Tuesday Lunch Links

The playoffs start today. But not for Houston [evil laugh]. The Astros are getting massages and hopefully Michael Brantley is fully immersed in a cryogenic chamber and whatnot. 

*Somehow the biggest story of the day - yesterday - was Six Flags' General Manager Chris Young decrying the mean twetes of one Brian McTaggart and his "reporting" on how the Rangers celebrated clinching their first playoff berth since 2016. Here's McTaggart's original tweet, and here's a transcription in the event that it gets deleted (though, if it hasn't been deleted yet, I doubt it will be):

The Rangers partied last night while the Astros had a champagne toast and quickly turned their attention to Sunday and one more win. Houston's "been-there-done-that" mentality paid off, it seems.

Who knew that it would soil the bedsheets of so many. Let's take a look at some of the Rangers' official account tweets from September 30, when they clinched a playoff spot. It took 45 seconds to find those. If you look super-closely you'll see that the Rangers are not partying. They are doing simple accounting. They are most definitely balancing their checkbooks. 100% they are all about their business.

Then the Rangers went and got shutout on Sunday while the Astros beat Arizona 8-1 to win the division, thanks to going 9-4 against Six Flags in the 2023 regular season. This was the source of much consternation to GM Chris Young, who on 105.3 The Fan was asked about it and responded:

I find it ridiculous that that's even a subject honestly. This is the most professional responsible group of players that I've ever been around. We had a very subdued, champagne popping, but beyond that, there was no partying there was nothing outlandish [the punctuation in here is an absolute MESS] These guys had earned the right to pop those champagne bottles and that was the extent of our celebration. It had no impact whatsoever on Sunday's game. And really it's pretty poor journalism to even suggest that honestly, I'm very disappointed in the lack of professionalism of the Houston journalists for putting that out there. It's classless and it's not appropriate and it's completely fabricated. It's wrong. 

Sideline reporter Emily Jones apparently deleted her account because of the Astros fans that had been "sicced" on her. That sucks. But here's the thing: Chris Young absolutely had the ability to not even make this A Thing...less than 24 hours before the Rangers' first playoff game in seven years. I say things that get me in trouble all the time, and even I have the damn sense to know that it would have been far more beneficial to be all, "You know what, I'm not even paying attention to that. We have a series in front of us that's important, and that's where our focus is." 

Doing that makes this whole "story" a non-issue. If you clicked any of those tweets, it's reasonable to assume, "Oh those dudes turned up." And you know what else? That would have been perfectly acceptable! Turn up! You made the playoffs! You went from 68-94 in 2022 to coming within a game of winning the division! That's incredible! Good job, buddies! Sure, the division slipped out of reach at the last possible minute, but that's baseball. It happens. Chris Young 100% did not have to make this a story on the eve of the AL Wild Card round. But he did. 

Of course this entire episode devolved into a relitigating of the Astros' Trash Can Scandal. Which we all love. Ultimately, no one entity is at fault here. I don't think McTaggart's tweet was out of line. He was covering the Astros, not the Rangers, but looking at the Rangers' TL you saw bottles getting popped like Russians in a Brooklyn night club (right before John Wick kills them all) right before they get shutout to fumble away the division. 

I understand that Chris Young wants to dispel the narrative that the Rangers were too hungover to score two runs against an already-eliminated team. He's not stupid, mans went to Princeton. Did he know that he was going to stoke this "rivalry" even more? Maybe. Did it get taken out of proportion? Probably. But your team spent 160 days in 1st Place, lost the division on the last day, and you make this kind of statement on a day when there's literally nothing else happening in baseball? To think that it wouldn't have any kind of ripple effect is short-sighted at best. Let me be someone's PR person. I'll keep you out of trouble.

Links

*Why repeating as World Series Champions is so tough, according to the players that have done it, and who have tried.

*What we learned from the Astros' do-or-die road trip and how it might carry over into the playoffs.

*Yordan Alvarez was MLB's AL Player of the Month for September, matching the one he won for June.

*As the Wild Card rounds kick off today, here are the FanGraphs' simulations:

Tampa 56.7 - 43.3 Six Flags

Toronto 55.6 - 44.4 Minnesota

Milwaukee 50.7 - 49.3 Arizona

Philadelphia 59.6 - 40.4 Miami

Minnesota hasn't won a playoff game since 2004 ALDS G1. That's an L18 streak ever since. 

*Every postseason team's Achilles Heel.

*ESPN: Ranking the 40 players to make the biggest mark in October. Yordan Alvarez is the highest-ranking Astro, at #8. Altuve is #9, Verlander #13, Framber #16, Tucker #20. 

*Who Astros fans should be rooting for in the Toronto/Minnesota series.

*The mother of the Rangers' Nathaniel Lowe and the Rays' Josh Lowe is battling brain cancer. Best wishes, thoughts, prayers, vibes to her and to her family.

*Kim Ng is the first female GM in any of the four major sports to lead a team to the postseason. How she did it.

*Baseball's biggest spenders couldn't buy a ticket to October.

*Former Astros Great Phil Nevin won't return to manage the Angels in 2024, much to his (probable) delight.

*It's about to get chilly, y'all.

*Speed: A 1990s Blockbuster that holds up.

*A Visual Selection:

*Another Visual Selection:

*A Musical Selection:

Sunday Morning Hot Links

Stephen Piscotty hit a home run in the 2nd Inning, and then the A's didn't do much of anything against Justin Verlander. Astros win 5-1. They are 39-20.

“F*** this team.”
-Someone on here, when the Astros lose to Oakland to drop their record to 39-20

— Thickie Don (@AstrosCounty) February 13, 2019

Close enough. Houston has won 18 of their last 23 games.

*We'll start with Verlander, who threw a season-high 114 pitches. It's the most pitches he has thrown since June 19, 2018, when he threw 122 pitches against the Rays. Verlander threw 8IP, 4H/1ER, 8K:2BB, his 3rd start of the season with 8IP and his 7th in an Astros uniform.

Verlander has made 381 career starts and has gotten 24 outs in 80 of them. With the Astros up 3-1 and Matt Olson at the plate with two men on, Hinch visited Verlander. Verlander:
He asked me if I have enough in the tank and I said, 'I've got plenty. I'm good to go." He said, 'All right, it's your game. You've got this guy. This is your last hitter. Go get him.

*Strikeouts! Verlander's eight strikeouts give him 2,809 and moved him past Denton True (Cy) Young for 21st on the all-time list. Next up:

20. Mike Mussina (2813)
19. Mickey Lolich (2832)
18. Jim Bunning (2855)

Verlander:
It's pretty humbling. Sometimes when you're playing this game, it's got the unique ability to really kind of put things in perspective for you and as much as you try to just keep your head down and just keep pitching and not pay attention to whatever's going on, any time Cy Young pops up on your radar and you're associated with him, it's pretty special.

*Justin Verlander and the finisher mentality.

In 13 starts this year, the @astros' Justin Verlander is holding opponents to a .150 batting average.

That's the 2nd-lowest opponent BA by any pitcher over his first 13 starts of a season in the live-ball era (minimum 50 IP), behind only Sam McDowell in 1966 (.150).#TakeItBack

— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) June 2, 2019

*Myles Straw laid out for a catch with a probability of 5%.

*The Astros got three extra-base hits: home runs from Reddick and Chirinos, and a double from Marisnick. It's the 2nd time this season the Astros got three or fewer extra-base hits and still won. The first time was April 16 against...Oakland.

*Michael Brantley was 2x3 with a walk. He has a five-game hitting streak in which he's 8x16 with 0K:4BB. Among 167 qualified batters, Brantley's 8.7% K-rate is the 5th-lowest in baseball, only worse than three Angels (?!) and Yadier Molina. It's his 4th streak of at least five games without a strikeout this season.

*Josh Reddick homered again! It's his 6th home run of the year and the third this season at Oakland. Five of his six home runs in 2019 have come on the road. His home run put the Astros up 2-1, his first go-ahead homer of the year.

*Robinson Chirinos hit his first home run since May 13. It's his 7th multi-hit game of the season.

*Yuli Gurriel stole the 10th base of his career, 1st of the season. His last SB came on August 18, 2018...at Oakland.

*None of the Meat Wagon guys (Altuve, Springer, Correa, Diaz) are with the team on the road trip. Hinch:
We've got to push the gas pedal eventually.

*Wade Miley to Alex Bregman:
Be ready over there, pal. Wear a cup.

*Garrett Stubbs will catch Gerrit Cole for the 1st time today.

*Round Rock walked it off against Iowa with a 2-1 win in 10 innings.

*Fayetteville beat Wilmington 2-1. Brett Conine: 6IP, 6H/0ER, 12K:1BB.

Conine (11th Round - 2018) this season: 52.1IP, 35H/10ER, 72K:8BB. He has 32K in 19.1IP with Fayetteville this season.

*Joey Gallo is likely headed to the IL.

*The Seattle Mariners, who crowned themselves Early April Champions when they were 13-2, are in "deep sell mode." Since the Mariners went 13-2 to open the season, they've gone 12-34. You hate to see it.

*27 years ago yesterday the Astros drafted Phil Nevin. Some schlub named Derek Jeter fell to the Yankees with the sixth pick. A long time ago I did a deep dive into the 1992 Draft.

*How an insane demand for truffles is leading to sabotage, fraud, and death.

*Wired: Meet the carousing, harmonica-playing Texan who won a Nobel Prize for his cancer breakthrough.

*A Musical Selection:

Saturday Morning Hot Links

For the first time since 1998 the Astros have 100 wins. It's surreal just typing that out. Houston beat Boston on the back of Charlie Morton's pitching and Alex Bregman's three-run home run over the Green Monster. The Indians won, again, so the Astros need to go 2-0 with the Indians dropping their final two games of the regular season in order for the Astros to play the Wild Card winner.

*Check out where you can donate today to help Puerto Rico. Carlos Beltran has raised over $1.3m for Puerto Rico.

*Hinch, on 100 wins:
It's a big number and it takes six months to get there. I'm proud of our guys, obviously. We've got a couple games left. We'd like 102, plus 11 in October. 

*The Astros have a 21-game lead on Anaheim, tied with the Nationals for the biggest division lead in baseball. Houston will be the only AL West team with a winning record in 2017. The five AL playoff teams are the only teams in the league with a winning record.

*Houston has held Boston to two or fewer runs in four of the five games they've played this season.

*Charlie Morton threw 5.1IP, 4H/2ER, 4K:0BB but was pulled in the 6th after just 64 pitches. His 14 wins are 9th in the AL. In five September starts, Morton has thrown 28.1IP, 25H/8ER, 33K:6BB, 2.54 ERA/1.09 WHIP. That's five straight starts of two or fewer earned runs for Morton.

*Last night's start - Morton's 25th of the season - triggered the 3rd of his $625,000 bonuses for games started. He got $625,000 for each of his 15th and 20th starts of the season, as well, in addition to his $7m base salary for 2017, ringing up his bill to $8,875,000, every penny of which he has been worth.

*Charlie Morton might retire after the 2018 season.

*Carlos Correa was 0x3 with 3K:1BB after having struck out three times in his previous 19 ABs. It was his 5th 3K game of the season.

*Josh Reddick has been sent back to Houston for the next six days for tests on his sore back. Hinch:
He's not going to play the rest of the weekend, which will then lead us to the workouts in between Sunday and Thursday. We'll do some simulated stuff. We think he's going to be fine. We wanted to get our doctors' eyes and hands on him as soon as possible.

My wife volunteered to be the eyes and hands, much to my chagrin.

*Collin McHugh will start Sunday's regular season finale, meaning Keuchel and Verlander's next starts against Boston will come in Games 1 & 2 of the ALDS.

*Evan Drellich writes that base running will be a major factor in what is likely an Astros-Red Sox ALDS.

*The Astros will have playoff game watch parties at Minute Maid Park.

*This Boston Globe writer would rather face the Indians than the Astros.

*Boston's worst-case scenario is playing out right in front of their eyes. If the Astros and Yankees win their next two games, the Red Sox and Yankees would meet in a one-game playoff on Monday - which would likely force the Red Sox to burn Chris Sale. Let's let that happen.

*On August 11 (arbitrary, yes) the Astros were nine games up on the Indians. The Astros have gone 29-16 since - a .644 win%, 3rd-best in baseball in that span. Cleveland has gone 40-7 - a ridiculous .851 win% - and have outscored their opponents 272-119. On August 11, FanGraphs projected the Indians to win 90 games, and the Astros to win 98. The Astros did not choke away the AL's overall best record.

*Beyond the Box Score: Justin Verlander has returned to form.

*2017 is the 6th season in which three teams (Astros, Dodgers, Indians) have won 100 games in a season.

*The Tri-City ValleyCats won an award.

*Jon Heyman is still mad about the Astros restructuring their organization. He gives the Astros a 6:1 chance to win the World Series.

*Former Astros Great Phil Nevin is a finalist for the Tigers job.

*Philly.com's Matt Gelb writes that bench coach Alex Cora is a possible candidate for the now-vacant Phillies' managerial job.

*Wired: Inside an epic hotel room hacking spree.

*Happy birthday, Jose Lima! Head to your local Casa Ole today, eat a taco vertically, and pour one out.

History Lesson: The Astros, Phil Nevin, and the 1992 Draft

Today we get to unveil the latest in our History Lesson series, an effort in which we try to write too many words about every interesting episode in Astros history. Do to the length of the piece we have put it on a separate page. So here is the link to 2800 words about the Astros, Phil Nevin, Derek Jeter, and the 1992 draft.

Dave Clark to be new Brewers minor-league manager

Former First Base Coach Dave Clark has accepted a job with the Brewers as the manager of Double-A Huntsville. Clark was the interim manager of the Astros after Cecil Cooper was fired, and interviewed for the vacant position that Brad Mills got in time for the 2010 season. He was a candidate for the Pittsburgh managerial role that eventually went to Clint Hurdle in 2011. Clark had been with the Astros organization since 2005 and led Corpus Christi to its first ever Texas League championship in 2006.

And in other, former Astros managing minor-league teams, news: Phil Nevin will be the manager of the Triple-A Reno Aces. 

Ringolsby: Houston has always been cheap, and stupid

Nothing like kicking you when you're down. Tracy Ringolsby takes some time in Baseball America to discuss the draft, and specifically the 1992 draft, which AC has discussed. What happened in 1992? That was the non-Jeter draft, but we get some insight as to how that went down.

When Derek Jeter became the all-time Yankees hits leader in September, it underscored the failures of other teams.

Jeter was no secret. He was not a matter of the Yankees outbidding anybody else. He slipped to the Yankees because four other teams did not understand the value of the investment they could have made in drafting Jeter.

If the late Hal Newhouser, a Hall of Fame pitcher turned scout, had gotten his way, the Yankees would have never had the chance to draft Jeter. Newhouser was an area scout for the Astros in Michigan in 1992, when Jeter was drafted out of high school.

The Astros had the No. 1 pick in the draft. Owner John McMullen set a $700,000 limit on the signing bonus. While the word among scouts was that Jeter, who had a scholarship to Michigan, would take $1 million to sign, Newhouse lobbied for the Astros to draft him and claimed he could sign Jeter for $750,000.

That was $50,000 over the Astros' self-imposed limit, so they instead drafted Phil Nevin, prompting Newhouser to quit.

Nevin became a solid big league player—though after the Astros essentially gave up on him. No knock on that. But Jeter has evolved into an eventual Hall of Famer, a team leader in addition to an excellent shortstop with offensive ability.

And he would have been an Astro if the organization had been willing to invest in adding the best young players available. New­houser knew that. Nobody in Houston, however, would listen.

Weep, friends.