Thursday Morning Hot Links

I have approximately 14 minutes before I have to go, so let's get to it.

*Check Jeff Blogwell on the Astros career of pitching legend Gerrit Cole.

*Yu Darvish has narrowed his preferred list of destinations to New York, Chicago, Arlington, Minnesota, and Houston, though the 2017 Silver Medalists seem to still be in the mix.

*Forrest Whitley hears his name in them trade rumors.

*Brady Rodgers, who had Tommy John surgery on May 2, feels that he can be ready for Opening Day.

*Jay Bruce signed with the Mets, which is interesting because the Astros apparently considered Bruce as a fall-back option had they traded Derek Fisher.

*First pitch on Opening Day (March 29) will be at 2:35pm.

*Yo here's a wild story about the head of CSE Talent's baseball division getting fired for allegedly filming his clients in the shower.

Thursday Morning Hot Links

*Fare thee well, Preston Tucker. Tucker was DFA'd last week to make room for Hector Rondon and yesterday was traded to the Braves for Kevin Cash Considerations or a PTBNL.

Tucker, the Astros' 7th Round pick in the heralded 2012 draft, had an encouraging start to his career in 2015, playing in 98 games and hitting .243/.297/.434 with 13 home runs. Tucker was hitting .306/.377/.516 after his first calendar month of the 2015 season including his first two home runs - both in a series at Detroit - where he tied the game. He followed that up with 48 games in 2016, hitting .164/.222/.328 and that was pretty much it as the Astros moved on to Josh Reddick.

Here are the draft picks in the Astros' first ten rounds of the 2012 draft, and their status as of this morning:
Carlos Correa (1-1): Hero
Lance McCullers (1-41): Hero, just rescued a dog from a speeding train.
Nolan Fontana (2-61): Anaheim
Brady Rodgers (3-96): Recovering from Tommy John
Rio Ruiz (4-129): Atlanta. Traded for Evan Gattis and James Hoyt.
Andrew Aplin (5-159): Seattle
Brett Phillips (6-189): Milwaukee. Traded for Carlos Gomez and World Series Champion Mike F. Fiers
Preston Tucker (7-219): Atlanta
Tyler Heineman (8-249): Milwaukee
Dan Minor (9-279): Playing in the Independent League since 2015
Joe Bircher (10-309): Playing in the Independent League since 2014

That's it. Three guys in the first ten rounds of the "heralded" (as I put it maybe three minutes ago) 2012 draft are still with the team five and a half years later.

*Apparently Jay Bruce wants to play for the Giants or Astros, but the Astros "don't have money for him," according to his agent Matt Sosnick. I'm guessing that they don't have the money Jay Bruce wants.

Side note: Jerry Crasnick wrote a book about Sosnick-Cobbe and it's really good. 

*Do you live in the NYC area? Brent Strom will be at a Staten Island pitching clinic on January 12/13.

*Will Leitch looks at World Series champions' individual offseasons following a title since 2010.

*Minor League Baseball president Pat O'Connor is gross. Be sure to scroll down to the part where he says being a minor-leaguer isn't a profession and that there isn't some McDonald's worker making $550,000 at a Major-League McDonald's.

*Kevin Sherrington doesn't see the brightest future for our neighbors to the southern part of Oklahoma.

*Lookout Landing's Kate Preusser has a really good piece on Mariners fans and Jerry Dipoto. There's even a Star Wars theme running through it, if that's your thing. If it's not, it's still a good read.

*Metroplex Guy thinks Art Briles deserves a second chance.

*The baseball cards in A Christmas Story.

Monday Morning Hot Links

*Random 2017 Astros fact:

The Astros were 7-27 (.206) when scoring 0-2 runs. The rest of the American League was a combined 68-573 (.106) when scoring 0-2 runs in a game.

*The GM Meetings start today in Orlando.

*Spring Training tickets go on sale today. The Astros' first game is February 23, 102 days and a lot of winter from today

*Craig Bjornson, the Astros' bullpen coach since 2014, was apparently not going to return to the team in 2018 and has been hired in the same role for Alex Cora and the Red Sox. Bullpen catcher Carlos Munoz will not return, either. So that's a bullpen coach, bullpen catcher, and an assistant hitting coach that Hinch needs to replace.

*Mike Petriello breaks down this offseason's free agent class based on Statcast metrics.

*Hey Erik Kratz is a free agent...

*Beaumont native Jay Bruce would like to play for the Rangers or Astros, but would also like to play for a contender, so I guess that leaves...

2016 Astros Trade Deadline: Targets - Round 3

Round 1

Round 2

@radROCKspencer @native_astro @KevinBassStache Alright. Viable option.

— Timothy De Block (@TimothyDeBlock) July 26, 2016

Alright fine! I'll do Carlos Beltran

Carlos Beltran

I am using wRC+ throughout this article.

 The Astros could use some help in the outfield. What, with Alex Bregman being a bust (kidding). In all seriousness adding a veteran presence in the outfield (and at DH) would be a good idea for the Astros. Beltran is having a bit of a bounce back year. If you consider bouncing back from a 119 wRC+ in 2015 a down year for Beltran. On gut feel I don't like trading for Beltran. First, he's old. Second, he's not the defensive stud he was back in 2004. Third, he broke my heart after the 2004 season. Did I mention he's old?

This season he has a 137 wRC+, but that comes with a .322 batting average on balls in play (BABIP). For his career Beltran has posted a .301 BABIP. I expect Beltran will regress a bit offensively in the second half of the season. Still he's a no-brainer upgrade over the other options in the outfield. He's an even better addition if he can DH full-time.

Price: He's a free agent after the season. He's old.Those factors will reduce his price, but he'll still require a solid offer from teams. Maybe a two top 30 guys. One possibly being a top 10 type of guy.

@TimothyDeBlock Jay Bruce! Buh bye Gomez, Rasmus to the bench.

— James Sprys (@jsprys) July 27, 2016

Jay Bruce

He's an appealing option to many Astros fans due to his Texas ties. On offense Bruce is having a resurgent season. Last year he had a 91 wRC+. So far this year he has a 129 wRC+ with a .289 BABIP. The BABIP is inline with his .287 career average. Defensively he should play left field for the Astros. Which is perfect! Considering George Springer currently plays right field for the Astros. Bruce is signed through this year plus has a $13M team option for 2017 with a $1M buyout.

Price: Bruce is in his 29 year old season. He's left-handed. Which, I think, helps the argument to make a trade for him. He has some control left and is an offensive upgrade in the outfield. I would expect something similar to Beltran. He may even cost slightly more. His ties to Houston would garner some excitement from the Astros fan base.

@TimothyDeBlock Matt Moore

— Ernie Breakfast (@erniebreakfast) July 27, 2016

Matt Moore

I will be using ERA+.

Now this is an interesting suggestion. Moore has fallen on hard times the last two years after excellent results in his first four seasons. Last year he posted a 72 ERA+. This year he's improved to a 95 ERA+. For his career he has a 99 ERA+. He is left-handed so maybe you put him in the bullpen on a playoff roster if he continues to struggle. At 27 he still has time to figure out his issues from the past two season. Injury may play a role here as he's reached the 150 innings mark once in his career. He's not exactly a ground ball pitcher, but he's also not the strikeout pitcher he was in the minors. He seems to be what the Astros already have. A back of the rotation starter.

Price: This would be more of a buy low type of move for the Astros. He becomes a free agent after the 2018 season. He won't cost as much as someone like Archer. The Rays will still expect quite a bit in return for Moore. I'd expect at least three prospects in top 30. 

Recap for G144 - Astros @ Reds

Terrible. Just awful. I watched the whole thing, and I never thought the Astros were going to win this game. As usual, I was right, and the Reds won 3-1. That pushes the Reds to 8-3 over the Astros so far this season. Wandy has now thrown three straight games in which he has given up two runs or less, and it's also the sixth straight start in which Wandy has struck out 6+ batters.

Let's just do the thing:
Wandy: 6IP, 5H/2ER, 8K:2BB, 12/24 first-pitch strikes, 35/68 non-contact strikes (20 called:15 swinging)
Gervacio: 0.1IP, 1K:1BB, 1/2 FPS, 3/4 NCS (1c:2s)
Wright: 0IP, 1H, 0/1 FPS, 0/1 NCS
Fulchino: 1.2IP, 1H/1ER, 2K:0BB, 7/17 NCS (2c:5s)

It's pretty disgusting that the pitching staff has to throw something better than a quality start to get a chance to win. But Jay Bruce came off the DL and hit a go-ahead two-run single for the winning margin. Brandon Phillips became the first Red ever to get 20 homers, 20 doubles, and 20 steals in three consecutive seasons.

The Astros had their chances, and were 1x7 with runners in scoring position (Tejada getting the lone RISP hit, but the Astros' one run came on a double from Carlos Lee in which Berkman hustled from first to give the Astros a fleeting lead. That, however, was the best I've seen Berkman run since his calf injury in July. But they did have a runner in scoring position in each of the first two innings, but predictably, did nothing. And that doesn't even count when Carlos Lee got picked off second base for no good reason.

Michael Bourn stole second in the first inning for his 55th stolen base, which is tops in the National League, and puts him two behind Carl Crawford and six behind Jacoby Ellsbury. The next closest to Bourn is Nyjer Morgan, with 42.

Pitch Count Hero: Michael Bourn - 20 pitches in 4 PAs (2x4); Wandy Rodriguez - 15 pitches in 3 PAs (0x3)

Pitch Count Punk: Humberto Quintero - 7 pitches in 3 PAs (0x3)

Man of the Match: I simply cannot give it to anyone on the offense, though Michael Bourn is certainly deserving. This one goes to Wandy, who is now 13-10 with a 2.77 ERA.

Goat of the Game: Kaz Matsui. Why is he still in the lineup? 0x3 with a sacrifice, but his OBP is now .297.