Saturday Morning Hot Links

New Stuff

*GAME 8 LET'S GO. Astros vs Nationals in West Palm Beach. Dusty Baker said it's going to be younger players in the lineup at 5:05pm (MLB Network) and veterans will start to work in for a few innings beginning on Sunday.

We also find that Riley Ferrell (3rd Round - 2015) has been sent back to Houston for tests on his right shoulder, and Rogelio Armenteros is still in West Palm Beach, but has "right shoulder and elbow injuries that have shut him down."

*Check McTaggart's Five Best-Case Scenarios for Five Key Astros in 2020.

*Dan Szymborski posted his "insanely early" ZiPS projected standings for 2020 over at FanGraphs. Here's how his projections have the AL West shaking out:

Houston: 95-67 (74.5% to win the division)
Oakland: 88-74 (19.4%)
Anaheim: 83-79 (5.6%)
Arlington: 75-87 (0.4%)
Seattle: 62-100 (0.0%)

Worth noting that the Astros win the World Series in 11.7% of the simulations, third-highest behind the Yankees (18.3%) and the Dodgers (17.9%).

*George Springer is on MLBTR's Top 10 Free Agents of 2021 list. I think the Astros should take a run at him in the offseason.

Sign Stealing Stuff

*The Astros have been getting death threats, because being Online is like having have a half-melted ice cream cake in your skull. Someone wished cancer on Josh Reddick's newborn twins. Correa:
Everybody in here is getting death threats. It feels like when you open social media these days, it's the norm. You don't see positive comments anymore. You just see, 'If you come to New York, you better watch out. Your wife better watch out.' They start talking about raping, killing, all this stuff.

So we've narrowed it down to New York...

And here's the thing: If you're mad at the Astros, disappointed in the Astros, cannot be convinced that they weren't cheating in 2019, fully believe they were the only team cheating in 2017, etc., then that's your prerogative. But if you're sending death threats to the Astros, or to Mike Fiers, for that matter, then please pick up a book and slam your reproductive organs in it.

MLBPA President Tony Clark:
There's no doubt making sure that making our players and their families are able to go to and from the ballpark and perform safely is a huge piece of the puzzle.

*Brent Strom talked with Jake Kaplan and indicated this might be his last season:
I initially thought I was going to do a couple years. This is going to be a very trying year. I'll see how I feel at the end of this year. I fully expect an onslaught from opposing teams, opposing fans and everything. And so I'll see how I feel physically at the end of this year and see what direction the organization wants to go in. Whether I want to continue to do it, I don't know yet.

On his role in the sign-stealing:
I knew it was wrong, but I kind of wrapped myself into the idea that I'm on the pitching side of the thing. I think I did that to myself to kind of alleviate some of the guilt that was in my mind about this stuff going on. I kind of stayed in my lane. I was as complicit as anybody.

*Check out this steaming turd from Rick Reilly. He's cute and called them "the Asterisks" the whole time.

*Oh don't worry: Mark Teixeira said the Yankees' sign-stealing is nothing like what the Astros were doing.

Other Stuff

*The Undefeated: Jackie Robinson vs. Malcolm X.

*Rolling Stone: The Brutal Rise of El Mencho.

*Mental Floss: The Cruel (But Effective) Agony of the Kars4Kids Jingle.

*A Musical Selection:

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

The Astros were off Monday. Thank you for visiting Astros County Dot Com. Have a very nice day.

*Been a while since we've done a Playoff Odds Check. Let's do it:

FanGraphs (100-62): 99.4% to win division, 21.2% to win World Series
FiveThirtyEight (100-62): 95% to win division, 17% to win World Series (behind the Doyers, who are at 24%)
Baseball Prospectus (100-62): 98.9% to win division, 21% to win World Series (behind the Doyers, who are at 25.2%) - this was before games of June 24.

*The Marlins took Riley Ferrell (3rd Round - 2015) in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft. They returned him to the Astros yesterday, and he was promptly outrighted off the 40-Man Roster and assigned to Corpus. He has pitched 6.2IP in 2019.

*Chronicle: Tyler White has followed up a disastrous April/May with a solid June.

*Brian T. Smith: Yordan's PAs are already must-see tv.

*Have you heard the new episode of Lima Time Time?

*According to FiveThirtyEight's MLB Predictions site (which so accurately predicted the 2016 presidential election that it cannot be ignored) says the Astros have better than a 60% chance of winning every game against the Pirates and Mariners this week.

*The NY Times' Tyler Kepner says the Astros offered New York a potential glimpse at the postseason.

*The new futures odds from BetOnline dot AG has the Astros at 5/2 odds to win the American League, behind the 2/1 Yankees.

*MiLB.com's Sam Dykstra writes about Round Rock's Brandon Bielak

*Ken Hoffman roasted A.J. Pierzynski.

*Former Astros Great Mike Foltynewicz got optioned to Triple-A.

*Daryl Morey's daughter is a film student at NYU and made a documentary about the James Harden trade.

*Danny Boyle has confirmed that there will be a 28 Days Later sequel.

*"We are part of the problem:" Billionaires and their heirs are demanding a wealth tax.

*Really interested in getting my hands on this book (out today) - Up in Arms: How the Bundy Family Hijacked Public Lands, Outfoxed the Federal Government, and Ignited America's Patriot Militia Movement.

*Deadspin: When the Robert Kraft case fell apart, the women were left to pay the price.

*Toronto Life: The $500 Million Family Feud.

*FiveThirtyEight: How the USWNT survived against Spain.

*GQ's Alex Hannaford: A dirty, rotten, double crossing (true) story of what happened to the Italian-American mob.

*Missed this from last week from My Dude Adam Sternbergh: Carson Daly is TV's Ultimate Survivor. While you're at it, read his book The Blinds.

*A Musical Selection:

Friday Morning Hot Links

Happy Friday folks. You will not get 2 different Hot Links today. This one is all me. Buckle your seat belts and do not read these while you drive. Please wait until you get to the workplace. Don't even sneak a peek at a red light either. I care about your safety.

The Astros officially did absolutely nothing at Winter Meetings 2018, but that doesn't necessarily mean it was a waste.

Tags still believes at least one impact move is on its way.

I have absolutely no idea how the Rule 5 draft works, but we did it. It happened. We stole Alejandro Flores from the Nationals but were robbed the talents of Riley Ferrell, Drew Ferguson, and Ryan Thompson. More info here but the info is unfortunately only about the players mentioned above and not about how this whacked out draft works.

Alex Bregman posted a 50 minute podcast/roundtable discussion with Alex Rodriguez, Jake Marisnick, and other current major leaguers on his Youtube channel.

Astros and Drew Pomeranz?

Charlie Morton is gone, so I went to Youtube and found a 3 minute video of the lad straight dealing. Miss you already buddy.

And uh yeah. That's it.

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

*Have you read The Blinds yet? No? What the hell is wrong with you?

*In The Athletic, Jake Kaplan discusses what new Orioles GM Mike Elias' departure means for the Astros' front office. Kaplan:
Whether in amateur scouting or international scouting or both, special assistants Kevin Goldstein and Oz Ocampo are among those who could see an increase in responsibilities moving forward. Both are former department directors with experience in one or both of the amateur and international arenas. 

Chandler Rome spoke with Luhnow about how the Astros plan to replace new Orioles GM Mike Elias. Luhnow:
I don't think there's any magic formula, having one or two or three assistant GMs like some clubs have. I think it's a matter of making sure you have the right people in the right spots overseeing the critical functions. We were preparing for this eventuality, we've got really good bench strength across the entire organization and feel pretty good that we're not going to skip a beat in this year's draft, the international market or really anywhere else.

*The Mariners traded James Paxton to the Yankees for three prospects, including pitcher and #1 prospect Justus Sheffield. The Yankees are really taking this whole "losing-in-the-playoffs-to-the-eventual-World-Series-champs" thing seriously. The Astros were in on Paxton but refused to include Forrest Whitley in a trade package.

Thank you @jluhnow https://t.co/6FnpZqGK2e

— Forrest Whitley (@ForrestWhitley) November 20, 2018

*Speaking of the rotation, the Astros have apparently made a one-year offer to Charlie Morton with an additional option year. Unsure if it's a team- or player-option.

*Per Ken Rosenthal: Houston and St. Louis have had "the most meaningful discussions" with Arizona regarding a trade for Paul Goldschmidt. I assume this means they've discussed having kids and their worst fears. Goldschmidt is from The Woodlands and went to Texas State. Thus I have completed the Southeast Texas task of noting when a player linked to the Astros is from the Houston area.

It's worth mentioning this Bleacher Report...report that the Diamondbacks have discussed a Goldschmidt/Greinke package.

I would like you, for one moment, to imagine a lineup that looks like this:

Springer
Altuve
Bregman
Correa
Goldschmidt
Gurriel
Reddick
Aledmys
Stassi

Combined with a rotation that looks like:
Verlander
Cole
Greinke
Morton
McHugh/James

Trading Goldschmidt and Greinke together would save Arizona $119m over the next three years.

*The Astros will host the Yankees on ESPN on April 8 and April 9.

*Houston has until Tuesday afternoon to add Rule 5-eligible players to the 40-Man Roster, protecting them from next month's draft. The Astros have 35 Men on the 40-Man Roster. They have four players in their Top 30 prospects list who are Rule 5-eligible:

#12 - RHP Rogelio Armenteros, an AC Favorite.
#15 - C Garrett Stubbs
#17 - RHP Riley Ferrell
#23 - SS Jonathan Arauz

Armenteros, 24, is 16-2 with a 3.32 ERA / 1.22 WHIP, 206K:67BB in 176.1IP at Triple-A Fresno. I would very much like to see him get a spot on the 40-Man. This, of course, has the weight of the world behind it.

Stubbs, 25, is a catcher. The Astros have like three catchers total. He hit .310/.382/.455 in 84 games for Fresno last season. The only catchers in front of him on the depth chart are Max Stassi and Chris Herrmann (Park).

Ferrell, 25, was the Astros' 3rd Round pick in 2015. He struggled like hell in 2018 at Triple-A, throwing 28IP, 34H/21ER, 34K:16BB - a 6.75 ERA / 1.79 WHIP. He also went to A&M Consolidated High School and, for reasons not associated with Ferrell...or baseball, I'm not a fan of A&M Consolidated High School. Still, that was his first taste of Triple-A. It wouldn't be unheard of for one of the 22 non-contending MLB teams to take a flyer on Ferrell.

Arauz, who is somehow only 20 years old, came over to the Astros in the fabled Ken Giles/Mark Appel trade, which totally worked out for both sides. He's the least likely to get selected next month because he has only played 71 games at High-A, and had a .511 OPS at that. Hard to see too many teams lining up to give him a 25-Man Roster spot.

*Randy Cesar signed with the Twins, so 2017 4th Round pick Peter Solomon entered the Astros' Top 30 prospects list, at #26. Click that link. That system is thicc. Solomon has 114 strikeouts in 100.1IP with 26K:4BB in 23IP at High-A in 2018.

*Josh Big Flames James had a baby Lil' Flames boy.

*For the first time in franchise history, the Astros have four ex-players on the Hall of Fame ballot.

*The Astros lost their assistant athletic trainer to the Brewers.

*The Atlantic: A Deadly Tsunami of Fire.

*The Guardian: The multi-billionaire philanthropist Sackler family (think art museum at Harvard, Victoria & Albert Museum in London) are getting sued mainly because they're behind Purdue Pharma, who makes and distributes OxyContin.

*Say what you want about the integrity of baseball (of course the Astros ruined it), but at least they weren't creating controversy by farting.

*I'm sure I'm not the first to post it. I haven't yet seen Bohemian Rhapsody, but I have watched their full Live-Aid concert about six times in the last four days:

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*When the Astros acquired Gerrit Cole pretty much everybody said that, with a tweak in his mechanics, he should return to form. Well, A.J. Hinch says Cole doesn't need it:
Gerrit Cole is pretty damn good. He's been an effective big league pitcher. Did he give up a few home runs last year? Yeah. Did he have a slightly down season compared to his standards? Yes. That doesn't mean he can't be a top elite pitcher in the American League just given his stuff, his makeup and his ability to pitch.

*Brian T. Smith: Jim Crane knows he has a team that's built to last.

*Ken Giles worked on his endurance this offseason, and he cares not for your worries about him.

*In The Athletic (subscription required) Francis Martes has made the Astros well-pleased with his refined delivery.

Here's a similar story in the Chronicle. Hinch:
He's throwing as hard as anybody in camp. It's still really early, but he came really prepared.

*Brady Rodgers and Jandel Gustave - both coming off Tommy John surgery in 2017 - are on a restricted program that involves some "light throwing."

*Luhnow said that, had Colin Moran not fouled a ball off his face, the Astros might not have traded him to the Pirates:
I think had he been given that opportunity, I think he would have hit .300, I think he would have hit for power. We might not have traded him because we might have wanted to figure out a way to keep him on our club.

*Luhnow talked to Newsday's David Lennon about the slow offseason and the thinking behind the front office slow-play:
We all have great young players in our system and on our big-league teams. And because the investment is so high in young players, they get to the big leagues fairly early. They're still developing at the big leagues, and so swapping one of the young players out for an established veteran is not as attractive today as it would have been five years ago or 10 years ago...It could be that there's just simply fewer spots because a lot of the younger players are taking up spots and they're contributing. It doesn't explain everything, but part of the dynamic is that we're doing a good job as an industry developing young talent and valuing that talent. 

You look at who would make a list of the Great GMs in the game right now, and it's a fairly short list: Theo, Luhnow, Dayton Moore, Billy Beane (?), Brian Cashman. How did they get there? It's through drafting - and developing - that talent. We are now in a cycle in which GMs that rely on trades and free agent signings to bolster their team aren't doing so well (see: Dipoto, Jerry). Perhaps the most important "skill" for a GM right now is the ability to draft well.

Look at the playoff teams from 2017 and how many players on the current 40-Man roster - with 1.0+ years of service time - were acquired through the draft, signed as an amateur free agent, or a Rule 5 pick:

Colorado: 14
Washington: 13
Cleveland: 12
Minnesota: 12
Arizona: 11
Boston: 10
Houston: 9
Los Angeles: 9
New York: 8
Chicago: 5

Okay, I'll be honest, I didn't think Chicago would rank last here, but it is what it is. The average number of players who meet this criteria for 2017 playoff teams is 11.1 players/per roster.

Let's look at the teams that finished under .500 with the same criteria:

New York Mets: 15
San Francisco: 13
Detroit: 12
Arlington: 11
Baltimore: 10
Pittsburgh: 9
Cincinnati: 9
Chicago White Sox: 8
Philadelphia: 8
Toronto: 7
Anaheim: 6
Kansas City: 6
Miami: 6
Seattle: 6
San Diego: 5
Tampa Bay: 4
Oakland: 3
Atlanta: 2

The average number of players who meet this criteria on sub-.500 teams is 7.0 players.

There are a host of asterisks that could go along with this list: maybe you traded for a guy in A-ball and you developed him into a Major-Leaguer (see: Martes, Francis) and, as a result, he's not on this list. Maybe your team sucks, and the guys that have made this particular cut simply aren't very good, and that's why your team was 64-98 (cough, Mets/Tigers, cough). There are also issues with making this an annual exercise: the White Sox, Padres, and Braves are going to be good soon, but they won't show up as highly on this list because the building blocks they're using were acquired through trades. But I'll let the point stand. I guess.

*Riley Ferrell talked about getting notified of his Spring Training invitation while duck hunting:
About 3:30pm, birds [were] about to start coming in, [and] I was excited for that. I get this text message, and I'm like, 'I don't know who this is.' Looked at it, and I was like 'Oh, I got invited to big league camp. That's pretty cool.' No longer was I worried about birds. 

*2016 4th Round pick Brett Adcock (117Ks in 107.2IP at Buies Creek last season) is ready for the season:
I obviously have things I need to fine-tune. If I didn't, I'd be in the big leagues right now. I'm just trying to make myself 1 percent better each day. If I can do that, hopefully I can end up in the right place. 

*Josh Reddick, in all his Josh Reddickness (Reddickulousness?), talked about the ballistic missile scare in Hawaii:
I went back to my room (after it was clear that the alert was not real) and it was actually frustrating, because me and my girlfriend were going to visit with the Dolphins that morning. We got there on time. We got to play with the dolphins that morning. It was plenty of time. She wasn't even worried about dying; she was worried about seeing the dolphins. I said, 'Those dolphins can wait, we can see them tomorrow if we're still here.' Still had a great time. 

*Rich Hill has chilled out about the 2017 World Series. In a sample poll of Rich Hill and myself, 50% of respondents have chilled out about the 2017 World Series.

*If you find yourself in Fresno on May 12 you can pick up this sweet Carlos Correa Starting Lineup figure.

*Eric Hosmer signed an 8yr/$144m deal (with an opt-out after five years) with the Padres.

*The Rangers have backed out of the deal to sign reliever Seung-Hawn Oh after concerns about his MRI. So here comes a bunch of editorials comparing them to the dastardly Astros and their treatment of Brady Aiken, yes?

*Chris Archer says the Rays could have the best rotation in MLB. And then they traded Jake Odorizzi to the Twins, so who knows now?

*Fernando Abad, who signed a new deal with the Phillies for 2018:
2010-2012 w/HOU: 84.2IP, 5.10 ERA / 1.56 WHIP, 1.97 K:BB ratio.
2013-present:            233IP, 3.13 ERA / 1.21 WHIP, 2.58 K:BB ratio.

*The Haunting of Lindsey Jacobellis.

*From No Depression: A musician's life on social media.

*The Globe and Mail's Michael Harris: I Have Forgotten How To Read.

#Astros Joe Smith 2017 Pitch Quality

5.87 QOPA

Late Break (Top 1% MLB)
Horizontal Break (Top 1% MLB)
Location (Top 6% MLB) pic.twitter.com/DDMtkyltsl

— MLB Quality of Pitch (@qopbaseball) February 17, 2018

Saturday Morning Hot Links

Six days until the first Grapefruit League game of the year. Forty days until Opening Day at East Weatherford.

*The Astros are looking at viable lefty relief options in what basically amounts to an open tryout for that spot, which Hinch admitted they might not even bring one along for the Great Adventure of 2018. Could be Tony Sipp, Buddy Boshers, Anthony Gose, and Reymin Guduan. Hinch:
I think, going into this camp, the hope is Tony Sipp returns to form and that he has the stuff that made him a high-leverage reliever a couple of seasons ago. He has the capabilities to do that. We want to take the best team we can.

At $6m for 2018, Tony Sipp will cost the exact same amount of money as Jose Altuve.

Later in that link, Carlos Correa talks about what the Astros can build:
We don't want to be just a team people are going to remember for one year. We want to be able to build a dynasty and be able to win two, three years in a row if we can do that. We have the team to do it. It's just on us to put in the work and do what we need to do to win again.

*McCann:
We're as strong as it gets top to bottom. A lot of these guys came up together and...it's a big reason for our success. Everyone's pulling in the same direction and everyone knows how special this group is and we want to make the most of it.

*The Astros could possibly carry three catchers, and that's good news for the out-of-options Max Stassi.

*Bovada is giving the Astros' O/U a 96.5, 12 games better than the Angels.

*Would Dallas Keuchel shave his beard?

*Riley Ferrell grew up an Astros fan and talks about getting invited to Camp.

*The new Bob Watson Educational Center will be a part of the Astros Youth Academy complex.

*Here's a cool report from the Miami Herald about Miami-Dade County suing the ever-classy Jeffrey Loria over the sale of the team to a group PR'd by De2ek Je2er.

Meanwhile Real G and Former Astros Great Dan Straily is happy that his whiny-ass teammates Giancarlo Stanton and Christian Yelich are gone.

*The Rangers are reloading their rotation with the likes of Bartolo Colon and Edinson Volquez, who won't pitch in 2018.

*True Heroes Jon Heyman and Buster Olney got into it about who broke Eduardo Nunez's Red Sox deal first.

*

Goes through Houston. #houstonstrong https://t.co/dXbQRFljAr pic.twitter.com/LDJKA8OHcC

— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) February 16, 2018

Saturday Morning Hot Links

*So there was an actual parade for the Houston Astros because they won the World Series. It still hasn't sunk in for me, yet. Richard Justice writes how the Astros felt Houston's love. Justice:
This was a release for fans who've waited 56 seasons, for fathers and sons and best friends and co-workers, and thousands and thousands of others who've talked about this day, dreamed about it, wondered if it would ever really happen.

*Brian T. Smith: A parade for the ages.

This lady dropped her hat, and Houston came in clutch to get it back up to her #earnedhistory pic.twitter.com/1thxzO7B6i

— enokez (@AlanEnokian) November 3, 2017

*The Astros picked up Jose Altuve's $6m option and Marwin Gonzalez's $5.125m option for 2018. Altuve has already generated enough WAR for 2018 that he is already severely underpaid.

*The inestimable Roger Angell: Long Wait, Great Win.
For the rest of us not in or around Houston, the reward after two thousand four hundred and fifty-eight regular season games and thirty-eight more in the postseason is a bit more sleep and, for the moment, at least, no more innings.

*Tyler Kepner: How the Astros finally hit on a formula that worked for them. Luhnow:
Not every plan makes sense for every team. But where we started, with the worst team in baseball and one of the worst farm systems in baseball, we really had no choice. We had to focus on developing our own and when the time is right, adding to it.

*Jeff Bagwell:
This is a great team. I don't think the world knew it. Well, they do now. Nobody wanted us to win this whole thing. Everybody else wanted the big teams. But we beat the Red Sox. We beat the Yankees. And now we beat the Dodgers. Pretty cool.

*Justin Verlander and Kate Upton missed the parade because, presumably, they're in Italy getting married. Apparently some people are mad that Verlander didn't postpone it. This is a silly take. It's not like they're getting married at a rec center in Refugio. They're two very high-profile people getting married in a foreign country. I don't know anything about them or their wedding plans, but I'm guessing they're not plans that are easily postponed. And it's not as though they started thinking about getting married in October. Verlander has been an Astro for, what, 60-something days? And before that he was on a Tigers team that very clearly wasn't going to the playoffs. Chill out. Let them get married.

*Uh. Brian McCann's mom is marrying Mark Teixeira's dad this winter.

*Here's a great story on Astros fan Charles Rice.

*Get some gear here.

*Four mock-ups of the Astros' WS ring.

*The five Astros who finally won a ring after a career of near-misses.

*Ken Davidoff wrote about how Luhnow's family helped him deal with the media.

*SF Chronicle's Bruce Jenkins: The Astros' title rises far above analytics.
If anything, the Astros were defiant of an analytics-driven trend that saw players adjust their "launch angle," go for home runs at any cost, work the count to frustrate opposing pitchers and not worry about striking out. They were the most efficient offensive machine in the game, did a lot of first-pitch swinging, emphasized contact hitting and struck out less often than any team in the majors.

*FiveThirtyEight predicts a few more seasons of Astros/Dodgers World Series, or at least a few Astros/Indians ALCS.

*MLB.com listed the 2018 World Series contenders.

*The Cubs' front office sent pizzas to the Astros' front office. Hopefully the Astros will carry the tradition of buying pizza for the next World Series champion by just sending an intern to buy pizza for themselves.

*A.J. Hinch discussed his new bench coach, Joe Espada, and we note that assistant hitting coach Alonzo Powell will leave to become the Giants' hitting coach.

*Check this November 2016 post from the County Mountie, in which he described Charlie Morton as such:
He's a groundball pitcher with some strikeout ability. If you're looking for an under-the-radar sign that could bring a nice payoff, this is it.

*Jon Heyman wonders how long the Astros can keep their core together.

*Buy every Astros-related SI cover since 1981.

*Jim Callis says Riley Ferrell has closer material.

*Springer, Altuve, and Bregman are expected to be on Saturday Night Live.

*Evan Grant takes a look at what the Rangers need to do to close the gap on the Astros.

*Alex Bregman is already a Hall of Famer:

Deleted, but 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/2RxX8ATfyV

— Dustin DeBerry (@dkdeberry) November 4, 2017

Astros sign Riley Ferrell; Singleton up for Qualls

Two quick news items prior to today's game.

The Astros signed Riley Ferrell for an undisclosed amount.  My sources in the front office have informed me that the signing bonus is less than 10 million.  Ferrell is a relief pitcher at TCU, and he was drafted in the third round - 79th overall - by the Astros.

And with every signing of a player in the early rounds, the Daz Cameron situation becomes more clear.

Also, a handsome Astros County reader suggested in the comments a few days ago that a Chad Qualls for Jon Singleton 25-man swap would be a logical move.  Well, it isn't a swap, but Singleton will get a look.  He was just added to the 25-man, sliding into the space created by Chad Qualls, who hit the DL with a pinched nerve in his neck.  It is possible that this injury has been bothering him for some time.

Singleton should be available tonight, and Quall's DL stint is retroactive to Thursday - the 13 inning game in which Qualls was the last man on the mound in the walk-off loss.

The Astros obviously think that they have considerable bullpen depth in the minor-leagues, too, because they traded AAA reliever Richard Rodriguez to the Orioles for cash considerations.

Friday Morning Hot Links

The Wife and I will be at the Astros game tonight to watch Oberholtzer pitch Correa's home debut. If you see me, holla at me.

*On that note, the Astros are hoping Correa's arrival will mean a boost in ticket sales.

*The Astros and Rockets are suing Comcast over how they handled CSN Houston. Here are more details from Houston Press.

*Lots of signings, or reports of signings, and one number trickling in to our 2015 Draft page.

*The Astros and 37th overall pick Daz Cameron are seemingly close to a $4m deal - which would be about $2.3m over the slot value for 1-37, meaning the Astros need to save that money somewhere else in the first ten rounds. In that link you also find that Heyman is reporting Mark Appel may need "a change of scenery."

*Luhnow said "it's too early to tell" if the Astros messed up by taking Appel over Kris Bryant.

*Quad Cities' Jacob Nottingham just might be the Astros' top catching prospect

*Astros picks Riley Ferrell and Thomas Eshelman are projected to be the 2nd- and 3rd-most valuable college pitchers in the draft, respectively.

*Awww, Erik Bedard retired.