Tuesday Morning Hot Links

The Astros beat the Mariners 8-5 thanks to Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve. Houston is 3-1.

Josh James threw 3IP, 3H/3ER, 5K:5BB, HBP, WP. 39 of his 75 pitches were thrown for strikes. Brandon Bielak came in and threw 3.1IP, 4H/2R (1ER), 4K:0BB in his MLB debut in relief, getting his first MLB win. Dusty, on Bielak:
It was a great debut for him. He saved our tail. He came in today and threw a lot of strikes, competed, attacked, executed.

*Alex Bregman hit his 100th career home run in his 521st career game, one pitch after Jose Altuve hit his 300th career double. He's the 18th Astro to hit 100 home runs.

Altuve's 300th double came in his 1247th game. Craig Biggio - who is 5th all-time in MLB in doubles - hit his 300th double in his 1432nd game.

*For just the 3rd time in his career, George Springer was 0x5 with 3K:0BB. He's 1x16 to start the season.

*Michael Brantley was 2x3 with a double and is hitting .467/.529/.800 so far.

*Dustin Garneau hit his first career triple. Astros catchers hit .429/.467/.521 in four games against the Mariners.

*McTaggart has some takeaways after the first series of the season, including the state of the pitching staff in which we find that Ryan Pressly and Chris Devenski are both dealing with elbow soreness. That's, uh, that's not ideal. The only healthy relievers with more than a year of service time are Roberto Osuna and Joe Biagini. Dusty thinks the quick ramp-up to the season is to blame. Austin Pruitt has been shut down.

*Taylor Jones, who made his MLB debut on Sunday, was optioned to Satellite Camp on Monday. With Verlander on the IL, the Astros brought up Brandon Bielak and Nivaldo Rodriguez. The 40 Man Roster is now full. More arms to work with, though eight of them are rookies. Framber will start today's game against the Dodgers and Wednesday's start - which was to be Verlander's - just might be a bullpen game.

*Now that there's been a day of separation between the Verlander News and some time to let it sink in...Dusty, on Verlander:
He's in a good frame of mind...I've always called him a medical marvel. This guy works and he believes that he's close to Superman and he really is and I'm just hoping he's Superman this time, too, but without hurting himself.

SI's Emma Baccellieri: Where do the Astros go without Justin Verlander? FanGraphs: Verlander's impact on the already-thin rotation.

*George Springer had his first Zoom press conference on Monday, and was asked about his upcoming free agency. He didn't really say anything, which is pretty much exactly what you would expect him to say, given that he's trying to secure what is likely his only/last big contract. Also, Springer has made over $31m plus whatever the pro-rated pay is for 2020, so it's not like he's trying to set himself up...this is more like setting your 3rd and 4th generations up. Still, George Springer should get paid all the money. I just don't know that the Astros will do it.

So let's look at the years that Astros will hit free agency:

After 2020: George Springer, Michael Brantley, Josh Reddick, Brad Peacock
After 2021: Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke, Carlos Correa, Lance McCullers, Roberto Osuna, Joe Smith, Martin Maldonado, Chris Devenski

*David Barron: The Dodgers are way more worried about COVID than 2017 as they come to Houston.

*Astros.com: Inside the UH facility hosting the Astros' taxi squad.

*FanGraphs' David Laurilia had a conversation with Astros prospect Tyler Ivey.

*Todd Kalas will return to the booth tonight after testing positive for COVID.

*11 Miami Marlins and two coaches tested positive for COVID. Their game against the Phillies last night was postponed. The Phillies' entire visiting clubhouse staff are under quarantine. Infectious disease specialists can't believe the Marlins and Phillies played on Sunday. The Marlins won't play today, either, as they wait on a new batch of tests to either go to Baltimore or cancel that game, as well. "This is way more than a wake-up call" - where MLB goes from here. MLB's worst nightmare is here (and, surprise! they could have planned for it).

Like other MLB owners, I was firm and sincere in my belief that Not Really Trying At All was the best option when it came to managing the challenges of playing baseball during an out-of-control pandemic. I still think it's our best and most principled course of action.

— David Roth (@david_j_roth) July 27, 2020

*Former Astros Great Mike Foltynewicz will be designated for assignment by the Braves.

*Last Chance U: Laney is now on Netflix.

*Defector, you say?

*A Musical Selection:

Thursday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros had until Wednesday evening to add Rule 5 Draft-eligible players to the 40-Man Roster, or risk losing them at the end of the Winter Meetings next month. The Astros added four players:

Cristian Javier. Javier is a badass. I love Cristian Javier. Across three levels in 2019 (Fayetteville-Corpus-Round Rock) Javier threw 113.2IP, 51H/22ER, 170K:59BB, 1.74 ERA / 0.97 WHIP. 2020 is his Age 23 season. Do not let Cristian Javier go.

Enoli Paredes split time between Fayetteville and Corpus almost equally. In 94IP in 2019 he allowed 50H/29ER, 128K:42BB, a 2.87 ERA / 0.98 WHIP. He recently turned 24.

Nivaldo Rodriguez will be 23 in April 2020. He threw 105IP in 2019 - 74.0 of them at High-A Fayetteville. Over the year he allowed 69H/28ER, 114K:35BB for a 2.40 ERA / 0.99 WHIP.

Taylor Jones was the Astros' 19th Round pick in the 2016 draft. He's 6'7" 225lbs. He has seven inches on me, and I have about five pounds on him. Jones hit .291/.388/.501 in 125 games for Round Rock, with 28 doubles and 22 home runs.

The Astros 40-Man Roster stands at 38 Men.

Some notable players that could actually get selected by another team: Ronnie Dawson, Nick Tanielu, Drew Ferguson, Brandon Bailey, Jonathan Arauz, and Carlos Sanabria.

If Jonathan Arauz gets selected by another team it would close the book on the Mark Appel-Ken Giles trade with the Phillies. The Astros got Giles and Arauz from Philadelphia in July 2018. The Astros are betting that 29 other teams aren't tanking so hard that they'll take a 21-year old infielder who recorded a .707 OPS when he's between 2-4 years younger than his competition.

*The Mets, Rangers, Reds, and Astros are the early teams to show interest in Free Agent Robinson Chirinos. The Astros are about to pay reigning Cy Young winner Justin Verlander $66m in the next two seasons. Chirinos caught every one of his innings in 2019, the year Justin Verlander won the Cy Young. This isn't difficult.

*Here's a really cool story in the Chronicle about Jackson Ryan, grandson of Nolan and son of Reed, and his battle with cerebral palsy.

*The Owners Meetings are in Arlington, and the hotel has hired local law enforcement as security. You can read about Chandler Rome's 14-second interaction with Jim Crane. Asked to comment by a group of reporters, Crane responded:
If you want to talk about baseball, I'll talk about baseball. What else do you want to talk about?

Then the cops came. Any reporter who enters the hotel is approached by off-duty cops, and if they stay they're apparently required to buy a room for the night.

Let's keep in mind that it would be the height of foolishness to answer any questions while MLB's investigation is taking place. Rob Manfred, on the owners' concerns:
It's hard to characterize 30 (owners), one obviously in a very different category. The other 29 share my concern. People want the game played consistent with our rules and feel it's important that we figure out exactly what happened here and take steps to make sure it doesn't happen in the future by imposing appropriate discipline.

Yeah, Manfred is just going to let the Astros take the fall for this one, and let Houston's punishment serve as a warning to the other teams a la the Barves and the International Free Agent spending. Also, the owners want to make sure that if anyone's getting screwed, it's them doing the screwing, be they free agents, or minor-leaguers, or teenagers from the Dominican. Crane, and the Astros, are about to get screwed.

FanGraphs' Craig Edwards: What the Astros might deserve. This is a really good look at how Manfred has treated the Red Sox, Braves, and Cardinals in a variety of scandals in the last few years.

*A fan who took a picture with LMJ, then lost 100 pounds, asked for a re-do.

*SI: Why Gerrit Cole is worth $200m, which is probably at least $50-80m too low.

*Beyond the Box Score: On Mindy McCready, and why PEDs are not the reason Roger Clemens belongs outside the Hall of Fame.

*The Athletic: "Play better and get the hell out of here" - a weekend with the Sugar Land Skeeters.

*The Rabbit Ball: The Story of the Original Juiced Ball Controversy.

*Before the 2014 season Jacoby Ellsbury signed a 7yr/$153m deal with the Yankees that, with a team option, could stretch through the 2021 season. He played in 520 regular season games in six seasons. His last game was October 17, 2017, and the Yankees released him on Wednesday. They have paid him $42,285,714 since his last game, and will pay him $26,142,857 to not have to worry about him any more.

*The Ringer: 12 Hours of Watching Disney+.

*Uproxx: 'National Treasure' is 15 years old and remains the only good movie. I don't watch a lot of movies, but when Brian Grubb writes, I read.

*A Musical Selection:

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

Get used to the slow trickle of information coming out about...well...pick an issue related to the Astros. Chandler Rome has one such article in which MLB instructed MLB employees stationed near the video monitors to listen for loud banging:
Early in the 2019 season, Major League Baseball instructed video monitors working in Minute Maid Park to listen for banging sounds emanating from the Astros' dugout, a person with knowledge of the directive said Monday.

Part of the rule clarification regarding cameras in the outfield and whatnot included that MLB had a group of people at each stadium making sure those rules were followed. That apparently was not the case in other MLB stadiums, indicating that MLB already knew what the Astros had been up to, at least in 2017. One video monitor (and I'm just assuming the "video monitor" is a person, and not a television that Chandler Rome interviewed):
What they told us was we were essentially looking for people who were using technology to steal signs.

The only live feed that is available to teams is in the Replay Room. If a player - from either team - goes in the Replay Room to look at the live feed, then apparently that is noted by MLB officials. Rob Manfred is scheduled to speak at the Owners' Meetings on Thursday in Arlington. Owners' Meetings indicates they will pass around yacht brochures and get together to figure out how to depress the market or screw over 15-year old baseball wunderkinds from the Dominican Republic.

I'm sure nothing will come of this but SI's Legal Analyst Michael McCann says that it's possible for fans to sue the Astros over the sign-stealing thing.

Right quick, let's just clear the air here: There is absolutely more to this story but no one from the Astros is talking about it because they're, you know, under investigation. Some exec from another team is, you know, not under investigation so they're more than happy to talk to whoever wants to know how many grievances they'd like to air. How this is going to work is that the Astros are trying to avoid serious punishment from MLB, so they're going to mind their Ps & Qs, and keep their mouths shut while The Narrative gets built without their voice. Then some decision is going to come down after MLB is done talking to everyone, and perhaps the decision doesn't go the way the other 29 teams wanted it to go down. We don't know. This is how these things play out. So the role on this here blog is to mention what comes out that day, add context where it feels appropriate, and just...let it play out. It's not a popular or clickbait-y thing to just say, "I just want to see where this goes," but I just want to hear the Astros' side of this before swearing off the team or throwing up asterisks. I think the Astros have messed up in the past but all of us (who are reading this) should be willing to hear the side of the Not Interested In Destroying The Astros.

*When Yuli Gurriel signed with the Astros in July 2016 it was extremely inconvenient for me as my wife and I were on our anniversary trip. That said, his five-year, front-loaded deal (2016-2020) included an option to renegotiate his final year, or go to arbitration. On Monday Gurriel renegotiated his 2020 salary at $8.3m - up $300K from his original deal with $250K more available in incentives. Unsure what it means for Gerrit Cole Money.

*Jonathan Mayo has an updated Prospect List for the Rule 5 Draft in December, seeing as how teams have until 7pm on Wednesday to update their 40-Man roster. Mayo says it's obvious that Cristian Javier and Enoli Paredes are no-brainers to get protected, while Ronnie Dawson, Nivaldo Rodriguez, and Taylor Jones could get looks from other clubs. The Astros' current 40-Man Roster has 34 Men, and Garrett Stubbs is the only catcher. I could see the Astros adding two or three to the 40-Man to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft.

*The Brewers unveiled a new logo, which is very similar to their sweet old logo, which is a good time to read this piece in The Athletic on the inspired and melancholy life of logo's creator.

*The Class of 2020 Hall of Fame ballot was released yesterday. Writers have until December 31 to submit their list of (up to) ten nominees. They need 75% of the vote in order to gain induction. Here is the list of  Former Astros Greats on the ballot this year (with 2019 Vote% in parentheses):

Roger Clemens (59.5%), Billy Wagner (16.7%), Andy Pettitte (9.9%), Jeff Kent (18.1%), Curt Schilling (60.9%), Carlos Pena (1st time), Bobby Abreu (1st time), Jose Valverde (1st time).

It's a damn shame that Roy Oswalt got dropped last year after getting only 5 (0.9%) votes from the BBWAA.

The NY Times' Tyler Kepner pays tribute to each first-time nominee on the ballot.

Jay Jaffe: The big questions on the 2020 HOF Ballot.

*Terrible news out of New Zealand as 23-year old Minnesota minor-leaguer Ryan Costello was found dead. Natural causes are suspected at this time. Thoughts and prayers with Costello's family and the Twins organization.

*Wired: How does a country just shut off the internet?

*Looking for non-fiction reading material that doesn't involve trash cans? Check Slate's 50 Best Non-Fiction Books of the last 25 years. Cross-Reference it with LitHub's 20 best works of non-fiction this decade.

*A Musical Selection:

Pre-Stros Report: April 4

Here's the rundown of the minor-league games for Minor-League Opening Night. 

TL;DR: Affiliates went 3-0, outscoring their opponents 29-4.

-Round Rock was postponed

-Corpus' Jose Urquidy dealt

-Fayetteville's Jake Adams went off for 7RBI

-Quad Cities' Nivaldo Rodriguez dealt

Round Rock (0-0)

The season opener for Round Rock at New Orleans was postponed due to rain. Anti-climactic, huh?

Man of the Match: Bourbon Street

Corpus (1-0)

Corpus opened the season with a 5-2 home win over the Amarillo [squints] Sod...Poodles. Jose Hernandez-Urquidy threw 5IP, 0H/0ER, 7K:1BB. All of Amarillo's damage came against Hooks pitcher Gabriel Valdez, who allowed 2H/2ER, 1K:3BB, 1HR in 3IP. Colin McKee got the save with 1IP, 0H/0ER, 2K:2BB.

Steven Wrenn was 1x3 with a walk, stolen base, and a run scored. Osvaldo Duarte provided a 2-run homer in the 5th. Sluggers JJ Matijevic and Abraham Toro combined for a 1x8, 5K:0BB night.

Man of the Match: Jose Urquidy

Fayetteville (1-0)

Uh. Fayetteville, the Astros' High-A affiliate in the Carolina League playing their first game as the Fayetteville Woodpeckers, put up four in the 3rd and eight in the 4th, riding it out to a 15-0 win, allowing Potomac to get just one hit (with eight walks, but whatever). Cristian Javier threw 2IP, 0H/0ER, 4K:4BB, Carlos Sanabria had a similar 2IP, 0H/0ER, 2K:2BB outing. Parker Mushinski allowed 1H/0ER, 4K:2BB in 4IP and Tommy DuJuneas threw a hitless/walkless 9th. 

Jake Adams led the way for the offense with a 4x6, 7RBI night, including a grand slam in the 4th. Bryan De La Cruz went 3x6. Jacob Meyers (BB, 2RBI), Corey Julks (BB, RBI), and Jonathan Arauz (BB) each had two hits. Mike Papierski was 2x3 with three walks. Alfredo Angarita went 1x4 with 3K:2BB.

Man of the Match: Jake Adams

Quad Cities (1-0)

The River Bandits hopped out to a 7-0 lead before Burlington got on the board, and finished it off with a rain-shortened season-opening 7-2 victory. Nivaldo Rodriguez threw 5IP, 1H/0ER, 8K:1BB. Shawn Dubin allowed 2H/2R (1ER), 3K:4BB in the final 2IP. 

Ross Adolph went 2x4 with a walk and 4RBI, including a 2-run home run. Enmanuel Valdez, Jonathan Lacroix (RBI)  and Scott Schreiber had two hits each.

Man of the Match: Nivaldo Rodriguez