Sunday Morning Hot Links

Day Three of the Stomach Bug + Sinus Infection LEETTTTTSSSS GGGGOOOOO. The Astros got heroics from Yuli Gurriel for the second straight night and beat Seattle 6-5 in 10 innings. Houston is 52-32 with a 5.5-game lead over West Longview.

Yuli Gurriel last night became the first Astros player with walk-off hits in consecutive games since Geoff Blum on June 10-11, 2009. Wonder what that guy is up to these days.

— Jake Kaplan (@jakemkaplan) June 30, 2019

*Gurriel was the first Astro to have consecutive walk-offs in extra innings since Craig Biggio (ever heard of him, bandwagoners?) did it on August 4/5, 1991. Gurriel:
I like being in tense situations and feel like I focus even more. I'm not scared to fail and I always have a positive mindset in these situations.

*Gurriel turned his ankle running to 1B in the 7th inning. Hinch:
When the game's on the line he has that hitterish vibe to him that he's going to get a good pitch to hit and he's going to hit it hard...He was operating on basically one leg; his ankle is bugging him a little bit from earlier in the game. It was an incredible at-bat.

*Houston has won four of their last six games.

*Houston is 6-1 in extra innings, 14-9 in 1-run games.

*Verlander was off, by Verlander's standards: 5IP, 5H/4ER, 5K:4BB, 2HR. He has allowed a league-leading 23 homers this season. He has a 2.86 ERA. He allowed 28 HR in 214IP in 2018. Verlander has allowed 69 hits in 2019 - 23 of them have left the yard.

*It was the 5th time in his career that Verlander has walked four batters and given up two home runs, the first time as an Astro. His teams are 1-4 in those games. It was his 2nd shortest outing of the season.

*Verlander starts as an Astro, by outs, regular season:
<14: 2
15-17: 6
18-20: 24
21-23: 18
24-27: 5

*The bullpen of Rondon, Harris, Pressly, McHugh, Osuna, and Devenski combined for 5IP, 2H/1ER, 4K:2BB.

*Collin McHugh struck out the side on 13 pitches.

*It's the 7th time in 2019 that Astros pitchers have walked 6+ batters. They're 5-2 in those games. Four of them have come against the Mariners.

*The Astros scored five runs in the bottom of the 2nd Inning. The last time they scored five runs in an inning was the top of the 4th on June 23. They had scored four runs in their previous three games combined.

*The Astros are now 4-17 in games in which they do not hit a home run.

*George Springer had two hits and is hitting .350/.409/.500 since coming off the IL.

*Jose Altuve is hitting .256/.283/.395 in 10 games since coming off the IL.

*Yuli Gurriel has gone 36 PAs without striking out, the longest active streak by a non-pitcher in the Majors. He last struck out in the 6th Inning of the June 20 game against the Yankees.

*Myles Straw started at Shortstop last night. Chanandler Rahm writes that the Astros want him to freestyle more.

*Yordan is in the lineup today.

*Brad Peacock update: His MRI came back clean, with some inflammation in his shoulder and that he had tried to pitch through it "the last four or five starts."

Peacock's last four starts: 20.1IP, 24H/16ER, 22K:5BB, 8HR
Peacock's previous six starts: 34IP, 21H/5ER, 41K:11BB, 1HR

*2019 3rd Round pick Jordan Brewer will sign on Monday.

*Jenny Dial Creech: Make. The. Ballparks. Safer.

*For whatever reason, I was watching this when it happened. Blue Jays pitcher/potential Astros target Marcus Stroman left his start against Kansas City yesterday with "a left shoulder pectoral cramp." Trade a bag of rosin to Toronto for him now.

*The Rangers released Former Astros Trade Great and 2017 World Series Hero Josh Fields.

*Mike Petriello does some excellent work on how to pitch to Bryce Harper.

*A Jagoff from a team of Jagoffs at Barstool thought it would be a good idea to slut-shame a murdered college student. Freakin dregs of society. Barstool is the toilet of the sports internet.

*The Atlantic: The Hero Who Betrayed His Country (chill out, chuds. It's about Estonia, and it's an interesting read.)

*A Musical Selection:

The Astros' Trading Deadline

Trade deadlines are almost the same every year.  So much speculation in the week prior, with feverish checking of mlbtraderumors.com on an hourly basis while awake.  Dreaming on the big names.  Crossing fingers and hoping the rest of the division doesn't load up on the best players*.

* - more on this frikking point later on...

Nothing happens for a while.  Then a manic deadline day sees contracts whizzing all over the map, with one or two teams normally making multiple trades while juggling multiple moving parts (like the Blue Jays).  It is impressive how all of this gets done, frankly, and teams must be serious geared up to check medicals, calculate contracts, and quickly isolate players from opposing farm systems that they want. The logistics around it are probably quite impressive.

If you wanted a headlining, block-busting trade for the 2016 edition of the Astros, it was not a good day for you.  It would have been great to pry Chris Sale from the White Sox for an exorbitant price, or Matt Moore from the Rays for a lesser, but still eye-watering, price.  Judging by the comments on Astros County, many of you want an upgrade at catcher.  Or CF.  Preferably both, I think.

The Astros did none of that, but in reality, I think they made some solid, yet subtle, progress.  The main take-home point is that they cleared two more spots on the 40-man roster - something which they have quietly been doing since the 2015 season ended - sending out established vets for those that they can control without adding to the 40-man for a while.  Scotty Feldman and Josh Fields were the victims, sent to Toronto and Los Angeles respectively, and some seriously young players who we probably will hear nothing more about for the next three years were brought back as return.  Feldman will get a chance to start in Toronto, and he has a relatively fresh arm.  Fields will continue to try and rebuild his 2016, but he is a live arm with a hammer curve who is worth taking a chance on, as much for 2017 and 2018 as this year.

Subtracting Fields and Feldman most clearly has an immediate effect on the pitching.  Feldman has been solid in mop-up duty after losing his starting gig when Lance McCullers' shoulder improved.  His immediate spot will appear to go to Joe Musgrove, but that may just be cover for Fister's parental leave.  I imagine that the Astros will be interested in giving James Hoyt a shot at a 'pen role before getting too deep into August.  Hoyt has a 1.65 ERA at Fresno, which includes 26 hits and 17 walks against 83 strikeouts in 49 innings.  Read those numbers again - and note that they translate to a K/BB ratio of 4.88.  And if Musgrove gets a start for two, he may get the opportunity to "Wally Pip" Mike Fiers.  Which would perhaps have a similar impact to a trade.  Perhaps.

Not trading for a big piece has a different, more hidden effect.  It has already been pointed out that the Astros have a solid core of young RHH in José Altuve, Carlos Correa and George Springer.  Altuve is incredible, and keeps doing superhuman things that Rob Dibble thinks are impossible.  Correa is putting up historic numbers at a premium defensive position for his age.  Springer is finally healthy, and his combination of plate discipline and power seems to be covering for his swing-and-miss at this point.  Also a very valuable player, and yet to reach arbitration.

But the three of them are not enough to carry the Astros on their own.  Don't believe me??  I suggest that you look at the month of April.  The Astros went 7-17.  In April, José Altuve had a 1.011 OPS and a 176 sOPS+ (76% better than the league average OPS), George Springer had an .804 OPS / 121 sOPS+ and Carlos Correa managed an OPS of .830 with an sOPS+ of 125.  Not the worst for the top three of the batting order (as they were at the time) - one superstar performance and two solidly above-average performances.  But they were surrounded by Luis Valbuena (.540 OPS / 53 sOPS+), Carlos Gómez (.610 OPS / 67 OPS+), Evan Gattis (.657 OPS / 80 OPS+) and Jason Castro (.511 OPS / 44 OPS+).  Only a hot Colby Rasmus (.979 OPS / 168 OPS+) assisted them, but he has cratered since then, recording perhaps the worst offensive month for the 2016 Astros in July (.306 OPS / -17 OPS+).

So Springer, Altuve and Correa can't get it done on their own.  They rely heavily on role players around them, especially the left-handed hitters sprinkled throughout the lineup.  It is those potential future role-players who would be on the trading block for a significant upgrade.  Obviously, in any good-sized trade, teams would ask for Alex Bregman, who has nothing left to prove in the minors.  Despite his awful start (.036/.100/.036), Bregman is a safe prospect with the athleticism to play anywhere on the diamond, and I wonder whether he will be given a look in CF next year.  What the Astros will be also hoping for is for a couple of of A.J. Reed, Jon Singleton, Colin Moran, Teoscar Hernandez, Tony Kemp, Derek Fisher, Garrett Stubbs or J.D Davis to step up and complement the core of Altuve, Bregman, Correa and Springer, who are all around until at least 2019.  The all-important potential supporting pieces would have been the price of adding a significant ML piece via trade.  Or someone risker, with a higher ceiling, like Francis Martes.

Truthfully, the Astros also don't have one glaring hole they need to plug to improve.  They have a bunch of holes.  Their starting rotation at the moment is "Lance McCullers and pray for rain", and McCullers is only a couple of fastballs-to-the-backstop away from an 8-walk nightmare of an outing.  Both corner infield positions have been of concern for most of the season.  The Astros' LF makes me wish for Carlos Lee.  I know, not good.  And Carlos Gómez has been awful, and a testament to the difficult in trading prospects for established, high ceiling players.  Catcher is probably the most maligned position in the AC comments section, but truthfully, I wasn't even going to mention it.  Castro is good defensively, and Gattis seems to be doing ok.  No amount of trading was going to give the Astros enough to plug all of these holes out without also acquiring another farm system to deal from.  So they have, and will always have, a fairly unbalanced 2016 team.

So I like the Astros' lack of moves.  I also think that it sends a message to the team.  This roster got itself into the current AL West mess with slow first six-weeks of the season.  It is also capable of getting itself out of the mess - they have been one of the top teams in baseball since late-May.  They are certainly capable of putting it all together, and aren't so far back of the Ramgers that serial sweeps for the rest of the season wouldn't give the Astros a handy lead.  They are close enough if they are good enough, to borrow a term from elsewhere in sports.

And speaking of the Ramgers, I promised to comment on their acquisitions as part of this article.  Truthfully, they made some solid acquisitions today, bring in a handy, solid professional bat in the form of Carlos Beltran, and a top catcher in the form of Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress.  My quick take is this: Beltran and Lucroy have unimpressive seasons in their rear-view mirrors, so they could be great, or they could be awful.  Jeffress probably does the most to immediately help the Ramgers - they desperately need assistance for their overworked 'pen, which still possesses considerable collapse potential.

But man, the price they paid was steep.  Lewis Brinson, Luis Ortiz and Dillon Tate are described as legitimate prospects, and they may be safer prospects that Joey Gallo, who has career-crippling swing-and-miss to go with immense power.  Like 'em or hate 'em, the Ramgers have made some great decisions over the years, and they certainly possess the prospect capital to make trades like these.  I don't think the Astros were in that position, and I don't think the Astros should have made the same decisions.

So personally, I like the Astros' deadline moves.  They moved a couple of guys off the 40-man, which gives them flexibility to promote from within.  Their core will be together for another few years, and it is worth developing around that core.  Giving guys like Alex Bregman and whatever young first baseman du jour they choose to promote a look at a pennant race is a good idea.  And the Astros are good enough to go deep into the postseason with their current roster, if they all put it together.

Astros trade Feldman, Fields, promote Musgrove

So the Trade Deadline passed with not a whole lot to report, actually, as far as the Astros go. Let's get to the moves that the Astros did make:

Traded Scott Feldman to Toronto 

The Astros sent Scott Feldman over to the Visitors' Clubhouse in exchange for 18-year old 6'2" 150b RHP Guadalupe Chavez.

First, Feldman was one of the Extras. He got bumped to the bullpen and had pitched well, but with the glut of pitching prospects on the rise, he was expendable. And since he's a free agent at the end of the year, the Astros were okay with letting him go.

Chavez, at 6'2" 150lbs, could certainly use a glass of milk and will fill out as he gets older. Listed by MLB.com as Toronto's 20th-ranked prospect, he can get a fastball up to 93 and has an "above-average" changeup and "good pitchability for his experience level (according to the linked BA article) from 2014.

For the GCL Blue Jays this year, he has thrown 32IP, 29H/6ER, 26K:4BB with a 1.69 ERA. He's actually hit more batters (six) than he has walked (four).

Traded Josh Fields to the Dodgers 

The Astros traded Fresno reliever Josh Fields to Los Angeles for 6'4" 190lb 19-year old Cuban infielder Yordan Alvarez. He bats left, throws right, and hasn't played in the US yet. Baseball-Reference lists his Cuban stats from 2013-14 (Age 16 and 17 seasons), where he hit .279/.342/.327. Again, he was very young. Still is, I suppose.

This Baseball America article has a scouting report gleaned from a handful of plate appearances. But the Dodgers only signed him six weeks ago.

The biggest immediate impact of this deal is that the removal of Fields clears up a spot on the 40-man roster, which had been full. The 40-Man now sits at 38 Men with Feldman and Fields riding off into the sunset. It's like the Astros are just trying to dismantle that legendary 2014 team.

Promoted Joe Musgrove

Musgrove was already in Houston pending the arrival of Lil' Fister, so now this saves them the prohibitive cost of a plane ticket back to Fresno. And Feldman's trade clears a spot on the 25-Man roster, so Fister can go paternitying whenever the water breaks.

Musgrove is the first in what will hopefully be a wave of pitching talent to come up. Brady Rodgers and James Hoyt, I'm looking at you. What Musgrove's role will be is up in the air. If he's replacing Feldman, he can join Devenski in long relief, but that seems silly.

Saturday's start aside, Fiers has been relatively mediocre. Capable of giving you some decent innings mixed with absolute disaster. In his last five starts he's thrown 26.1IP, 27H/13ER, 21K:9BB. That includes starts on either side of the All-Star Break in which he threw a total of 7IP, 10H/10ER, 9K:5BB.

Verdict

I'm still working through it. The Astros decided to stand pat. The Rangers didn't, and that's where I think the problem lies. The Rangers will come to town on Friday with Carlos Beltran and Jonathan Lucroy. The Astros will very much be the same. I'm also trying not to fall in the hypocrisy of blasting the Astros for how poorly the Kazmir/Gomez/Fiers trades worked out and then blasting them for not taking the same risk. We can't have it both ways. We very much want it both ways.

Word could very well trickle out that the Brewers and Yankees wanted a king's ransom for both guys. The Rangers paid it, and that's the decision the Astros have to live with. The Astros aren't apparently going to acquire someone simply so the Rangers won't acquire that someone. But the Rangers did give up some talent to acquire a 39-year old rental and a 30-year old catcher. Lucroy is very good.

Today hurts for the Astros. The Rangers decided to try to win this year. The Astros are going to stick to whatever plan they have in effect. But let's be clear that Arlington is a place players want to play. Cole Hamels chose Dallas over Houston. Lucroy seemingly engineered his trade to the Ramgers because, once he vetoed that Indians deal, it seemed inevitable that the Rangers would land him. Can the same be said about Houston?

Maybe the Rangers will get Astros'd and Beltran will seemingly forget how to play the game of baseball and it will backfire. Maybe Lucroy will struggle in the AL. Probably not, but who knows? The Rangers were just more short-term aggressive than the Astros, and - like most trades - time will tell if it will pay off for the Astros.

Friday Morning Hot Links

*David Price now has four consecutive 10+ strikeout games against the Astros. The last to do that, says Jake Kaplan, is Sandy Koufax in 1964-1965.

*To be fair, the Red Sox have been killing the ball lately, but Dallas Keuchel had a very 2016 Keuchelesque start. He allowed eight earned runs and grinded out 6IP anyway, but if the Astros are going to have any chance, they'll need Keuchel to be 2015 Keuchel.

*The Astros are 2x26 with runners in scoring position in their last three games.

*Amazing. The Astros optioned Josh Fields and Max Stassi to Triple-A Fresno to make room for new dad Jason Castro and new starting pitcher Lance McCullers. This essentially means that the Astros trust Michael Feliz more than they trust Josh Fields.

Fields has managed to cut his walks in 2016, but he's suffering from a .457 BABIP and a 9.1% HR/FB rate (2015's HR/FB rate: 3.5%). His 6.89 ERA is belied by a 2.78 FIP. It's bad luck. But there are a lot of talented guys who have been pretty unlucky, so the move was made.

Hinch:
Fields hasn't had a successful start to the season. He's about one click off every outing it feels like. From a competition standpoint, we feel like Feliz is the right pick.

*McCullers won't be on a pitch count, but he's certainly not built up to throw 100+ pitches.

*Injured the last two times the Astros have gone to Fenway, George Springer finally got to play at his "hometown" park.

*I wrote down concerns about Carlos Gomez yesterday. FanGraphs backed me up.

*Tonight's opposing starter Steven Wright is baseball's new knuckleball king.

*The Fresno Bee has a profile on new Grizzlies pitcher Joe Musgrove, promoted yesterday with Reymin Guduan. Angel Heredia was promoted to Corpus from Lancaster, Conrad Gregor was placed on the inactive list, and catcher Trent Woodward and infielder Chan-Jong Moon were sent to Corpus from Tri-City, who will not play a game for another six weeks. The Astros released Triple-A reliever Edwar Cabrera.

*A.J. Reed says his hamstring injury is minor.

*The Crawfish Boxes picked this up yesterday, but 2015 3rd Round pick Riley Ferrell (TCU product) will likely miss the season after having surgery to repair an aneurysm in his throwing shoulder.

*But hey Cy Sneed threw 5IP, 5H/0ER, 5K:0BB for Corpus, in a game where Evan Gattis hit a 2-run homer.

*Quad Cities' Dexture McCall is learning from his experience in the Colombian Winter League this past off-season.

*Hardball Times: How often should your team win the World Series?

*Before You Go: The Fresno Grizzlies are out of freaking control

The Fresno Grizzlies' latest food creation... The severed finger hotdog. Bon appetit! pic.twitter.com/bfw227DhWF

— Bryant-Jon Anteola (@Banteola_TheBee) May 13, 2016

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*Masked Marvel wrote up the recap of the Astros' 2nd win of the season.

*He also wrote a comparison piece about Tyler White and the 1945 Giants' Mike Schemer.

*A.J. Hinch, on Rasmus and his two homers:
There's a look to him where he's controlling exactly what he's looking for, and when he gets it, he does a ton of damage.

Rasmus:
Yeah, mean. Baseball's good. Today's good.

*Carlos Correa says what everyone pretty much agrees on: That new slide rule needs tweaking.

*In David Laurilia's Sunday News & Notes column, he talks to Josh Fields about how he has evolved as a pitcher.

*Vince Velasquez's opening impression with the Phillies: 6IP, 3H/0ER, 9K:3BB in 40-degree weather with a stiff breeze. He had to touch his butt a little bit.

*Altuve, Correa, and Springer make up Joel Sherman's 2nd-best trio of position players in baseball.

*The Astros turned to Bizarre Foods guy Andrew Zimmern for help with their menu.

*The family of Ross Stripling - the Dodgers pitcher who is coming off Tommy John and was pulled after 100 no-hit pitches - respects manager Dave Roberts' decision.

*What on earth happened to the Roggits?

*Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos has a broken arm. Shin-Soo Choo may have a not-minor calf injury.

*Before you go, from our mans Robert Flores:

#Astros
Tyler White right now pic.twitter.com/BZridppBFc

— Robert Flores (@RoFlo) April 10, 2016

Thursday Morning Hot Links

Dallas Keuchel made his first start of the Spring and the Astros beat the Barves 9-5. Collin McHugh gets the start at 4:05pm Central against the Nationals on MLB Network.

*Dallas Keuchel: "I'm nobody right now. It's 2016. I'm just an Astros pitcher."

Also in that link: Gregerson feels good, Giles worked on his mechanics with a towel, and Lance McCullers will likely make his Spring debut on Sunday or Monday. (Chron)

*"We have a decision to make whether he's ready to be a full-time back-up or not, and we've got all spring to decide." - Jeff Luhnow, on Max Stassi and whether he's ready to catch 60-ish games this season in Houston. (Chron)

And what of Gattis? The possibility of Gattis heading back to the plate forces a tradeoff between Gattis' defensive flexibility and the likelihood of his old knee injuries flaring back up...

*Jason Castro's swing tinkering resulted in a homer yesterday against the Braves. (Astros.com)

*The only other Age-21 full-time #3 hitter (other than Carlos Correa)? Joe DiMaggio. Jayson Stark rains down chocolate sprinkles and unicorn mane on Correa. (ESPN)

*Carlos Correa's confidence comes in his preparation (video link).  (ESPN)

*George Springer is ready for a breakout season. (New Haven Register)

*This guest columnist from Josh Fields' hometown, an avid supporter of the college in which Fields attended, manages to compare Josh Fields to Hall of Famer Bob Feller. (Newnan Times Herald)

*Tony Sipp is the odd lefty reliever who is also good at getting out righties, but Neal Cotts is there to help get lefties out as well. (Astros.com)

*Can you name the 32 Astros with at least ten appearances in 2005? (Sporcle)

*Former Astro and last year's assistant hitting coach and now Padres' hitting coach Alan Zinter's road to the Majors was a long one. (Padres.com)

*The Astros are 4th on a ranking of teams who could topple the Royals. (Fox Sports)

*Prince Fielder has left Rangers Spring Training to figure out why he can't sleep. (Hint: it's because of the Astros). (St Louis Post-Dispatch)

*Phillies great Mark Appel was sent to minor-league camp this morning. (Todd Zolecki)

*The battle to bring back Olympic baseball matters more than you think. (Vice Sports)

*Adrian Beltre wants a three-year extension from the Rangers, through his Age-40 season. (MLBTR)

*Jered Weaver's fastball is sad and this story is sad. (LA Times)

*Before you go...

For four years, Astros owner Jim Crane's business was on file with the government as TEXAS RANGWERS. pic.twitter.com/BiszYiIvmk

— Jesse Spector (@jessespector) March 10, 2016

Exit Music (For A Player): Josh Fields

Hey, the wounds are still fresh, so it seems like a fine time to do some evaluating. This is the Exit Music (For A Player) series. Check out other Exit Music (For A Player) posts here. 

Acquired: Via Rule 5 draft from Boston, 2012

Age: 30. He'll be 31 next August

Contract Status: Arbitration-eligible for the first time; Fields won't be a free agent until the 2019 season.

Career: 

Fields has always been a fairly highly-touted player throughout his career, but just hasn't quite lived up to the billing. Fields was drafted by the Braves in the 2nd Round of the 2007 draft, but he declined to sign and returned to the University of Georgia for his senior season, where he was the SEC Pitcher of the Year in 2008 and helped the Bulldogs to the finals of the College World Series. It worked out for him, because he was taken with the 20th overall pick by Seattle the following year and the Mariners thought he could be in their bullpen by September of that year. Fields wanted $2m to sign, the Mariners offered him $1.5m, which led to a standoff between the Mariners and Scott Boras that wasn't finalized until February 2009.

All throughout his time in the Mariners' organization (2009-2011), Fields struggled with finding the strike zone. In 101IP, Fields struck out 103 batters, but walked 72. So at the trade deadline, Fields was dealt to Boston in the three-team trade that sent Erik Bedard to Seattle.

It was in 2012 that Fields began to show flashes of the 1st Round talent. In 58.1IP Fields struck out 78 batters and walked just 18 between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket, but he was left unprotected on the crowded Red Sox 40-Man roster, and the Astros selected him in the Rule 5 draft.

In 38IP for Houston in 2013 he allowed 31H/21ER, 40K:18BB, but also 8HR for a 4.97 ERA on a 1.29 WHIP. The Astros could stomach this in 2013 because they were terrible and Fields had the potential to be a solid reliever, given his cutter...if he could just learn to throw it in the general vicinity of the plate.

Fields took a step forward in 2014, limiting what had haunted him before - walks. Fields did get sent down - having survived the Rule 5 rule of staying on the 25-man roster for the entire 2013 season, but settled down once he returned. He cut his walk rate from 4.3 BB/9 in 2013 to 2.8 BB/9 in 2014, and allowed just two home runs in 54.2IP - much improved from the eight he gave up in 38IP in 2013. Still, his ERA was 4.45 despite a 1.23 WHIP, thanks mainly to a two-week stretch in late April-early May when he allowed 14H/14ER, 4K:3BB in 3IP. That'll kill anyone's ERA. He had some struggles in mid-August, allowing 5ER in 2IP, but that became Fields' M.O: stretches of dominance and strikeouts marked by brief periods of inability to get anyone out.

2015:

Thanks to a Spring Training hamstring issue, Fields didn't make his 2015 debut until the end of April. In his second appearance of the season - April 27 at San Diego - Fields allowed 3H/1ER in the 7th, but the Astros won the game, anyway. From his next outing until the All-Star Break - 27 appearances - Fields threw 27.2IP, allowing just 14 hits and seven earned runs, with 37K:12BB. This was peak Good Bullpen.

And despite a hiccup in his first appearance after the All-Star Break (1IP, 3H/2ER) in a 7-6 loss to the Rangers (a one-run loss to the Rangers. You. Don't. Say.) on July 18, Fields threw in 14 games/12IP, allowing seven hits and two earned runs with 15K:2BB. So naturally the Astros sent Fields to Corpus following his August 19 appearance in which he recorded a win against the Rays.

Why was a reliever with a 2.20 ERA, a WHIP under 1.00 and an OPS-against of .516 sent to Corpus? Because he could be sent to Corpus. That August 19 game was a 13-inning affair, their 3rd extra-inning game in their previous five. The bullpen was taxed, the team needed pitching, and Fields had options left.

Things were not as good for Fields when he returned when the rosters expanded in September. In his first game back he allowed 3H/3ER in an 8-3 loss to the Mariners. Five days later, on September 7, he gave up 4H/4ER in 0.1IP in the 10-9 loss at Oakland. In eleven September appearances, Fields allowed at least one hit in eight of them and at least a baserunner in nine. In 43 appearances prior to September, Fields allowed at least one baserunner in just 24.

Fields generated lots of pop-ups, but not much in the way of home runs. His GB/FB ratio was 0.72, 3rd-lowest on a team that values extreme groundball rates, but he had a team-best 3.5% HR/FB ratio, while at the same time having a team-high 45.1% of balls hit up the middle of the field.

At 7.9 wFB, Fields threw the 3rd-most valuable fastball on the team in 2015, behind Keuchel (15.5 wFB), and Will Harris (12.5 FB). Only Velasquez (94.6mph) and McCullers (94.5mph) threw their fastball at a higher average velocity than Fields' 94.3mph in 2015. The next-highest fastball velocity was Will Harris at 91.8mph - 2.5mph slower than Fields. Fields throws hard in a bullpen that doesn't really throw hard.

Challengers:

I don't see much in the way of challengers for Fields. He throws an elite pitch and is extremely effective until he briefly is not. Fields also throws hard, which is unique for the current version of the Astros' bullpen. There is evidence that he was simply unlucky, and he's gotten better with each season he's been with the Astros. He's under team control for three more seasons and is still only 30 years old.

Reads:

FanGraphs: Josh Fields and the Value of Faith and Positive Thinking (September 2015)

Arbitration Projections Are Out

MLBTR has posted their arbitration projections. We'll come back to this in the off-season, but at least it provides something to think about other than the overwhelming nausea we collectively feel over the Wild Card game.

Here's what MLBTR's figures project:

Keuchel: $6.4m
Valbuena: $5.8m
Carter: $5.6m
Castro: $4.6m
Gattis: $3.4m
Marwin: $1.9m
Conger: $1.8m
Fields: $800,000
Deduno: $700,000

Keuchel's a slam dunk. What say you on the others?

Friday Morning Hot Links

Late night/early morning so let's get straight to the links.

FanGraphs now has the Astros as the team with the highest percentage of simulations that ended up with the AL pennant, facing the Dodgers in the World Series. The Astros won the World Series in 12.1% of 10,000 simulations, 2nd behind the Dodgers, who won the World Series in 20% of simulations.

*The Sporting News talks about the Astros' power. Marwin needs one homer and Conger needs two more in order to tie the major-league record for most players on a team with 10+ home runs. Kazmir, on the Astros:
As a pitcher, you can't take any breaks, because you know that a walk here or a bloop here, you're one pitch away from giving up a crooked number. It's a luxury to have, being on this team.

*Sports Illustrated wrote about the Astros and J.D. Martinez. Luhnow:
In retrospect, I wouldn't make the same decision.

And on the process of Missing with a player like Martinez?
We're not trying to get (decisions) all right. We're trying to get more of them right than our competition.

*Rosters expand to 40 on Tuesday, and the Astros aren't planning on calling up 15 more guys to help with the playoff push. Evan Drellich writes that the Astros are expecting to call up four players, not including Springer: Max Stassi, Josh Fields, Preston Tucker, and "a left-handed reliever." Keep in mind that Fresno and Corpus will both be in the playoffs.

*Corpus manager Rodney Linares was named Texas League Manager of the Year. Corpus lost last night, but are 80-49 on the season, the best record in the Texas League, and have already clinched a playoff spot.

*There are only three teams in the minors who have won 80 games. Two of those teams are Astros affiliates: Corpus and Quad Cities.

*Carlos Correa straight cleaned up at the Minnesota State Fair last night:

Had a blast at the #MinnesotaStateFair on my day off with my boy @GoGoGominsky22 ! My game was on point lol😂 #WINNER pic.twitter.com/qWPWx1RgVi

— Carlos Correa (@TeamCJCorrea) August 28, 2015

Friday Morning Hot Links

The Astros got scuffed last night thanks to Chris Archer - the Masked Marvel's recap is great - but at least the Rangers also got one-hit, and the Angels lost to the White Sox. The Astros have a 2.5 game lead on the Angels and a four-game lead on the Rangers. There are 40 games left.

Some notes on Chris Archer's performance:

*It was the first CG/1H/0ER performance against the Astros since Edinson Volquez and the Padres beat the Astros 1-0 on July 19, 2012.

*Archer needed just 98 pitches to get through the game, giving him the Maddux. What's the Maddux?  A complete game shutout throwing 99 or fewer pitches. This was the 16th Maddux against the Astros in team history, the last one coming on September 17, 2014 by Cleveland's Carlos Carrasco, who allowed 2H/0ER, 12K:1BB, and needed 98 pitches to go the distance.

*Archer's gem is also only the 16th game in ML history that a pitcher has thrown a Maddux with double-digit strikeouts (Source).

*Archer's 95 Game Score is the highest by an opposing pitcher this season, and the highest since Yu Darvish's 96 on April 2, 2013 when Darvish got Marwin'd.

*The Astros had 10+ strikeouts in a game for the 46th time this season.

*Carlos Gomez was 0x3 and saw a total of six pitches. Valbuena went 0x3 with 2 strikeouts in eight total pitches.

*Hinch, on Archer:
He was in complete control. He's the real deal. He's got every pitch and he had it tonight. I don't know if that was his best, because I'm not around him on a day-to-day basis, but it's the best we've seen and certainly he was in total command...In hindsight looking back, we could have just taken pitches and saw what happened, but pitch recognition is pretty hard when a guy is throwing 90-mph sliders. It's hard to fault the hitters. They're battling, they're trying.

*Archer took a selfie with Hinch's daughters before the All-Star Game in Cincinnati:
I'd like to have them in the stands or at least watching every game I throw from here on out, because the outcome's good when they're watching.

*George Springer has been swinging a fungo in the cage, but still likely won't take standard BP before next week's road trip.
There really isn't any medical reason to why I can't progress. It's all about how I feel. (The wrist) has been immobilized for six weeks, so I have to get my hand in shape and my wrist in shape.

*Thanks to a 13-inning game two nights ago and Josh Fields nearing his career-high in innings, Fields was optioned to Corpus (because Fresno is 6,000 miles away) yesterday, clearing room for Vince Velasquez's return. Fields is just 13.2IP away from a career-high of 54.2IP, and given the need for a fresh arm, he'll take some time off. Players optioned to the minors have to stay down for 10 days  (barring an injury to someone else), which will put him back in Houston just in time for the September 1 call-up day.

*Non-Astros Read of the Day: Follow the White Ball: The torments of Ronnie O'Sullivan, snooker's greatest player

Bullpen struggling, visions of night sweats return

The bane of Astros fans for the last five years has been the Bullpen, or the Goatpen as we not-terribly-affectionately called them.

The 2014 Astros bullpen posted an even 0.0 WAR, 4th-worst in baseball. The 2013 Goatpen posted an unbelievable -5.6 WAR, worst in baseball by...yeah, 5.6 WAR. Cumulatively from 2010-2014, the Astros' bullpen was "worth" -3.6 WAR, worst in baseball by 8.0 WAR and the only bullpen to be worth below replacement value.

So when the Astros brought in Pat Neshek and Luke Gregerson, we fans expected some improvement. I don't know that we expected this much improvement, however. The Astros' bullpen - even after yesterday - ranks 11th in bullpen WAR, 5th in the AL. They're stranding 80.2% of runners - 4th in MLB - and are tied with the Royals' bullpen for the lowest BABIP in baseball, at .238. But they're due for some regression. Their 2.71 ERA is belied by a 3.42 FIP and a 3.37 xFIP.

Still, this series with the Red Sox was the first one I can think of this season where shades of the Goatpen reared its demonic, walk-happy head.

Astros bullpen vs. Red Sox, July 3-5:
*11IP, 12H/9R (7ER), 6K:8BB, 61.3% of pitches thrown for strikes

Astros pitchers (starters and relievers) walked 17 batters in the three-game series (with one intentional walk) - uncharacteristic for a team with a 2.77 BB/9 rate. The problem for the Astros this weekend was six of those 16 unintentional walks crossed the plate, including four runs following walks on Friday (the lone Astros win of the series) and one on Sunday - Sipp walking Ortiz before Hanley's two-run birdie over the Green Monster.

Trends:
*Since returning from a personal break on June 13, Luke Gregerson has only pitched in eight games. But in those eight appearances (8.1IP), he has allowed 2H/0ER, 5K:0BB.
*After having issued exactly zero walks in the first two months of the season, Pat Neshek has walked five of the 52 batters he has faced since June 1.
*Since giving up a walk-off homer at Detroit on May 21, Tony Sipp has thrown 13.1IP allowing 16H/10ER, with 15K:4BB and five home runs. That's good enough for a 6.75 ERA/1.50 WHIP, and a .969 OPS-against.
*In his last 18 appearances (9.2IP), Joe Thatcher has allowed 6H/1ER, 10K:4BB and no extra-base hits.
*In the last month (well, June 4-yesterday), Josh Fields has thrown 13IP, allowing 10H/6ER, 15K:7BB for a 4.15 ERA on a .281 BABIP.

One simply can't expect the Astros bullpen to be lights out with no downturn or mini-slump over the course of a 162-game season. And you can't just run Harris-Neshek-Gregerson out every single game.    Maybe for now Sipp and Fields need some low-leverage work, though. One rough series does not a Goatpen make, but the relievers need to keep what happened this weekend to a minimum if they want to be playing something other than golf in October.

Sunday Morning Link Dump

Astros are 28-16, with a 5.5-game lead in the AL West. FanGraphs gives them a 39.2% chance of winning the AL West and a 58.3% chance of making the postseason.

*The Astros turned yesterday's postgame celebration into a traveling disco for McCuller's first Major-League win. (subscription may be needed - use this link if necessary)

*Infield coach Rich Dauer noted that Kinsler leads the league in hitting balls down the line, and positioned the infield to take that away, leading to the triple play. (subscription may be needed)

*Josh Fields could return today; Sam Deduno is a bullpen away from a minor-league rehab assignment; Oberholtzer will throw BP in Fresno today in advance of a rehab assignment.

*The Fresno Bee declares Carlos Correa ready for MLB. Grizzlies manager Tony DeFrancesco:
I've been around a lot of great players; Carlos probably is at the top of the list right now. Very mature for a 20-year old. He understands the game; he's in tune with what's going on on the field. I think he's going to be one of the top players for a long time.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/mlb/fresno-grizzlies/article21995418.html#storylink=cpy

*A few days ago, reliever Chris Cotton has been promoted to Corpus from Lancaster. Cotton was the 14th Round pick in 2013 out of LSU. In 25.2IP Cotton allowed 20H/4ER, 37K:7BB

*The QC Times on yet another Quad Cities win.

*This Red Sox blog would like to trade Justin Masterson to Houston for Chris Carter.

*Here's a fun story on Nick Rozdilski, head groundskeeper at Corpus.

Thursday Morning Link Dump

Get yer hot links here...

*Former shortstop Julio Lugo is wanted in the Dominican Republic for attempted kidnapping...

*Josh Fields will be activated from the DL on Friday, joining the Astros in Oakland, and option Jonathan Villar to Fresno. That'll make 13 pitchers on the roster when the Astros go to San Diego on Monday.

*Marwin Gonzalez changed how he uses his hands, and watches more video now.

*Brad Peacock has an intercostal strain, and could be out for weeks.

*Even before hitting his 1st HR of the season, Chris Carter said he was starting to feel better at the plate.

*Our old pal Nick Tropeano will make his major-league debut tonight for the Angels. Wandy Rodriguez will start for the Rangers on Friday.

Thursday Morning Link Dump

A few notes from last night's 6-1 win over the A's...

*Evan Gattis hit a homer! It was just his 3rd hit of the season, his first extra-base hit of the season, and his first home run since September 6, 2014, which was also the last game in which he had a hit prior to Monday. Dating back to August 24, 2014 Gattis' last four extra-base hits have all left the park.

*Collin McHugh struck out eleven batters in 5.2IP last night, the first time he's recorded double-digit strikeouts since his Astros debut on April 22, 2014, when he struck out 12 Mariners. McHugh has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 12 straight starts dating back to July 27, 2014. He's the first Astro to win seven straight starts since Andy Pettitte in 2005.

*Chris Carter is 2x30 on the season. It's worth remembering that from April 9-20, 2014 - a span of eleven games - Carter was 2x31. He's a career .175 hitter in April (yeah, but in 60 games, nine of which are in 2015).

On to the links...

*Evan Drellich notes that Collin McHugh has been relying on a slider since the end of 2014 that could be a reason for his success.

*What with Will Harris pitching well, the Astros are going to let Josh Fields stay in Triple-A for a little bit.

*FanGraphs' Kiley McDaniel writes that the Astros are linked to Dominican CF Gilberto Celestino, who will receive around a $2m signing bonus. Celestino is an "above average to plus runner" with above average arm strength and average raw power projection.

*Quad Cities' Nick Tanielu, who was hitting .412 on the young season, was transferred to Extended Spring Training.

*Here's an interesting comparison of the front-office styles of Billy Beane and Jeff Luhnow from Athletics Nation.

*One of the first Houston Urban Youth Academy graduates got a baseball scholarship.

Tuesday Morning Link Dump

Off-day for the Astros today, which is like being able to play with your presents until 10am and then getting told to put them up until December 27. MLB is dumb.

*Cleveland.com: "Keuchel is a quality pitcher, so he deserves props for his role in the outcome. But the Indians bear some responsibility for making it too easy on him."

*Terry Francona: "A lot of nights, we'd be sitting here saying: 'He had a great game that was a win.' But their guy was good, too. There wasn't a whole lot of offense going on."

*ESPN: Still making short jokes about Altuve!

*Peacock and Fields are still rehabbing.

*Randy Harvey: Astros moving closer to respectability

*Wandy Rodriguez signed a minor-league deal with the Rangers

Tuesday Morning Link Dump

And here's your watercooler* cheat sheet**

*Nobody still gathers around a watercooler
**Or uses an actual cheat sheet

*The Astros weren't about to blow their entire international budget on Yoan Moncada. Luhnow:
We're going to spend $17m in the draft this year. We're going to spend $4m internationally, that's a big chunk of money. We spent $20m this year in free agency. We've made a decision that $40-plus million that we're going to invest this year is better spent in the amateur draft and in free agency for where the Astros are today, rather than doing some big splash in the Cuban market.

*Mark Appel is making people happy.

*A.J. Hinch is transitioning to full workouts today, and everyone is in camp except for Fausto Carmona Roberto Hernandez, who is sorting out a visa issue.

*The Astros placed second overall in ESPN's analytics usage survey. Of course, the key term is "usage" and not "success."

*Rule-5 Catcher Luis Flores is excited about his opportunity with the Astros

*Josh Fields has a slight hamstring injury

Congratulations Giants: Hello Offseason

Any reasonable baseball fan would know that the World Series concluded in spectacular fashion last night, on a popup with the tying run standing 90 feet away.  The Giants again do what the Giants do - play solid baseball as a team, minimise the effect of their roster weaknesses, and get some otherworldly performances from individuals.  Obviously, series-MVP Madison Bumgarner was spectacular, but ex-Stro Hunter Pence and future-Stro (ha!) Pablo Sandoval consistently came up big on the offensive side of the ball.  So, congratulations San Francisco, and for the fans of all other 29 teams, it is time to start thinking about the post-season.

For the Astros, this represents their most interesting offseason in recent times.  After scaling the dizzy heights of 70 wins in 2014, and having some kind of core in place, the Astros now need to take the next step toward contention by cutting inadequate talent, and promoting or acquiring impact players to fill the voids.

What will make this interesting is the juggling of the roster.  In the early phases of the Luhnow rebuild, the Astros clearly cashed in their pieces for flawed prospects with an area of strength from other systems.  Matt Dominguez - considered a glove-first third baseman - and Robbie Grossman - an OBP LF with limited speed but solid defensive value - were the most obvious acquisitions that fill that description.  The Astros didn't manage to acquire any Addison Russell's, but they also didn't have any Hunter Pence-sized pieces to let go.  It will be interesting, in the inevitable, upcoming cull, whether the Astros make any J.D. Martinez-sized misjudgments.

Brian McTaggert has published a relatively generic primer on MLB.com, which contains all the standard quotes - yes, we are adding payroll; yes, we are going to look at the free agent market; yes, we are interested in trades; and yes, we want to add talent in the bullpen/starting rotation/everyday position player/on the bench areas.

But with a 40-man crunch happening, I can't see many upper tier free agents being pursued.  If there are trades, I am thinking they will be of the 1-for-2-at-the-40-man-level variety (ála Dexter Fowler last year), or the trading away of an extra piece for a lottery ticket.  I can see them looking for reasonably priced upgrades at 1B, 3B and LF, but these are also positions where prospects are likely to be opening the season at the MLB level, in AAA or in AA.  The starting rotation was an area of relative strength last year, and there aren't many gaps available at the moment given that Scott Feldman is signed for 2 more years, and Keuchel and McHugh are going to be given the opportunity to further establish themselves.

And as for the 'pen, a quick reminder that (i) the two top free-agent acquisitions from last year pitched a total of 10 innings and (ii) the two team leaders in FIP either started the year with the team, or joined the team early on.  Free agent acquisitions for the 'pen are a risky proposition, and at the moment, there is simply no need to take those kinds of risks with the Astros.

Most likely, the guys that are here will get the chance to make it happen in the first two months of 2015.  But who knows.

My conclusion: I have no idea what the FO is thinking.  However, I will be watching the offseason with interest.  If I were forced, however, to make a call, I would be surprised whether arguably the 4-best fielding CF on the 40-man starts the year with the club.  Dexter Fowler - in a weak free agent CF year - to a team that needs a CF, which at this stage (in the AL) seems to be the Blue Jays (who aren't trading at the moment) and the Tigers (who don't have the type of prospects that the Astros will want back).

So I am stumped.  But very, very interested.

The Week That Was: June 2-8

It's been three weeks since we last did a Week That Was (Memorial Day one week, Traveling last week), so let's start this back up...

Standings-wise, the Astros have the 5th-worst record in baseball, better than the Diamondbacks (whom the Astros play four times this week), Cubs, Phillies, and Rays. As far as overall wins go, the Astros have as many wins as the Padres, Mets, and Red Sox.

Streaking:
Over their last 30 games, the Astros are 18-12, tying them with the Angels and Indians for the 4th-best record in baseball. In that span they are nine games better than the Rays, eight games better than the Phillies, five games better than the Tigers, four games better than the Rangers.
Over their last 20 games, the Astros are 12-8, tying them with the A's, Pirates, and Cubs for the 4th-best record in baseball.

FanGraphs now gives the Astros a projected end-of-season record of 72-90, still the worst overall record in baseball, but tied with the Phillies and one game behind the Mets and Cubs. The Astros' playoff chances remain firmly at 0.4%.

Comparison to the 2013 Astros (through 64 games):

Year	Record	RDiff.	GB
2014	28-36	-39	11.5
2013	22-42	-98	16.0

The Week That Was!

June 2: Off.
June 3: 7-2 win vs. Anaheim
June 4: 0-4 loss vs. Anaheim
June 5: 8-5 win vs. Anaheim
June 6: 5-4 win @ Minnesota
June 7: 0-8 loss @ Minnesota
June 8: 14-5 win @ Minnesota

So the Astros go 4-2 last week with the only losses coming in shutouts, and it gives the Astros a perfectly symmetrical 14-18 record both at home and on the road. This is notable in that the Astros only won 24 games at home and 27 games on the road in 2013. They outscored their opponents 34-28.

The Astros are now 4-6 against the Angels on the season, and 14-19 against the AL West. Given that the Astros had a .329 Win% against the AL West in 2013, a .424 Win% thus far is mighty nice.


Houston has also won or split their last five series. To find the last time the Astros accomplished such a feat, you have to go back to August 30-September 19, 2010 when the Astros won or split six series against the Cardinals, Diamondbacks, Cubs, Dodgers, Brewers, and Reds.

Of course the most notable win of the week was Sunday's 14-5 win at Minnesota in which both Chris Carter and Jon Singleton hit grand slams. Those 14 runs were the most runs for the Astros since a 16-9 win at Seattle on April 9, 2013. ALSO the last time two Astros hit grand slams in a game was July 30, 1969 when Jimmy Wynn and Denis Menke both did it in the same inning.

The Week In Hitting A Ball: 231 PAs, 255/.357/.434, 16 XBH, 51K:26BB
FanGraphs WAR Leader: Jose Altuve at 1.8 WAR

(Min. 10 PAs)

Fowler	.524/.630/.857	2K:6BB
Carter	.200/.429/.600	7K:4BB
Grossman	.385/.500/.462	1K:3BB
Springer	.190/.357/.476	10K:4BB
Singleton	.200/.231/.480	10K:1BB
Altuve	.280/.321/.360	3K:1BB
Gonzalez	.154/.154/.385	5K:1BB
Dominguez	.200/.259/.320	7K:2BB
Castro	.188/.188/.188	3K:0BB

Hitter of the Week: Come on. Dexter Fowler went off this week. For the season he's hitting .277/.393/.395 with 50K:40BB. Five of his six games this week saw him get two hits, and in two of those games he added two walks. And that's how you raise your OBP 27 points in six games.

*George Springer has a four-game hitting streak, after going hitless in the opening two games of the Angels series. On May 2, after the 15th game of his career his OPS bottomed out at .467. Since then, Springer is hitting .287/.389/.639.
*Chris Carter drew four walks in the June 5 win against Anaheim, accounting for 22.2% of his walks on the season. He had drawn four walks in his previous 76 PAs combined.
*Matt Dominguez's three hits on June 6 were a season-high - he had 3+ hits seven times last season.
*In his last ten games, Jason Castro is hitting .237/.293/.289 with a .290 BABIP.
*Jose Altuve leads the league in games played (64), Plate Appearances (292), At-Bats (270), Hits (85), and Stolen Bases (23). Altuve is riding a seven-game hit streak, and has hits in 52 of his 64 games. He's been on base in 56 of those 64 games.

The Week in Throwing A Ball: 53IP, 50H/24ER, 51K:24BB, 4.08 ERA/1.40 WHIP
FanGraphs WAR Leader: Dallas Keuchel at 2.2 WAR.

McHugh	9.1IP	5H/3ER, 10K:7BB
Cosart	6.2IP	8H/3ER, 8K:1BB
Keuchel	6IP	5H/0ER, 6K:2BB
Peacock	5IP	6H/3ER, 1K:1BB
Feldman	1.2IP	1H/0ER*, 2K:2BB

*All three of Feldman's runs were unearned.

Starter line: 28.2IP, 25H/9ER, 27K:13BB; 2.83 ERA/1.33 WHIP.

Bullpen

Williams	5IP	6H/3ER, 4K:2BB
Fields	4.2IP	5H/1ER, 9K:0BB
Downs	4.1IP	2H/0ER, 3K:0BB
Qualls	3IP	1H/0ER, 1K:0BB
Clemens	3IP	4H/5ER, 2K:6BB
Farnsworth	2.1IP	2H/2ER, 2K:3BB
Sipp	2IP	5H/4ER, 3K:0BB

Bullpen line: 24.1IP, 25H/15ER, 24K:11BB; 5.55 ERA/1.48 WHIP

Pitcher of the Week: Josh Fields. Nine of his fourteen outs came via the strikeout, and he's really turned things around since his demotion.

*Dallas Keuchel has run his Quality Start streak to six games, and has Quality Starts in 10 of his 12 games. The Astros are 8-4 when he starts, and his 2.2 WAR is ranked 9th in the Majors behind Felix, Kluber, Darvish, Tanaka, Wainwright, Lackey, Strasburg, and Lester.
*Since getting lit up at Oakland for 7ER in 0.1IP, Jarred Cosart has a 2.96 ERA/1.36 WHIP.
*Brad Peacock has walked just one of the last 47 batters he faced.
*In his last two starts (7IP), opponents are hitting .387/.462/.613 on a .385 BABIP against Scott Feldman.
*Collin McHugh walked a career-high five batters in Sunday's win over Minnesota. The last time he walked five batters in a start was June 29, 2011 for Double-A Binghamton.
*Since blowing G18 at Oakland with 4H/3ER, 1K:1BB in the bottom of the 9th, Chad Qualls has allowed 7H/0ER, 16K:1BB in 15.2IP (17 appearances). He has faced 59 straight batters without allowing an unintentional walk.
*Jerome Williams has allowed at least one earned run in each of his last five appearances, six of his last seven, and twelve of his 19 games.
*Since getting recalled from OKC, Josh Fields as thrown 13.1IP, allowing 7H/1ER, 22K:2BB, and opponents are hitting .149/.184/.213.
*Darin Downs has a six-game scoreless appearance streak and hasn't allowed a run in 13 of his 15 appearances.

In Praise of the Astros Bullpen

We have spent a lot of space on this site lamenting the state of the Astros bullpen in recent years. We even adopted the Goatpen moniker to describe their collective performance. Well, it might be time to retire that name.

In April, it was more of the same. Despite Luhnow making the bullpen a priority in the offseason, the Astros ended April with a league worst 5.85 bullpen era, a -.9 WAR and 6 Blown Saves. Jerome Williams led the way with 16 IP and 6.75 ERA, with Bass and Clemens taking the second and third most IP, and put up a 4.61 and and 4.73 collectively. Fields imploded at the end of the month and ended up with a 9.58 ERA, and the designated lefties in the pen, Chapman and Valdes, only pitched 7 innings, but still managed to walk 10 batters.

But May has been a new day. Jerome Williams still leads the way in IP, but has performed better with a 3.86 ERA. And with the rest of the bullpen pitching like they have, he hasn't been asked to preserve many leads in high leverage situations. Tony Sipp has been a revelation, pitching 9.2 innings, and allowing only two singles and an intentional walk, with 13 K's and 0 runs. Qualls has cemented himself in the closer spot, and has also not allowed a run in May. And between Darin Downs (2.16 ERA) and Sipp, they have two lefties who can actually be trusted to pitch to the occasional right handed batter, and who won't walk the lefties they are asked to face. Fields has been down to the farm, and since his return has been phenomenal, with 13 K's, 2 walks and 2 hits in 8.2 innings. His ERA is still struggling from the implosion, which carried over into May, but his FIP is a microscopic  .69 for the month. As a group, for the month, the ERA is 3.33, with a 3.03 FIP. Over the last 14 days, its an incredible 1.53, best in the majors.

All of this has been done without two of the three major offseason acquisitions, as neither Albers or Crain have pitched an inning this month. If this pitching continues, there will be some tough choices to make about who gets the boot when they come back, something I never dreamed of saying in April of this year.

In April, a horrid BABIP and an even worse bullpen were masking the real improvements made to this team. In May, both have been fixed, and it lead to the Astros best month since 2010.  

Bass to DL; Fields back up

So the Astros have placed Anthony Bass on the DL with a right intercostal strain and recalled Josh Fields from OKC.

Let's take a look at the bullpen on Opening Day, shall we:

Matt Albers
Anthony Bass
Kevin Chapman
Josh Fields
Brad Peacock
Chad Qualls
Jerome Williams

Albers is on the DL. Bass is now on the DL. Chapman has been sent down. Fields is now back after having as bad a two-week spell as a reliever can have. Peacock is in the rotation now because Harrell was DFA'ed. Qualls and Williams are the two stalwarts of the bullpen after 40 games. Impressive, huh?