Friday Morning Hot Links

*Minnesota comes to Houston tonight (they actually probably got to Houston, like, yesterday or something). Jose Berrios is the Twins' starting pitcher. On May 29 Berrios allowed 5H/4ER, 5K:4BB in a 7-2 loss to the Astros, after the Twins spotted him a 2-0 lead.

*Tonight's Astros/Twins game will be streamed live on Facebook.

*Brian McTaggart says the Astros likely won't do what they did last Trade Deadline (nothing) and would like to add a couple of pitchers. He even has a trade scenario for you:
Houston receives: Sonny Gray and Ryan Madson
Oakland receives: Francis Martes, Derek Fisher, Daz Cameron, J.D. Davis, and Rogelio Armenteros.

Would you make that trade?

*He also says in an Inbox that Derek Fisher is more likely to be traded than Kyle Tucker.

*Jake Kaplan says yesterday's Quintana trade will increase the Gray-to-Houston speculation and has a notable quote from Luhnow:
Billy Beane and I have the same philosophy, which is we want to make win-win trades. And if there's a trade that helps your club and helps the other club even if it's a division rival, it's not worth putting it aside just because it's a division rival.

*Jon Heyman reports that the White Sox were insistent on both Kyle Tucker and Francis Martes for Quintana (and the White Sox wanted Gleybar Torres or Clint Frazier from the Yankees). The White Sox are stupid. Later in his (surprisingly useful) Notes Column, he says if the starting pitching market is too pricy, the Astros could go after Zach Britton. One scout compared Yordan Alvarez to David Ortiz. /fans self.

*You want Brad Hand, that cool lefty reliever from the Padres? They're asking for one of your top prospects.

It is 17 days until the Trade Deadline.

*Jeff Sullivan: The Astros lineup has been historically good.

*ESPN asked 27 baseball experts (BREAKING NEWS: ESPN STILL APPARENTLY EMPLOYS 27 PEOPLE TO TALK ABOUT BASEBALL) for their rest-of-season predictions and here's what they got:
18 of 27 think the Astros win the pennant
10 think the Astros win the World Series, 10 think the Dodgers win the World Series
6 think an Astro is MVP
The Astros will finish somewhere between 96 and 113 wins (note: if the Astros go 36-37 in the 2nd half, it will be disappointing)

*Yahoo's Big League Stew staff made their revised World Series predictions. Two picked the Astros.

*Twitter Bregs is back, baby!

*Astros County favorite Colby Rasmus will step away from baseball, according to the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays do not expect him to return this season. Tony Rasmus says on Twitter that Colbs can't get his hip back to game shape.

*The Reds are modeling their rebuild after the Astros. Which is funny because Reds Executive Assistant to the CEO Walt Jocketty (who had been the GM of the Reds until the end of the 2016 season) left St. Louis after becoming "unhappy" that Jeff Luhnow was promoted to VP of amateur scouting and player development.

*Brett Phillips will open the second half with the Brewers.

*I know we're all supposed to hate every single thing about the West Terrell Rangers, past and present. And while that's fun to an extent, that's not really my thing. So you need to read Evan Grant's interview with Prince Fielder on life after baseball.

*Vice: When the lights went out at Shea Stadium.

*Vice: The $5 bump of cocaine that destroyed an Olympic dream

Tuesday Winter Meetings Update

Let's recap what has happened so far on the Astros wing of the Opryland Hotel...

*Those battered bastions of baseball morality, the Miami Marlins, are - or are not - prepared to deal Jose Fernandez. And the Astros are a #MysteryTeam linked to this possible - or impossible - deal, according to ESPN's Jayson Stark. Nah, says Evan Drellich's source.

*Jeffrey Loria said of Fernandez:
There is nothing I am thinking about doing at the moment with him.

I'll echo Drellich's sentiments here: the Astros are easy to float in a rumor because they have a lot of prospects to offer for a big package, and that can be used to increase other teams' offers.

*Aroldis Chapman is "untradeable" according to Jon Heyman, while teams let MLB investigate last night's bombshell news of the alleged domestic assault.

*The Rockies signed Chad Qualls to a 2yr/$6m deal.

*The Rangers are "surveying" rival teams' interest in Prince Fielder.

Carlos Lee has been a lesson for everyone

In his blog post today, Buster Olney talked to a number of GMs about Scott Boras telling people that Prince Fielder is a Mark Teixeira-like player, and deserves Teixeira money. But, says one AL GM:

"I think everybody learned from the Carlos Lee contract (six years, $100 million), where the body is a factor."

My Night at the MMPark

Last night, I had the oppurtunity to go watch the Bud Norris face off with the Brewers in real life. My impressions of our cocky young fireballer went as such:
1. Holy smoke, he throws hard. He has a short, compact delivery making his release point pretty far back compared to the taller pitchers. That being said, the ball gets to the plate deceptively quick and gives the pitches longer breaks. Hence, a great riding fastball.
2. The Brews were struggling to make adjustments and looked slow to react on the slider. Braun locked in on his in the first, and smashed it. Besides that, there were no good hacks on his #2 pitch.
3. He is effectively wild. Yes, he walked a few guys (Counsell twice? Unacceptable) right in front of the big hitters, but luckily went unharmed. He throws enough balls, that batters are not being aggressive.
4. He is basically a 2 pitch guy at this point. I only remember one good change all night.
5. INSIDE DIRT: During Spring Training, the vets wanted to strangle him for acting like a real life Ebby Calvin Nuke LaLoosh. Its funny to hear a guy got sent out because he was being a conceited d!ck. He's been better since being called up evidently.

So for his early sucess to continue, he needs (IMO) to keep working on his change, keep working quick, and listen to and copy every freaking thing RoyO says and does. He has the goods to be a #1 or #2 guy for a long time. I hope he doesn't take sucess for granted, because his book is being put together every time he takes the hill. He'd better understand Prince Fielder will have a better idea next time he sees him.

Jason

I was wondering the exact same thing

Remember back a few years ago - I want to say it was 2004 - when the Astros were lollygagging around, and then in a game against the Expos, they got into a fight, and it sparked something and the Astros won 35 of their last 45 games?

I think Jon Gadbois might be on to something, with the exact same thing for the Brewers. Prince Fielder wants to kill somebody, and if he wasn't a vegetarian, he would eat their throat. Will Prince's maniacal outburst provide that spark?

Fielder goes guano crazy, doesn't get suspended

Seems like with LaHawk basically saying umpire Mark Everitt wanted the Cubs to win and Prince Fielder going guano crazy and trying to get into the Dodgers clubhouse for getting - ridiculously - plunked in a 17-4 loss, it's getting harder and harder to get yourself suspended.

Fielder was just fined for berserking, and will play this weekend against the Astros.

Recap for G18, Brewers at Astros

That one got a little exciting. Michael Bourn hit a huge ol' jack. So did Carlos Lee. So, unfortunately, did Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder - twice, including a laser shot off a struggling Jose Valverde in the 9th to give the Brewers the go-ahead runs and lead 8-7 in the 9th. Pudge and Coop got ejected, and personally, I'm pleased that Coop showed a little fire. Nice work by Towles to come in and get a hit and a run about six hours after coming in from Round Rock. Hunter Pence put the ball in play and made Bill Hall do something stupid - which he obliged doing. Give the credit to Pence and Berkman to running hard. In the end, the bullpen couldn't close it out and the Astros couldn't get the big hit late.

Hampton: 6IP, 8H, 4ER, 4K:3BB
Sampson: 1IP, 1H, 2K:0BB
LaHawk: 1IP, 3H, 2ER, 1K:1BB
Valverde: 1IP, 2H, 2ER, 2K:0BB
Geary: 2IP, 3H, 1ER, 2K:2BB

Pitcher	Pit/Str	Strike%	BF/Outs	Efficiency%	GB/FB/K
Hampton	101/62	61.4%	x/18	x%	9/4/4
Sampson	20/11	55%	4/3	75%	0/1/2
LaHawk	19/10	52.6%	7/3	42.9%	0/2/1
Valverde	21/16	76.2%	5/3	60%	1/0/2
Geary	34/22	64.7%%	10/6	60%	3/1/2

The problem - once again - is the bullpen. Sampson was solid in striking out two, but LaHawk/Valverde/Geary combined for 8H, 5ER in 4IP. Hampton made it through 5.2IP, and in hindsight might have been better served to go ahead and walk Bill Hall to get to Jason Kendall. He didn't, and Hall tagged him for a three-run homer. LaHawk comes in, immediately gives up a single to Prince Fielder. Then the ejections, then a four-pitch walk to J.J. Hardy. Then a Bill Hall single, then a Jason Kendall sac fly. There you have it. Towles and Matsui give the Astros a 7-6 lead, and then Valverde comes in...Corey Hart takes a 1-1 Valverde fastball - and he was throwing all fastballs until Mike Cameron - almost deep, and Prince Fielder tattooed him.

Now whether Valverde came back too early - leaving pitches up like that makes one think that leg is not 100% - or Valverde just sucks right now is up for debate. Tonight's performance raised his ERA to 6.43. Valverde has had two perfect appearances in this young season, but it's still cause for concern. Because that means in close games, Valverde has put runners on in four of his six appearances, including three home runs. The home run vs the Reds gave the Reds the victory, and had it not been for Pence/Berkman tonight, would have blown another save.

Man of the Match:
Michael Bourn. 2x6 night with his first HR of the season, now hitting .291 and is 8 for his last 24.

Goat of the Game:
Jose Valverde. For reasons already explained.