Game 5 Hot Links

Ahem. Now we have a rivalry. The Astros won Game 5, 5-4. It was the Astros' 7th straight postseason road win, their last postseason road loss coming in 2022 World Series Game 3, the "Let McCullers Get Shelled and Then Throw A No-Hitter" game.

FanGraphs: Houston 78.4 - 21.6 Six Flags.

Let's look at the Win Expectancy Roller Coaster:

1st Inning - Bregman solo homer: 55.8% Astros

4th Inning - Lowe solo homer: 53.8% Ramgers

6th Inning - Jose Abreu RBI single: 73.8% Astros

6th Inning - Adolis Garcia 3-run homer: 82.7% Rangers

8th Inning - Adolis Garcia HBP: 96.0% Rangers

9th Inning - Yainer Diaz single: 84.3% Rangers

9th Inning - Jon Singleton walk: 72.2% Rangers

9th Inning - Jose Altuve 3-run homer: 82.9% Astros

9th Inning - Mitch Garver single: 65.2% Astros

9th Inning - Jonah Heim single: 53.2% Rangers

9th Inning - Evan Carter strikeout: 100.0% Astros

*Let's talk about that Adolis Garcia HBP:

-Did Adolis Garcia pimp his three-run homer in the 6th? Absolutely! Did he have every right to do that? For sure! I would still be moonwalking between 1st and 2nd base if I had hit that home run, which was actually Adolis Garcia's 100th career home run. That home run was massive. Absolutely no issue with Garcia slamming the bat down and yelling. 

-Did Abreu try to hit him? Obviously I'm biased. I've spent a number of years referring to the Rangers as being located in a different random Metroplex suburb. I hate that team. That said, there is absolutely no reason to hit Adolis Garcia. Evan Carter was on 1st base after Abreu walked him. It was 4-2 Rangers, and the Astros had three outs to play with before having to go back to Minute Maid Park needing to win both games to win the Pennant. I'm sure the Astros have won back-to-back home games in 2023...but I can't quite remember when. (September 9-10 vs San Diego).

-What I'm trying to say is that intentionally hitting Garcia would be the height of stupidity. Garcia had woken up the World's Largest Storage Unit already, there would be no reason to fan the flames. I think Abreu was trying to blow an fastball by him. There were 0 outs. Maybe get a GIDP. 

-I also understand why Garcia was pissed off. If someone hit me with a 97mph fastball you would see my soul ascend (I'm assuming I'm going to Heaven) on a cloud, playing a harp. There wouldn't even be dental records, such would be my demise. 

-Shoutout to Dusty Baker for actually getting out of the dugout and putting his finger in one the faces of this awful umpiring crew. Dusty: "I haven't been that mad in a long time."

-Altuve's homer got Marvin Hudson off the hook for what was an absolutely God-awful job behind the plate. I didn't know Dusty had it in him. It also got Altuve off the hook for trying to bunt with Tucker on second base. 

-Ultimately Garcia's outburst may have actually cost the Ramgers that game. He iced LeClerc, which is French for "The Clerc," for 11 minutes after he got Michael Brantley to juuuust get under one to end the inning with Kyle Tucker on second base. LeClerc's 9th Inning: Walk, Walk, Homer (then some outs). 

Bruce Bochy:

I was concerned about that delay. I really was. It as a long one. It was taking too long, to be honest. The whole thing is a bunch of crap, to be honest, what happened there. Who knows what intentions are, but it's not the first time it's happened, and couldn't get the game going again.

LeClerc:

I'm not used to waiting around that long to pitch again, but it's no excuse. I needed to execute my pitches and do a better job.

That doesn't happen if Adolis Garcia just walks to first. 

-But if Abreu did it on purpose, then he's dumb as hell and deserved to get tossed. And suspended.

*Abreu apparently told Garcia that it wasn't on purpose, and Garcia responded: "Bullshit."

*To the "Game:"

Verlander made one bad pitch. That pitch also moved Verlander out of a tie with Clayton Kershaw for the 2nd-most postseason home runs allowed and past Andy Pettitte's 31 playoff homers and into sole possession of most postseason home runs allowed, at 32.

Of the 32 postseason home runs Verlander has now allowed, 19 have come with the Astros. That breakdown:

Solo: 13

2-Run: 3

3-Run: 3

Grand Slams: 0

It's the 9th time Verlander has allowed 2HR in a postseason game, and the 6th time it's happened with the Astros, who are now 2-4 in postseason games in which Verlander gives up 2HR. 

*Jordan Montgomery vs Houston, ALCS: 11.2IP, 10H/2ER, 9K:3BB.

*Shoutout to Yainer Diaz, who got his first career postseason hit. 

*Shoutout to Jon Singleton, who drew a walk that became the tying run in his first plate appearance since October 1. Singleton:

You put in the hard work, and you stay ready so you don't have to get ready. That's been my motto so far this year. 

*Jose LeClerc had only allowed 23 homers in 302.1 career IP. He had given up 5HR in the 2023 regular season. Only one of those career home runs had more than one on base - a grand slam to Julio Rodriguez on July 15, 2022. And then came Jose Altuve. 

*Jose Altuve hit his 26th career postseason home run to record his 54th career postseason RBI. It was his first multi-RBI game since 2021 ALCS G2. Altuve had 3RBI in his previous 25 postseason games combined. Listen to Robert Ford's call of the home run.

Altuve:

I know everybody is talking about the homer. But if you go and see Diaz's base hit and then Singleton's walk, especially when he hasn't played in a lot of days...coming from the bench facing probably one of the best closers right now in the playoffs, I think the key was these two guys and to be able to score all those runs. 

*Alex Bregman's 18th career postseason home run moves him into a tie for 3rd in franchise history with Carlos Correa. He needs one more to tie George Springer for 2nd. 

*Kyle Tucker got two hits in a postseason game since 2022 World Series Game 1.

*It was Ryan Pressly's first career postseason six-out save, and just the 2nd six-out save of his career. 

What To Watch, October 21

Everton @ Liverpool: 6:30am Central

Leeds United @ Norwich: 9am

Penn State @ Ohio State: 11am

Arsenal @ Chelsea: 11:30am

Tennessee @ Alabama: 2:30pm

Texas @ Houston: 3pm

Washington @ Montreal: 6pm

Utah @ USC: 7pm

*A Musical Selection:

Saturday Morning Hot Links

Will Hot Links become weekend-only? I'm not sure. But I'm absolutely willing to do this every morning that I can for the time being. That said, the Houston MF Astros beat the Angels 11-3 to improve to 67-50. The Rangers are not allowed to lose, so the Astros are 2.5 back. There are 45 games remaining in the 2023 regular season. 

*Since the All-Star Break the Astros are 17-9, third-best record in the AL. The Rangers are 17-8, second-best. The Mariners are 18-8. 

*Houston is 7-3 in their last 10 games. The Rangers are 9-1. 

*The Astros have scored 7+ runs in four of their last five games, and have 10+ hits in four straight games.

*Houston has hit a home run in nine straight games, and in 23 of 26 games since the All-Star Break.

*7-8-9 in the lineup (Singleton, Pena, Machete): 9x13, 4XBH, 8RBI.

*1-4 in the lineup: 3x15, 3RBI.

*The Astros struck out five times in the game and PH/3B Grae Kessinger had two of them. 

*Jon MF Homerton was 3x4 with two home runs, 5RBI, and a walk. It's his first MLB HR since July 29, 2015 against...the Angels. It's the longest stretch between MLB home runs by a position player since Rafael Belliard homered for the Pirates in 1987 and the Braves in 1997.

It was the 4th 3-hit game of his career and the first since August 2, 2014. 

Singleton:

There was this moment in time where I wouldn't say I didn't imagine it, but it wasn't even a thought in my mind. But as life went on, things changed and it definitely was a thought in my mind that this could be my life again.

Dusty:

That was a great night. That's a long time between big league homers. The guys were happy for him and wanted him to get another one, but we'll take whatever we can get.

Verlander:

I think somebody as highly touted as him in the baseball world, you hear about. So yes, I knew of him. Really, really happy for him today. Obviously, it's been a long road. Finding himself back in the big leagues and then having a game like today, really special.

*Jeremy Pena was 3x4 with a double, RBI, walk. It was Pena's first extra-base hit since August 1.

*Maldonado was 3x5 with a double and an RBI. It's his second 3-hit game of the season, and you have to go all the way back to August 3 to find the first one. 

*Jose Altuve had two hits and two walks. Since coming back from the IL with an oblique (14 games, 65 PAs), Altuve is hitting .411/.492/.661. He has 1,990 career hits.

*Alex Bregman was 0x2 but drew two walks for the 14th time this season.

*Justin Verlander got the win on his 500th career MLB start. He and Zack Greinke are the only active players to have made 500 starts. Verlander has made 104 regular season starts for the Astros. He's thrown a Quality Start in 81 of them.

It was Verlander's 251st win, tying him for 46th all-time with Bob Gibson, CC Sabathia, and Al Spalding, and puts him 27 wins ahead of Zack Greinke for the most by an active pitcher. Next up is Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell, at 253 wins.

*Rafael Montero threw a clean inning in relief. Since the All-Star Break, Montero: 10.2IP, 5H/3ER, 15K:6BB, 2.53 ERA. 

*Phil Maton got hit on the elbow by a comebacker and got X-Rays.

*Jose Abreu got an MRI on his lower back. Dusty, on the problem at 1B (before last night's game):

The other guys that are playing first haven't shown that they have earned that yet, either. You can't just give it to them. We're not in the experimenting business. We'll see how that goes before we start talking about timeshare or whatever. You have to figure out who you're sharing time with and how they're doing. 

*The Astros and Royals are the only teams in MLB without a player on the MLB.com Top 100 Prospects list. Here are the re-ranked Top 30 Prospects for the Astros.

*Dan Solomon: What did we learn from the Johnny Manziel documentary?

*Bayern Munich officially signed Harry Kane.

*A top mountain climber has been accused of walking past a dying guide on K2. 

*A Musical Selection:

Sunday Evening Hot Links

Short one as I might be switching to evening posts this week, because I have to be out of the house at 6:30am every day this week? Why? That is not your business, friend. Kindly move on. The Astros salvaged a split at the home of the AL East Basement-Dwelling New York Yankees with an extremely unattractive 9-7 win. Houston is 64-49, still 2.5 back of Aledo because they aren't allowed to lose anymore. 

*Houston struck out 14 times. It's the 5th time this season the Astros have struck out at least 14 times. They're now 1-4 in those games. The last time they struck out 14+ times and won was August 21, 2022 in a 5-4 win against Atlanta.

*Astros pitchers walked 12 batters. And won. They had not walked 10 batters in a game all season. The last time they walked 10+ batters in a game was July 11, 2021 in an 8-7 win against...the Yankees, which was the last time any MLB team walked 12+ batters and still won the game, despite all the dick-stepping. It's only the 3rd time in MLB this season that a team has walked 12+ batters.

*The Astros hit four home runs for the 11th time in 2023, and they're 11-0 in those games. 

*Jake Meyers hit two of them hoes for the first time since hitting career home runs 1 & 2 on August 14, 2021. It was the 59th time an Astros batter has recorded 6+ RBI in a game. You have to go all the way back to July 24 to find the last time an Astro had 6RBI (Chas McCormick against Aledo). The Astros are 55-4 when a player has 6+ RBI in a game.

Is Jake Meyers the new LHP weapon?

*Martin Maldonado hit a home run, his first extra-base hit since July 25. 

*Yordan Alvarez hit his 21st home run. He has 283 PAs in 67 games in 2023. Nobody in MLB with 21+ home runs has done it in as few games as Yordan (though Former Astros Great Jose Siri has 21 home runs in 75 games for Tampa). 

*Jon Singleton might be on his way to Houston? Dana Brown:

I think if he can come up here - and we'll give him a shot - if he can come up here and hit the ball well and have quality at-bats, I think he's a guy that Dusty can say 'I want to get some more reps on.' It will be a Dusty call at the end of the day. If we get him up here and Dusty really likes him, we'll roll with him. If Dusty says 'I'm limited with this guy,' it'll be his call once we get him up here.

*How is Angel Hernandez still employed?

*Seasonal Affective Disorder is a summer thing, as well.

*A Musical Selection:

Sunday Morning Hot Links

Man. Houston blew a 7-3 lead, Ryne Stanek blew a gasket. The Astros dropped their second straight to the Dodgers, their 7th loss in their last nine games. Houston is 41-36, back in third place.

*Stanek, on the "balk" (the first of his career)

He said I moved my leg, which was pretty obvious because I stepped off the mound. Beyond that, I wholeheartedly disagree. A balk is intentionally trying to deceive a runner. At what point was I trying to deceive a runner? I hadn't even come set yet. I literally was just stepping backwards.

The Bastard Dave Roberts:

It was a balk. He got it right. Obviously in a game like that, you don't want it to be the deciding run in that situation. But they got the call right. And I think Stanek was looking at the pitch clock maybe, maybe trying to step off, call timeout, and then his cleat got stuck, but it was a balk by the letter of the law. So we'll take it. It was his right knee that moved.

Dusty:

Boy, that's a tough way to lose.

*Last night's game was the second time in the Astros' last six games, and the third time in June, that they scored at least seven runs and lost. 

*Alex Bregman was 2x5 with a grand slam. It's the sixth grand slam of his career, and his second in the last three weeks. 

*Jose Altuve was 3x5 with two runs scored. It's the third 3-hit game of the season for Altuve - and don't forget that last night was his 26th game of 2023. It's the 191st 3-hit game of his career, postseason included.

*Kyle Tucker was 1x2 with three walks, his first 3BB game since May 10, 2022.

*After a two-day reset, Jose Abreu was 2x4 with a double, sac fly, RBI. It was just the fifth game in June in which Abreu did not strike out, and his first game with an RBI since June 14 - also the date of his last multi-hit game.

*Ronel Blanco was serviceable: 6IP, 2H/3ER, 6K:2BB. Three of the four baserunners he allowed scored via home run. 

*Phil Maton was not: 0.2IP, 2H/2ER, 0K:0BB, HBP, HR. It was the first home run he'd allowed since April 29.

*So was Bryan Abreu: 0.1IP, 1H/3ER, 0K:3BB. Abreu has allowed at least one earned run in three of his last five appearances. 

*At 5.19, Houston has the 5th-worst bullpen ERA in June. They only have four saves this month. The bullpen's 15 losses are tied for the 5th-most in MLB,

*Jose Urquidy threw a bullpen yesterday and plans to throw two more before facing live batters.

*Jon Homerton is back with the Astros, and hit a home run in his first game with Sugar Land. Pedro Leon hit for the cycle for the first time in Space Cowboys history.

Chandler Rome: Why the Astros reunited with Jon Homerton.

*The Angels beat Colorado 25-1. They had scored 26 runs in their previous seven games combined.

*If you're too young to remember Tower Records, here's what you missed.

*Texas Monthly: Hellhounds On His Trail: Mack McCormick's Long, Tortured Quest To Find The Real Robert Johnson.

*A Musical Selection:

Saturday Morning Hot Links

There will be no Hot Links tomorrow (Sunday) as I will be returning from a wedding in which I've spoken maybe six words to the bride and have never met the groom. Things are great. The Astros beat the Angels 6-2 to improve to 34-23. The Rangers obviously won again so Houston is still 2.5 back. Houston goes to South Ardmore July 1-3. 

*Houston is 6-2 in their last eight games and have won 17 of their last 22 games.

*Anaheim is 13-30 against Houston since the beginning of the 2021 season.

*Yordan Alvarez hit a two-run home run in the 1st Inning to bring him to 50 RBI in 2023, in his 51st game (the 57th game of the Astros season). After 51 games, 2006 Lance Berkman was at 46 RBI.

*Chas McCormick went 3x4 - his first three-hit game since October 5, 2022.

*Corey Julks hit his 4th home run of the season, and the first one that featured a runner on base when it happened.

*Kyle Tucker was 2x4 with a double and an RBI. He's 5x8 with three doubles in these last two games against the Angels. 

*Framber shoved: 7IP, 5H/0ER, 7K:1BB. Framber, since giving up 4ER in 4IP against the Cubs on May 15: 3GS, 22IP, 13H/1ER, 19K:4BB.

Shohei Ohtani vs Framber, career: 4x31, .129/.270/.226.

Mike Trout vs Framber, career: 2x19, .105/.292/.105.

Framber, on facing Shohei Ohtani:

I definitely get excited sometimes pitching against Ohtani. Obviously, he's probably the best player in the league right now - the MVP. But whenever I go up there, I see it as, I'm pitching against his teammates, and my teammates are the ones that also help me beat him, as well.

Danielle Lerner: How Framber cleaned up his defense.

*Phil Maton gave up his first earned run since May 3, allowing three hits in the process. He had allowed three hits in his previous seven games combined. 

*Drew Gilbert has some elbow discomfort, Will Wagner had hamate bone surgery, and Forrest F. Whitley will be out 3-4 months with his right lat strain, effectively ruling him out of playing for the Astros this season. Dana Brown blamed it on something with his delivery.

*Tyler Brown was promoted from Corpus to Sugar Land. His numbers are a little Yikes, but he had 19 strikeouts in 19.1IP for Corpus.

*Shoutout to Former Astros Great Jon Singleton, who was recalled by the Milwaukee Brewers yesterday. He's hitting .258/.384/.483 for Triple-A Nashville this season. It'll be his first major-league game since October 2, 2015.

*The Ringer: Dril is everyone. More specifically, he's a guy named Paul.

*A Musical Selection, because it's been stuck in my head for six weeks:

'Rona-Free Hot Links, Vol. 5

IMPORTANT: If you are in a Zoom Meeting with more than two people, and do not mute your mic, you will be brought before a war crimes tribunal.

*I know these are supposed to be COVID-19-free, but here's how the Astros Foundation is helping to coordinate and deliver medical supplies.

*Chandler Rome has a mailbag. He talks about impending free agency, three prospects he thinks will throw 90+ IP in 2020/2021, whichever comes first, Forrest Whitley, and A.J. Hinch.

*Speaking of A.J. Hinch, Buster Olney reported (confirmed by Chandler Rome) that, if the 2020 season is canceled, Hinch and Jeff Luhnow would still be eligible to return to baseball in 2021. This is consistent with MLB's decision on player suspensions not having to spill over to 2021 (Francis Martes, for instance).



*Here are the draft pools and slot bonuses for the 1st 10 Rounds of the 2020 Draft, though how many rounds there actually will be is still up in the air. The Astros' 1st selection of the Draft will be #73, thanks to the Yankees giving Gerrit Cole over $300m. That pick has a slot of $857,400. Their next pick will be 3-102.

*Listen to Part 2 of Evan Gattis' conversation with The Athletic on the Astros' sign-stealing in 2017. Gattis:
I think we got so f***ing caught up that we f***ed up.

*Jon Singleton was the most-hyped Astros' 1B prospect of the last 20 years, says MLB.com. I think I was more hyped for Brett Wallace, but the point stands.

*Lance McCullers is Tags' pick for Future Ace of the Astros.

*Meet "the conscience of baseball."

*Chris Cwik went back and undid all of Jeter's wrongs with the Marlins.

*Tim Kurkjian: Ichiro's love of hamburgers, math, and his bats.

*Sam Miller: The most meme-worthy moments for all 29 teams (yeah, the trash can takes the cake for the Astros. If it's not Coronavirus, it's trash cans. This is what we are now.)

*Outside: The Woman Who Lives 200,000 Years In The Past.

*Explore.org has a ton of webcams for you to pass your time.

*You need Yoga With Adriene in your life.



*Learn Something:

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros enjoyed the first of two off-days this week an off-day yesterday (I don't know why I thought the Astros had Thursday off, as well.) And still, here are the number of games played by AL Teams:

49: Arlington
48: Houston
47: Boston, Toronto, Baltimore, Detroit, Kansas City, Anaheim, Oakland
46: Seattle
45: Tampa, Cleveland,
44: New York, Chicago
43: Minnesota

Did you check the Cleveland series recap from Jexas?

*So the big news that I missed because I overslept yesterday is Derek Fisher's transition to the DL with "GI discomfort." GI stands for "Gastrointestinal." It may be the first time the Astros put a player on the DL for crapping the bed. J.D. Davis was brought up from Fresno.

*Mike Petriello spends a decent amount of time making a case for the Astros' rotation being in the conversation as one of the best ever. Through 48 starts, the rotation has allowed just 83 runs. Note that the rotation's ERA of 2.25 is almost a quarter of a run lower than the 1968 Cardinals' modern-day best of 2.49. Also note that it is May 22. That said, no team this century has a lower ERA through 48 games than the Astros' rotation.

Dayn Perry at CBS Sports has a similar piece.

Here's Jake Kaplan with a deep dive into the numbers of the Astros' rotation. And here's another one wondering where J.D. Davis will actually play.

*Ken Giles is 8x8 in save situations in 2018, allowing a .167/.167/.167 line through 7IP with 4H/0ER, 8K:0BB. Also, Ken Giles: 36 batters faced, zero walks.

*Tonight Gerrit Cole will pitch to his wife's brother, Brandon Crawford. Crawford:
It's more fun for family, I think, than it is for us. It doesn't help that he's a really good pitcher - probably one of the best in baseball this year. That doesn't add to the fun of it for me.

*And so the Jon Singleton Era in Houston ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. Singleton - who had been outrighted off the 40-Man roster earlier this year, was summarily released by Houston today. The press release, in full:
The Astros have released minor league first baseman Jon Singleton, effective today. The club has no further comment on this. 

Singleton, of course, is serving a 100-game suspension for a third positive test for a drug of abuse (tweeds), of which there are still 54-ish games remaining. And it's the last year of his 5yr/$10m deal he signed back in 2014. (Side note: it does not feel like it's been five years since that deal).

Speaking of suspensions, Forrest Whitley's 50-game suspension ends at the beginning of next week.

*In McTaggart's Notebook, he actually dignified the "Shood We traid Kykull" question with a response. There is an interesting note about the Astros' future at catcher, and whether that involves Stassi in a full-time role. If you want to look to free agency to sign a catcher (because McCann likely isn't coming back for $15m), here's who is scheduled to be a free agent after this season:

Drew Butera, Robinson Chirinos, A.J. Ellis, Tyler Flowers, Yasmani Grandal, Nick Hundley, Jonathan Lucroy, Martin Maldonado, Jeff Mathis, Devin Mesoraco, Miguel Montero, Wilson Ramos, Rene Rivera, Kurt Suzuki, Matt Wieters.

At 30, Yasmani Grandal is the youngest player on this list. So this list gets a big ol' Ew.

*San Francisco hitting coach Alonzo Powell will get his World Series ring tonight.

*Fresno's Trent Thornton, who was hit on the elbow by a line drive, was moved to the 7-Day DL.

Here's something you don't see everyday. In the bottom of the third inning tonight between the Fresno Grizzlies and Reno Aces, pitcher Jake Buchanan had to wait while Tyler White put in eye drops! (White would later fly out to LF.) pic.twitter.com/eIeMbvWkGh

— Andrew Marden (@andrewmarden) May 22, 2018

*Corpus' Randy Cesar and Cionel Perez were both named Texas League Players of the Week.

*There was a plane crash in Cuba over the weekend that has now killed 111. One family was from Houston. Yuli Gurriel is paying for the travel for their relatives.

*An Astros-oriented fundraiser at Tootsies raised over $360,000 for the Sunshine Kids and the LMJ Foundation.

*The Rangers are officially open for business. Come and get their finest old players for prospects. It's rebuilding, not tanking, right?

*Meet Cy-Creek's Jordan Hicks, baseball's most confounding pitcher.

*PFT Commenter has managed to skyrocket to fame while somehow maintaining his anonymity.

*I'm on a big JFK kick, so I recommend reading this July 2014 piece in The Baffler: Dallas Killers Club.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

*Two Astros minor-leaguers were suspended yesterday for various substances for which they pissed hot (Piss Hot Stove amirite?):

Jon Singleton tested positive for a third time for a "drug of abuse," and will be suspended for 100 games without pay.

Dean Deetz, who was added to the 40-Man Roster ahead of the 2017 Rule 5 Draft, tested positive for Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, and will be suspended for 80 games without pay.

This seemingly slams a door that was already closing on Singleton's tenure with the Astros, and perhaps his career in baseball. His first positive drug test was in 2012, followed by a second in 2013. The AP's Kristie Rieken had a remarkable interview with Singleton in March 2014 in which he detailed his marijuana use and his 30-day stint in an inpatient rehab facility. Singleton:
At this point it's pretty evident to me that I'm a drug addict. I don't openly tell everyone that, but it's pretty apparent to myself. I know that I enjoy smoking weed, I enjoy being high and I can't block that out of my mind that I enjoy that. So I have to work against that.

Singleton signed his "controversial" 5yr/$10m deal in 2014 but was removed from the 40-Man roster in November. When he signed the contract then-manager Bo Porter told the Chronicle:
You get Jonathan the man right, and the baseball part will take care of itself.

Singleton will end up making about $750,000 of the $2m he was due this season. But I can almost guarantee you that the Astros will decline his $2.5m club options for 2019, $5m for 2020, and $13m for 2021.

Dean Deetz's suspension is a little more surprising. And no one was more surprised than Deetz, apparently. Deetz:
Let me say first and foremost that I have never knowingly taken a performance-enhancing substance of any kind. I come from a small town and know how fortunate I am to call myself a professional baseball player. I would never jeopardize that opportunity, or betray those who have supported me along the way, by trying to cheat in order to gain an advantage. As I explained to the arbitrator in my appeal, I have no idea how I could possibly have tested positive, and although I am disappointed by the outcome, I will abide by his decision.

Bluebird Banter has a better recap of the substance (known as a favorite of the East Germans and aka "Oral Turinabol") than I could ever put together before I need to get in the shower and get ready. The New York Times noted in 2016 how it was becoming a popular substance among baseball players.

*Related: George Mitchell sat down with Jerry Crasnick and talked about the legacy of his report, PEDs, and the Hall of Fame.

*Dallas Keuchel hopped on SportsRadio 610 and had this to say about his impending free agency:
Veteran pitching is always looked upon and sought after because it wins and you saw it with Verlander, what happened when we traded for him. If this is my last year here, I'm going to enjoy every single moment and I'm going to give everything I have. Not to say that I haven't before, but just really really enjoy it...I would love to be in Houston.

*Josh Reddick talked to high school students about the rotation and his singing voice.

*Wow what a surprise that Astros fans like Jim Crane and his ownership group.

*Kirk Bohls can't imagine the Astros losing the division or the Rangers finishing better than 3rd in 2018.

*Cool story from Buster Olney about Trevor Hoffman and how he was forced to discover the changeup that might take him to the Hall of Fame today.

*Norwich, Vermont (Pop. 3000): Cradle of Olympians.

*My favorite soccer team unveiled their new crest, and people hate it.

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*Mike Fiers was absolutely brilliant yesterday, throwing 7.1IP, 2H/1R (0ER), 8K:2BB. It was his longest outing since August 21, 2015, when he no-hit the Dodgers. In his last three starts (since his rotation resurrection) Fiers has thrown 18.1IP, 14H/4ER, 20K:6BB. For all the crap I gave him to start the season, he has turned it around lately. Astros win 3-1.

Hinch:
This is the best stuff I think he's brought into the game this season and I think it was a combination of everything but everything seemed to be working off his change up. He could throw it any count, he threw some nasty ones that looked like split-fingers.

Fiers:
You guys got some false advertisement early this year. But this is how I pitch and this is the pitcher I am. I'm just going to continue that for the rest of this year. 

Sounds good, Mike. Fiers' Game Score of 78 is the highest of the season by any Astros starter, and the 11th 70+ Game Score of the season.

*More Fiers:
I had a really good bullpen before the game and I just knew I was throwing my good stuff. When I feel like that, I feel like I'm one of the best pitchers in the league.

Kole Calhoun, on Devenski, who escaped a jam in the 8th:
He throws hard and has a good changeup. He's got probably a 10-12 miles an hour difference. It's a good pitch, has a good bottom to it. He threw me a couple good ones. 

*There are 99 games remaining in the regular season. The Astros are 15-4 since getting swept by Cleveland. They have 12 10+ hit games in that stretch, and four 9-hit games. As a team they have an .813 OPS.

*Yuliesky Gurriel has a 10-game hitting streak, hitting .359/.372/.615 in that span.

*Brian McCann's homer in the 2nd matched the longest streak in franchise history at 18 games.

*Dallas Keuchel is not going to rush to get back on the mound:
I decided to shut it down, and here we are. It's kind of a bad spot to put the bullpen in. I didn't really know how I was going to feel until I started to warm up [on Wednesday]. I wanted to do something now and not revisit it later in the season when we're getting ready for the playoffs and hopefully playing in October.

*Thanks to the Cheatin-Ass Cardinals, the Astros have four picks tomorrow (five of the first 100), the first day of the 2017 MLB Draft. Jake Kaplan has a preview. Assistant GM Mike Elias:
I actually think this is a pretty good class. I'm glad we have the picks. There's a lot of players we like with those picks, and we're going to grab five of them in the first 100.

*Corpus Christi lost last night, sending their record to 30-31, but pitcher Kyle Smith has been on fire. After throwing 6IP, 3H/1R (0ER), 8K:1BB, Smith has allowed 25H/3ER, 38K:7BB in his last eight starts (40IP). The Astros got Smith in a July 2013 trade with the Royals for Justin Maxwell.

*Corpus' Jon Singleton and Akeem Bostick had been suspended for some reason.

*Here's the Korea Times, on foreign-born managers (like former Astros bench coach Trey Hillman) changing the game.

*ESPN: Hidden trends of the MLB draft

*Nick Cafardo says Kansas City's Jason Vargas and Oakland's Sonny Gray are the two most-asked about pitchers in trade talks. Tampa Bay's Alex Cobb and Miami's Edinson Volquez could also be on the move.

*Congratulations to Deer Park (from a Pasadena Boy) on winning the 6A State baseball title.

*There are some factors that work in the USMNT's favor as they play in Estadio Azteca tonight. (My dad will be there.)

*TIL that Adam West was once kicked out of an orgy for insisting on staying in character as Batman.

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*Word to you, mothers.

*Yesterday's game was rained out, so the Astros and Yankees will play a day-night double-header, with the first game at 1:05pm and the second on Sunday Night Baseball. Oh, and the Yankees are honoring a shortstop.

*The Astros will tip their caps to Derek Jeter tonight.

*New York Daily News: The first two games of the Yankees-Astros series says more about the Astros than the Yankees.

*The Astros will shoot for an AL-best 12th road win this season. The Rangers won their 5th straight game yesterday and are 7-3 in their last ten games. The Astros have won five straight and are 8-2 in their last ten games.

*Keuchel/McCullers are anchoring the team. McCullers:
I think that we're just doing what we're supposed to be doing. I think we have a good team here. We can do some pretty cool things. Everyone does their job. 

*This NYT article explains what happened between Chase Headley and home plate umpire Adrian Johnson.

*Your friendly writers at Astros County did a roundtable.

*Colin Moran was activated from the DL (why he was on the DL in the first place hasn't been released).

*Buster Olney looked at whether the WBC impacted players' early-season results.

*Jesse Spector says Dallas Keuchel is here to stay.

*Ken Rosenthal has a great profile of Chris Devenski. I guess all it takes is playing in New York to get some national love.

*Jack Curry wrote a good article on Yulieski Gurriel in 2006.

PreStros Report: Games of May 13

*Derek Fisher has a 16-game hit streak and the Fresno Grizzlies (15-21) got a 6-4 win over OKC. Mike Hauschild threw 4IP, 2H/2ER, 4K:2BB, Reymin Guduan walked two in 2IP, Tyson Perez allowed 2H/2ER, 2K:1BB in 2IP and Jordan Jankowski walked two in his 4th save of the season. Fisher was 3x5 with a stolen base; Tony Kemp (BB, RBI) and A.J. Reed (2B, BB, RBI) had two hits each. The Grizzlies hit seven doubles and were 5x13 w/RISP.

*Corpus (16-19) enjoyed a 6-run 6th inning, beating Midland 7-1 and snapping a ten-game losing streak. Josh James threw 5IP, 1H/1ER, 4K:4BB; Rogelio Armenteros allowed 3H/0ER, 5K:2BB in 3IP and Andrew Thome retired the side in the 9th. Drew Ferguson and J.D. Davis each went 3x5. Jon Singleton was 2x3 with a double, two walks, and a grand slam (5RBI). Bobby Boyd and Kristian Trompiz were 2x4 with an RBI.

*Buies Creek (22-14) beat the Down East Wood Ducks (yes, that's their name) 4-2. Justin Ferrell threw 5IP, 3H/1ER, 4K:1BB; Matt Bower allowed 5H/1ER, 2K:2BB in 3IP and Nick Hernandez allowed 1H/0ER, 2K:1BB in the 9th. Jason Martin (2B, 3B, BB, RBI), Myles Straw (3B), and Arturo Michelena each went 2x4. Kyle Tucker was 1x3 with a walk and 2RBI. Dexture McCall hit a homer for the second straight game.

*Quad Cities came back from being down 7-2 by scoring two runs in the 8th, three in the 9th to send it to extra innings. The River Bandits (16-18) scored in the top of the 11th but Dayton scored two in the bottom half of the inning in a 10-9 win over Quad Cities. Ryan Hartman threw 4IP, 4H/2ER, 2K:4BB; Ronel Blanco allowed 6H/5ER in 0.2IP; Enoli Pareles threw 5.1IP, 1H/1ER, 2K:2BB and Erasmo Pinales gave up the go-ahead runs with 2H/2ER, 0K:2BB in 0.2IP. Rodrigo Ayarza went 4x5 with a double, homer and 5RBI; Marcos Almonte was 3x5 with a triple. The River Bandits were 6x18 w/RISP.

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

*Make sure you check out the Masked Marvel's G1 recap.

*Brian McCann will not be surprised with whatever success Dallas Keuchel has this season:
When you get behind the scenes, you see him be there at 5 in the morning in Spring Training working out. His preparation is off the charts. You know why he's a Cy Young Award winner. He's incredible. 

Hinch, on Keuchel:
He's a perfectionist. He demands a lot out of himself. He doesn't accept mediocrity and doesn't accept less than his best. I think he's stubborn that way, and I love that characteristic.

*George Springer joins Terry Puhl as the only Astros to hit a leadoff homer on Opening Day.

*Hinch, on Correa:
Correa is maturing right in front of our eyes. He's taking steps forward in every aspect of the game...It shouldn't surprise any of us when he has nights like tonight.

*Collin McHugh will be Fresno's Opening Day starter on Thursday as part of his rehab starter. McHugh:
I feel like my arm's there. I feel like it's ready to go. It's just a matter of getting the pitches in. Moving forward I don't feel any lingering effects, which is solid.

*Jon Singleton will begin the 2017 season in Corpus Christi in an effort to get him ABs, according to Luhnow.

*Root Sports has reached an agreement with MLB to stream Astros games in-market. How does this affect you cord-cutters? The service, which will apparently start next month, is only available to authenticated users. So you'll likely need someone's username/password to see the games if you don't have cable.

*Jim Crane said the Astros are "middle-market." Matt Hammond took issue.

*If you want the other side of last night's game, check out SoDo Mojo's thoughts.

Just how "controversial" was Jon Singleton's deal?

Jake Kaplan talked to Jon Singleton yesterday about his removal from the 40-Man roster. Singleton was predictably pragmatic about the transaction after hitting .202/.337/.390 in Fresno...

I kind of just took it for what it is. Obviously I had a down year last year. So I figured that I had some kind of consequence. But it is what it is.

I mean, what's he gonna say? "I should have gotten called up in 2016 at least once?" (That actually may be true, given the struggles the Astros endured at 1B in 2016, but whatever).

Still, Kaplan wrote this intriguing line:

Singleton, 25, is in major league spring training as a non-roster invitee. Under the terms of the controversial five-year extension he signed in June 2014, the left-handed hitting first baseman will make $2 million this season despite no longer being on the major league roster. 

So let's talk about the "controversy" surrounding the Singleton deal.

At the time the deal was signed, there was controversy. First, some background: Prior to the 2014 season, Singleton was ranked #82 in Baseball America's prospect rankings. He was ranked #57 by Baseball Prospectus, and #50 by MLB.com. This ranking is two years removed from his 2012 season in Corpus in which he - four years younger than his competition - hit .284/.396/.497.

He mainly spent 2013 between Double-A and Triple-A, missing 50 games due to the now-famous suspension for marijuana. Still, in the linked write-up, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick's lede described Singleton as "a rising star in the organization and the team's first baseman of the future." It was a blip, right? His numbers suffered in 2013 after the suspension, which followed a month-long stay in a rehab facility, hitting .230/.351/.401. As time went on, though, Singleton got better. After cratering in July 2013 (.178/.274/.300), he finished strong to end the 2013 season. From July 31 to the end of the minor-league season Singleton hit .268/.398/.400 - signaling, to me (and maybe others, who knows) that his eye was there, the hit tool and power would soon follow. But there was still work to be done.

Singleton described his journey in March 2014, three months before his extension and subsequent call-up:
At this point, it's pretty evident to me that I'm a drug addict. I don't openly tell everyone that, but it's pretty apparent to myself. I know that I enjoy smoking weed, I enjoy being high, and I can't block that out of my mind that I enjoy that. So I have to work against that.

The deal with the Phillies for Hunter Pence was considered a slam-dunk for the Astros, given Singleton, Cosart, and Domingo Santana's inclusion. Josh Zeid is secondary to the argument. Singleton had a hiccup with the 50-game suspension, but certainly seemed to overcome it in early 2014. Singleton opened the 2014 season with something to prove. When Singleton got called up to Houston - after signing his extension - he was hitting .267/.397/.544. At Triple-A. In his Age 22 season. Half of his hits were for extra-bases.

And so the Astros offered Singleton a deal he, apparently, could not refuse. The guaranteed deal was for 5yrs/$10m. The incentives included in the deal could push it to $35m. It was the first long-term extension for a player with no Major-League experience in baseball history.

But was it controversial?

It didn't sit well around the league. Noted Red-Ass Bud Norris - who didn't play for the Astros at that point - was decidedly not happy.
Wish the (sic) Jon listened to the union and not his agent. 

His agent, Matt Sosnick (the subject of a very good book by Jerry Crasnick), also came under fire from another agent, who told Chris Cotillo:
Sosnick is always looking to lock players up to protect himself so his players can't leave. Not in the best interest of the players.

And: Other agents really hate this deal for Singleton, who is repped by Matt Sosnick. "Disaster deal," one said.

So...the "controversy" seems to lie in Singleton leveraging long-term earnings for security. Beyond The Box Score wrote:
This new contract doesn't pay Jon Singleton much more than he'd make with reasonable arbitration predictions, and it pays him little enough that the team will squeeze lots of surplus value out of the guy - potentially by a large amount. If Jon Singleton is a star, then this will be an Evan Longoria/Mike Trout type of steal. If Jon Singleton is another Ike Davis, then this was still probably a great move by the Astros. 

FanGraphs wrote:
It goes without saying that this deal is a huge potential boon to the Astros. If Singleton turns out to be a quality player, he would have gone well beyond $35 million in his arbitration years and first free agent season, but if Singleton busts, they're only out $7 or $8 million above and beyond what they would have paid by going year to year. 

Both sides have benefited from the Singleton deal. Singleton has made $5.5m to date, and will get $2m in 2017 and 2018, with a $500,000 buyout in 2019. That amount of money is guaranteed. He won't be arbitration-eligible until 2019. So the Astros essentially gave him $9.5m for his pre-arbitration years with $20.5m for three arbitration years. He just has guaranteed money in the bank as opposed to going year-to-year. 

Let's also remember the time frame in which the Astros and Singleton signed the deal: They were coming off three straight 100+ loss seasons, including a 2013 that saw 111 losses. It was rock bottom. Yet the Astros had a plan. Let's not forget the reports that the Astros and Dominguez were close on a 5yr/$17m deal at the same time. Three months before signing Singleton, Ken Rosenthal broke that the Astros had offered George Springer a 7yr/$23m deal that would have bought out his arbitration years and one year of free agency. 

Had all three players (Singleton, Dominguez, and Springer) taken their respective deals, only the Springer deal would look like a win. Even with Springer's $3.9m salary in 2017 he will have "only" made just over $5m through his first three seasons. Springer is on track to eclipse the Astros' 2013 offer, but will need $18m over the next four years to do it. 

Rosenthal was critical of the Astros despite Chris Archer and Yan Gomes signing virtually the same deal with the Rays and Indians, respectively. Archer's deal was "the most guaranteed money" given to a player with less than a year of service time. Fox Sports' Joe Reedy said the Gomes deal was a "win-win for both sides." It was two months before the Singleton deal.

If Singleton never plays in Houston again, he will have received $10m for 420 Major-League plate appearances (no, seriously) with a .171/.290/.331 slash line. No chance he gets $10m in arbitration for that. And there's no amount of league minimum to get to $10m. Singleton won. The Astros were identifying young players to lock up for the next phase of their rebuild. Both sides assume risk: the player, again, gets immediate financial security at the expense of making more in arbitration. The team is giving guaranteed money to unproven players. That's not controversial, it's just a gamble. The "controversy" lies simply in that it was the Astros. 

Note: This post gets a massive assist from the invaluable Astros Twitter follow @BigTKirk , who asked the question about how controversial Singleton's deal actually was. 

Saturday Morning Hot Links

Today is the first full-squad workout of the season!

*Lance McCullers is experimenting with a couple of new grips on his changeup, a pitch he hasn't thrown much in his first two seasons with the Astros.
Everything I throw is hard, hard, hard, and I'm trying to get a little 'stop and go' in my game, a little more 'pitchability,' so to speak.

*Carlos Correa, who will be out for a couple of days after getting his wisdom teeth removed, is ready to improve upon last year.
I want to be a better hitter than I already am, and I feel like I can do that. I can get so much better. 

*Carlos Beltran is looking towards October.
This team is really, really close to winning...I have to have the opportunity to play in October. That's what it's all about...Once you get to October, anything can happen. I feel like this team is going to give me that opportunity.

*Brian T. Smith wrote an erotic column about Beltran.

*Will Harris says the Astros have a chip on their shoulder:
Pitchers and catchers are here and I don't think as a whole we maybe didn't hold up our end of the bargain last year. You give us that little extra chip on our shoulder and give us something to prove, it could be something that could push us.

*Brian McCann is already pleased with Dallas Keuchel's delivery:
It's exactly what I thought it would be. The angles he creates are special. He gets the ball to move late, he gets the ball to stay on the plate until the end and then it falls off, and he can do it to both sides. 

*The Cardinals have paid the $2m to the Astros, apparently.

*Jon Singleton talked about being removed from the 40-Man roster after hitting .202/.337/.390 in 2016.
I was only disappointed at myself because of the year that I had. There was no one to blame but myself. 

*MinorLeagueBall asks if Ramon Laureano is the best Astros OF prospect.

*Five things to know about the Buies Creek Astros.

*Goose Gossage: Still a douche.

*Meet the latest boy genius of baseball.

*Here's a good article on the challenges facing Fitzgerald's.

Somethings a-happenin' in Astroville

Probably a little late with this post, but I can't help pointing out a couple of interesting developments lately.

The Astros already added some guys...
We already posted something that discusses the additions of Josh Reddick and Brian McCann.  My take, briefly, is that both were left-handed hitters with a higher likelihood of solid 2-4 WAR seasons than the Astros that they replaced - Colby Rasmus and Jason Castro, respectively.  However, with increasing age comes risk - both of the decline-in-performance type, and in the sudden-catastrophic-injury type.  But the Astros managed to add two lefty veterans without losing any draft picks and top-10 prospects, so that is definitely something.

Plus Nori Aoki.  He was claimed off waivers from Seattle.  I seem predestined to leave him out of discussions about the Astros' offseason.  I pretty much forgot about him when writing the above-linked article, and nearly managed to forget about him for this one too.

We haven't managed to get much up on Charlie Morton.  He seems like an interesting cat, and deserves a post of his own over the next couple of weeks.  I promise to get on to it shortly!

The Astros subtracted some guys...
I am not sure what most readers' definition of "major" is.... as in "major free agent".  But Jason Castro was the first of the "major free-agents" to sign this offseason.  Now, either routine grounders to the right side are the new market inefficiency, or Jason had some very real value.  FanGraphs thinks it was the latter - that Castro was underrated, and the Twins pounced in a competitive market to snare his services.  Most Astros fans may respectfully disagree.

There are some other fairly significant departures.  Pat Neshek is a Phillie, in exchange for the dreaded "PTBNL or cash".  Colby Rasmus was probably gone before the Astros boarded their flight for Anaheim to finish the season.  Luis Valbuena is a free agent.  And so is Doug Fister.  That all adds to five departures of players that occupied important spots on the 25-man roster this season.  Three of them were left-handed hitters.

Sneakily, the Astros also subtracted a couple of players from their 40-man roster as well.  Nolan Fontana is now an Angel.  Fontana's stock had dropped, and the Astros have a bit of a middle-infield log-jam, so this was expected.  But the timing was curious - Fontana was DFA'd around the time that teams were DFA-ing roster flotsam to clear spaces to protect players from the Rule 5 Draft.  The time stamp on the above article is from the claim, which occurred a few days after the DFA.  The Astros had open spaces on the 40-man, so perhaps there was no need to cut Fontana at that point.  They could have been trying to sneak him through waivers, hoping that he got through cleanly due to all the activity around the other teams needing to purge their rosters.

As an aside, the Astros also added LHP / Reliever Reymin Guduan and his career 7.16 BB/9 to the 40-man at the Rule 5 deadline.  He could get a serious look at Spring Training, as the Astros always looked a couple of left-handers short in the 'pen in 2016 (thanks, mostly to Tony Sipp's poor season).  He brings triple-digit gas, so there is that.

And, of course, well after the 40-man roster-purges, the Astros pulled the trigger on the highest profile DFA of their offseason - that of Jon Singleton.  Singleton was never a risk of getting claimed, thanks to his famous contract which he signed shortly before receiving the call up that would result in his major-league debut.  Singleton is owned $2MM for each of the next two years, so expect him to be manning first at Fresno in 2017 then Round Rock in 2018, unless he turns things around in a hurry.

So as things currently are...
... the Astros' 40-man roster stands at 38.  For those who struggle with math, that looks to me like two vacant slots are hanging around.  Let's speculate as to how they may be filled...

The Astros have been very active on free agency, being in on all major free agents except Jose Bautista.  According to MLBTR, and only over the last three weeks, they have been linked to Edwin Encarnacion, Carlos Beltrán (lots of times), Kendrys Morales, Mike Napoli, and Rich Hill.  They were runner-up in the Yoenis Cespedes sweepstakes, reportedly with some kind of "strong offer" for the left fielder.

Now there may be some inaccuracies within these rumours, but where there is smoke, there is usually fire.  It seems that the Astros are not content to stand pat by adding McCann and Reddick, and get full seasons out of Yuli Gurriel and Alex Bregman.  They are clearly committed to adding another bat in free agency, it seems.  The market may move a bit faster now that Cespedes is off the board, so this may be settled quite quickly, one would think.

Trades are also possible, but if the Astros were to trade (for example) for Chris Sale, then one would imagine that it would involve at least one player currently on their 40-man going the other way.  So significant trades will require the Astros to give something significant up, so I doubt that they are leaving a spot vacant on the 40-man so they can run the medicals on a trade.  A lesser trade - say for perhaps Jay Bruce - may not come at a significant prospect cost, so perhaps the 40-man roster may be needed for something like that.

The next logical place to look other candidates to fill one of the two 40-man roster spots is in the Rule 5 Draft.  Historically, this has been a good place to pick up relievers or back-end starters, and hide them in the bullpen for a year.  This is something that rebuilding teams look to do, and the Astros clearly plan to compete in 2017, so it may not fit their 2017 modus operandi.  Baseball America has a Rule 5 draft primer here, and it seems that the most interesting candidate is utility infielder, Phillip Evans.  MLB.com has and article listing 10 Rule 5 names to watch for, and five of them are left-handed pitchers that may look ok in a few bullpens around baseball.

Finally, as always, the Astros will probably be watching the waiver-wire closely.  Will Harris and Collin McHugh are both waiver-wire pickups, so they may be waiting for someone on their internal list of players to be DFA'd.  Like, perhaps, Chris Carter!  For your Chris Carter virtual brochure, just click here...

Something is a-brewin'.  The Front Office seems to be working hard.  The next week or two could prove to be very interesting.  Or, alternatively, nothing will happen until the next Collective Bargaining Agreement is signed.  Thanks for reading.

Talking with Lance McCullers and your Tuesday Morning Hot Links

*Last night we recorded Episode 32 of Lima Time Time with special guest Lance McCullers. We talked Tal's Hill, 7th grade literature, hair products, and Rangers masturbating each other.

*The additions of Morton, McCann, and Reddick prior to the Winter Meetings means that Luhnow & Co. can focus on specifics in Washington next week. Luhnow:
It does make it a little easier in that we've already accomplished a couple of goals. When you go to the Winter Meetings and try to get everything done in three or four days, it can be pretty intense. If we can afford to go to the Winter Meetings focused on one or two complementary moves, that would be the best outcome for us. 

*Jim Callis says that, with a little work on his command and his changeup, Francis Martes is ready for the big leagues.

*The saga, and fallout, of Jon Singleton.

*Minor-league catcher Roberto Pena has signed with the White Sox. The Astros' 7th Round draft pick in 2010 (and son of former Astros catcher Bert Pena) hit .237/.283/.342 in six seasons from the GCL to 15 games in Triple-A. Tyler Heineman and Garrett Stubbs are the highest-ranking catcher prospects in the organization now.

*26-year old RHP Nate Eovaldi has been released by the Yankees. Eovaldi, a Houston native, will be coming off Tommy John surgery as well as flexor tendon surgery. But with velocity increases over the past three seasons (up to 97.1mph in 2016 before needing surgery), a team will surely take a chance on him. Might that team be the Astros?

*Chris Carter and his 41 home runs in 2016 will not be tendered a contract by the Brewers.

Singleton out, Sunday Links

Good morning, reader. I was at a conference for the last three days with a broken phone and spotty wifi which, as I slowly found out, was the worst possible three days to be without a phone or solid wifi. Thanks to the Masked Marvel from coming out of semi-retirement to write up the McCann/Reddick deals.

*Later today we'll take a look at the pitchers the Astros gave up for Brian McCann.

*The Astros placed Jon Singleton on outright waivers, clearing some room on the 40-Man Roster. If you remember Singleton signed that 5yr/$10m contract before he made it to the Majors in a process that Luhnow was hoping would mean the Astros got a middle-of-the-order slugger at $2m/year. It was low-risk/high-reward. The Astros still owe Singleton $4m over the next two seasons with a $500,000 buyout in 2019.

Singleton's career in Houston obviously did not pan out how either intended. Though he hit a homer in his first MLB game, Singleton finished his rookie season with a .168/.285/.335 slash line. He struck out 134 times in 362 PAs. That was essentially his shot. Singleton only played 19 games in Houston 2015 (.191/.328/.298) and did not see any action in 2016 despite the Astros' notable struggles at 1B, even in September.

And so the Hunter Pence trade era comes to an end. Jarred Cosart was traded to Miami in 2014 in the Marisnick/Moran deal after going 10-8 in parts of two seasons with the Astros. Cosart is now in the Padres' organization. Domingo Santana was traded to Milwaukee in the Gomez/Fiers deal and is coming off a .256/.345/.447 season for the Brewers in 77 games. Josh Zeid was placed on waivers in November 2014 and has spent time in the Angels and Mets organizations. And that's that. Maybe prospects aren't the greatest thing in the world.

*Brian McCann's favorite memory came against the Astros when he hit a homer off Roger Clemens in Game 2 of the 2005 NLDS in his first career postseason AB. John Smoltz says McCann will bring that Leadership intangible to the Astros. Smoltz:
I just think he's going to be relieved to know that he's going to be the guy and it's going to be a team that he can have his fingerprints on a little more. 

*Ken Rosenthal writes that the Astros' acquisitions of Brian McCann and Josh Reddick does not necessarily mean that they're out on the pursuit of Carlos Beltran, or perhaps even Chris Sale (who is seemingly available) or Chris Archer. The likeliest alignment, it seems, is Springer in CF, Reddick in RF, and a Marisnick/Aoki platoon in LF. The addition of Beltran would take ABs away from the platoon situation.

*OR the Astros could simply not offer a contract for 2017 for Nori Aoki.

*Brian McTaggart says the Astros may not want to break up their core by trading Bregman for someone like Archer or Sale.

*Brian T. Smith has a column about the momentous day the Astros decided to go all in. Smith:
Thanks to one of the best young cores in the game...the Astros don't "have" to win the whole thing in 2017. But they must stop finishing in second (or third) place. 

Luhnow:
We need to do the best job possible to give our players and our fans a chance to win a championship, and that's what we've been doing. We've been pursuing that aggressively, and I think our fans are going to see the results of that starting this year on the field. 

*Luhnow told Fanrag's John Perrotto:
We feel like we're going to be in contention every year for the foreseeable future. The reality is that every season is going to turn out differently than you expect.

*The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo says the Astros are possible destinations for Miguel Cabrera, Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, or Evan Longoria.

*Baseball America released their Top 10 Astros prospects list. Click the link for the write-up, here's the list:
1. Francis Martes
2. Kyle Tucker
3. David Paulino
4. Franklin Perez
5. A.J. Reed
6. Forrest Whitley
7. Teoscar Hernandez
8. Yulieski Gurriel (remember he still qualifies as a rookie, missing the cut-off by one AB)
9. Derek Fisher
10. Garrett Stubbs

*Check out Aubrey Huff - AUBREY HUFF! - throwing shade at Josh Reddick:

Please explain 2 me how someone can receive a 4 year 52 mill contract who hit 281-10-37! Guess U don't have to be good to get paid anymore

— AUBREY HUFF (@aubrey_huff) November 18, 2016

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros mercifully had the night off.

*We recorded Episode 11 of Lima Time Time last night. It alternates between rage and despair.

*I took out a lot of frustration and anger on Brian T. Smith's new column.

*Jeff Blogwell wrote up Part 3 of his Jeff Luhnow trade retrospective.

*With Carlos Gomez out for another week, Jake Kaplan tells us to get ready to see if Jake Marisnick can actually perform well enough to hold down the CF job. Marisnick:
The biggest thing is just missing pitches. A lot of times I'm getting myself into a good count and just missing a good pitch to hit. That's kind of how it is. I feel fine. I feel good...I've never really let (offensive struggles) affect me on the defensive side. I know how important what I do out there in the field is and being able to help the team any way possible. I've said it before: Keeping a run off the board is the same as putting a run on.

*Ladies and gentlemen, your 2016 Astros:

Out of 48 AL starters, Collin McHugh ranks:
-ninth in soft contact (21.7%)
-sixth in hard contact (25.5%)
-46th in BABIP (.365)
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

— Beyond the Box Score (@BtBScore) May 24, 2016

*Kaplan says there aren't many good alternatives for the Astros this season. Then a weird line:
In the case of hot-hitting shortstop/third-base prospect Alex Bregman, the Astros have less incentive to accelerate his path to the majors the further they fall from contention. ...Generally, whether right or wrong, a team won't rush its top prospects and risk stunting their development in a lost season. Perhaps if the Astros creep back closer to .500 and 2016 is not lost, the front office would expedite Bregman's path to Minute Maid Park.

Does that sound right to you?

*Ken Giles is back, baby! Giles:
It was mechanical 100 percent. Not confidence. I always knew I had the confidence. You've got to be patient because you're going to fail before you succeed. I haven't failed a lot so I had to go through that phase. It's not a great thing to go through but everybody goes through it. But I'm happy that I grinned through it and I figured things out. 

*McTaggart has your 5 Keys to Turn Around the 2016 Season. If you guessed: (1) Fix Keuchel, (2) Make the bottom of the lineup not suck, (3) find a centerfielder who can hit,  (4) win games against the Rangers, and, (5) hell, win division games - all without looking? You are the real MVP.

*Minor-league update:

-The Fresno Grizzlies were down 7-1 heading into the bottom of the 6th, and then Jon Singleton hit a couple of 2-run homers - including a 3-run homer in the 7th - and Jon Kemmer singled home the walk-off to complete the comeback for an 8-7 victory over OKC. Singleton's line: 3x4, 2B, 2HR, 5RBI, 1K:1BB. This season Singleton is hitting .226/.329/.504 with 35K:21BB and 12HR. Do you dare dream the impossible dream and call him back up to Houston?

-OKC called up former Astros outfielding great Jordan Schafer, who is now a pitcher in the Dodgers organization. At Double-A Schafer threw 19IP, 15H/3ER, 21K:5BB. He threw 1IP last night, allowing a hit and no runs. Typical Luhnow, giving up on pitching prospects too early...

-Corpus was down 6-1 before scoring two in the top of the 7th, four in the top of the 8th, and four in the top of the 10th to beat Midland 11-7. Teoscar Hernandez was 4x4 with three doubles, a walk, and 4RBI. Alex Bregman hit his 11th homer of the season. Francis Martes left the game after 0.2IP and walking the bases loaded, and 34 pitches. Apparently it was a game situation call for pulling him and not an injury issue.

-High Desert scored eight unanswered runs to erase a 3-0 deficit and beat Lancaster 8-3.

-Despite tying the game after getting down 4-0 at Cedar Rapids, Quad Cities allowed the walk-off in a 5-4 loss.

*Clint Barmes retired during the 8th inning of a Triple-A game.

*A Twins player confronted the tv play-by-play guy about saying not-nice things.

*New rules would put stricter pitch counts in place for high school pitchers.

*The science behind why climbing Mount Everest is a horror show.

Lima Time Time: Episode 1

Good evening and Happy Opening Day Eve! Writer/Comedian/Intellectual Patrick McLellan and I have teamed up to bring you a new weekly podcast series entitled Lima Time Time. It's wonderful.

Topics of conversation include:
*The point of Lima Time Time
*Jon Singleton
*Does it matter who the "Closer" is?
*2016 expectations
*The Albert Pooholes home run
*Jose Lima's bizarre method of taco eating
*2016 record predictions

Friday Morning Hot Links

The Brewers rapped out 14 hits - three from Jonathan Lucroy and a solo homer from Ryan Braun - to whip up on Collin McHugh and the Astros 6-1 at Minute Maid Park. Tyler White drove in the lone Astros run. All is lost. Abandon hope all ye who enter here. 

*The Astros have decided to pass on Wandy Rodriguez for the final spot in the bullpen, leaving it to either Michael Feliz or James Hoyt. And with Matt Duffy making the Opening Day roster, it solidifies that A.J. Hinch is going with 12 arms and 13 bats to open the season. Wandy signed a $1m minor-league deal and can either accept an assignment to Triple-A or try to catch on with another club.

*Jon Singleton was pulled over in Arizona on December 30, 2014 in which marijuana was found in his car.  (alt link)

*Correa is looking to become the youngest AL MVP.

*Keuchel's three rules to becoming a good pitcher are the same rules for having a successful business: Location, Location, Location.

*Hinch knows who he wants as closer, but he's not ready to say just yet. I actually love the idea of using the player best suited for the situation, rather than anointing someone to only pitch the 9th.

*Lance McCullers threw live BP.

*Luis Valbuena is dedicating his 2016 season to his grandmother, who passed away last week.

*The Astros came in at #5 on ESPN's Power Rankings. Here's the season preview. Other than all the potential strikeouts (minimized with the departure of Chris Carter), "it would seem the only thing that could stop the Astros would be something like the flukish rally that thwarted their chance to knock out the Royals in Game 4 of the ALDS last season."

*Be sure to check out SB Nation's MLB season preview. It is, predictably, fantastic. Here is the Astros section, if you just want to head there.

*Five Thirty Eight says that Texas teams will rule the AL West in this chat.