*I feel like the Astros are in one of those New England college basketball conferences, ones where it feels like (just by watching the ticker at the bottom of ESPN) Iona, Siena, Albany, and Binghamton play each other 100 times during the season. The Astros are in that conference, only playing the Mets, Nationals, and Cardinals.
Iona beat Siena 2-0 yesterday. Carlos Correa hit his 1st home run of the Spring. Justin Verlander was dealing: 7IP, 5H/0ER, 3K:1BB. Verlander:
I was around the zone a lot, my offspeed stuff probably wasn't as sharp as it's been this spring today. But I was still able to make some good pitches, quality pitches when I needed to. If anything, I might have been around the zone too much, but overall, it was a good day.
*Big news of the day yesterday was the Astros officially announcing the Altuve extension. Here are the details, year by year:
Upon approval by the Commissioner's office: $1m
2018 salary: $6m
July 1, 2018: $10m signing bonus
2019 salary: $6.5m
July 1, 2019: $10m signing bonus
2020 salary: $26m
2021 salary: $26m
2022 salary: $26m
2023 salary: $26m
2024 salary: $26m
So the Astros will officially pay Jose Altuve more in 2018 than they will, say, Tony Sipp. I'll have a breakdown of future payroll soon. Notice that the deal kicks in right in as Verlander's deal comes off the books.
Luhnow:
We'd love to keep all the guys I'm looking at here for their entire careers. Jim is committed to keeping the best team on the field for as long as possible and giving us a chance to win multiple championships, and part of that is developing our own players and keeping our own players and bringing in the right types of players. And we've done that. We'll see what the future holds but we certainly have a desire and an intention to keep our core together as long as possible.
*Sean Pendergast has four thoughts on the Altuve deal.
*USA Today's Jorge L. Ortiz says Altuve can make more money with bonuses for awards and a no-trade clause. Agent Scott Boras:
This was a goal of his, because he was able to stay in Houston, he got a value he was proud of. This contract represents a five-year, over $30 million commitment, which only one other (position) player has in all of baseball at that: his countryman Miguel Cabrera. It gave him respect.
*Brian McTaggart says the Astros back-to-back tour has started.
*Brian T. Smith writes that it's easy to believe the Astros have a decent encore prepared.
*A couple of pieces from Jake Kaplan in The Athletic worth reading:
-After years of discussions, the Astros and Altuve struck another long-term deal.
-Q&A with new bench coach Joe Espada. Espada was the Yankees' 3B coach, and about that ALCS:
...How clean (Houston) played in that series, credit goes to the coaching staff and how good these players are. That's one of the reasons why I said, 'I've gotta be an Astro.'
*A.J. Reed came to Spring Training down 25 pounds, hit .298/.365/.511, and just got optioned to minor-league camp. It's obviously now between J.D. Davis and Tyler White on who makes the Opening Day roster - and I still think the bulk of the 1B reps while Gurriel is out will be held down by Marwin.
*Gerrit Cole can't stop smiling.
*Baseball America posted their Bold Predictions for the 2018 season which includes the Astros winning the AL West but only one writer picking them to win the Pennant, and then lose the World Series.
*"Can Derek Fisher play left field" is one of Richard Justice's ten burning questions for 2018.
*Here's a cool story in his hometown paper about Astros' manager of research & development Colin Wyers.
*Brandon Bailey - who came to Houston from Oakland in the Ramon Laureano trade - has a fun blog post about a recent day in camp.
*Further proof that Jeff Luhnow is an omnipotent cyborg: Franklin Perez, the center-piece of the Verlander deal, has a lat strain and will be out for three months minimum.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
Showing posts with label Franklin Perez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Franklin Perez. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Monday, February 12, 2018
Monday Morning Hot Links
*The Astros work out this week.
*Other teams are interested in Collin McHugh. Like the Twins and, notably, the Orioles. MASN's Roch Kubatko:
It's just a matter, and not a small one, of coming up with a match. What are the Astros seeking in return? What are the Orioles willing to surrender from their farm system? McHugh isn't eligible for free agency until 2020.
Watch the Orioles agree to a deal and find that McHugh had a headache last year and back out. Also, gimme catcher Chance Sisco and we're good. I love Collin McHugh, though.
*Check out Baseball Prospectus' Depth Chart projection of the 2018 MLB season, in which the Astros scrape out a 16-game division win over the Mariners. Here's the playing time projection, as well.
*MLBTR's Tim Dierkes reports that Chris Devenski - who will be arbitration-eligible after the 2018 season - switched agencies and is now represented by the MVP Sports Group, which vaguely sounds like a place where you could watch SportsCenter whilst you get your hair cut. Their website is Basic. Other players the MVP Sports Group represent on MLB rosters include (all names courtesy of the Baseball-Reference Contracts page for each team):
Josh Donaldson, Joey Votto, Danny Espinosa, Yonder Alonso, Matt Davidson, Derek Norris, Carlos Martinez, and Sean Rodriguez. That's it.
Speaking of agencies, here's the agent for each Astros player (source: B-Ref Contracts):
Scott Boras: Jose Altuve, Dallas Keuchel, Marwin Gonzalez, Gerrit Cole, Lance McCullers
The Legacy Agency: George Springer, Evan Gattis, Carlos Correa
ACES: Josh Reddick, Brad Peacock
ISE Baseball: Justin Verlander
BB Abbott: Brian McCann
Bledsoe Brothers: Tony Sipp
Meister Sports Mgmt: Joe Smith
Jet Sports Mgmt: Charlie Morton
Sosnick/Cobbe: Jon Singleton
Gavin Kahn: Will Harris
Octagon: Hector Rondon
Rowley Sports Mgmt: Ken Giles
Reynolds Sports Mgmt: Jake Marisnick
ISE Baseball: Tim Federowicz
Moye Sports Association: Collin McHugh
CAA Sports: Anthony Gose
Wasserman Media Group: Max Stassi
Ballengee Group: Tyler White
*An Astro doesn't crack Joel Sherman's MLB's Most 50 Interesting People for 2018 list, that somehow includes Tim Tebow, until Altuve at #24.
*Help out the Refugio Little League, still feeling the effects of Hurricane Harvey.
*Former Astros Great Brandon Laird, who played with Shohei Ohtani in Japan, told the OC Register:
At his age, he's one of the best, if not the best player I've ever seen or had the chance to play with. He's almost like a 10-tool player, a pitcher and hitter who can do it all.
*The Angels are looking to add Rays SP Jake Odorizzi, hoping that him, Ohtani, and a full season Mike Trout minus Pujols-on-a-walker can equal a 21-game improvement.
*The Seattle Times' Ryan Divish: More skepticism than optimism for the 2018 Mariners' fan base.
*This is potentially the last Spring Training the Rangers will have with Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre, and Cole Hamels.
*"He's the real deal. You just watch him play catch, and you're like, 'Damn.'" Anthony Fenech on the Tigers' new prospect Franklin Perez.
*Sung Min Kim: The Top MLB Prospects in Asia.
*Popular Mechanics: No one told Babe Ruth he had cancer, but his death changed the way we fight it.
*The Difficulty is the Point: Teaching Spoon-fed Students How to Really Read.
*David Grann (The Lost City of Z, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes) is on my shortlist of Greatest Living American Writers. His recent piece on a modern-day explorer channeling Shackleton in a trek across Antarctica is a great read.
*Other teams are interested in Collin McHugh. Like the Twins and, notably, the Orioles. MASN's Roch Kubatko:
It's just a matter, and not a small one, of coming up with a match. What are the Astros seeking in return? What are the Orioles willing to surrender from their farm system? McHugh isn't eligible for free agency until 2020.
Watch the Orioles agree to a deal and find that McHugh had a headache last year and back out. Also, gimme catcher Chance Sisco and we're good. I love Collin McHugh, though.
*Check out Baseball Prospectus' Depth Chart projection of the 2018 MLB season, in which the Astros scrape out a 16-game division win over the Mariners. Here's the playing time projection, as well.
*MLBTR's Tim Dierkes reports that Chris Devenski - who will be arbitration-eligible after the 2018 season - switched agencies and is now represented by the MVP Sports Group, which vaguely sounds like a place where you could watch SportsCenter whilst you get your hair cut. Their website is Basic. Other players the MVP Sports Group represent on MLB rosters include (all names courtesy of the Baseball-Reference Contracts page for each team):
Josh Donaldson, Joey Votto, Danny Espinosa, Yonder Alonso, Matt Davidson, Derek Norris, Carlos Martinez, and Sean Rodriguez. That's it.
Speaking of agencies, here's the agent for each Astros player (source: B-Ref Contracts):
Scott Boras: Jose Altuve, Dallas Keuchel, Marwin Gonzalez, Gerrit Cole, Lance McCullers
The Legacy Agency: George Springer, Evan Gattis, Carlos Correa
ACES: Josh Reddick, Brad Peacock
ISE Baseball: Justin Verlander
BB Abbott: Brian McCann
Bledsoe Brothers: Tony Sipp
Meister Sports Mgmt: Joe Smith
Jet Sports Mgmt: Charlie Morton
Sosnick/Cobbe: Jon Singleton
Gavin Kahn: Will Harris
Octagon: Hector Rondon
Rowley Sports Mgmt: Ken Giles
Reynolds Sports Mgmt: Jake Marisnick
ISE Baseball: Tim Federowicz
Moye Sports Association: Collin McHugh
CAA Sports: Anthony Gose
Wasserman Media Group: Max Stassi
Ballengee Group: Tyler White
*An Astro doesn't crack Joel Sherman's MLB's Most 50 Interesting People for 2018 list, that somehow includes Tim Tebow, until Altuve at #24.
*Help out the Refugio Little League, still feeling the effects of Hurricane Harvey.
*Former Astros Great Brandon Laird, who played with Shohei Ohtani in Japan, told the OC Register:
At his age, he's one of the best, if not the best player I've ever seen or had the chance to play with. He's almost like a 10-tool player, a pitcher and hitter who can do it all.
*The Angels are looking to add Rays SP Jake Odorizzi, hoping that him, Ohtani, and a full season Mike Trout minus Pujols-on-a-walker can equal a 21-game improvement.
*The Seattle Times' Ryan Divish: More skepticism than optimism for the 2018 Mariners' fan base.
*This is potentially the last Spring Training the Rangers will have with Elvis Andrus, Adrian Beltre, and Cole Hamels.
*"He's the real deal. You just watch him play catch, and you're like, 'Damn.'" Anthony Fenech on the Tigers' new prospect Franklin Perez.
*Sung Min Kim: The Top MLB Prospects in Asia.
*Popular Mechanics: No one told Babe Ruth he had cancer, but his death changed the way we fight it.
*The Difficulty is the Point: Teaching Spoon-fed Students How to Really Read.
*David Grann (The Lost City of Z, The Devil and Sherlock Holmes) is on my shortlist of Greatest Living American Writers. His recent piece on a modern-day explorer channeling Shackleton in a trek across Antarctica is a great read.
Friday, September 1, 2017
Thursday Morning Hot Links
Well yesterday sure was something. The Astros scored three runs in the 8th inning to beat the South Oklahoma Rangers of Arlington 5-1 and then added Justin Verlander last night at the actual last possible minute. The Astros are 80-53. The Astros have an 11.5-game lead on the Angels for the division, and a 3.5-game lead on the Indians for the AL's best record. There are 29 games left.
*Jon Heyman begrudgingly fist-bumped the Astros:
The Astros, who've taken hits for being cautious in trades and kept their biggest prospect off-limits in all other deals, made the bold move their critics figured they'd never make, landing exactly the kind of big-time pitcher they needed for a team that's talented but whose best starting pitchers haven't proved their durability yet.
*Ken Rosenthal:
No player, no trade, no team can fix the wreckage left by Hurricane Harvey. But the addition of Verlander sure helps on the field. Maybe, just maybe, it will provide a figurative ray of sunshine off the field as well.
*Bob Nightengale reports that the Tigers will pay $8m annually for the rest of Verlander's contract, putting the Astros on the hook for $20m in 2018 and 2019. Buster Olney says the Astros' triggering his option for 2020 was not part of the deal.
As soon as my nipples die down we'll have a post on the financial impact of adding $20m to the payroll.
*JJ Cooper writes that both sides benefited from this deal. You can read his thoughts on Perez, Cameron, and Rogers.
*Because I need to get ready for work, here's my initial thoughts after four and a half hours of sleep:
This was the deal the Astros had to make. I don't know how much impact the hurricane had on the decision-making process, but the Astros will get today off to see their families and help out the community and go into what ought to be a raucous Minute Maid Park for a doubleheader on Saturday with Verlander in the dugout. This is a massive addition, a shot in the arms of the team and the city. Franklin Perez might turn out to be one of MLB's best pitchers but for a team that had been dragging ass since the trade deadline, this is the September Surprise they need. For everyone focused on winning multiple World Series titles, you have to win the first one first. If it backfires, no one can blame the front office. Trading for Verlander isn't a Kazmir/Gomez deal where you think, "If things break right, this might be okay." This is a slam dunk decision. Now I'm off to focus on my breathing.
The Astros finished August with an 11-17 record, after having lost 17 of their first 59 games of the season. They entered August with a 69-36 record, a 16-game lead in the division, and an 11.5-game lead on the Yankees for the best record in the AL. They dropped eight games in the AL standings this month. Glad it's over, for many reasons.
The Game
First things first. Collin McHugh labored through 4.2IP, needing 91 pitches to hold the Rangers to 4H/1R (0ER), 3K:2BB. McHugh:
It's been a tough week. Obviously, we're really fortunate in so many ways, to have been able to escape the devastation that's actually happened in Houston. We've been away for a while, and we're all ready to get back home.
Devenski, who threw 2.1 scoreless IPs:
It's been tough on me because, in all reality, we should be there. We should have been there from the start of this.
A.J. Hinch got himself ejected for the first time this season arguing a catcher's interference call with home plate umpire Chris Segal when hey what's this here comes Joe West for some reason to save the day and toss Hinch. Hinch:
I understand he's protecting a younger umpire, but there was really no business for Joe to be involved in the argument. I didn't say anything that was necessary to get thrown out by the home plate umpires, and then Joe got involved and decided I was done for the day. It was just unnecessary.
*Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, and J.D. Davis had two hits each. Derek Fisher came in for Carlos Beltran after he got hit in the foot and delivered a 2-run single. In August, Fisher was 10x61 with two extra-base hits. Beltran:
Good win. The most important thing is that we're going home and we're going to have a chance to be with our families, hopefully bring a little bit of joy to the city. A lot of people are going through tough times.
Prediction: There will be at least four Astros on paternity leave come Summer 2018.
The Move(s)
*The Astros claimed Cameron Maybin off waivers yesterday. He doesn't hit a whole lot (.235/.333/.351 for the Angels this season, but he leads the AL with 29 stolen bases and will be a solid defensive replacement/pinch runner come October. McHugh:
He's a great athlete. We've seen him against us; I think he stole about 14 bases against us in a series. To have a guy like that - not only just another veteran presence, but a guy with athleticism and a guy who has been there before - I think it will be huge.
Story checks out. In the June 9-11 series (Maybin played on June 9 and 11), he was 5x8 with two walks and six stolen bases.
Hinch:
I said I got ejected just so I could make the call once we traded for him. I've got history with Cam; he's a great human, fun guy to be on our team. He's got a ton of speed and can play all three outfield positions. I'll work him in.
It's a straight salary dump by the Angels, so the Astros will pay him about $1.6m for the rest of the season.
*The Astros DFA'd Dayan Diaz.
*Oh yeah, and then at the literal last minute they could possibly add him to the team, the Astros traded Franklin Perez, Daz Cameron, and Jake Rogers to the Tigers for Justin Verlander. Verlander and Upton wanted to go to the Cubs, but Tigers officials - who were at Verlander's home - told him the Cubs weren't offering enough. Jon Morosi has the breathless, sweaty/shaky hands details:
If you're going anywhere, the Tigers told Verlander, it's going to be Houston. With barely a minute to spare, Verlander agreed to leave the only organization he's ever known.
*The deal was reported 18 minutes after the official deadline. Leading to super-stupid takes from idiots like this:
JUSTIN VERLANDER YOU CAN GO TO HELL, I HOPE YOU GET TO BE THE BEST PITCHER ON A 65-WIN TEAM AND I HOPE YOUR GIRL LEAVES YOU— Thickie Don (@AstrosCounty) September 1, 2017
/yawns Astros Twitter is so stupid.Cole Hamels and Justin Verlander can drink whiskey sours in the saddest, most scabies-ridden nightclub in America for all I care— Thickie Don (@AstrosCounty) September 1, 2017
*Lookit Jim Crane being all snarky:
We thought the deal was dead. We had tried previously. He's a quality pitcher. I think he's excited to come. He was a little reluctant and eventually made the right decision. We got him for a couple of more years and the team's intact.
*I guess lots of people think his fiancee is pretty.
*ESPN's David Schoenfield:
Given the unfathomable damage Hurricane Harvey has caused in Houston, the Astros will become America's Team as they go for the first World Series title, a rallying cry for the city and symbol of hope, much like the Yankees in 2001 after 9/11 and the Red Sox in 2013 after the Boston Marathon bombing.
— Josh Reddick (@RealJoshReddick) September 1, 2017
*Jon Heyman begrudgingly fist-bumped the Astros:
The Astros, who've taken hits for being cautious in trades and kept their biggest prospect off-limits in all other deals, made the bold move their critics figured they'd never make, landing exactly the kind of big-time pitcher they needed for a team that's talented but whose best starting pitchers haven't proved their durability yet.
*Ken Rosenthal:
No player, no trade, no team can fix the wreckage left by Hurricane Harvey. But the addition of Verlander sure helps on the field. Maybe, just maybe, it will provide a figurative ray of sunshine off the field as well.
*Bob Nightengale reports that the Tigers will pay $8m annually for the rest of Verlander's contract, putting the Astros on the hook for $20m in 2018 and 2019. Buster Olney says the Astros' triggering his option for 2020 was not part of the deal.
As soon as my nipples die down we'll have a post on the financial impact of adding $20m to the payroll.
*JJ Cooper writes that both sides benefited from this deal. You can read his thoughts on Perez, Cameron, and Rogers.
Nice work Astros. Where farm system depth kicks in. Have an equivalent or better prospect for each guy they traded.— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) September 1, 2017
*Because I need to get ready for work, here's my initial thoughts after four and a half hours of sleep:
This was the deal the Astros had to make. I don't know how much impact the hurricane had on the decision-making process, but the Astros will get today off to see their families and help out the community and go into what ought to be a raucous Minute Maid Park for a doubleheader on Saturday with Verlander in the dugout. This is a massive addition, a shot in the arms of the team and the city. Franklin Perez might turn out to be one of MLB's best pitchers but for a team that had been dragging ass since the trade deadline, this is the September Surprise they need. For everyone focused on winning multiple World Series titles, you have to win the first one first. If it backfires, no one can blame the front office. Trading for Verlander isn't a Kazmir/Gomez deal where you think, "If things break right, this might be okay." This is a slam dunk decision. Now I'm off to focus on my breathing.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Saturday Morning Hot Links
Keuchel back. A second consecutive great Keuchel start means things might finally be clicking, even if the Astros got held to three runs off a scuffling Sean Manaea. Astros win 3-1 to improve to 75-47. The Angels lost and the Red Sox won, so that's a 13-game division lead and a 4.5-game lead on Boston.
*Keuchel: 7IP, 3H/0ER, 3K:1BB - 17 groundball outs, one flyball out. Hinch:
He was awesome and really impressive with how he went about it with only one difficult inning they made him work. He's so fun to watch pitch when he can control contact the way he does, the ball's on the ground.
Keuchel:
It was probably the best movement I have had in a long time pre-injury.
*Bregman, on playing behind Keuchel:
It's fun to play behind him. You know you're going to get some ground balls that day, you know you've got to be on your toes, you know you've got to be at your best. He's the ace for a reason.
In his career, Keuchel is 5-3 with a 2.39 ERA/1.14 WHIP against Oakland.
*Chris Devenski allowed four home runs in 108.1IP in 2016. After last night's home run allowed, he's up to nine in 63.2IP in 2017.
*Ken Giles replaced Devenski one pitch into an at-bat and recorded a five-out save, five days after recording a six-out save. Giles, since the All-Star Break: 13 appearances, 14.1IP, 7H/2ER, 21K:3BB. 1.26 ERA/0.70 WHIP. Giles is loving it:
This is crunch time and I've got to be ready to do anything. I've got to be ready for two innings, three innings maybe. I'm going to be out there ready to go when he needs me.
*Bregman and Altuve went back-to-back in the 3rd inning. Six of the seven hits came from Altuve, Gurriel, and Reddick. It was Altuve's 50th multi-hit game, against 24 0-hit games.
*McTaggart notes that Bregman is hitting .324/.410/.619 since July 4.
*Correa took ground balls and ran the bases again while Harris and Sipp threw simulated innings to Evan Gattis. McCullers will throw a bullpen session on Sunday. Hinch, on McCullers:
If he can throw a really good live session, we don't feel like he is restricted in any way or holding back or tentative on the mound, we could possibly introduce a rehab assignment.
*The Astros should get McCann back late next week. He probably won't need a rehab assignment.
*SI's Jay Jaffe writes that the Astros need to make a trade for pitching help, but there aren't many options remaining.
*Jeff Luhnow doesn't mind if you @ him on the God-forsaken website Twitter dot com. But you might catch that block:
My rule is if you curse or say something very insulting or personal, you're blocked. I have 20-25 people I've blocked. Some people I've blocked and they asked me to unblock them and apologized for their comments, so I've unblocked a few too.
*The Astros won't renew the contracts of eight scouts this off-season. Here's hoping they hire me to make jokes and provide levity in trade talks.
*Rogelio Armenteros threw 7IP, 1H/0ER, 9K:2BB for Fresno last night. Armenteros' last four starts: 22.2IP, 17H/3ER, 37K:8BB. Let's let this guy make some September starts.
*Franklin Perez - the youngest pitcher in the Texas League (Forrest Whitley is second-youngest) - threw 6IP, 2H/2ER, 4K:2BB in last night's Corpus win. In his last four starts he's thrown 21IP, 14H/4ER, 18K:5BB. He's 19. The win was Rodney Linares' 231st win at Corpus, tying a franchise record.
*This is good to see:
*Keuchel: 7IP, 3H/0ER, 3K:1BB - 17 groundball outs, one flyball out. Hinch:
He was awesome and really impressive with how he went about it with only one difficult inning they made him work. He's so fun to watch pitch when he can control contact the way he does, the ball's on the ground.
Keuchel:
It was probably the best movement I have had in a long time pre-injury.
*Bregman, on playing behind Keuchel:
It's fun to play behind him. You know you're going to get some ground balls that day, you know you've got to be on your toes, you know you've got to be at your best. He's the ace for a reason.
In his career, Keuchel is 5-3 with a 2.39 ERA/1.14 WHIP against Oakland.
*Chris Devenski allowed four home runs in 108.1IP in 2016. After last night's home run allowed, he's up to nine in 63.2IP in 2017.
*Ken Giles replaced Devenski one pitch into an at-bat and recorded a five-out save, five days after recording a six-out save. Giles, since the All-Star Break: 13 appearances, 14.1IP, 7H/2ER, 21K:3BB. 1.26 ERA/0.70 WHIP. Giles is loving it:
This is crunch time and I've got to be ready to do anything. I've got to be ready for two innings, three innings maybe. I'm going to be out there ready to go when he needs me.
*Bregman and Altuve went back-to-back in the 3rd inning. Six of the seven hits came from Altuve, Gurriel, and Reddick. It was Altuve's 50th multi-hit game, against 24 0-hit games.
*McTaggart notes that Bregman is hitting .324/.410/.619 since July 4.
*Correa took ground balls and ran the bases again while Harris and Sipp threw simulated innings to Evan Gattis. McCullers will throw a bullpen session on Sunday. Hinch, on McCullers:
If he can throw a really good live session, we don't feel like he is restricted in any way or holding back or tentative on the mound, we could possibly introduce a rehab assignment.
*The Astros should get McCann back late next week. He probably won't need a rehab assignment.
*SI's Jay Jaffe writes that the Astros need to make a trade for pitching help, but there aren't many options remaining.
*Jeff Luhnow doesn't mind if you @ him on the God-forsaken website Twitter dot com. But you might catch that block:
My rule is if you curse or say something very insulting or personal, you're blocked. I have 20-25 people I've blocked. Some people I've blocked and they asked me to unblock them and apologized for their comments, so I've unblocked a few too.
*The Astros won't renew the contracts of eight scouts this off-season. Here's hoping they hire me to make jokes and provide levity in trade talks.
*Rogelio Armenteros threw 7IP, 1H/0ER, 9K:2BB for Fresno last night. Armenteros' last four starts: 22.2IP, 17H/3ER, 37K:8BB. Let's let this guy make some September starts.
*Franklin Perez - the youngest pitcher in the Texas League (Forrest Whitley is second-youngest) - threw 6IP, 2H/2ER, 4K:2BB in last night's Corpus win. In his last four starts he's thrown 21IP, 14H/4ER, 18K:5BB. He's 19. The win was Rodney Linares' 231st win at Corpus, tying a franchise record.
*This is good to see:
Very excited to be back doing what I love to do (😎🙈) pic.twitter.com/vlq9rW1TW5— Colin Moran (@morancolin92) August 18, 2017
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Saturday Morning Hot Links
And so, without George Springer, Carlos Correa, or Jose Altuve in the lineup, the Astros put up 16 on Toronto. Because of course. The Astros are 70-39. Seattle won again, so the lead is still 15 games. There are 53 games remaining.
*The Astros are 3-2 against the Blue Jays this season, but have outscored them 53-24 in those five games. Houston has scored 12+ runs in a game eleven times this season - three of them have come against the Blue Jays.
*Having scored seven runs in their previous three games, Houston scored nine runs in the 4th inning, the 3rd time this season they've had a 9+ run inning. They've had 21 innings of scoring 5+ runs or more. A season-high 15 batters came to the plate in the 4th. Their 6th 18+ hit game of the season is a franchise record.
*The Astros are the only AL team that has yet to endure at least a four-game losing streak.
*Home runs, last night:
-Yuli Gurriel (14)
-Alex Bregman (13)
-Marwin (20)
-Tyler White
-Tyler White
White was 4x5 with two home runs and 5RBI. White:
Everyone was swinging the bat. We were all seeing good pitches to hit and putting good swings on them. That's all you can do. We caught a few barrels and hit a few holes.
Bregman:
Everybody is fired up. We've done that a couple times this year. It's just a blast. Everyone is trying to put together quality at-bats and pass the torch to the next guy.
*McTaggart notes that Yulieski Gurriel tied Hunter Pence's franchise record of 30 doubles by a rookie.
*The Astros got ten 2-out RBIs, giving them 252 2-out RBIs on the season. The Astros have scored 265 runs with two outs this season.
2-out runs, American League:
Houston: 265
Arlington: 209
Baltimore: 202
Boston: 197
Tampa Bay: 197
Detroit: 194
Yankees: 193
Cleveland: 193
Minnesota: 183
Toronto: 181
White Sox: 178
Seattle: 178
Kansas City: 170
Anaheim: 166
Oakland: 155
So yeah, the Astros have scored 56 more runs - with two outs - than the next-highest run total in the American League.
*Brad Peacock took it on the chin, allowing 9H/7ER, 6K:2BB. Some numbers:
-Peacock had allowed two home runs all season long, and allowed three last night.
-Peacock had allowed 7ER in 26IP across five appearances in July, and allowed 7ER last night.
-He became the 3rd SP in franchise history to allow 7ER and record a win (Greg Swindell - 1993; J.R. Richard - 1975)
*Joe Musgrove's last five appearances: 9IP, 6H/1ER, 10K:1BB.
*James Hoyt threw a perfect inning in the 9th.
*Former Astros Great Nori Aoki got a standing ovation last night.
*The Astros called up J.D. Davis from Fresno, replacing A.J. Reed (who went 0x6 in his short stint with the Astros). In 16 games with Fresno, Davis hit .295/.370/.623 with 5HR.
*Correa will swing a bat next week, putting him a week ahead of his recovery timeline. Correa:
Everything the doctor told me, he's really impressed with the way I've been progressing and I'm way ahead of schedule. I'm going to swing the bat a week and a half earlier than I was supposed to. I'm very happy about that.
*Evan Gattis took the back end of Corey Dickerson's Thursday night swing to the back of the head, and says he has a concussion.
*FanGraphs: Jose Altuve's historic July and his MVP momentum.
*Jayson Stark says making a trade is harder than you think and that the Astros will have to "mash and bash" their way through the postseason, which he predicts will feature Washington vs. Houston.
*If the Astros want to make that big pitching acquisition, Justin Verlander reportedly cleared waivers and the Tigers can now trade him to any team.
*Peter Gammons wonders if the 2017 Dodgers are the 1998 Astros. And on the Trade Deadline That Wasn't, he mentions "Orioles people" who said that the Astros' offer for Zach Britton was "insulting." Gammons has a warning for the Astros:
The windows don't stay open as long as your laptops tell you
*1st Round pick J.B. Bukauskas made his pro debut, throwing 4IP, 3H/0ER, 3K:1BB in an 11-1 win over the GCL Nationals.
*Corpus' Franklin Perez retired 12 of the last 15 batters he faced, throwing 5IP, 7H/2R (1ER), 3K:0BB in a 3-2 win over Frisco. Riley Ferrell got his first save at Double-A, striking out three in 1.1IP.
*Here's a solid Hunter Atkins piece on the woman who sleeps across from Minute Maid Park.
*The Astros are 3-2 against the Blue Jays this season, but have outscored them 53-24 in those five games. Houston has scored 12+ runs in a game eleven times this season - three of them have come against the Blue Jays.
*Having scored seven runs in their previous three games, Houston scored nine runs in the 4th inning, the 3rd time this season they've had a 9+ run inning. They've had 21 innings of scoring 5+ runs or more. A season-high 15 batters came to the plate in the 4th. Their 6th 18+ hit game of the season is a franchise record.
*The Astros are the only AL team that has yet to endure at least a four-game losing streak.
*Home runs, last night:
-Yuli Gurriel (14)
-Alex Bregman (13)
-Marwin (20)
-Tyler White
-Tyler White
White was 4x5 with two home runs and 5RBI. White:
Everyone was swinging the bat. We were all seeing good pitches to hit and putting good swings on them. That's all you can do. We caught a few barrels and hit a few holes.
Bregman:
Everybody is fired up. We've done that a couple times this year. It's just a blast. Everyone is trying to put together quality at-bats and pass the torch to the next guy.
*McTaggart notes that Yulieski Gurriel tied Hunter Pence's franchise record of 30 doubles by a rookie.
*The Astros got ten 2-out RBIs, giving them 252 2-out RBIs on the season. The Astros have scored 265 runs with two outs this season.
2-out runs, American League:
Houston: 265
Arlington: 209
Baltimore: 202
Boston: 197
Tampa Bay: 197
Detroit: 194
Yankees: 193
Cleveland: 193
Minnesota: 183
Toronto: 181
White Sox: 178
Seattle: 178
Kansas City: 170
Anaheim: 166
Oakland: 155
So yeah, the Astros have scored 56 more runs - with two outs - than the next-highest run total in the American League.
*Brad Peacock took it on the chin, allowing 9H/7ER, 6K:2BB. Some numbers:
-Peacock had allowed two home runs all season long, and allowed three last night.
-Peacock had allowed 7ER in 26IP across five appearances in July, and allowed 7ER last night.
-He became the 3rd SP in franchise history to allow 7ER and record a win (Greg Swindell - 1993; J.R. Richard - 1975)
*Joe Musgrove's last five appearances: 9IP, 6H/1ER, 10K:1BB.
*James Hoyt threw a perfect inning in the 9th.
*Former Astros Great Nori Aoki got a standing ovation last night.
*The Astros called up J.D. Davis from Fresno, replacing A.J. Reed (who went 0x6 in his short stint with the Astros). In 16 games with Fresno, Davis hit .295/.370/.623 with 5HR.
*Correa will swing a bat next week, putting him a week ahead of his recovery timeline. Correa:
Everything the doctor told me, he's really impressed with the way I've been progressing and I'm way ahead of schedule. I'm going to swing the bat a week and a half earlier than I was supposed to. I'm very happy about that.
*Evan Gattis took the back end of Corey Dickerson's Thursday night swing to the back of the head, and says he has a concussion.
*FanGraphs: Jose Altuve's historic July and his MVP momentum.
*Jayson Stark says making a trade is harder than you think and that the Astros will have to "mash and bash" their way through the postseason, which he predicts will feature Washington vs. Houston.
*If the Astros want to make that big pitching acquisition, Justin Verlander reportedly cleared waivers and the Tigers can now trade him to any team.
*Peter Gammons wonders if the 2017 Dodgers are the 1998 Astros. And on the Trade Deadline That Wasn't, he mentions "Orioles people" who said that the Astros' offer for Zach Britton was "insulting." Gammons has a warning for the Astros:
The windows don't stay open as long as your laptops tell you
*1st Round pick J.B. Bukauskas made his pro debut, throwing 4IP, 3H/0ER, 3K:1BB in an 11-1 win over the GCL Nationals.
*Corpus' Franklin Perez retired 12 of the last 15 batters he faced, throwing 5IP, 7H/2R (1ER), 3K:0BB in a 3-2 win over Frisco. Riley Ferrell got his first save at Double-A, striking out three in 1.1IP.
*Here's a solid Hunter Atkins piece on the woman who sleeps across from Minute Maid Park.
I'm slowly coming to the conclusion Tyler White is the GOAT solely on this. pic.twitter.com/FNZPoJ3zc7— White & Aoki GOATs (@Transniqqa) August 4, 2017
Thursday, August 3, 2017
So who was traded at the deadline (and who do they compare to in the Astros' system?)
The "fallout" from the trade deadline continued today, with a variety of opinions coming to light. Dallas Keuchel said something, then took the loss after he gave up three ER in five innings of work. I didn't see or listen to the game, so I can't really comment, but he needed 87 pitches to finish five frames of work, walking two while striking out the same number, and recording 8 ground balls against 5 fly balls. He also gave up one home run. Hardly vintage Keuchel.
Ken Rosenthal also used his extensive industry contacts to shed more light on the Astros' inactivity at the deadline. The take home messages are that the Orioles suck to trade with, and that a second deal for a previously unmentioned high-end reliever also fell apart. If that was the case, then that perhaps sheds some light on the kind of deadline it was for the Front Office. Which is: about as frustrating as some of the fans and players may found it.
I recorded my thoughts on the deadline a few days ago. I guess these were focussed mainly on the lack of acquisition for a front-line starting pitcher, and how the Dodgers operate with their awesome farm system, amazing core (with youth) and unlimited monetary resources. The County Mountie also wrote about the Astros and their recent history at the trade deadline, and the take-home message for me is that nothing is certain at the deadline whatever you do. Stuff can go wrong in a hurry, regardless of whether you make a move, or sit tight.
Look, I am not a Front Office apologist, but I see the sense in doing less in terms of trading prospects at this point in time, rather than more. I also think that the prices for the teams that traded for assets are a little higher than what we realise. Consider this: as Astros fans, we all read the awesome work at What the Heck, Bobby and Astros Future, and because of this, we know who Franklin Perez and Framber Valdez are. We know about Garrett Stubbs and Jake Rogers battling it out to replace Brian McCann at the end of the 2018 season. We get excited about Jason Martin coming from nowhere into prospects lists. We can see Forrest Whitley throwing 250 innings of 3 ERA ball for much of the next decade, given his size, velocity and developing secondary pitches.
We are the most familiar with these guys. And, because of the concentration of media on some of the other markets (looking at you, New York and Boston), we know a little bit about the prospects in some major cities too. It is obvious for those following baseball outside the US that prospects in those cities are overhyped compared with prospects inside teams in smaller markets, mostly because multiple media outlets compete for original content, and writing a puff piece about someone who will redefine the game from their placement in AA is an easy filler story. Then the fans read that story, and think they have the second coming of Derek Jeter on their hands. The Astros don't have that same buzz, and therefore their is less hyping of their farm system.
But many of the guys traded on or prior to Monday we are probably less familiar with. I am interested in comparing some of those guys to players in the farm system that we are familiar with (the Astros system). This may allow us to more accurately put faces to names, and allow us to estimate the cost for each player using a currency that we are more familiar with. I don't have an axe to grind here - this is a genuine Socratic piece of questioning in an effort to explore what some major pieces could have cost.
So lets look at the trades of Sonny Gray, Yu Darvish, Jose Quintana and Addison Reed. We will mostly use prospect rankings from the major publicly available organisations (Baseball American most often) and Fangraphs' Future Value ranking (FV). This uses a single number to estimate the quality of the prospects, kind of like how WAR puts a single number of a player's performance but often leaves more questions than answers in doing so. The main problem with this technique is that we have to use the FV's from the beginning of the season for both trades, and a lot can change in that time. Kyle Tucker, for instance, was rated as having a 55FV at the beginning of the year - he may have jumped up a grade, given his body of work at AA as a 20-year old.
According to Fangraphs, the Astros' farm system at the beginning of the year looked something like this:
60 FV: Francis Martes
55 FV: Kyle Tucker
50 FV: Franklin Perez, Forrest Whitley, Ramon Laureano, David Paulino
45 FV: Derek Fisher, Teoscar Hernandez, Gilberto Celestino, Daz Cameron, Miguelangel Sierra
40 FV: Lionel Perez, Garrett Stubbs, Jandel Gustave, JD Davis, Ronnie Dawson, Framber Valdez, Hector Perez, Freud Nova, Jake Rogers, Lupe Chavez
Alright. Ready??
Trade 1: Jose Quintana for Elroy Jimenez (60 FV), Dylan Cease (45 FV), Matt Rose, Bryan Flete
Elroy Jimenez is nearly universally more highly rated than Kyle Tucker. He was ranked 5th prospect in baseball by BA and 8th by BP (Tucker was 11th and 14th respectively). More power, but likely less value in the field as he seems confined to LF. Some minor concerns about his strikeout rate. Elite bat, though. Kyle Tucker or Francis Martes comparisons are the only appropriate ones here.
Dylan Cease made the BA top-100 list (83rd), and apparently has a 70 grade fastball. But there are some concerns, as he is 21 and playing in Low-A. Hard to find a comparison here for Cease - Forrest Whitley is the closest placed Astro on the BA Top 100 list (58), whereas the preseason FV's suggest perhaps a Framber Valdez could be a similar pitching matchup. Dunno. Perhaps if we take the lesser-ranked Tucker, we need to take the higher-ranked Whitley to even it all out.
The remaining prospects seem like lottery tickets. I am not going to estimate them, as we have a great idea of the cost, I think.
Verdict: Kyle Tucker and Forrest Whitley, or Francis Martes and Framber Valdez, plus perhaps a couple of other players. Pick your poison. That seems expensive.
Trade 2: Yu Darvish for Willie Calhoun, AJ Alex and Brendon Davis
Willie Calhoun is the prize here. There is no simple way of putting this: he is short, stocky and can't run the bases or play the field. The scouts don't like him, because he represents a bat without a position. BA had him as #74, midseason. But the more statistical prospect evaluations love him, a and Fangraphs had him as the second best prospect traded at the deadline, behind the abovementioned Jimenez. He possesses a 55 FV, suggesting that Kyle Tucker comps are not unreasonable. He is closer to the majors, but has less value in the field and on the bases than Tucker.
AJ Alexy is 19 and is thought to have a number 4 or 5 starter upside. 45 FV, apparently. Again the Astros have no 45 FV pitchers currently, so perhaps take your pick between a pre-PED David Paulino and Framber Valdez. Hard to find an exact match.
Brendan Davis is a future corner infielder with some swing-and-miss, but some projectable power. He is only 20, and has managed to double his walk rate this year. 40 FV, apparently. An interesting prospect, but a lot of risk it seems. A less-advanced JD Davis may be a good comp.
Verdict: Tucker, Paulino / Valdez and Davis for two months of Yu Darvish. Anyone? This seems, uh, steep.
Trade 3: Sonny Gray for James Kaprielian, Dustin Fowler and Jorge Mateo
This one is a hard trade to evaluate. The Yankees acquired a starter whose arm could disintegrate at any moment and leave them with a valuable dust-like substance. The A's acquired two high injury risks, and one current performance risk. Both teams could look like bandits in a year or two here, and both could also look like they got hosed in a year or two. Note is made that the three prospects traded by the Yankees were ranked 4, 6 and 7 in their preseason rankings.
Perhaps you should just click this link. James Kaprielian could be a #1 power starter, or he may not return from injury as well as hoped. He has, potentially, four plus pitches combined with above-average velocity. He attracted a 50 FV on Fangraphs, but this was bumped down a little because of the injury risk. Hard to rank - I am guessing that a Franklin Perez comparison would be best, as he is the furtherest from the majors (and therefore the riskiest) of the 50 FV pitchers that the Astros have. This may be a little low.
Dustin Fowler was #89 on BA's top 100 list, and attracted a 50 FV from Fangraphs. He famously dissected his patellar tendon on the top of a Chicago wall during his ML debut, prior to his first plate appearance. The medical buzz is that this is a more serious knee injury than an intracapsular injury (such as an ACL tear), but I don't see it in my professional medical opinion (although I skipped most leg anatomy lectures in medical school - long story, don't ask). Patellar tendons or the more common injury of fractured kneecaps are repaired all the time. I can't see his knee being an ongoing issue. The counter argument is that speed is such an important component of Fowler's game that he can't afford to lose any. You decide.
So, 50 FV, an CF with speed, average power and plus contact. What is not to like?? This sounds like Derek Fisher to me (although he was #54 on BA's list, so perhaps a little too high). Don't like him?? How about Ramon Laureano (not ranked by BA, so perhaps imperfect in the opposite direction to Fisher).
Jorge Mateo is a middle infielder who is lightning quick - Billy Hamilton quick. He is blocked to a degree because of Gleyber Torres' presence at SS. The A's may shift him to CF to make his speed play up. He has struggled a little with the bat this year, and some shine appears to have come off his prospect status. Not ranked by BA, but Fangraphs has a 50 FV on him. Miguelangel Sierra seems to be the closest Astro to him, but he has a 45 FV. So again, an imperfect comparison.
Verdict: Looks like Franklin Perez, Derek Fisher and Miguelangel Sierra is the best fit for Sonny Grey. Anyone keen to bite?
Trade 4: Addison Reed for Jamie Callahan, Stephen Nogosek and Gerson Bautista
BA, shockingly, ranks none of the prospects that the Mets received in exchange for Addison Reed in their top 100. Fangraphs says little about them, too, ranking them all as 40 FV or below. Gerson Bautista, prior to the season, was the Red Sox's #15 prospect (first of the "other prospects of note"), and records a 95-99 mph fastball velocity along with a PED suspension. Nogosek also gets a pre-season honourable mention, noting that he is a "hard throwing right-on-right reliever". Callahan is described as having an unusual action, and being a "potential relief asset".
We are digging around in the bowels of the Astros' system here. I have no idea, but let's pretend that these three remind us of Patrick Sandoval, Dean Deetz and Riley Ferrell. I have a hat, and I am picking names out of it, so feel free to criticise. This is not an exact process.
Verdict: Patrick Sandoval, Dean Deetz and Riley Ferrell. I could stomach this, but Deetz has the upside of a starter, Sandoval is a lefty, and Ferrell seemed interesting until his arm problems, which should be fixable. I could also see this move backfiring should the Astros have made it.
Conclusion: This is not a good way of evaluating these trades, but at the least it was an interesting exercise. Before y'all get all apoplectic with rage, I just want to point out that the Astros that we try and value against the players given up are based on their pre-season evaluations. So remember how Kyle Tucker and Francis Martes made you feel prior to the season?? Compare these guys to that.
And although this isn't perfect, I hope that it puts a face on the prospect cost that the Astros might have faced. Some of these seem steep to me, aside from the Addison Reed trade, which is also the hardest to value. I certainly am not interested in trading for Sonny Gray or Yu Darvish at those potential prices. Jose Quintana seems a little more palatable, but pre-season Kyle Tucker was also considered a lesser prospect that Elroy Jimenez, so perhaps the Astros would have struggled to pull this one off in an manner equal to what the Cubs did.
Anyhow, this was interesting for me, at least. So, discuss in the comments, and argue some more, Astros fans. Thanks, again, for reading.
Ken Rosenthal also used his extensive industry contacts to shed more light on the Astros' inactivity at the deadline. The take home messages are that the Orioles suck to trade with, and that a second deal for a previously unmentioned high-end reliever also fell apart. If that was the case, then that perhaps sheds some light on the kind of deadline it was for the Front Office. Which is: about as frustrating as some of the fans and players may found it.
I recorded my thoughts on the deadline a few days ago. I guess these were focussed mainly on the lack of acquisition for a front-line starting pitcher, and how the Dodgers operate with their awesome farm system, amazing core (with youth) and unlimited monetary resources. The County Mountie also wrote about the Astros and their recent history at the trade deadline, and the take-home message for me is that nothing is certain at the deadline whatever you do. Stuff can go wrong in a hurry, regardless of whether you make a move, or sit tight.
Look, I am not a Front Office apologist, but I see the sense in doing less in terms of trading prospects at this point in time, rather than more. I also think that the prices for the teams that traded for assets are a little higher than what we realise. Consider this: as Astros fans, we all read the awesome work at What the Heck, Bobby and Astros Future, and because of this, we know who Franklin Perez and Framber Valdez are. We know about Garrett Stubbs and Jake Rogers battling it out to replace Brian McCann at the end of the 2018 season. We get excited about Jason Martin coming from nowhere into prospects lists. We can see Forrest Whitley throwing 250 innings of 3 ERA ball for much of the next decade, given his size, velocity and developing secondary pitches.
We are the most familiar with these guys. And, because of the concentration of media on some of the other markets (looking at you, New York and Boston), we know a little bit about the prospects in some major cities too. It is obvious for those following baseball outside the US that prospects in those cities are overhyped compared with prospects inside teams in smaller markets, mostly because multiple media outlets compete for original content, and writing a puff piece about someone who will redefine the game from their placement in AA is an easy filler story. Then the fans read that story, and think they have the second coming of Derek Jeter on their hands. The Astros don't have that same buzz, and therefore their is less hyping of their farm system.
But many of the guys traded on or prior to Monday we are probably less familiar with. I am interested in comparing some of those guys to players in the farm system that we are familiar with (the Astros system). This may allow us to more accurately put faces to names, and allow us to estimate the cost for each player using a currency that we are more familiar with. I don't have an axe to grind here - this is a genuine Socratic piece of questioning in an effort to explore what some major pieces could have cost.
So lets look at the trades of Sonny Gray, Yu Darvish, Jose Quintana and Addison Reed. We will mostly use prospect rankings from the major publicly available organisations (Baseball American most often) and Fangraphs' Future Value ranking (FV). This uses a single number to estimate the quality of the prospects, kind of like how WAR puts a single number of a player's performance but often leaves more questions than answers in doing so. The main problem with this technique is that we have to use the FV's from the beginning of the season for both trades, and a lot can change in that time. Kyle Tucker, for instance, was rated as having a 55FV at the beginning of the year - he may have jumped up a grade, given his body of work at AA as a 20-year old.
According to Fangraphs, the Astros' farm system at the beginning of the year looked something like this:
60 FV: Francis Martes
55 FV: Kyle Tucker
50 FV: Franklin Perez, Forrest Whitley, Ramon Laureano, David Paulino
45 FV: Derek Fisher, Teoscar Hernandez, Gilberto Celestino, Daz Cameron, Miguelangel Sierra
40 FV: Lionel Perez, Garrett Stubbs, Jandel Gustave, JD Davis, Ronnie Dawson, Framber Valdez, Hector Perez, Freud Nova, Jake Rogers, Lupe Chavez
Alright. Ready??
Trade 1: Jose Quintana for Elroy Jimenez (60 FV), Dylan Cease (45 FV), Matt Rose, Bryan Flete
Elroy Jimenez is nearly universally more highly rated than Kyle Tucker. He was ranked 5th prospect in baseball by BA and 8th by BP (Tucker was 11th and 14th respectively). More power, but likely less value in the field as he seems confined to LF. Some minor concerns about his strikeout rate. Elite bat, though. Kyle Tucker or Francis Martes comparisons are the only appropriate ones here.
Dylan Cease made the BA top-100 list (83rd), and apparently has a 70 grade fastball. But there are some concerns, as he is 21 and playing in Low-A. Hard to find a comparison here for Cease - Forrest Whitley is the closest placed Astro on the BA Top 100 list (58), whereas the preseason FV's suggest perhaps a Framber Valdez could be a similar pitching matchup. Dunno. Perhaps if we take the lesser-ranked Tucker, we need to take the higher-ranked Whitley to even it all out.
The remaining prospects seem like lottery tickets. I am not going to estimate them, as we have a great idea of the cost, I think.
Verdict: Kyle Tucker and Forrest Whitley, or Francis Martes and Framber Valdez, plus perhaps a couple of other players. Pick your poison. That seems expensive.
Trade 2: Yu Darvish for Willie Calhoun, AJ Alex and Brendon Davis
Willie Calhoun is the prize here. There is no simple way of putting this: he is short, stocky and can't run the bases or play the field. The scouts don't like him, because he represents a bat without a position. BA had him as #74, midseason. But the more statistical prospect evaluations love him, a and Fangraphs had him as the second best prospect traded at the deadline, behind the abovementioned Jimenez. He possesses a 55 FV, suggesting that Kyle Tucker comps are not unreasonable. He is closer to the majors, but has less value in the field and on the bases than Tucker.
AJ Alexy is 19 and is thought to have a number 4 or 5 starter upside. 45 FV, apparently. Again the Astros have no 45 FV pitchers currently, so perhaps take your pick between a pre-PED David Paulino and Framber Valdez. Hard to find an exact match.
Brendan Davis is a future corner infielder with some swing-and-miss, but some projectable power. He is only 20, and has managed to double his walk rate this year. 40 FV, apparently. An interesting prospect, but a lot of risk it seems. A less-advanced JD Davis may be a good comp.
Verdict: Tucker, Paulino / Valdez and Davis for two months of Yu Darvish. Anyone? This seems, uh, steep.
Trade 3: Sonny Gray for James Kaprielian, Dustin Fowler and Jorge Mateo
This one is a hard trade to evaluate. The Yankees acquired a starter whose arm could disintegrate at any moment and leave them with a valuable dust-like substance. The A's acquired two high injury risks, and one current performance risk. Both teams could look like bandits in a year or two here, and both could also look like they got hosed in a year or two. Note is made that the three prospects traded by the Yankees were ranked 4, 6 and 7 in their preseason rankings.
Perhaps you should just click this link. James Kaprielian could be a #1 power starter, or he may not return from injury as well as hoped. He has, potentially, four plus pitches combined with above-average velocity. He attracted a 50 FV on Fangraphs, but this was bumped down a little because of the injury risk. Hard to rank - I am guessing that a Franklin Perez comparison would be best, as he is the furtherest from the majors (and therefore the riskiest) of the 50 FV pitchers that the Astros have. This may be a little low.
Dustin Fowler was #89 on BA's top 100 list, and attracted a 50 FV from Fangraphs. He famously dissected his patellar tendon on the top of a Chicago wall during his ML debut, prior to his first plate appearance. The medical buzz is that this is a more serious knee injury than an intracapsular injury (such as an ACL tear), but I don't see it in my professional medical opinion (although I skipped most leg anatomy lectures in medical school - long story, don't ask). Patellar tendons or the more common injury of fractured kneecaps are repaired all the time. I can't see his knee being an ongoing issue. The counter argument is that speed is such an important component of Fowler's game that he can't afford to lose any. You decide.
So, 50 FV, an CF with speed, average power and plus contact. What is not to like?? This sounds like Derek Fisher to me (although he was #54 on BA's list, so perhaps a little too high). Don't like him?? How about Ramon Laureano (not ranked by BA, so perhaps imperfect in the opposite direction to Fisher).
Jorge Mateo is a middle infielder who is lightning quick - Billy Hamilton quick. He is blocked to a degree because of Gleyber Torres' presence at SS. The A's may shift him to CF to make his speed play up. He has struggled a little with the bat this year, and some shine appears to have come off his prospect status. Not ranked by BA, but Fangraphs has a 50 FV on him. Miguelangel Sierra seems to be the closest Astro to him, but he has a 45 FV. So again, an imperfect comparison.
Verdict: Looks like Franklin Perez, Derek Fisher and Miguelangel Sierra is the best fit for Sonny Grey. Anyone keen to bite?
Trade 4: Addison Reed for Jamie Callahan, Stephen Nogosek and Gerson Bautista
BA, shockingly, ranks none of the prospects that the Mets received in exchange for Addison Reed in their top 100. Fangraphs says little about them, too, ranking them all as 40 FV or below. Gerson Bautista, prior to the season, was the Red Sox's #15 prospect (first of the "other prospects of note"), and records a 95-99 mph fastball velocity along with a PED suspension. Nogosek also gets a pre-season honourable mention, noting that he is a "hard throwing right-on-right reliever". Callahan is described as having an unusual action, and being a "potential relief asset".
We are digging around in the bowels of the Astros' system here. I have no idea, but let's pretend that these three remind us of Patrick Sandoval, Dean Deetz and Riley Ferrell. I have a hat, and I am picking names out of it, so feel free to criticise. This is not an exact process.
Verdict: Patrick Sandoval, Dean Deetz and Riley Ferrell. I could stomach this, but Deetz has the upside of a starter, Sandoval is a lefty, and Ferrell seemed interesting until his arm problems, which should be fixable. I could also see this move backfiring should the Astros have made it.
Conclusion: This is not a good way of evaluating these trades, but at the least it was an interesting exercise. Before y'all get all apoplectic with rage, I just want to point out that the Astros that we try and value against the players given up are based on their pre-season evaluations. So remember how Kyle Tucker and Francis Martes made you feel prior to the season?? Compare these guys to that.
And although this isn't perfect, I hope that it puts a face on the prospect cost that the Astros might have faced. Some of these seem steep to me, aside from the Addison Reed trade, which is also the hardest to value. I certainly am not interested in trading for Sonny Gray or Yu Darvish at those potential prices. Jose Quintana seems a little more palatable, but pre-season Kyle Tucker was also considered a lesser prospect that Elroy Jimenez, so perhaps the Astros would have struggled to pull this one off in an manner equal to what the Cubs did.
Anyhow, this was interesting for me, at least. So, discuss in the comments, and argue some more, Astros fans. Thanks, again, for reading.
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Tuesday Morning Hot Links
Fourteen years ago today I married the woman of my dreams. The Astros lost to the Cubs, 5-3. But 14 years ago tomorrow she took an epic nap and I sat in our hotel room and watched the Astros beat the Cubs 3-1! I have her to thank for the support that allows me to post on this dumb web site so much. She means everything to me and I love her with all my heart.
*Don't get too cocky, Astros fans. Where the Phillies are right now is where the Astros were in 2011. Maybe 2012. Have some respect, show some class. Act like you've been there before, because we have. And Phillies fans have, too. Astros win 13-4 and improve their record to 66-33. They are 36-12 on the road. And now they are 8-0 against the National League. The Mariners won, so the Astros are still 17 games up with 63 games to play.
*The Astros have scored 594 runs in 99 games, which puts them precisely at 6.0 runs/game. They will need to average 6.44 runs per game over their last 63 games to reach 1000 runs for the season. Doable?
*Phillies manager Pete Mackanin:
This is as good a team as we've seen. They go up there to do damage. They look like they're ready to hit every pitch. They're not taking pitches to get a look at the pitcher. If you make a mistake out over the plate, they're going to hurt you.
Now read that again, but imagine Mackanin is running his fingers through his hair, wide-eyed, with a cigarette dangling from his lips.
*Former Astros Great Vince Velasquez:
They hammer mistakes. McCann hit that fastball over the middle. I can't leave it over the middle like that. It cut right over the middle, right into his barrel. Bregman is just a great, great hitter. Just what he's done, coming up in the league, he's been phenomenal.
*George Springer left the game after the third inning with discomfort in his quad after his spike got caught in the dumb Philadelphia ground. Notable that Springer strained his left quad in July 2014 and was shut down for the year. Hinch thinks Springer will avoid the DL, but he'll get today off.
*Related: James Hoyt was optioned back to Fresno (after throwing 2IP, 3H/0ER, 2K:1BB) and Derek Fisher was called up. Fisher grew up in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, which is 100 miles from Citizens Bank Park. Hopefully he gets a start tonight or tomorrow.
*Dallas Keuchel will throw a bullpen session today and start either Friday or Saturday at Detroit. Will Harris will go on a rehab assignment tomorrow. Within that link we find that Colin Moran has been released from the hospital and will drive back to Houston for surgery since he has not been cleared to fly.
*Jose Altuve collected four hits for the 2nd game in a row, going 4x4 with a walk. He's hitting .507/.554/.760 in the month of July, pushing his OPS to 1.005. As David Schoenfield notes, the only 2Bs since 1950 to have a season OPS over 1.000 are Joe Morgan (1976) and Jeff Kent (2000). I mean, I'm sure Aaron Judge is going to win the AL MVP award because Yankees, but we are watching something ridiculously special with Altuve, just like I said after Sunday's game. Altuve's SLG, by month:
April: .472
May: .530
June: .576
July: .760
Altuve's .433 road avg is the highest since. baseball. integrated. Hinch:
This guy continues to be amazing. I don't know how else to describe him. It's line to line, it's home runs, it's multiple hits, it's walks when he needs it. He's every bit the MVP candidate that he looks like, and he ignites us on so many levels on this team.
To do some ridiculous math, let's assume Altuve ends the season with 639 ABs (his average for the past two seasons). In order for him to hit .400 for the season (again, ridiculous) he would need to reach 256 hits for the year. Altuve is at 138 hits now in 378 ABs, meaning he would need 118 hits in his next 261 ABs - or he would need to finish the year hitting .452. Ted Williams was a beast.
*Alex Bregman became the 10th Astros with 10+ HR. Once Reddick hits his next homer, the Astros will have 11 players with 10+ home runs.
*Brad Peacock told Jake Kaplan that he feels as good right now as has since he debuted in 2011, and the slider he learned from Jordan Jankowski has been key for him.
*Washington Post: Luhnow is looking to make his team October-ready. Ken Giles, on possible additions to the team:
If the front office feels like they'd be more comfortable adding someone else - the more, the merrier. We're open arms. There's never any hard feelings over asking for more help.
*With the Astros playing the rebuilding Phillies, it lead to several pieces in the Philly media comparing them to the Astros. Some were optimistic. Some were not.
*Ken Giles says he put too much pressure on himself to perform early in his Astros career:
I wanted to show these guys I was ready to win for them. Going from a losing team to a winning team is different. You know what you're worth. You know what you bring to the table. If you don't bring that stuff to the table you get frustrated with yourself. That's how it was.
*The Allentown Morning Call revisited the Giles trade from the Phillies side.
*The Rangers are ready to move Yu Darvish, "for the right price." If the Astros don't, the Dodgers will.
*Bob Nightengale asks if the Astros will move their prospects:
Think they'll be wildly celebrating a 110-victory season if they're sitting home early in October, still looking for their first championship in franchise history?
*MLB.com released their Midseason Top 100 Prospects list, and the Astros put five on there and - according to their point system - have the 5th-best farm system in baseball. Here are the five, with their rankings:
Kyle Tucker: #10
Forrest Whitley: #40
Franklin Perez: #46
Derek Fisher: #54
J.B. Bukauskas: #87
Just for comparison sake, here are the number of Top 100 prospects in other AL West teams:
A's: 3
Rangers: 1
Mariners: 1
Angels: 0
*Check out the Phillies fan double-fisting:
*Don't get too cocky, Astros fans. Where the Phillies are right now is where the Astros were in 2011. Maybe 2012. Have some respect, show some class. Act like you've been there before, because we have. And Phillies fans have, too. Astros win 13-4 and improve their record to 66-33. They are 36-12 on the road. And now they are 8-0 against the National League. The Mariners won, so the Astros are still 17 games up with 63 games to play.
*The Astros have scored 594 runs in 99 games, which puts them precisely at 6.0 runs/game. They will need to average 6.44 runs per game over their last 63 games to reach 1000 runs for the season. Doable?
*Phillies manager Pete Mackanin:
This is as good a team as we've seen. They go up there to do damage. They look like they're ready to hit every pitch. They're not taking pitches to get a look at the pitcher. If you make a mistake out over the plate, they're going to hurt you.
Now read that again, but imagine Mackanin is running his fingers through his hair, wide-eyed, with a cigarette dangling from his lips.
*Former Astros Great Vince Velasquez:
They hammer mistakes. McCann hit that fastball over the middle. I can't leave it over the middle like that. It cut right over the middle, right into his barrel. Bregman is just a great, great hitter. Just what he's done, coming up in the league, he's been phenomenal.
When @astros fans are in your mentions telling you to get a roof... pic.twitter.com/Uz9dpSbOER— Phillies (@Phillies) July 25, 2017
*George Springer left the game after the third inning with discomfort in his quad after his spike got caught in the dumb Philadelphia ground. Notable that Springer strained his left quad in July 2014 and was shut down for the year. Hinch thinks Springer will avoid the DL, but he'll get today off.
*Related: James Hoyt was optioned back to Fresno (after throwing 2IP, 3H/0ER, 2K:1BB) and Derek Fisher was called up. Fisher grew up in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, which is 100 miles from Citizens Bank Park. Hopefully he gets a start tonight or tomorrow.
*Dallas Keuchel will throw a bullpen session today and start either Friday or Saturday at Detroit. Will Harris will go on a rehab assignment tomorrow. Within that link we find that Colin Moran has been released from the hospital and will drive back to Houston for surgery since he has not been cleared to fly.
*Jose Altuve collected four hits for the 2nd game in a row, going 4x4 with a walk. He's hitting .507/.554/.760 in the month of July, pushing his OPS to 1.005. As David Schoenfield notes, the only 2Bs since 1950 to have a season OPS over 1.000 are Joe Morgan (1976) and Jeff Kent (2000). I mean, I'm sure Aaron Judge is going to win the AL MVP award because Yankees, but we are watching something ridiculously special with Altuve, just like I said after Sunday's game. Altuve's SLG, by month:
April: .472
May: .530
June: .576
July: .760
Altuve's .433 road avg is the highest since. baseball. integrated. Hinch:
This guy continues to be amazing. I don't know how else to describe him. It's line to line, it's home runs, it's multiple hits, it's walks when he needs it. He's every bit the MVP candidate that he looks like, and he ignites us on so many levels on this team.
To do some ridiculous math, let's assume Altuve ends the season with 639 ABs (his average for the past two seasons). In order for him to hit .400 for the season (again, ridiculous) he would need to reach 256 hits for the year. Altuve is at 138 hits now in 378 ABs, meaning he would need 118 hits in his next 261 ABs - or he would need to finish the year hitting .452. Ted Williams was a beast.
*Alex Bregman became the 10th Astros with 10+ HR. Once Reddick hits his next homer, the Astros will have 11 players with 10+ home runs.
*Brad Peacock told Jake Kaplan that he feels as good right now as has since he debuted in 2011, and the slider he learned from Jordan Jankowski has been key for him.
*Washington Post: Luhnow is looking to make his team October-ready. Ken Giles, on possible additions to the team:
If the front office feels like they'd be more comfortable adding someone else - the more, the merrier. We're open arms. There's never any hard feelings over asking for more help.
*With the Astros playing the rebuilding Phillies, it lead to several pieces in the Philly media comparing them to the Astros. Some were optimistic. Some were not.
*Ken Giles says he put too much pressure on himself to perform early in his Astros career:
I wanted to show these guys I was ready to win for them. Going from a losing team to a winning team is different. You know what you're worth. You know what you bring to the table. If you don't bring that stuff to the table you get frustrated with yourself. That's how it was.
*The Allentown Morning Call revisited the Giles trade from the Phillies side.
*The Rangers are ready to move Yu Darvish, "for the right price." If the Astros don't, the Dodgers will.
*Bob Nightengale asks if the Astros will move their prospects:
Think they'll be wildly celebrating a 110-victory season if they're sitting home early in October, still looking for their first championship in franchise history?
*MLB.com released their Midseason Top 100 Prospects list, and the Astros put five on there and - according to their point system - have the 5th-best farm system in baseball. Here are the five, with their rankings:
Kyle Tucker: #10
Forrest Whitley: #40
Franklin Perez: #46
Derek Fisher: #54
J.B. Bukauskas: #87
Just for comparison sake, here are the number of Top 100 prospects in other AL West teams:
A's: 3
Rangers: 1
Mariners: 1
Angels: 0
*Check out the Phillies fan double-fisting:
This guy's all right. pic.twitter.com/INMT2XdVPE— Seth Payne (@PayneNFL) July 25, 2017
Saturday, July 22, 2017
Saturday Morning Hot Links
*James Hoyt and Chris Devenski made that game way more interesting than it needed to be, turning an 8-2 lead in the 9th into a situation where the Astros had to use three relievers to get the final three outs in an 8-7 win over the Orioles. The Astros are 64-32 with a 34-11 road record. They have a 17-game lead with 66 games remaining. 51 of those games are against teams currently below .500. 31 of those games are against AL West teams, against whom the Astros are a combined 31-14.
*Fun part first: Yuli Gurriel had his first career four-hit game including a double and a home run. Hinch:
When he gets going and gets pitches to hit, he does a great job of using the whole field. He's truly a really, really good professional hitter. And the more comfortable he gets and the more he sees the league, the better he's getting.
As of the end of last night's game, Gurriel is the 5th player in the Astros starting lineup to hit .300. (Not counting Colin Moran's .500 average).
*Springer had three hits while Marwin and Colin Moran had two. Everybody in the lineup had at least one hit.
*And speaking of Colin Moran, he came into last night with one career extra-base hit from his previous stint in the Majors. Then he got a triple and a two-run home run. Moran, the nephew of Former Orioles Great B.J. Surhoff, was predictably excited:
I came to this ballpark a lot as a kid, so it's definitely pretty special to play here in the big leagues.
*Mike Fiers was legit, yet again, throwing 7IP, 6H/1ER, 9K:1BB. McTaggart notes that in his last ten starts, Fiers is 6-2 with a 2.36 ERA, 69K in 61IP. Hinch:
I've said it time and time again, in a time where our rotation was pieced together, he was a stable part of it.
*Fiers hit 93mph last night.
*But dear God the 9th inning was so stupid. With an 8-2 lead (Feliz allowed one run in the 8th), Hinch summoned James Hoyt to get the final three outs. Plot twist: he didn't. Hinch:
It was a mess of an inning from the beginning. They obviously put some good at-bats together. It can happen fast in this park. All's well that ends well with a win - albeit a stressful one in the end.
Hoyt retired the first batter he faced and then, whaddayaknow, allowed a walk, double, double, single to make it 8-4 with runners on the corners. Chris Devenski came in to try to get the last two outs, and he gave up a 3-run home run to make it 8-7 with Chris Davis up. Davis, who hit his 258th career home run on Thursday night against Arlington, bunted to the pitcher for an out. Kenneth then struck out Trumbo to end the game.
*As of right now the only time to throw James Hoyt is when you have a 6-run lead and three outs to get the win. But if he isn't reliable even then, what do you do? I'll give him credit for five straight appearances (July 2-15) when he didn't allow a run, but last night was the second straight outing in which he's allowed an earned run. In 15 road appearances, Hoyt has thrown 16.2IP, 18H/13ER, 27K:5BB. He has good stuff, doesn't walk many batters, he just can't miss bats. Which is an insane thing to type out given that he has 55 strikeouts in 35.1IP overall. Irritating.
*Righties vs Hoyt, 2017: .252/.282/.413
Lefties vs. Hoyt, 2017: .294/.360/.544
Yet 47.6% (68 of 143) of ABs batters have taken (ABs not PAs because it's 8:10am and Baseball-Reference hasn't updated yet) against Hoyt have been lefties.
*And yet it was Reymin Guduan who was sent back Fresno to make room for Collin McHugh. Jake Kaplan notes that Baltimore's righty-heavy lineup was likely the reason that it was Guduan and not Hoyt.
*In a geographically-convenient move (that barely seems fair) Dallas Keuchel will make what everyone hopes will be his final rehab start at Tri-City tonight.
*Yesterday I decided that the Astros can afford Justin Verlander, if they want him. Please, I'm begging you, note that the post was not *should* the Astros go get Verlander. The Tigers are "not remotely close" to a deal with any team.
*Crooked-ass Padres GM A.J. Preller wants the world for lefty reliever Brad Hand:
An anonymous executive joked to Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan, "I don't think the Dodgers would ask more for Kershaw than A.J. is for Brad Hand.
*Yu Darvish can block a trade to the Cubs, Indians, Pirates, Red Sox, and Rockies.
*It's not infuriating at all that - out of nowhere - I can't go to Cooperstown next week. Bagwell has been watching a lot of Astros games this season.
*Baseball America posted their Top 10 Astros Midseason Prospects:
1. Kyle Tucker
2. Franklin Perez
3. Francis Martes
4. Derek Fisher
5. Forrest Whitley
6. Yordan Alvarez
7. J.B. Bukauskas
8. Teoscar Hernandez
9. J.D. Davis
10. Garrett Stubbs
Notable that Bukauskas has yet to make his pro debut.
*For schadenfreude, check the Rangers' write-up:
A thinned-out farm system has seen several players struggle, with more spare parts than impact talent or projected everyday regulars in the organization.
*Forrest Whitley threw 3.2IP, 3H/2ER, 7K:2BB last night for Buies Creek. Stephen Wrenn was 3x5 with a home run and 2RBI. BCA is 19-9 in the second half with a 5.5-game lead on Winston-Salem.
*Cumulatively the Astros' domestic minor-league teams are 258-212 (.549). Minor-League Standings Check:
Fresno: 57-42, tied for 1st in the Pacific Northern division
Corpus: (49-49 overall) 15-13 in the second half, two games behind San Antonio
BCA: (56-42 overall) 19-9 in the second half, 5.5-game lead
Quad Cities: (56-40 overall) 19-9 in the second half, 3.0-game lead
Tri-City: 12-18, 5.0 back
Greeneville: 16-12, 1.5 back
GCL Astros: 12-9, 1.0 back
*There's a Kickstarter to save Mission Control.
*ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball lineup:
July 23: Cardinals at Cubs
July 30: Giants at Dodgers
August 6: Dodgers at Mets
August 13: Red Sox at Yankees
August 20: Cardinals at Pirates
The August 27 Sunday Night Baseball matchup hasn't been picked up, but the Astros @ Angels game time is the only one listed as TBD.
*If you've been reading all the way to the bottom of the Hot Links for the past, I don't know, two or three years, you've seen a lot of links to Vice Sports articles. Vice.com, in a continued effort to produce video content that everyone in the world hates in order to speed up the downfall of any semblance of a literate society, closed it down. Vice.com can go to hell. Websites, ranked by awfulness:
3. Websites that auto-play videos
2. Websites that auto-play multiple videos at the same time
1. Websites that move your browser window down so that you have no choice but to (a) throw your computer against the wall or (b) close the tab as quickly as possible and never go back to that website ever again.
*Fun part first: Yuli Gurriel had his first career four-hit game including a double and a home run. Hinch:
When he gets going and gets pitches to hit, he does a great job of using the whole field. He's truly a really, really good professional hitter. And the more comfortable he gets and the more he sees the league, the better he's getting.
As of the end of last night's game, Gurriel is the 5th player in the Astros starting lineup to hit .300. (Not counting Colin Moran's .500 average).
*Springer had three hits while Marwin and Colin Moran had two. Everybody in the lineup had at least one hit.
*And speaking of Colin Moran, he came into last night with one career extra-base hit from his previous stint in the Majors. Then he got a triple and a two-run home run. Moran, the nephew of Former Orioles Great B.J. Surhoff, was predictably excited:
I came to this ballpark a lot as a kid, so it's definitely pretty special to play here in the big leagues.
*Mike Fiers was legit, yet again, throwing 7IP, 6H/1ER, 9K:1BB. McTaggart notes that in his last ten starts, Fiers is 6-2 with a 2.36 ERA, 69K in 61IP. Hinch:
I've said it time and time again, in a time where our rotation was pieced together, he was a stable part of it.
*Fiers hit 93mph last night.
*But dear God the 9th inning was so stupid. With an 8-2 lead (Feliz allowed one run in the 8th), Hinch summoned James Hoyt to get the final three outs. Plot twist: he didn't. Hinch:
It was a mess of an inning from the beginning. They obviously put some good at-bats together. It can happen fast in this park. All's well that ends well with a win - albeit a stressful one in the end.
Hoyt retired the first batter he faced and then, whaddayaknow, allowed a walk, double, double, single to make it 8-4 with runners on the corners. Chris Devenski came in to try to get the last two outs, and he gave up a 3-run home run to make it 8-7 with Chris Davis up. Davis, who hit his 258th career home run on Thursday night against Arlington, bunted to the pitcher for an out. Kenneth then struck out Trumbo to end the game.
*As of right now the only time to throw James Hoyt is when you have a 6-run lead and three outs to get the win. But if he isn't reliable even then, what do you do? I'll give him credit for five straight appearances (July 2-15) when he didn't allow a run, but last night was the second straight outing in which he's allowed an earned run. In 15 road appearances, Hoyt has thrown 16.2IP, 18H/13ER, 27K:5BB. He has good stuff, doesn't walk many batters, he just can't miss bats. Which is an insane thing to type out given that he has 55 strikeouts in 35.1IP overall. Irritating.
*Righties vs Hoyt, 2017: .252/.282/.413
Lefties vs. Hoyt, 2017: .294/.360/.544
Yet 47.6% (68 of 143) of ABs batters have taken (ABs not PAs because it's 8:10am and Baseball-Reference hasn't updated yet) against Hoyt have been lefties.
*And yet it was Reymin Guduan who was sent back Fresno to make room for Collin McHugh. Jake Kaplan notes that Baltimore's righty-heavy lineup was likely the reason that it was Guduan and not Hoyt.
*In a geographically-convenient move (that barely seems fair) Dallas Keuchel will make what everyone hopes will be his final rehab start at Tri-City tonight.
*Yesterday I decided that the Astros can afford Justin Verlander, if they want him. Please, I'm begging you, note that the post was not *should* the Astros go get Verlander. The Tigers are "not remotely close" to a deal with any team.
*Crooked-ass Padres GM A.J. Preller wants the world for lefty reliever Brad Hand:
An anonymous executive joked to Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan, "I don't think the Dodgers would ask more for Kershaw than A.J. is for Brad Hand.
*Yu Darvish can block a trade to the Cubs, Indians, Pirates, Red Sox, and Rockies.
*It's not infuriating at all that - out of nowhere - I can't go to Cooperstown next week. Bagwell has been watching a lot of Astros games this season.
*Baseball America posted their Top 10 Astros Midseason Prospects:
1. Kyle Tucker
2. Franklin Perez
3. Francis Martes
4. Derek Fisher
5. Forrest Whitley
6. Yordan Alvarez
7. J.B. Bukauskas
8. Teoscar Hernandez
9. J.D. Davis
10. Garrett Stubbs
Notable that Bukauskas has yet to make his pro debut.
*For schadenfreude, check the Rangers' write-up:
A thinned-out farm system has seen several players struggle, with more spare parts than impact talent or projected everyday regulars in the organization.
*Forrest Whitley threw 3.2IP, 3H/2ER, 7K:2BB last night for Buies Creek. Stephen Wrenn was 3x5 with a home run and 2RBI. BCA is 19-9 in the second half with a 5.5-game lead on Winston-Salem.
*Cumulatively the Astros' domestic minor-league teams are 258-212 (.549). Minor-League Standings Check:
Fresno: 57-42, tied for 1st in the Pacific Northern division
Corpus: (49-49 overall) 15-13 in the second half, two games behind San Antonio
BCA: (56-42 overall) 19-9 in the second half, 5.5-game lead
Quad Cities: (56-40 overall) 19-9 in the second half, 3.0-game lead
Tri-City: 12-18, 5.0 back
Greeneville: 16-12, 1.5 back
GCL Astros: 12-9, 1.0 back
*There's a Kickstarter to save Mission Control.
*ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball lineup:
July 23: Cardinals at Cubs
July 30: Giants at Dodgers
August 6: Dodgers at Mets
August 13: Red Sox at Yankees
August 20: Cardinals at Pirates
The August 27 Sunday Night Baseball matchup hasn't been picked up, but the Astros @ Angels game time is the only one listed as TBD.
*If you've been reading all the way to the bottom of the Hot Links for the past, I don't know, two or three years, you've seen a lot of links to Vice Sports articles. Vice.com, in a continued effort to produce video content that everyone in the world hates in order to speed up the downfall of any semblance of a literate society, closed it down. Vice.com can go to hell. Websites, ranked by awfulness:
3. Websites that auto-play videos
2. Websites that auto-play multiple videos at the same time
1. Websites that move your browser window down so that you have no choice but to (a) throw your computer against the wall or (b) close the tab as quickly as possible and never go back to that website ever again.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Tuesday Morning Hot Links
My life changed five years ago today. My wife and I have had our fair share (and some other people's fair shares) of pregnancy complications. Six miscarriages - three of which were ectopic, two of those almost killed her - led, in part, to the creation of Astros County. I needed a project where I could channel some attention that didn't have anything to do with how awful life was at times. But on July 10, 2012 I got to drive on the shoulder of Interstate 40 through the middle of Nashville to get to the hospital because my wife's water had broken.
*2013 still weighs on the minds of Jose Altuve and Dallas Keuchel:
It's a motivating factor. Just the other day I was talking with Dallas about that. For all the players on the team, what we're going through now is special, but for me and him there's a little something extra because we were on that team that lost more than 100 games.
*Washington Post: The Astros are a playoff team, but not yet a World Series contender
*Here's a cool story on Astros scout Hank Allen.
*Chris Carter is looking for a job.
*FanGraphs: The recent history of free-agent pricing.
*The Art and Science of Throwing Batting Practice
As a noted idiot I thought that, when your water broke, it meant that a baby would coming falling out within minutes, so I wasn't prepared for the 21-hour wait until we got to meet our daughter. That night, as we waited for, um, conditions to get right, I tried to keep friends and family updated. My wife was laying there, focusing on her breathing. I brought a book. About 7:00 that evening, five hours after her water broke, I looked over at my wife and told her she was beautiful. Starting in a matter of minutes was the 2012 All-Star Game, and Jose Altuve would be playing. I asked her, "Hey, here's a tv, can I watch the All-Star Game?" The look that she gave me indicated, "No, it is not acceptable for you to watch a baseball game while I'm in labor." Her only audible response was "And I don't care that Altuve is playing." I chalked that up to the labor pains and don't hold that betrayal against her. Altuve went 0x1.
I don't stay up late. If I see 2am, I've already been asleep and - for whatever reason - have awakened. So as the clock crept closer to midnight, I started getting sleepy. I knew that, if I couldn't watch the All-Star Game, I sure as hell couldn't take a nap, so I drank coffee, took walks around the floor of the hospital, checked Twitter, answered texts. 2am turned into 3am, which turned into 4am. At that point I was delirious. I had been awake since 4:30am the previous day and I don't do well in that situation. So as I went to get my 85th cup of coffee and stretch my legs.
A personal character flaw is how I try to use humor as a defense mechanism. I also have a very hard time understanding when it's okay to make a joke, and when I should just let the moment pass. Factor that character flaw into being awake for 24 hours and I get dumb. So when I walked into our room (right next to the nurse's station) at 4:30am and yelled "I SEE A LADY TONIGHT WHO SHOULD BE HAVING MY BABY...BABY." Well, you can imagine - or maybe you can't - the fury that erupted from my wife who, eight hours later would deliver our only child, a perfect little girl, who turns five years old today.
---
*Richard Justice writes of the paths each of the Astros All-Stars took.
*2013 still weighs on the minds of Jose Altuve and Dallas Keuchel:
It's a motivating factor. Just the other day I was talking with Dallas about that. For all the players on the team, what we're going through now is special, but for me and him there's a little something extra because we were on that team that lost more than 100 games.
*Washington Post: The Astros are a playoff team, but not yet a World Series contender
*Collin McHugh made another rehab start for Corpus last night, throwing 4.1IP, 4H/3R (0ER), 4K:2BB. He threw 47 of his 74 pitches for strikes in a 6-5 Corpus win. Garrett Stubbs was 4x5 with 3RBI
*Franklin Perez was promoted from Buies Creek to Corpus after last night's game in which he threw 4IP, 3H/0ER, 5K:2BB. In 54.1IP for BCA, he allowed 38H/18ER, 53K:16BB. Last week Baseball America named Perez as their #32 prospect.
*Quad Cities are working faster and smarter in the heat.
*The White Sox still want Francis Martes and Kyle Tucker for Jose Quintana. Heyman:
The price for Quintana is high enough that the Astros are looking elsewhere, having known to have called on Teheran and even Mets star Jacob deGrom...And word is, the Astros don't actually see Quintana as an ace at this point.
*Quad Cities are working faster and smarter in the heat.
*The White Sox still want Francis Martes and Kyle Tucker for Jose Quintana. Heyman:
The price for Quintana is high enough that the Astros are looking elsewhere, having known to have called on Teheran and even Mets star Jacob deGrom...And word is, the Astros don't actually see Quintana as an ace at this point.
*Here's a cool story on Astros scout Hank Allen.
*Chris Carter is looking for a job.
*FanGraphs: The recent history of free-agent pricing.
*The Art and Science of Throwing Batting Practice
*Come get your boy:
Possibly the worst call I have ever seen. pic.twitter.com/9HaQJt28UV— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) July 10, 2017
Friday, July 7, 2017
Baseball America's Midseason Top 100 Prospects
Baseball America released their updated Midseason Top 100 Prospects list, and it's notable for our favorite team.
#11: Kyle Tucker (preseason #19)
#32: Franklin Perez (preseason #54)
#47: Francis Martes (preseason #15)
#53: Derek Fisher (preseason unranked)
#57: Forrest Whitley (preseason unranked)
Elsewhere in the AL West, here are the division opponents' number of players on the list:
Oakland: 3 (#26, #27, #93)
Seattle: 2 (#61, #83)
Lewisville: 1 (#34)
Anaheim: 1 (#96)
#11: Kyle Tucker (preseason #19)
#32: Franklin Perez (preseason #54)
#47: Francis Martes (preseason #15)
#53: Derek Fisher (preseason unranked)
#57: Forrest Whitley (preseason unranked)
Elsewhere in the AL West, here are the division opponents' number of players on the list:
Oakland: 3 (#26, #27, #93)
Seattle: 2 (#61, #83)
Lewisville: 1 (#34)
Anaheim: 1 (#96)
Monday, May 8, 2017
Monday Morning Hot Links + PreStros Report
*Jose Altuve hit a three-run homer and Evan Gattis left the yard to power the Astros to a 5-3 win over Anaheim, winning yet another road series. Houston is 10-5 in games decided by 1-2 runs. The Astros are 17-6 against the AL West, and are 4-1 in road series this season so far. Hinch:
When you win a series, there's no complaints. All three games were really good games. Our guys keep competing. We keep a pretty even keel. We have a fun group that knows how to win some close games.
Mike Fiers threw 5IP and allowed 3ER, 1K:4BB and gave up two more home runs (both to Yunel Escobar) for his MLB-leading 14th homer allowed. Fiers:
Seems to be my downside this year is balls leaving the ballpark. If they're solo home runs, I can't really complain too much. If I can keep the ball inside the park, I'll be doing pretty good.
Counterpoint: You can complain. Hinch:
It's not his norm. He's given up home runs in the past, but not at this pace. It's about executing pitching, and he's getting burned in sort of a big fashion, and that's something he'll continue to work on.
On one hand, Fiers has a 98.5% LOB rate. On the other hand there's usually nobody on base because they've already trotted around all of the bases and are back in the dugout. 41.2% of his fly balls allowed are leaving the yard.
*The Astros went 5-2 over the last week. Here are your hitting leaders for the last week:
Marwin: 8x16, .500/.571/1.312
Correa: 10x28, .357/.419/.607
Springer: 8x23, .348/.444/.435
Bregman: 7x21, .333/.440/.381
*Luke Gregerson is working on finding the movement on his sinking pitches, saying he goes through a rough stretch like this around the same time in the season (noting that because of the WBC, maybe this is his late-May/early-June Strugglin' Time).
*Anaheim's massive left field led to Marisnick getting a start there yesterday.
*After allowing 9H/7ER in Colorado Springs, the Astros straight up released Fresno pitcher Edison Frias. Frankie Tuesday had his start pushed up to today.
*FanRag's Kate Morrison: Rotation is one of the Astros' few remaining issues
*Buies Creek's Franklin Perez landed on the MLB Top 100 Prospect list.
*Hardball Times: The Predictable Bias of MLB Network
*Jeez, Mets.
*Pearland has an 18-year old school board member.
PreStros Report: Games of May 7
Fresno (13-18) got popped at Colorado Springs (see above link on Edison Frias) in a 7-3 loss. Frias threw 4IP, 9H/7ER, 3K:3BB, 3HR. Brian Holmes threw 4IP, 1H/0ER, 5K:2BB in relief. Jack Mayfield was 3x4 with two doubles and an RBI. Reid Brignac was 2x4. Preston Tucker hit his 6th homer of the season.
San Antonio scored the last seven runs of the game in a 7-1 win over Corpus (15-15). Josh James took the hard-luck loss, allowing 3H/2R (1ER), 2K:2BB in 4IP. Riley Ferrell allowed 3H/3ER, 1K:2BB; Michael Freeman gave up 3H/2ER in 2.1IP. Jacob Dorris threw 1.2 perfect innings. The Hooks scattered six hits around the lineup, with Jon Singleton's double coming as the only extra-base hit.
Buies Creek tied a minor-league record with seven home runs as BCA (20-11) whooped Myrtle Beach 12-6. Jason Martin hit three homers (5RBI); Kyle Tucker again hit two homers (3RBI, BB) a day after hitting two homers. Pat Porter and Anibal Sierra added the other two. Matt Bower allowed 7H/4ER, 3K:1BB; Ryan Deemes allowed 4H/2ER, 4K:0BB in 2IP. Nick Hernandez threw two hitless/scoreless innings. Dexture McCall was 2x4 with a walk.
Quad Cities (15-13) got five hits in a 3-1 loss to Lake County. Ryan Hartman allowed 5H/3ER, 4K:2BB in 5IP; Lucas Williams allowed 2H/0ER, 4K:2BB in 3IP. Kevin Hill gave up a hit and a walk in the 9th. Stephen Wrenn was 2x3 with a double and a walk. Alex De Goti walked twice.
When you win a series, there's no complaints. All three games were really good games. Our guys keep competing. We keep a pretty even keel. We have a fun group that knows how to win some close games.
Mike Fiers threw 5IP and allowed 3ER, 1K:4BB and gave up two more home runs (both to Yunel Escobar) for his MLB-leading 14th homer allowed. Fiers:
Seems to be my downside this year is balls leaving the ballpark. If they're solo home runs, I can't really complain too much. If I can keep the ball inside the park, I'll be doing pretty good.
Counterpoint: You can complain. Hinch:
It's not his norm. He's given up home runs in the past, but not at this pace. It's about executing pitching, and he's getting burned in sort of a big fashion, and that's something he'll continue to work on.
On one hand, Fiers has a 98.5% LOB rate. On the other hand there's usually nobody on base because they've already trotted around all of the bases and are back in the dugout. 41.2% of his fly balls allowed are leaving the yard.
*The Astros went 5-2 over the last week. Here are your hitting leaders for the last week:
Marwin: 8x16, .500/.571/1.312
Correa: 10x28, .357/.419/.607
Springer: 8x23, .348/.444/.435
Bregman: 7x21, .333/.440/.381
*Luke Gregerson is working on finding the movement on his sinking pitches, saying he goes through a rough stretch like this around the same time in the season (noting that because of the WBC, maybe this is his late-May/early-June Strugglin' Time).
*Anaheim's massive left field led to Marisnick getting a start there yesterday.
*After allowing 9H/7ER in Colorado Springs, the Astros straight up released Fresno pitcher Edison Frias. Frankie Tuesday had his start pushed up to today.
*FanRag's Kate Morrison: Rotation is one of the Astros' few remaining issues
*Buies Creek's Franklin Perez landed on the MLB Top 100 Prospect list.
*Hardball Times: The Predictable Bias of MLB Network
*Jeez, Mets.
*Pearland has an 18-year old school board member.
PreStros Report: Games of May 7
Fresno (13-18) got popped at Colorado Springs (see above link on Edison Frias) in a 7-3 loss. Frias threw 4IP, 9H/7ER, 3K:3BB, 3HR. Brian Holmes threw 4IP, 1H/0ER, 5K:2BB in relief. Jack Mayfield was 3x4 with two doubles and an RBI. Reid Brignac was 2x4. Preston Tucker hit his 6th homer of the season.
San Antonio scored the last seven runs of the game in a 7-1 win over Corpus (15-15). Josh James took the hard-luck loss, allowing 3H/2R (1ER), 2K:2BB in 4IP. Riley Ferrell allowed 3H/3ER, 1K:2BB; Michael Freeman gave up 3H/2ER in 2.1IP. Jacob Dorris threw 1.2 perfect innings. The Hooks scattered six hits around the lineup, with Jon Singleton's double coming as the only extra-base hit.
Buies Creek tied a minor-league record with seven home runs as BCA (20-11) whooped Myrtle Beach 12-6. Jason Martin hit three homers (5RBI); Kyle Tucker again hit two homers (3RBI, BB) a day after hitting two homers. Pat Porter and Anibal Sierra added the other two. Matt Bower allowed 7H/4ER, 3K:1BB; Ryan Deemes allowed 4H/2ER, 4K:0BB in 2IP. Nick Hernandez threw two hitless/scoreless innings. Dexture McCall was 2x4 with a walk.
Quad Cities (15-13) got five hits in a 3-1 loss to Lake County. Ryan Hartman allowed 5H/3ER, 4K:2BB in 5IP; Lucas Williams allowed 2H/0ER, 4K:2BB in 3IP. Kevin Hill gave up a hit and a walk in the 9th. Stephen Wrenn was 2x3 with a double and a walk. Alex De Goti walked twice.
Monday, May 1, 2017
Employees of the Month: April 2017
The Astros are 16-9 and are 1st in the AL West. Life has meaning again and everything is fun. Let's get to the Employees of the Month. These players get to park at the front and get 10% off in the Team Store.
Houston
Evan Gattis: Hitting .321/.400/.518 with 9K:7BB gets Gattis the Employee of the Month for April. Gurriel was a strong possibility but Gattis' top-to-bottom month gives him the nod.
Dallas Keuchel: No-brainer for Pitching Employee of the Month. Keuchel allowed 25H/6ER, 36K:11BB in 44.2IP for a 1.21 ERA/0.81 WHIP. These are stupid numbers.
Fresno
Jon Kemmer: Kemmer hit .356/.406/.559 for Fresno in April.
Brady Rodgers: Limited by elbow trouble, Rodgers still gets the nod because the rest of the pitching staff has been hot garbage. Rodgers made three starts, allowing 14H/2ER, 11K:1BB in 16.1IP.
Corpus
Catching prospect Garrett Stubbs hit .341/.413/.634 in eleven games in April - the next-highest OPS trails Stubbs by 191 points.
Dean Deetz: Deetz threw 13.2IP, 4H/1ER, 13K:3BB in three April games for a 0.66 ERA/0.51 WHIP.
Buies Creek
Kyle Tucker hit .301/.372/.566 with six stolen bases in April.
Franklin Perez pitched in three games, throwing 14.1IP, 3H/0ER, 14K:3BB for a 0.00 ERA/0.42 WHIP.
Quad Cities
Even though he only played in ten games, I'm rolling with Marcos Almonte over Jake Rogers. Rogers hit .258/.370/.565 with ten of his 16 hits going for extra-bases. But Almonte hit .359/.406/.667 with 6K:2BB in 39 ABs.
Carson LaRue: Over 20IP, LaRue allowed 12H/2ER, 18K:7BB. Walks are a little high, but a 0.90 ERA/0.95 WHIP over a month will play.
Houston
Evan Gattis: Hitting .321/.400/.518 with 9K:7BB gets Gattis the Employee of the Month for April. Gurriel was a strong possibility but Gattis' top-to-bottom month gives him the nod.
Dallas Keuchel: No-brainer for Pitching Employee of the Month. Keuchel allowed 25H/6ER, 36K:11BB in 44.2IP for a 1.21 ERA/0.81 WHIP. These are stupid numbers.
Fresno
Jon Kemmer: Kemmer hit .356/.406/.559 for Fresno in April.
Brady Rodgers: Limited by elbow trouble, Rodgers still gets the nod because the rest of the pitching staff has been hot garbage. Rodgers made three starts, allowing 14H/2ER, 11K:1BB in 16.1IP.
Corpus
Catching prospect Garrett Stubbs hit .341/.413/.634 in eleven games in April - the next-highest OPS trails Stubbs by 191 points.
Dean Deetz: Deetz threw 13.2IP, 4H/1ER, 13K:3BB in three April games for a 0.66 ERA/0.51 WHIP.
Buies Creek
Kyle Tucker hit .301/.372/.566 with six stolen bases in April.
Franklin Perez pitched in three games, throwing 14.1IP, 3H/0ER, 14K:3BB for a 0.00 ERA/0.42 WHIP.
Quad Cities
Even though he only played in ten games, I'm rolling with Marcos Almonte over Jake Rogers. Rogers hit .258/.370/.565 with ten of his 16 hits going for extra-bases. But Almonte hit .359/.406/.667 with 6K:2BB in 39 ABs.
Carson LaRue: Over 20IP, LaRue allowed 12H/2ER, 18K:7BB. Walks are a little high, but a 0.90 ERA/0.95 WHIP over a month will play.
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Tuesday Morning Hot Links + Farm Report
*That's five straight for the Houston Base Ball Club, who had to overcome some defensive miscues (three errors) to preserve a 3-0 win over Los Anaheim. Their 9-4 record matches the best start in franchise history.
Bregman:
If you want to be a good team, you have to win the close ones.
Chris Devenski had yet another stellar outing in relief, striking out approximately 103 batters last night, including Mike Trout on three pitches.
*Carlos Correa was out of the lineup - letting Bregman play his natural position - with the bruised hand. Correa:
I didn't feel comfortable swinging the bat today. Give me another day. Hopefully I'll be back in there tomorrow.
*The rainout in Oakland on Sunday allowed Hinch to tweak his rotation a little bit, giving Charlie Morton and Joe Musgrove an extra day of rest while Keuchel and McCullers will go on normal rest on Wednesday and Thursday, pushing Mike Fiers' next start to Friday against Tampa Bay.
*The Astros are #1 in ESPN's Power Rankings.
*Jon Bernhardt looks at what a possible Correa extension would look like.
*Buies Creek's Franklin Perez, the 2nd-youngest pitcher in the Carolina League, was named Pitcher of the Week.
*Corpus catcher Garrett Stubbs has been put on the 7-Day DL with a hamstring.
*The Rangers put favorite closer ever Sam Dyson on the 10-Day DL with Suck.
On The Farm
Fresno took that sweep at the hands of Salt Lake with a 6-2 loss. David Martinez threw 6IP, 10H/4ER, 3K:2BB. Jared Mortensen allowed three hits, a walk, and 2ER in the 8th. Jon Kemmer had two of Fresno's five hits. Preston Tucker hit a two-run homer, Max Stassi got a double and Teoscar Hernandez hit a triple and got an outfield assist.
Corpus rallied for three in the bottom of the 7th to tie it up against NW Arkansas...and then lost in the 13th inning, 9-7. Cy Sneed made his return to the rotation, throwing 5IP, 3H/2ER, 3K:2BB; Eric Peterson and Ryan Thompson each allowed 3ER. Alejandro Garcia was 3x6 with 2RBI; Antonio Nunez was 3x5 with a walk and an RBI; Drew Ferguson, J.D. Davis, and Jack Mayfield (HR, 2RBI) had two hits each.
Buies Creek improved to 9-3 with a 4-2 win over Myrtle Beach. Elieser Hernandez threw 4.1IP, 5H/2ER, 4K:2BB. Akeem Bostick got the decision with 3.2IP, 1H/0ER, 4K:1BB. Akeem Bostick this season: 14.2IP, 5H/0ER, 13K:4BB. Osvaldo Duarte was 3x4, Dexture McCall was 2x3 with a walk and an RBI; Kyle Tucker was 1x3 with a walk, RBI, and a stolen base.
Quad Cities scored early and often in a 15-1 road win over Burlington. Jorge Alcala threw 5IP, 1H/0ER, 2K:5BB; Enoli Paredes threw 3IP, 2H/1ER, 4K:0BB. Everyone got on base at least twice. Alex De Goti had a big night, going 4x4 with 2HR and 2BB, Ronnie Dawson and Jake Rogers each had three hits.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Saturday Morning Hot Links
*The Astros and Collin McHugh went to an arbitration hearing over the difference of $500,000. McHugh wanted $3.85m, the Astros wanted to pay him $3.35m.
*Luhnow: "If we can avoid getting off to a bad start, I think chances are good that we're going to be seeing baseball in October here."
*Luhnow thinks the depth added to the roster will help the team overcome the inevitable downturns.
*Baseball America released their Top 100 prospects for 2017, complete with five Astros:
-Francis Martes (#15)
-Kyle Tucker (#19)
-David Paulino (#51)
-Franklin Perez (#54)
-A.J. Reed (#72)
*Former Astros prospect David Rollins is playing roster roulette...again.
*A state senator from north Houston will introduce a bill for Harris County voters to approve the plan to renovate the Astrodome.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Who is Franklin Perez?
In our almost-pleasant conversation with Astros Director of Pro Scouting Kevin Goldstein (he made fun of musicians Pat and I like), he mentioned a lower-level pitcher on more than one occasion: Franklin Perez. Who is this guy?
Though he grew up mainly playing basketball, and was a former 3B when he played baseball, 6'4" 200lb RHP Franklin Perez was signed as an international free agent on July 2, 2014 to a $1m bonus. In the 2014 off-season FanGraphs said that his fastball/curveball combination with a smooth delivery showed "above-average potential." Baseball America ranked him as their #15 international prospect.
Perez made his professional debut in 2015, starting off with the DSL Astros. In 11 games (35IP), he allowed 34H/17ER, 44K:11BB - a 4.37 ERA to go along with an 11.3 K/9 rate...at Age 17, two years younger than his average DSL competition. This is one of the aspects Goldstein told us to watch: the 4.37 ERA combined with the age relative to the league.
His strikeout rate was enough to promote him Stateside. He finished 2015 with the GCL Astros and, in 15IP, he struck out 17 batters in 15IP. Still in his Age 17 season, Perez was 3.4 years younger than his competition.
John Sickels put Perez at #12 on the 2016 Astros' top prospect list back in February - before his big year at Quad Cities - noting his K/BB rate and K/IP rate as "more reflective of his talent," with a promising fastball, curveball, and changeup.
The Astros promoted him straight to Quad Cities in 2016 and he rewarded their faith in his talent. In 66.2IP in the Midwest League - again, 3.8 years younger than his average competition - Perez struck out 75 batters in 66.2IP, allowing 63H/21ER, 75K:19BB - a 2.84 ERA/1.23 WHIP. In 13 of his 15 appearances for Quad Cities Perez struck out a greater or equal number of batters as innings he pitched. He walked three batters in just two of those 15 outings.
A month after Perez struck out seven batters in 5IP, River Bandits manager Omar Lopez said of Perez after he struck out nine batters in 5IP in August:
What's special about Perez is the mindset that he has. He's a strong kid and he works hard every single day. He knows what he needs to do in order to develop his pitch ability and also his stuff. He's been able to accomplish every goal we've put on his development plan for this year. So I think the commitment that he has and the discipline he's displayed this year has proven that he can be consistent.
Ultimately Perez sits low- to mid-90s with a heavy strike percentage. His bulky frame supports his velocity, but with two plus breaking pitches - a curveball and slider - with the curve a much more projectable pitch. And he'll be 19 in December.
Though he grew up mainly playing basketball, and was a former 3B when he played baseball, 6'4" 200lb RHP Franklin Perez was signed as an international free agent on July 2, 2014 to a $1m bonus. In the 2014 off-season FanGraphs said that his fastball/curveball combination with a smooth delivery showed "above-average potential." Baseball America ranked him as their #15 international prospect.
Perez made his professional debut in 2015, starting off with the DSL Astros. In 11 games (35IP), he allowed 34H/17ER, 44K:11BB - a 4.37 ERA to go along with an 11.3 K/9 rate...at Age 17, two years younger than his average DSL competition. This is one of the aspects Goldstein told us to watch: the 4.37 ERA combined with the age relative to the league.
His strikeout rate was enough to promote him Stateside. He finished 2015 with the GCL Astros and, in 15IP, he struck out 17 batters in 15IP. Still in his Age 17 season, Perez was 3.4 years younger than his competition.
John Sickels put Perez at #12 on the 2016 Astros' top prospect list back in February - before his big year at Quad Cities - noting his K/BB rate and K/IP rate as "more reflective of his talent," with a promising fastball, curveball, and changeup.
The Astros promoted him straight to Quad Cities in 2016 and he rewarded their faith in his talent. In 66.2IP in the Midwest League - again, 3.8 years younger than his average competition - Perez struck out 75 batters in 66.2IP, allowing 63H/21ER, 75K:19BB - a 2.84 ERA/1.23 WHIP. In 13 of his 15 appearances for Quad Cities Perez struck out a greater or equal number of batters as innings he pitched. He walked three batters in just two of those 15 outings.
A month after Perez struck out seven batters in 5IP, River Bandits manager Omar Lopez said of Perez after he struck out nine batters in 5IP in August:
What's special about Perez is the mindset that he has. He's a strong kid and he works hard every single day. He knows what he needs to do in order to develop his pitch ability and also his stuff. He's been able to accomplish every goal we've put on his development plan for this year. So I think the commitment that he has and the discipline he's displayed this year has proven that he can be consistent.
Ultimately Perez sits low- to mid-90s with a heavy strike percentage. His bulky frame supports his velocity, but with two plus breaking pitches - a curveball and slider - with the curve a much more projectable pitch. And he'll be 19 in December.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Tranzactionz: International Edition
Turns out that Kevin Chapman's triumphant return was more short-lived than Wade LeBlanc's Astros career. Less than 24 hours after being promoted, Chapman is back to OKC, as Anthony Bass makes his official return.
Today also marks the beginning of the international signing period, for which the Astros once again have the largest pool to spend - $5,015,400. Jeff Luhnow has promised that Houston will be active, and that's already been true, as Jesse Sanchez reports two signings so far: RHP Franklin Perez and SS Miguelangel Sierra. Each signed for $1 million.
Perez, 16, is a 6'0", 180 lb. pitcher from Maracay, Venezuela. MLB.com has him ranked #21 in their top 30 international free agents this year; Baseball America ranks him #15. Sierra, also 16, is a 6'0", 160 lb. right-handed hitter from Altagracia de Orituco, Venezuela. MLB.com ranks him #23 in their top 30, while Baseball America has him #19. You can read their profiles and watch video on MLB.com over here, and on Baseball America over here.
UPDATE: Sanchez now reports that Houston has also signed C Brandon Benavente from Venezuela for $250,000, and they are aiming to ink MLB.com #20/BA #25 prospect OF Ronny Rafael from the Dominican Republic.
Today also marks the beginning of the international signing period, for which the Astros once again have the largest pool to spend - $5,015,400. Jeff Luhnow has promised that Houston will be active, and that's already been true, as Jesse Sanchez reports two signings so far: RHP Franklin Perez and SS Miguelangel Sierra. Each signed for $1 million.
Perez, 16, is a 6'0", 180 lb. pitcher from Maracay, Venezuela. MLB.com has him ranked #21 in their top 30 international free agents this year; Baseball America ranks him #15. Sierra, also 16, is a 6'0", 160 lb. right-handed hitter from Altagracia de Orituco, Venezuela. MLB.com ranks him #23 in their top 30, while Baseball America has him #19. You can read their profiles and watch video on MLB.com over here, and on Baseball America over here.
UPDATE: Sanchez now reports that Houston has also signed C Brandon Benavente from Venezuela for $250,000, and they are aiming to ink MLB.com #20/BA #25 prospect OF Ronny Rafael from the Dominican Republic.
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