Sunday Morning Hot Links

Big Thanks to everyone who came out to Secret Group last night for the first ever Lima Time Time Live Show. It was a lot of fun and Patrick and I will definitely do it again, albeit with some Rules this time around. Look for it in the Fall (I go back to Work this week). Also, if you're going to the Spoon/Beck/Cage the Elephant show tonight in The Woodlands, give me a shout.

I of course did not see much of the game, but the Astros beat the piss out of the Best Fans In Base Ball 8-2 thanks to Carlos Correa's grand slam and Gerrit Cole's strong start. Houston is 67-39. There are 66 regular season games left.

*Let's start with Gerrit Cole. Cole threw 7IP, 4H/1ER, 7K:3BB. The one run he allowed was a solo home run to Paul Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt has hit a home run in six consecutive games, with 13RBI. It's fine. No one cares. Woodlands-lookin' ass boiiiiiiiii.

*Cole has made 23 starts in 2019. 2019 starts with...
0ER: 3
1ER: 9
2ER: 5
3ER: 2
4ER: 2
5ER: 0
6ER: 1
7ER: 0
8ER: 1

Not bad, if that's your kind of thing.

*I guess we can nit-pick. Cole had not walked three batters in a game since June 19.

*The Astros walked six times for the 22nd time this season. Somehow they're only 13-9 when that happens.

*Carlos Correa was 2x5 with 5RBI and a Grand Slam, the 10th Granny for the Astros this season. It was Correa's first MLB Grand Slam. Correa:
Our lineup is pretty scary. We can do pretty special things. We can turn around games pretty quick in the matter of just one inning.

It's Correa's 2nd career 5RBI game, his first since July 9, 2017.

Correa also seems to have avoided yet another Stupid Injury when Professional Dumb Ass Yairo Munoz slid hard into 2nd to break up a double play and ended up spiking Correa in the elbow, which seems like a really hard thing to do, unless you're a Cardinal, then it's just what you do if you're the classiest team in baseball. Hinch:
It's an unnecessary slide. He didn't need to go all the way through the base and hit Carlos. The slide rule fails again. 

Correa:
It didn't look clean, but I don't think he was trying to take me out and trying to get me hurt.

Hinch, on what would happen to Munoz today:
Old school, he'd get hit [Hinch immediately thinks of Ausmus] I know we don't do that anymore. But it was an unfortunate play.

More effective than hitting Munoz today would be to continue to allow the Cardinals to slide into irrelevance.

*Robinson Chirinos was 2x3 with a walk, and has at least one hit in eight of his last nine games in which he has received an AB. He's hitting .345/.486/.448 in his last ten games.

*Yordan Alvarez has one hit in his last 10 ABs. This, too, is fine.

*Alex Bregman has been on base in four of his nine PAs this series against St. Louis.

*Ryan Pressly, who might get put on the IL:
Everybody's got to work through something. I'm in the training room getting treatment and I've got all the faith in my training staff to get me right.

*The Cheatin-Ass Cardinals honored their 2004 team prior to the game. Reminder that they lost. Alyson Footer has a pretty great oral history on MLB.com on the 2004 NLCS.

*Jeff Luhnow compared the 2004 Cardinals team to the 2019 Astros. And if that means "win 105 games, barely get by the LCS, and get swept in the World Series" like the Cardinals did, then count me the hell out of that.

Trade/Rumor Roundup

*The Braves, Dodgers, Brewers, Twins, Rays, and pretty much anyone else with a record over .500 right now is interested in just about everybody. The Trade Deadline is at 4pm Eastern on Wednesday.

*The Astros are "mounting a push" for Marcus Stroman, in part because the Mets' asking price for Syndergaard is too high.

*Oakland traded for Jake Diekman, and their bullpen JUST MIGHT be better than Houston's. 

*Kyle Tucker is Keith Law's "good prospect most likely to get traded this year."

*The Dodgers, in a valiant effort to lose a third straight World Series, are considering trading for Stroman.

*Trevor Bauer is "almost certainly" not going to be on Cleveland's roster in 2020.

*The Twins and Rangers have discussed Mike Minor.

*The Mets might try to package Zack Wheeler and Edwin Diaz.

*The Tour De France ends today, which means I'm done watching cycling for another 49 weeks. It also means that Summer is just about over, and it makes me sad. 

*SB Nation: How cyclists continue to cheat.

*The Last Days of John Allen Chau.

*A Musical Selection:

Friday Morning Hot Links

Good morning! The Astros had their last off-day until [squints] Monday. They open a series against the Cardinals tonight.

*Don't forget to pick up your tickets to tomorrow's Lima Time Time Live Show at The Secret Group! Tickets are $5 and yes, we get a cut. Now is your chance to get all of your friends together and help us make a little scratch.

*Next up: You need this redesigned Air Yordan shirt. And this Michael Brantley: Professional Hitter shirt.

*Alright, on to Bidness.

*Anyone who is a Tony Kemp fan (which is limited to Any Human on Earth) has the Sad as it was announced he will be DFA'd in advance of Carlos Correa's activation from the DL.

We all know the situation:
-Tony Kemp seems like a legitimately great human being.
-Tony Kemp was out of options, so he would have to pass through waivers (he won't) in order to get sent back to Round Rock.
-Myles Straw is a little more versatile, and is definitely faster, providing more late-game options for Hinch. Ultimately the Astros went with Straw.
-Tony Kemp can now be included in any trade package put together between now and the 31st.

Kemp, 2019: .227/.308/.417, 29K:16BB
Straw, 2019: .256/.376/.321, 20K:15BB

You could make a case that the Astros did this to themselves by bringing Kemp up in 2017 for a total of 17 games - two in April, and then again as a September call-up. He made ten starts in those 17 games, burning an option year. Why was Kemp brought up in April 2017? Because Teoscar Hernandez was injured in a collision with Altuve in his first MLB game of the 2017 season (April 25). Teoscar Hernandez was playing because Jake Marisnick was on the 7-Day Concussion List, and came back five days later. That's stupid. Kemp was optioned back to Fresno after two games. It sucks for Tony Kemp, it sucks for us. Kemp will find a landing spot with a team and get an opportunity. And he still has a Ring. Best of luck to Tony Kemp in the future. Him and Evan Gattis hugging is one of the greatest things in franchise history. Better than Jeff Kent's helmet flip.

It also frees up one spot on the 40-Man Roster. Tyler White's DFA combined with Kemp's DFA makes it 38, but adding Correa from the 60-Day IL will bring it to 39. The Trade Deadline is five days away.

Let's look back at the 2013 Draft, and do a Where Are They Now?
1-1: Mark Appel. Retired.
2-40: Andrew Thurman: Traded to Atlanta in the Evan Gattis/James Hoyt deal, January 2015.
3-74: Kent Emanuel. 4.26 ERA in Round Rock in 2019.
4-107: Conrad Gregor. Last played in the Astros Org in 2016. Currently with New Jersey, of the independent Canadian-American Association.
5-137: Tony Kemp. DFA'd, July 2019.
6-167: Jacob Nottingham. Traded to Oakland in the Scott Kazmir deal, July 2015. Currently with the Brewers' organization.
7-197: James Ramsey. Last played in 2016.
8-227: Jason Martin: Traded to Pittsburgh in the Gerrit Cole deal, January 2018.
9-257: Brian Holberton: Last played in 2015.
10-287: Austin Nicely: Last played in the Astros Org in 2015. Currently pitching for Evansville in the independent Frontier League.

Only Kent Emanuel is still with the Astros (from the 1st 10 Rounds). Kemp, Nottingham, and Martin made it to the Majors from the Astros' 2013 Draft. Oh there was one more guy: 33rd Round pick Tyler White and...

*The Astros traded Tyler White to the Dodgers for 24-year old reliever Andre Scrubb. Scrubb throws in the mid-90s with a "funky delivery." A former 8th Round pick by the Dodgers, Scrubb has a 2.37 ERA / 1.21 WHIP in 57IP (66K:28BB) for Double-A Tulsa. He'll report to Corpus.

Tyler White is a sweetheart and had very nice things to say about the Astros on Instagram.

*The Mets "want to move" Noah Syndergaard and a "Rival Exec" said that the price for Noah Syndergaard is "a Top 30 prospect and a couple of other solid pieces."

*An AL scout says the Astros need a starting pitcher, but the farm system isn't as deep as you might think. In order to take care of the first thing, the Astros might have to deal Tucker or Whitley.

*Still other Unnamed Execs think the Deadline will be quiet through the weekend and then pop off on Monday.

*Marcus Stroman news:
-Joel Sherman says he's likely the biggest-named pitcher to get traded.
-Andy Martino says the Blue Jays might actually extend him.
-Jon Morosi says he has sources that say both Kyle Tucker for Stroman wouldn't be enough and that the Astros wouldn't trade Tucker for Stroman straight up."

*Madison Bumgarner news:
-Mark Feinsand says the Giants will hang on to him.
-Hank Schulman says the Giants haven't made a decision either way.

No one knows anything about anything. And anyone claiming otherwise is either lying, or is an idiot.

*Troy Tulowitzki retired, ending a 13-year career hampered by injuries. Tulo spent 10 seasons in Colorado, hitting .299/.371/.513. Then he got traded to Toronto and from mid-2015 through 2019 played in a total of 243 games, hitting .249/.313/.416. He was really good, and a really good Colorado hitter. Now he'll be an assistant coach for the University of Texas.

*Protests in Puerto Rico got their governor to resign.

*How Stan Smith went from a decent tennis player to the most popular trainer on the planet.

*A Musical Selection and damn if it's not a referendum on society right now:

Saturday Morning Hot Links

Well that was...disappointing. Odd that it's the beginning of July and the Astros and Angels have only played three times, counting last night. Houston lost the opener of a home series for the first time since April 25, dropping the game 5-4 to Anaheim. The Astros are 55-33 with a 6.5-game lead on Oakland. There are two games remaining before the All-Star Break.

*The Astros are 7-3 in their last 10 games. The Angels broke a seven-game losing streak to Houston dating back to August 31, 2018.

*Justin Verlander stays giving up bombs. Verlander threw 7IP, 7H/4ER, 6K:1BB, 3HR allowed. That's 26 home runs allowed by Verlander in 2019. He has walked 27 batters. It's the 4th time he has allowed 3HR in a start - two have come against Anaheim, three have been since June 12. Angels manager Brad Ausmus, on Verlander:
I've seen Verlander firsthand, saw him for years. Great competitor, great pitcher and you know you're in for a battle. With that being said, I haven't come across any pitcher who's pitched in the big leagues for any length of time who's unbeatable. You will find most of them have losses. Really, the frame of mind is, yeah, it's going to be tough but nobody is unbeatable.

FACT CHECK: Brad Ausmus is correct. Most of the pitchers in MLB history do, in fact, have losses.

Verlander's current 18.7% HR/FB rate is insane, obliterating his previous career high of 11.5% in 2017. Only eight pitchers in MLB have a higher HR/FB (rate at which fly balls end up leaving the yard) rate. Gerrit Cole is 8th, at 19.1%. Verlander and Cole have a combined 5.3 fWAR. The other seven pitchers have a combined 4.8 fWAR.

Verlander:
I've got to do a better job of keeping the ball in the yard. It's been a common theme here all year really, but really the last four or five starts. I've got to figure out a way to combat this thing. 

Hinch:
He's a fly-ball pitcher, and he lives at the top of the zone. They did a good job of beating him to the spot a couple of times above the zone. There's no secret where he's going to pitch. They did a good job of having a game plan against him and executed against the high fastball...JV was all over the strike zone. He commanded the ball pretty well. You look up and you don't understand how with that stuff and that command, how the night turned for him.

McTaggart notes that Verlander's 2.98 ERA is the lowest first-half ERA of his career.

.168/.221/.386 with 26 Home Runs would be a very strange season statline for a hitter.

That's what MLB has done against Justin Verlander this season.

— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) July 6, 2019

*Hector Rondon allowed an 8th Inning homer to Mike Trout to put the Angels up 5-2.

*Michael Brantley went 4x4 with two doubles and a home run. He had four of the Astros' six hits. It's the 13th 4-hit game of Brantley's career and the first since May 3, 2018. It's just the 14th time this season that any MLB player has had three extra-base hits and only one RBI. Jack Mayfield and Yuli Gurriel have also done it this year. That has happened 35 times in franchise history, the last being Martin Maldonado (who doubled, tripled, and homered in the same game on August 19, 2018).

And the reason he only had one RBI is because the top three of Springer-Altuve-Bregman were a combined 0x11 with 2BB.

*Yuli Gurriel hit his 12th home run, going 1x4 with 3RBI. In his last 15 games Gurriel is hitting .361/.400/.787 with more home runs (7) than strikeouts (5).

*Hinch is looking at putting Wade Miley in between Verlander and Cole in the rotation. Hinch:
What order that is is going to be determined. It's going to be different. It's not going to be full forward as we expected. There's a couple of decisions that we have to make. I have the order in pencil.

I'm penciling in Max Scherzer in between Verlander and Cole, so let's see how that pans out.

Jake Kaplan says that's all well and good but the biggest question coming out of the All-Star Break: Who is SP5?

*Rough news as Corbin Martin had Tommy John Surgery on Wednesday. He'll obviously miss the rest of 2019 and most of 2020, as well. Hinch:
I care about the player. We can talk all you want about the depth and how important he is to the organization, and what it does to our pitching. But the reality is, we need to focus on him. This is a tough injury and one we know all too well with [Lance McCullers Jr.], watching him go through rehab every day.

Luhnow: Martin's injury could make acquiring a pitcher with an extra year of control "more appealing."

Related: Jon Heyman reports that Detroit's asking price for Matt Boyd is "over the top." The Astros have been "scouting Boyd hard."

Related: Marcus Stroman will not pitch this weekend, giving him extra time to recover from a left pectoral cramp.

*Here's a fantastic story from Chandler Rome about how Yordan Alvarez became an Astro, and how Alvarez was the only one in Cuba who knew the Gurriels were defecting.

*Last summer, the Astros almost traded Derek Fisher for Detroit's Nick Castellanos. So between those talks and the Verlander trade, Houston and Detroit know each other's systems pretty well.

*Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco has been diagnosed with leukemia.

*Phillies OF Odubel Herrera was suspended for the remainder of the 2019 season as a result of violating the league's domestic violence policy. MLB specifically said that Herrera was ineligible for the postseason, which was not the case for Roberto Osuna in 2018.

*Leeds United has managed to piss off perhaps their best/most important player: Pontus Jansson.

*Deadspin: The Man Who Walked His Life Away.

*The rise and fall of Takeru Kobayashi.

*A Musical Selection:

Potential Spin Rate Trade Targets for the Astros

The Houston Astros made a sneaky good trade last year with the addition of Ryan Pressly. For the Twins he had a 3.40 ERA over 51 games. With the Astros 0.77 ERA over the 26 remaining games of the season. In the playoffs he allowed 1 run in five innings. The dude was is nails. He's continued his success with a 1.47 ERA in 36 games this year.

One of the reasons the Astros targeted Pressly was because of his high spin rate. According to Baseball Savant he's second in the league with 3104 RPM. The leader is Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Chris Stratton who has a spin rate of 3105 RPM. Spin rate is the rate of spin on a baseball after it is released, according to MLB.com. The more spin on fastballs and breaking balls; the tougher they are to hit. On the other end of the spectrum the less spin on changeups and knuckleballs makes those pitches harder to hit.

Spin rate isn't the only indicator of success. Stratton has a career 5.06 ERA in 256+ innings. Pitch usage, control, command, umpires, ballparks, weather, fans, hot dogs, nachos, and political arguments on Twitter all still play a factor (caveat: Some of these play a larger role). Still Charlie "F" Morton is top 10 in spin rate with 2875 (remember him?). Justin Verlander is Top 20. Mike Fiers 24th.

With the Astros in need of pitching help, I decided to take a look at the Top 50 pitchers (and one outside) and spin rate and see if there are any sneaky (or not so sneaky) pitchers the Astros could be targeting.

Sonny Gray - Cincinnati Reds

Despite a +37 run differential, the Reds are in the NL Central cellar. Gray has a 3.94 ERA in 82+ innings. There are signs the ERA could improve even more over the remaining season. He has a 3.62 FIP and 3.64 xFIP. He ranks 7th in spin rate with 2891 RPM. He's in the Astros budget ($7.5MM this year) and controllable over the next three years ($30.5MM) and has a club option for 2023.

Felipe Vazquez - Pittsburgh Pirates

Unlike the Reds, the Pirates have a -43 run differential. They will have to make a decision soon on being sellers or buyers soon. This year is different from past years in that there is no longer a waiver trade deadline. It's all July 31 or nothing. 

Vazquez, unlike the rest of the pitchers on this list, is a reliever. He's left-handed though. Something the Astros desperately need in the bullpen. This year he has a 1.80 ERA in 35 innings. His 2765 RPM ranks 26th in the league. He's signed through 2021 (four years $22MM) with club options for 2022 and 2023. 

Marcus Stroman - Toronto Blue Jays

The Blue Jays own a -77 run differential in a AL East dominated by New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays (yes the Rays), and Boston Red Sox. There's already talk of Stroman and the Astros. Stroman has a 3.18 ERA over 105+ innings. He's 32nd in spin rate. His 3.82 FIP and 4.16 xFIP suggest he may have some clunkers in the second half of the season. He's a free agent in 2021. 

Tanner Roark - Cincinnat Reds

Roark has a 3.36 ERA or 85+ innings. He ranks 38th in spin rate Like Stroman, his 3.50 FIP and 4.39 xFIP suggest that there are some bad outings ahead. He's controllable through the end of next season and someone that probably won't cost as much as a Gray or Stroman. 

James Taillon - Pittsburgh Pirates

Right at 50th in spin rate is Taillon. Unfortunately, he's on the 60-day IL and was recently cleared to play catch. I doubt he's traded. 

Matthew Boyd - Detroit Tigers

This was suggested by Michael Shopoff (@mshopoff) on Twitter. Boyd was recently connected to the Astros by Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Boyd has a 3.72 ERA in 101+ innings. His 3.58 FIP and 3.52 xFIP are a good indicator of continued success. He ranks 152 in spin rate. A fourseam (50%) and slider (35%) are the pitches he uses the most. He's dropped his sinker, curve, and changeup for the most part this year.

What other potential trade targets would you like to see the Astros go after?

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:

Thursday Morning Hot Links

It wasn't as bad as it looked. Maybe it was, I don't know - I mercifully didn't get to watch. Though...I am IN Houston (wasn't at the game). Does the Astros County jinx extend to me simply being within the boundary of Harris County? I won't be leaving until after the game starts today, so we'll just have to see. Halfway through the regular season the Astros are 50-31. Their lead is 5.5 games.

*Recent records at 81 games, Astros:
2019: 50-31
2018: 53-28
2017: 54-27
2016: 43-38
2015: 47-34
2014: 35-46
2013: 30-51
2012: 32-49
2011: 28-53
2010: 32-49

*Framber Valdez was simply Frambushed by the Pirates: 3IP, 8H/6ER, 2K:1BB. Hinch:
He was battling himself from the very beginning of the game. The home run by Bell, which he was done a lot this year, puts you down, and we just could never get on the good side of the game while he was in there. Six runs in three innings and 70 pitches. It just looked like he was out of sync.

Framber was optioned to Triple-A basically within 30 seconds of the end of the game. Valdez:
I understand why they did it and I understand what I need to do to get better, so that's what I'll be focusing on. It's been frustrating, but at the same time I know I need to improve my two-seamer and improve my command to get back here and help the big league club.

Framber's first two starts: 51 batters faced, 39 outs, 9H/3ER, 15K:2BB, 1HR.
Framber's last two "starts:" 35 batters faced, 19 outs, 12H/11ER, 5K:4BB, 3HR.

*Chris Devenski ate three innings, allowing 3H/2ER, 3K:0BB, 1HR.

*Rondon walked two but didn't allow any runs, McHugh threw a perfect 8th.

*Tyler White got the 9th, or at least part of the 9th, getting two outs but also allowing 4H/6ER, 0K:4BB. He now has the distinction being the first Astros "reliever" to allow four hits, four walks, all in less than three outs. At least Harris, Pressly, and Osuna didn't have to pitch. I guess. Hinch, on White pitching:
It's brutal. It's embarrassing. I feel bad for White. I apologized to him on the way off the field because I never want to use him. It's not funny. I know it's entertaining for the masses when you see something unique or something that's not there, but I think it sucks. I don't want to hurt him. I think it was way too many pitches.

*I don't know the last time an Astros pitching staff allowed two players in the same lineup to get four hits, and I'm not interested in finding out.

*Hinch, on the state of the Astros' bullpen right now:
I pitched two position players, so that tells you where our bullpen is. We'll have to take a look at all of our options and see how we navigate. We have four more games in a row [before a day off] and the two games at Coors Field that are looming which are always difficult. And then a couple of days off sprinkled in.

So who comes up? Reymin Guduan, Cionel Perez, and Rogelio Armenteros haven't been in the minors long enough (10 days) to be recalled. Dean Deetz and Brady Rodgers are on the IL. Forrest Whitley is in West Palm rehabbing, and won't join a full-season team for at least a few weeks. Corbin Martin is on the IL (with no update on his issue). Nice little corner the Astros have painted themselves into.

*The offense was dead after George Springer's 30th career leadoff home run. Someone who goes by the name "Dario Agrazal" made his second career start, 11 days after allowing three runs to the Got Dang Marlins, and held the Astros to 5H/1ER, with 3K:3BB.

*Houston was 0x6 w/RISP.

*The Astros only struck out six times last night, marking the 9th time in their last ten games with nine or fewer strikeouts.

*Springer was 3x4 on the night. It's his 3rd 3+ hit night of the season, and the first since he went 5x5 on May 12 against the East Weatherford Rangers.

*Alex Bregman knocked a double, giving him back-to-back games with an XBH for the first time since June 3-4.

*Chandler Rome: Unsurprisingly, a little over a month before the trade deadline the Astros are focused on pitching. Expect the action to come closer to July 31.

*The Astros saluted the work of 2017 Game 5 Winner/Legend Joe Musgrove on the scoreboard last night. Musgrove faces the Astros this afternoon.

*Peter Gammons says the Astros did as much background work on Marcus Stroman in 2017 as they did on Justin Verlander, and Stroman would make sense. Damn near anyone would make sense.

*Francis Martes is back on the Restricted List because he can't get a visa. He won't pitch for the Astros this season, anyway (Tommy John surgery).

*David Barron has an update on the 2-year old Astros fan who suffered a fractured skull and continues to have seizures well after getting smoked by a foul ball. I am going to do A Stupid in the next 24 hours and patiently explain why I think the Astros need to extend the netting. Thank God I have already set the precedent of disabling the comments. Related: please do keep in mind that, on the cursed web site Twitter dot com, I am under no obligation to debate you if we disagree on an issue.

*Baseball America: The July 2 international signing period is an absolute mess.

Hey @JuliaMorales ... @M_Marakovits and I hanging out with some of the biggest baseball fans in the UK! And they love the Astros! (And they love you!) #TakeItBack @AstrosFansUK @MLBUKCommunity pic.twitter.com/YlCS8Dorgn

— Marly Rivera (@MarlyRiveraESPN) June 26, 2019

*Stop with the Wrong Answers Only bullcrap.

*Barstool's Dave Portnoy actually trembled when he was asked about harassing women.

*A Musical Selection:

Thursday Morning Hot Links

James did the Hot Links yesterday for me because I was way too tired to do them, so I'm covering Hot Links both today and Friday. My semester is over, so my late night readers rejoice as new posts should go live about 3-4 hours after the conclusion of games and I finally have enough time to actually watch games now.

Here's something bad: the Astros lost! The Twins now have the highest winning percentage in the American League. Notes:

Altuve: 2-4, which included his 1449th hit, 6th most in Astros history.
Diaz: 1-4, RBI and started in LF for the first time this season
White: 1-4, RBI
McHugh: 6 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
Schoop hit a ball roughly 2,000 feet far

Full Box:

Jose Altuve talked Martin Perez's masterful performance.

The Astros will be adding a 26th man for the weekend series in Mexico, and it will likely be someone on the 40-man (NOT Alvarez).

George Springer has been disciplined after he said some NSFW things towards the direction of Angel Hernandez.

Who have been the best Astros this month? Check out the candidates and vote in the poll in the bottom of the page.

btw, Alvarez is up to a decent .375 batting average. But he's not the only prospect raking. Check out the rest here.

🚨MARCUS STRO-MAN IS ON THE BLOCK🚨

Chandler Rome has a fresh mailbag piece out.

If you're someone who likes to lay in bed literally all day and speaks fluent German then buddy do I have the job for you.

These blasted birds can't seem to mind their business.

On This Day in Baseball History

In 1917, Fred Toney won the only double no-hitter game in baseball history.

In 1988, Ron Robinson had his perfect game broken up with two outs in the 9th to pinch hitter Wallace Johnson.

In 1988, Pete Rose was ejected and suspended for 30 days for shoving umpire Dave Pallone after Pallone delayed a call that allowed the go-ahead run to score. The umpire crew decided to remove Pallone from the game to quell emotions from the unruly fans and continue the remainder of the game.

In 1999, Nike's famous "Chicks Dig the Long Ball" advertisement aired for the first time.

In 2001, Twins fans pummeled former Twin Chuck Knoblauch in his return to the Metrodome with bottles, coins, and trash. Over 40 fans were ejected, the game was delayed for several minutes, and Twins manager Tom Kelly pleaded the fans to stop.

In 2002, Mariners outfielder Mike Cameron hit four home runs in one game, becoming the 13th player ever to do so.

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*Justin Verlander pitched last night, after agreeing to an extension, and dominated it. Opening Day is now four days away. Jim Crane spent $183.5 million last week. What did you do?

*Verlander has agreed to a 2yr/$66m extension through the 2021 season. Everything is coming up Luhnow. There is no deferred money involved, which makes Verlander's deal the largest average annual contract in MLB history (beating Greinke's $32.5m AAV).

Brian T. Smith: The Astros have their ace in place.

*Verlander last night: 4IP, 2H/0ER, 9K:0BB in a 5-0 win over Miami. The rest of the AL is on notice. Also notable:

-Springer: 1x4, 2RBI
-Altuve: 2x4, 2B/HR.
-Toro: 2x4, 2B

Verlander, who watched video from 2011, found that his hips don't lie:
Everything clicked tonight. It was a really, really good feeling. I can't even put it into words. Like searching for myself from a while back. It was something I've been kind of grinding on all spring and I kept finding the symptom and not the cause, and I think I found it. 

Jake Kaplan: With Cole set for free agency after this season, Verlander ensures some rotation stability for the next two years.

*Josh Reddick talked to Chandler Rome about the extensions to Pressly/Bregs/JV, and in a couple of tweets said this:
(It shows) that players are getting taken care of when they deserve it and it shows that this team is still willing to win for a very long time and put out the players that can bring them another championship. The more you keep this core together on this team, the better off you are. We do seem to get along so great. Signing guys like Bregman and Verlander and hopefully a couple other guys to extensions make perfect sense.

*A couple of days ago Ken Rosenthal reported that the Astros had interest in the Most Logical Choice Simply By Name Alone: pitcher Marcus Stroman. He also said that extending Verlander was "a long shot," so take it for what it's worth.

*The Astros are counting on Wade Miley to maintain his 2018 form. Can you compare the woeful 2016-17 Wade Miley to the 2018 Wade Miley? Hinch:
I just don't think you can compare. They're two different pitchers.

*With Reymin Guduan getting optioned to Round Rock, Framber Valdez has made the Opening Day roster.

*Jenny Dial Creech: Michael Brantley lets his bat do the talking.

*This morning, Hinch honored Tony Kemp, Josh James, and Framber Valdez for making their first Opening Day roster.

*SI's six-word preview for the 2019 Astros? "World Series favorite? I say yes."

*

Jim Crane is forever slander proof. pic.twitter.com/3BOKiyC2Gc

— 🏆⚾️💥Cocky [Redacted] Fan💥⚾️🏆 (@astros_dude) March 24, 2019

*A Musical Selection:

Friday Morning Hot Links

I'm not entirely sure how accurate this is, but this might be the first ever Astros County blog post to ever have been posted from our nation's capital. I just woke up from a pleasant afternoon nap that eradicated this wicked headache that I was battling all afternoon, so for the first time today I feel physically ready to break the news to you that the Astros did not sign Nelson Cruz. Yayyyyyy..

But don't worry folks, not are the Hot Links are this dreadfully sad. I got some good ones to bring to you too!

While we're talking about Astros offseason moves, Climbing Tal's Hill published a piece grading the Astros moves so far. Since there aren't a whole lot of Hot Links again today, I might as well also write an actual opinion piece which is something I think I was brought onto the team in the first place for (please also keep in mind I am a biased idiot).

Robinson Chirinos - Chirinos is the old man, no-average, high power, strong-armed catcher we were hoping 2018 Brian McCann would end up being. While I don't mind the signing, I hope it's more of a fallback plan in case the Max Stassi Experiment flops in 2019 because he is the main catcher that I want to see. I think I got officially burnt out on nausea-inducing BABIP scores in 2015 so when I see Chirinos' stat line, it makes me sad. Nevertheless, I don't mind the signing and I personally don't mind riding with Stassi instead of trading for Realmuto or shelling out cash for a Grandal. Grade: B

Aledmys Diaz - This one sucks a little bit because I don't even want to think about having to replace my favorite Houston Astro of all time, but I have to. This trade pretty much solidified that Houston's Hero is not coming back. However, we got Diaz for what I understand to be a steal. I'm no prospect man, but the guy we traded has a career minor league ERA of 4.23, so I don't mind this deal at all either. His consistent statistical numbers are eerily similar to Marwin's and he can play multiple positions, which takes away the pain a little bit and it makes me honestly okay with what has transpired this offseason. Although when I saw him in Toronto this summer he ONLY went 1-3 so he's gonna have to do a lot more to firmly woo this old codger over to his side. Marwin if you're reading this please come back. Grade: B+

Michael Brantley - As yes, The Big One. Our cornerstone move of the 2018-2019 offseason. We all know what this guy is all about. Can't stay healthy but when he does he is an All-Star. Decided not to spend money and take a risk with the new outfielder. All that. I like the signing. Again, this is a signing I like. I don't like his unhealthy past per se but looking at it from a wider scope the good free agent outfielders save Bryce Harper are quite injury-riddled (Brantley, Pollock, CarGo etc). I mean, you could have gone McCutchen in theory but are you going to pay Cutch 3 yrs. 50 Mil or Brantley for 2-32? This signing also makes me think of the Charlie Morton contract. "but he can't stay healthy" "but he's in the back end of his career!" they said. Obviously these two situations are completely independent of each other, but I have decided to completely disregard trades for injury purposes thanks to the fact he might, you know, stay healthy. This is an upgrade, and he is better than Kemp, Tucker (for now), and Marisnick. It isn't flashy, but it should get the job done and ease Tucker into the position. Grade: A   

Packaging all three moves into one overarching theme, it seems as if he are replacing players and not necessarily upgrading the positions but maintaining them. We replaced McCann with McCann 2 (didn't get better), we replaced Marwin with Marwin 2 (didn't get better), and we replaced Marwin/Kemp/Jake with Michael Brantley (better). Will this be good enough? Honestly, I have no idea. It was in 2017 and not in 2018. Only time will tell and it isn't over yet. Still plenty of time for moves.

Oh yeah, Hot Links.

Hey speaking of the outfield situation, CTH also did a thing about that!

FanGraphs dropped their 2019 Steamer projections for the Houston Astros baseball club.

Is Dallas Keuchel the starting pitcher signing to make?

Or is it a man by the name of Marcus Stroman?

I would have never thought we would see the day, but MULTIPLE bloggers like Tony Sipp and want them on their teams?

HOF BALLOT UPDATE: There are 8 players who have put on a Houston Astros uniform on the ballot this year. 0 of them are in with 29% reporting but Clemens is currently sitting at a 73.7%.

If you are looking for some deep reading and like The Future, @AstrosFuture has composed many Astros MiLB reviews available for your viewing pleasure. I'll start you off on the starting pitchers but the rest can be found in the article.

Here it is. The annual "somebody won the lottery but some idiot is going to forget to cash it in" article.

THIS MAN HAS STREAKED AT 568 EVENTS IN HIS LIFE AND STILL IS ALLOWED TO WATCH SPORTS IN STADIUMS.

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*We got Inefficient Fiers yesterday and a rare Devo-saster which, combined with a fantastic start from Future Astro Marcus Stroman, resulted in a 7-2 Astros loss. The Astros are 59-29 and have a 15.5-game lead in the AL West.

*Creepy Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, on Future Astro Marcus Stroman:
Stroman was dynamite today, against a good hitting club, too. His finger was great, but he just stayed on the attack.

Stay tuned for whatever the hell "his finger" means.

*The Astros managed to GIDP four times in the first five innings. Those four GIDPs in a single game is the highest for the Astros since August 7, 2014, a 6-5 loss to the Phillies (the 2014 Astros GIDP'd four times in a game three times). So are four GIDPs going to happen often? No. Was it frustrating? Yes. Am I glad I was at my daughter's birthday party instead of watching this game? Also, yes. But weird things happen. Let's go get Marcus Stroman before someone else does.

*But Mike Fiers didn't have a great start. Thirty of his first 60 pitches were balls. Or balls, if you're a negative person. That's okay, because Mike Fiers has been fantastic over the last six weeks, so he can turn back into Mike Fiers once in a while. His final line: 6IP, 5H/3ER, 6K:4BB. The last time he allowed nine baserunners in a start was on May 25, a 7-6 win against the Twins (10 hits, 1 walk). The walks are a little troubling. He's walked four batters in consecutive starts after having walked four batters just once this season previously.

After five rough innings, Fiers went back out for the 6th and did a pretty good job, for that inning. Fiers:
I thought I was coming out. I had to talk A.J. into letting me stay out there. I just wanted to save the bullpen a little bit more, save it another inning and help out. 

*Noted Ramger-killer Josh Donaldson got a pitch up and in from Fiers, which apparently pissed him off, right before he hit a three-run home run:
I don't think the guy was trying to do it intentionally. But at the same token, it's up around the head area, and nobody appreciates that. At the end of the day, I was happy to help our team win. 

*Chris Devenski had a bad day, allowing four earned runs on three hits and a walk in one inning of work. Way to go All-Star (/sarcasm). Those 4ER broke a nine-appearance run-less streak. You'd have to cumulatively go back to May 24 (19 appearances, 24.2IP) to get his last four earned runs. Ridiculously, his ERA is still at 2.73.

*Carlos Correa's 0x3, BB day broke his 15-game hitting streak but kept his on-base streak alive at 24 games.

*Marwin got his 16th home run of the season ranks 40th among MLBers, and tying him with Mike Trout, which means Marwin = Trout. However, his 218 ABs (note: not PAs, because I'm trying to get a jump on these by doing as much as I can on Saturday night while my wife is in the shower) are the fewest among those players with 16HR.

*Via the very valuable Christian Boutwell, the last time the Astros played a game without hitting a double was May 20. That's 45 games, homey. Offense is fine.

*SportsNet's extremely good reporter Shi Davidi talked to Jeff Luhnow about the Astros' plans for the trade deadline. Luhnow:
We want to win now, for sure, and we're going to do whatever it takes to win now. But at the same time, we've been building up currency, all these players in the pipeline so that we could be good for a long time. The Braves showed that they can do it for a decade plus. I don't know if we're going to be able to do that, but I certainly want it to be more than a three- or four-year run.

Imagine two to three more years of winning like this. (Mixed in with some dumb losses to the Blue Jays). If you don't click on any other article, read this one. It talks about the Astros planning moves to combat teams like Cleveland and Boston in October. And take notes. And change your pants when you're done.

*Jake Kaplan wrote about how Lance McCullers developed his curve.

*A.J. Hinch says everyone in the clubhouse wants more (and references the 2015 ALDS Game 4, a game of which we shall not speak):
I don't worry about contentment for our team. When you go to a man in our clubhouse, they want to be elite. They want to be really good. We want to lead the league in wins. Our aspirations are as high as they could possibly be. But everybody's are who feel like they have a chance. 

*The Astros are 10-6 in 1-run games; the Rangers are 6-14.

*The Astros "came the closest" to a trade this past off-season for the Tigers' lefty reliever Justin Wilson, but balked at the Tigers' offer of Wilson for Derek Fisher. This season Wilson has thrown 32.2IP, 18H/9ER, 48K:12BB. The Detroit Free-Press' Anthony Fenech writes that the Astros (as well as the Cubs and Nationals) have had "high-level scouts" at Tigers games recently. And the Dodgers, who are probably going to land J.D. Martinez, are interested in Wilson, as well. Fenech also writes that, while the Astros will likely check on the availability of Justin Verlander, a deal for him would be out of character for Luhnow.

*Tyler White and Forrest Whitley were named organizational players of the month for June, presumably, unless they're just projecting (which, yanno, Ground Control, yanevaknow). Tyler White hit .381/.455/.783 in June with 9HR/28RBI, 21K:13BB. Whitley threw 20.2IP, 18H/4ER, 31K:12BB in June for a 1.74 ERA/1.45 WHIP. Check out the unfortunately named "Houston, We Have Prospects" podcast with Corpus' Sam Levitt, whose latest guest is Forrest Whitley.

*Corpus outfielder Ramon Laureano - going into last night's game - was hitting .214/.294/.321. But he's heating up. In seven July games he's hitting .407/.448/.852 with seven extra-base hits. Laureano had eight extra base hits in 47 games in May-June.

*All six of the Astros' All-Stars came up through the farm system, and Hooks manager Rodney Linares is stoked:
It tells you that we did a lot of hard work, and I think Jeff Luhnow and his crew what they did up there drafting those guys and kind of allowing us to put our hands on those guys. Also, all the credit goes to the players because they are the ones that play.

*Today is the Futures Game - 3pm Central on MLB Network or MLB.com. You can watch Derek Fisher and Kyle Tucker on Team USA and Yordan Alvarez on Team World. 64% of the rosters from last year's Futures Game have been in the majors this year. Joe Musgrove and Alex Bregman were on the team last year.

*The Dodgers beat the Royals on a walk-off home run, and now have the best record in baseball by a half-game.

*Former Astros 2015 Wild Card Great Carlos Gomez says playing baseball in the United States is both a challenge and a dream.

*Do you want Tampa Bay starter Alex Cobb this month? It's probably not going to happen.

*Arian Foster and Glover Quin invested in a 12-year old's lemonade stand.