hit Sacramento 10-3, yet lost 3-1. Myles Straw was 4x5 with a stolen base, his 44th of 2018.
*Andy Pineda, a 21-year old CF who has been in the Astros' system since 2014, playing in his 6th game of 2018 and his 2nd above Tri-City, hit two home runs for Corpus in a 5-2 win.
*Seth Beer was 4x5 with an RBI in a 3-2 Quad Cities win over Kane County. He has seven multi-hit games in his 15 career pro games.
*Here's a great piece from Jesse Sanchez on the five ways MLB teams get international talent.
*Jon Heyman writes that the price tag on Padres' lefty reliever Brad Hand is going up.
*SI's Lee Jenkins: How Lebron ended up in LA.
Friday, June 15, 2018
Friday Morning Hot Links
*The Astros don't bring bats they bring brooms. The Astros won their 8th straight game, doing with the schedule exactly what they're supposed to do. They're 45-25.
Let's let Jake Kaplan start us off:
*With the 2-1 Mariners loss to the Red Sox, the Astros are a half-game up on 44-25 Seattle, back in sole possession of 1st place for the first time since June 1. The Astros are 8-1 against Oakland in 2018, outscoring them 70-28. The Astros are 25-10 against AL West opponents. Hinch:
It happens fast when we're at our best. We can get after you and then we stay after you. We're not going to be perfect all the time, but when we are good like this and putting up runs, we're pretty tough.
*Hinch, on the Astros' road success:
Our success lately on the road is getting talked about, but we don't show up to a ballpark anywhere in the league we don't feel good about.
*The Astros have scored 5+ runs in seven of the eight games on this winning streak, and 7+ runs in five games.
*Brian McCann hit his 5th home run of the season, his first since May 20.
*Altuve, Correa, Reddick, Marwin, and Tony Kemp each had two hits.
*It was Josh Reddick's 9th 2+ hit game, and his second in the last three games. Since returning from the DL Reddick is hitting .269/.321/.269.
*Alex Bregman got the rare leadoff appearance, what with Springer getting the day off, and he went 0x4 with a walk. It was his first time hitting leadoff this season, and his third time in his career. He's 2x10 with a .200/.429/.400 line. He has a 25-game on-base streak, second-longest in the Majors (behind Shin-Soo Choo's 28 games)
*Justin Verlander threw 7IP, 5H/3ER, 7K:0BB. It was Verlander's second straight start with 3ER and his ERA is a miserable 1.61. All three runs came via the home run. He has allowed eight home runs in 2018, three of them in the last two games. Verlander's ERA by month:
March: 0.00
April: 1.60
May: 0.86
June: 3.79
Verlander:
It's nice to have your team hot, you just want to be the guy to keep it going. The run support is awesome. It's fun to be a part of keeping the rhythm and keeping the momentum on our side.
A's manager Bob Melvin:
For me, the psychology of a starting pitcher goes a long way. Granted, they have a great lineup, they do things across the board well. But their starting pitchers get your attention, and when they score runs early in the game, you tend to press a little bit and think you have to do too much right away. It does start with their starting pitchers, no doubt about it.
*Jake Kaplan: The resurgence of Evan Gattis gives the Astros one less thing to worry about at the deadline, which is now six weeks away. Also in The Athletic, Emily Waldon takes a look at four minor-league arms that are almost major-league ready.
*Brian T. Smith: The 2018 Astros are better than the 2017 Astros.
*Here's a three-minute video on whether the Astros are the team to beat in the AL. And here's one with Jonah Keri on the Astros' achilles heel.
*Apparently the Yankees hold the Vegas edge on winning the World Series.
*That's it. I gotta go.
Let's let Jake Kaplan start us off:
Astros' best records through 70 games of a season— Jake Kaplan (@jakemkaplan) June 15, 2018
2017: 46-24
2018: 45-25
1998: 43-27
1980: 43-27
1972: 42-28
1999: 42-28
*With the 2-1 Mariners loss to the Red Sox, the Astros are a half-game up on 44-25 Seattle, back in sole possession of 1st place for the first time since June 1. The Astros are 8-1 against Oakland in 2018, outscoring them 70-28. The Astros are 25-10 against AL West opponents. Hinch:
It happens fast when we're at our best. We can get after you and then we stay after you. We're not going to be perfect all the time, but when we are good like this and putting up runs, we're pretty tough.
*Hinch, on the Astros' road success:
Our success lately on the road is getting talked about, but we don't show up to a ballpark anywhere in the league we don't feel good about.
*The Astros have scored 5+ runs in seven of the eight games on this winning streak, and 7+ runs in five games.
*Brian McCann hit his 5th home run of the season, his first since May 20.
*Altuve, Correa, Reddick, Marwin, and Tony Kemp each had two hits.
*It was Josh Reddick's 9th 2+ hit game, and his second in the last three games. Since returning from the DL Reddick is hitting .269/.321/.269.
*Alex Bregman got the rare leadoff appearance, what with Springer getting the day off, and he went 0x4 with a walk. It was his first time hitting leadoff this season, and his third time in his career. He's 2x10 with a .200/.429/.400 line. He has a 25-game on-base streak, second-longest in the Majors (behind Shin-Soo Choo's 28 games)
*Justin Verlander threw 7IP, 5H/3ER, 7K:0BB. It was Verlander's second straight start with 3ER and his ERA is a miserable 1.61. All three runs came via the home run. He has allowed eight home runs in 2018, three of them in the last two games. Verlander's ERA by month:
March: 0.00
April: 1.60
May: 0.86
June: 3.79
Verlander:
It's nice to have your team hot, you just want to be the guy to keep it going. The run support is awesome. It's fun to be a part of keeping the rhythm and keeping the momentum on our side.
A's manager Bob Melvin:
For me, the psychology of a starting pitcher goes a long way. Granted, they have a great lineup, they do things across the board well. But their starting pitchers get your attention, and when they score runs early in the game, you tend to press a little bit and think you have to do too much right away. It does start with their starting pitchers, no doubt about it.
*Jake Kaplan: The resurgence of Evan Gattis gives the Astros one less thing to worry about at the deadline, which is now six weeks away. Also in The Athletic, Emily Waldon takes a look at four minor-league arms that are almost major-league ready.
*Brian T. Smith: The 2018 Astros are better than the 2017 Astros.
*Here's a three-minute video on whether the Astros are the team to beat in the AL. And here's one with Jonah Keri on the Astros' achilles heel.
*Apparently the Yankees hold the Vegas edge on winning the World Series.
*That's it. I gotta go.
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