*The biggest news of January 2nd wasn't what the Astros got, but what they lost - specifically, Will Harris, to the Nationals for 3yrs/$24m.
So let's recap what the Astros lost this offseason (with 2019 fWAR in parentheses):
Gerrit Cole - 212.1IP (7.4 fWAR)
Wade Miley - 167.1IP (2.0 fWAR)
Collin McHugh - 74.2IP (0.5 fWAR)
Hector Rondon - 60.2IP (-0.2 fWAR)
Will Harris - 60IP (1.1 fWAR)
Not only is that 575IP that has to be replaced, that's right at 10.8 fWAR from a pitching staff that won 107 games. The total Astros' pitching fWAR was 23.7 in 2019, so that's 45.6% of their "value." Obviously most of this - the innings and the fWAR - are due to the departure of Gerrit Cole to the greener pastures of north Manhattan and shaved heads, track suits, gold chains, and getting booed when he doesn't win the World Series in April. And don't get me wrong, combining McHugh and Rondon (135.1IP and an aggregate 0.3 fWAR) is mainly an exercise in counting innings. But that's a lot of attrition to a pitching staff that lost 500IP after 2018 with the departures of Dallas Keuchel, Charlie Morton, and the injury to Lance McCullers.
Of course McCullers is coming back in 2020. Forrest Whitley might actually have his head on straight this time around. But let's not forget that, in five seasons, Will Harris threw 297IP, allowed 221H/78ER, 315K:72BB, a 2.36 ERA / 0.99 WHIP. In 2019 Harris posted a 1.50 ERA / 0.93 WHIP. He made 68 appearances and threw a clean outing in 32 of them. The opponent did not score a run in 60 of those outings. When he did allow a run, he only allowed more than one run in two of his 68 appearances.
Harris, on watching the Nationals receive their World Series rings:
Will it be awkward for a second or two? More than likely, but that stuff fades and it's about playing baseball. I've done my homework, and the guys they have that I know who have played there and been there, everybody has told me I'm going to love it.
Now, it would be remiss to...miss that Harris pitched in 2015 ALDS G4. He allowed a run in Games 6 & 7 of the World Series, including Howie Kendrick's Fing Miracle Home Run. But in between 2015 ALDS G4 and 2019 WS G6 he threw 14IP in the postseason, allowing 12H/2ER, 14K:3BB.
But hey, the Astros didn't have to add $8m to a currently-projected payroll of $216m. Adding Harris at $8m per year would have resulted in the Astros paying a penalty of [squints] $3.2m instead of the $1.6m they're already projected to pay (assuming Josh Reddick is still an Astro in 2020). As a Jim Crane Bottom-Line Lover, this is fiiiiiiiine. [I know full well that Crane opened up for Verlander, Greinke, Altuve, Bregman, etc. and deserves credit for that].
Chandler Rome writes that replacing Harris may be impossible.
Other stuff:
*Robinson Chirinos is "close" to making a decision on where to play in 2020.
*Jake Kaplan writes in The Athletic about the Astros "questionable" rotation depth and who can be the 5th starter behind Verlander, Greinke, McCullers, and presumably Game 4 Hero Jose Urquidy.
*MLB Pipeline says Jeremy Pena (3rd Round - 2018) is set to break out in 2020.
*Baseball America has the Astros' Top 10 prospects in 2020:
1. Forrest Whitley
2. Game 4 Hero Jose Urquidy
3. Jeremy Pena
4. Freudis Nova
5. Bryan Abreu
6. Abraham Toro
7. Korey Lee
8. Cristian Javier
9. Hunter Brown
10. Grae Kessinger
Let the record show that I LOVE Cristian Javier, who will be 23 in 2020 and struck out 170 batters in 113.2IP for Fayetteville, Corpus, and Round Rock.
*Why would Yankees pitcher Domingo German not appeal his 81-game suspension for domestic violence?
*Rich Roll is the guru of reinvention.
*A Musical Selection:
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
Showing posts with label Robinson Chirinos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robinson Chirinos. Show all posts
Friday, January 3, 2020
Friday, December 13, 2019
Friday Morning Hot Links
Let's get caught up, shall we?
*On his honeymoon, Carlos Correa called Jeff Luhnow to ask about the trade rumors, Luhnow told him to get back to being a married man and not worry about [waves hands] all that. Luhnow, on 2020:
We'll probably be favored to win our division, depending on what happens, and have a chance to go deep in the playoffs again. Last year we lost Charlie and Dallas and we were able to get back to the World Series, so we're going to have to reload. That's part of operating as a successful baseball operation. You've got to plug in for the pieces you lose every year and losing pieces is inevitable. This isn't going to be the last year. It's going to continue. That's why we work so hard to find the next version of hopefully Gerrit Cole that we can bring in...and someday he may leave.
*The Astros have apparently received a ton of interest in Abraham Toro, while the Astros have allegedly asked the Dodgers about catcher Austin Barnes.
*The Astros lost three players in the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday: pitcher Brandon Bailey (Baltimore), pitcher Yohan Ramirez (Seattle), and infielder Jonathan Arauz (Boston).
-Bailey, 25, had a nice season in Corpus, striking out 103 batters in 92.2IP with a 3.30 ERA / 1.22 WHIP. He came to the Astros in the Ramon Laureano trade so, I guess you can chalk that win up to Oakland (though there wasn't exactly room for Laureano in the outfield at the time, or at the present, so...whatever).
-24-year old Yohan Ramirez split time between Fayetteville and Corpus and put up really impressive strikeout numbers (158 in 106IP), but walked 6.3 batters per nine innings.
-21-year old Jonathan Arauz has consistently played at levels in the minors 2-3 years younger than his competition. He's generally been ticketed as a glove-first guy, but didn't hit a whole lot between Fayetteville and Corpus in 2019 (.249/.319/.388 in 473 PAs). Arauz came to Houston in the Ken Giles trade.
Baltimore taking Bailey makes a lot of sense because they're where the Astros were in the depths of their rebuild, and Mike Elias knows the Astros' system really well. The Mariners taking Ramirez makes a lot of sense because it had been about 15 minutes since Jerry Dipoto had acquired literally anything (the latest being "Pizza for Cash Considerations"). The chances of the Red Sox turning a 21-year old .700 OPS guy into Dustin Pedroia in 2020 seem remote, but with carrying the extra active roster spot, I guess there's a chance. Don't get too broken up about losing these guys. You can't keep everybody and, if you care about these dudes on a personal level, well, they're probably in a better spot in regards to their Major League careers. And, whose spot are they going to take on the Astros in the near future, anyway?
Kevin Goldstein:
We thought we'd lose one or two, and we lost three. I don't use the word, 'loss.' I think we have three guys taken and we don't count them as a loss until they stick on the roster all year for the big league teams that took them.
There are a couple of scouting report write-ups on the Rule 5 picks at FanGraphs. The Astros didn't take anyone in the Rule 5 Draft because it's not 2013.
*Long-time Dodgers reporter Molly Knight has a piece in The Athletic about how the Astros' silence regarding the Sign-Stealing Scandal is reflective of their guilt. It's...something. I tended to think that their silence showed that the investigation was still ongoing but to each their own. Knight:
Hinch seemed somber and defeated. His shoulders hunched forward in protection as tiny sweat droplets formed on his forehead. During what were probably among the most uncomfortable 19 minutes of his career, Hinch didn't appear anxious. He just looked resigned.
Okay.
St. Louis hitting coach Jeff Albert, who was the Astros' minor-league hitting coordinator in 2017, was interviewed by MLB, which is an impressive amount of detail. MLB is reviewing 76,000 emails as well as telephone records with over 70 in-person interviews as they try to find evidence of a loss of "institutional control" by the front office. SI notes (previous link) that the investigation could wrap up in January. Can't wait. LA Times:
It is considered unlikely that the league would strip the Astros of their World Series title. Fines, suspensions, and the loss of draft picks are among other possible sanctions.
I would welcome the opportunity to open my front door and find Rob Manfred standing there demanding the return of all of my 2017 World Series gear.
*Mattress Mack and Alex Bregman surprised a pregnant mom of eight with $10,000 worth of furniture.
*Today would have been Larry Doby's 96th birthday. Larry Doby was the first man to integrate the American League, playing with the Cleveland Indians and hitting .283/.386/.490, led the League in home runs twice, RBIs once, and Runs Scored once. His career was good enough for a 136 OPS+ and a rightful place in the Hall of Fame.
*Things aren't looking good for disgraced baseball writer Jonah Keri. In July 2019 Keri was charged with assaulting his wife and then later breaking the conditions of the separation related to that case. Wednesday Keri received eight new charges from incidents prior to that July charge that include assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, criminal harassment, and uttering threats involving his wife and a child.
*ESPN: Inside the troubled life and death of 1994 Heisman winner Rashaan Salaam.
*The wartime spies who used knitting as an espionage tool.
*There's a new kind of inequality, and it's not about income.
*The gore, guts, and horror of an NFL fumble pile.
*A Musical Selection:
The Hot Links Music playlist is at 247 songs lasting over 15.5 hours. After the last six weeks of being an Astros fan, there are days I wish this was just a music blog.
*On his honeymoon, Carlos Correa called Jeff Luhnow to ask about the trade rumors, Luhnow told him to get back to being a married man and not worry about [waves hands] all that. Luhnow, on 2020:
We'll probably be favored to win our division, depending on what happens, and have a chance to go deep in the playoffs again. Last year we lost Charlie and Dallas and we were able to get back to the World Series, so we're going to have to reload. That's part of operating as a successful baseball operation. You've got to plug in for the pieces you lose every year and losing pieces is inevitable. This isn't going to be the last year. It's going to continue. That's why we work so hard to find the next version of hopefully Gerrit Cole that we can bring in...and someday he may leave.
And on Gerrit Cole and the Yankees, Luhnow:
We prefer he went to the National League, but he's in the American League. We faced the Yankees three out of the last five years in the playoffs, so maybe we'll do it again. But I'm glad he's not in our division. We'll face him but we won't face him quite as much. The Yankees will be strong. They'll be favored to win their division, but we plan to be right there.
*Luhnow would like to add a catcher (Chirinos and Jason Castro make the most sense, in which a whole bunch of us will have to go back and scrub some tweets if the Astros reunite with Castro), a starting pitcher, and a reliever. Chandler Rome wrote up how the Astros now have a limited pool with which to work behind the plate. Garrett Stubbs, one of the two backup catchers on the 40-Man Roster, will play some infield this spring, a season after playing some outfield.*The Astros have apparently received a ton of interest in Abraham Toro, while the Astros have allegedly asked the Dodgers about catcher Austin Barnes.
*The Astros lost three players in the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday: pitcher Brandon Bailey (Baltimore), pitcher Yohan Ramirez (Seattle), and infielder Jonathan Arauz (Boston).
-Bailey, 25, had a nice season in Corpus, striking out 103 batters in 92.2IP with a 3.30 ERA / 1.22 WHIP. He came to the Astros in the Ramon Laureano trade so, I guess you can chalk that win up to Oakland (though there wasn't exactly room for Laureano in the outfield at the time, or at the present, so...whatever).
-24-year old Yohan Ramirez split time between Fayetteville and Corpus and put up really impressive strikeout numbers (158 in 106IP), but walked 6.3 batters per nine innings.
-21-year old Jonathan Arauz has consistently played at levels in the minors 2-3 years younger than his competition. He's generally been ticketed as a glove-first guy, but didn't hit a whole lot between Fayetteville and Corpus in 2019 (.249/.319/.388 in 473 PAs). Arauz came to Houston in the Ken Giles trade.
Baltimore taking Bailey makes a lot of sense because they're where the Astros were in the depths of their rebuild, and Mike Elias knows the Astros' system really well. The Mariners taking Ramirez makes a lot of sense because it had been about 15 minutes since Jerry Dipoto had acquired literally anything (the latest being "Pizza for Cash Considerations"). The chances of the Red Sox turning a 21-year old .700 OPS guy into Dustin Pedroia in 2020 seem remote, but with carrying the extra active roster spot, I guess there's a chance. Don't get too broken up about losing these guys. You can't keep everybody and, if you care about these dudes on a personal level, well, they're probably in a better spot in regards to their Major League careers. And, whose spot are they going to take on the Astros in the near future, anyway?
Kevin Goldstein:
We thought we'd lose one or two, and we lost three. I don't use the word, 'loss.' I think we have three guys taken and we don't count them as a loss until they stick on the roster all year for the big league teams that took them.
There are a couple of scouting report write-ups on the Rule 5 picks at FanGraphs. The Astros didn't take anyone in the Rule 5 Draft because it's not 2013.
*Long-time Dodgers reporter Molly Knight has a piece in The Athletic about how the Astros' silence regarding the Sign-Stealing Scandal is reflective of their guilt. It's...something. I tended to think that their silence showed that the investigation was still ongoing but to each their own. Knight:
Hinch seemed somber and defeated. His shoulders hunched forward in protection as tiny sweat droplets formed on his forehead. During what were probably among the most uncomfortable 19 minutes of his career, Hinch didn't appear anxious. He just looked resigned.
Okay.
St. Louis hitting coach Jeff Albert, who was the Astros' minor-league hitting coordinator in 2017, was interviewed by MLB, which is an impressive amount of detail. MLB is reviewing 76,000 emails as well as telephone records with over 70 in-person interviews as they try to find evidence of a loss of "institutional control" by the front office. SI notes (previous link) that the investigation could wrap up in January. Can't wait. LA Times:
It is considered unlikely that the league would strip the Astros of their World Series title. Fines, suspensions, and the loss of draft picks are among other possible sanctions.
I would welcome the opportunity to open my front door and find Rob Manfred standing there demanding the return of all of my 2017 World Series gear.
*Mattress Mack and Alex Bregman surprised a pregnant mom of eight with $10,000 worth of furniture.
*Today would have been Larry Doby's 96th birthday. Larry Doby was the first man to integrate the American League, playing with the Cleveland Indians and hitting .283/.386/.490, led the League in home runs twice, RBIs once, and Runs Scored once. His career was good enough for a 136 OPS+ and a rightful place in the Hall of Fame.
*Things aren't looking good for disgraced baseball writer Jonah Keri. In July 2019 Keri was charged with assaulting his wife and then later breaking the conditions of the separation related to that case. Wednesday Keri received eight new charges from incidents prior to that July charge that include assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, criminal harassment, and uttering threats involving his wife and a child.
*ESPN: Inside the troubled life and death of 1994 Heisman winner Rashaan Salaam.
*The wartime spies who used knitting as an espionage tool.
*There's a new kind of inequality, and it's not about income.
*The gore, guts, and horror of an NFL fumble pile.
*A Musical Selection:
The Hot Links Music playlist is at 247 songs lasting over 15.5 hours. After the last six weeks of being an Astros fan, there are days I wish this was just a music blog.
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Wednesday Morning Hot Links
Well there's some movement on a lot of fronts. Let's try to run it all down.
*Chandler Rome writes that the Astros' moves in July are impacting their December. Hinch:
We're trying to be just as creative and just as aggressive at the needs that we have, but you've got to find a dance partner if you're going to make a trade. You've got to find a free agent that's ready to sign. You've got to evaluate your own talent to see who can fill from within.
Luhnow:
I can't comment on what our budget is, and that number is something that Jim and I discussed. We're clearly going to be in territory that we've never been in before. But we feel like with the resources available to us, we can accomplish the goals we need to accomplish. Any bigger moves would require some sort of trade to free up the payroll space. But those are things that are also part of our consideration.
*Jim Crane is confident in the Astros' nucleus. Crane:
I think anybody can do the math on where we're at. We've got a few holes. We need to sign a catcher, need a few arms - bullpen, maybe a starter. When you look at those ingredients and look at where we're at, more than likely that will put us over the luxury tax.
This would be the first time the Astros have been over $208m - the cutoff for the financial penalty, which would be a 20% tax from $208m-$228m, and a 32% tax from $228m-$248m.
*Ken Rosenthal reports from "sources" that the Astros have considered trading Carlos Correa. Rosenthal:
No deal appears close, and the timing might not be right for such a move, considering that most teams are set at shortstop and Correa's trade value is down. But at some point, the Astros will need to make difficult decisions, and Correa might be the odd man out...A trade of Correa might help the Astros address their pitching shortage at a time when they want to sign center fielder George Springer to a long-term deal, sources said.
Let's be clear: the Astros have parameters in place to trade you and I, and the mustache guy, and every single player, should the conversation come up. That the Astros "have considered" trading Correa means absolutely nothing, other than that they have contingency plans on contingency plans.
That said, these dudes are saying that there is framework in place for a Correa (and possibly Reddick) swap with the Reds for Luis Castilo.
*Lance McCullers is apparently ready for Spring Training, and the Astros are looking at 100-120IP out of him in 2020.
Between Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley, the Astros are looking to replace 379.2IP from the 2019 rotation.
*The Astros are going to have to bid against the Rangers, Tigers, Rays, and Pirates for Robinson Chirinos, the last living catcher.
*Chandler Rome has a story on the most uncomfortable 19 minutes of the Winter Meetings - A.J. Hinch's press conference regarding the sign-stealing scandal. Hinch:
If I was in your shoes, I would be on the other side of this table, and I would want to ask questions and find answer and get some more information on the investigation and all the allegations and things like that. I know you're probably expecting this, but I can't comment on it.
Hinch promised to talk about it...one day.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicated that, if the allegations against the Astros are true, then it represented an attack on the integrity of baseball.
Related, Yahoo's Tim Brown: Mike Fiers - hero or snitch? He interviewed some people:
"Heroic," said one current American League West player. "Takes big nuts to call bull-- on people and stand there and take the heat that follows. I admire that.
"Freakin' punk-ass bitch," said a former Astro.
"Mike Fiers?" said a current Astro. "Then give back your ring and your World Series share.
*Jeff Passan is reporting that the Yankees are in agreement with Gerrit Cole. It's apparently 9yrs/$324m, an AAV of $36m. The Astros were one of Mark Feinsand's "mystery teams" (and Joel Sherman's) in on Cole, apparently. The Astros will get an extra pick in Comp Round B in 2020.
11 years after getting dropped like 3rd Period French by Gerrit Cole in the draft, the Yankees finally got him. Chandler Rome, on Gerrit Cole's legacy in Houston.
In just two seasons, Gerrit Cole left his mark on the Astros' record books. He's 19th all-time in franchise history in fWAR (13.4). He has the highest K/9 among any Astros pitcher in a career (13.13) as well as the highest K/9 in a single season (13.81 in 2019), the 4th-lowest ERA for a starter (2.68), 3rd-lowest FIP for a starter (2.67). Cole is one of four Astros pitchers to strike out 300 batters in a season. He set the Astros' single-season strikeout record in 2019, with 326. Cole is one of ten Astros pitchers to record 20 wins. Hinch, on Tuesday prior to Cole signing with the Yankees:
I had a very heartfelt conversation with him following Game 7 of the World Series. I'll cherish his words that he said to me whether he returns to our team or whether he goes on, but those are some big checks being talked about around the league, and I'm not writing them.
We were truly blessed to watch Gerrit Cole pitch in Houston for two seasons and I'll never understand how he didn't get a ring. Cole was eight outs away from winning a ring (in the bullpen) in 2019 and apparently getting those final eight outs was what sent him to New York. A friend told him, "When your primary goal is to win a championship, it doesn't matter where you sleep." Andy Pettitte was instrumental in Gerrit Cole signing with the Yankees.
Bob Nightengale is ready to print some "Yankees: 2019 Winter Meetings Champs" shirts.
ESPN's Alden Gonzalez: What will the Angels do now after losing out on Cole? Well, I'm not sure, but I'm guessing the answer is "Waste the prime of Mike Trout's career."
*There's apparently an All-MLB team and some Astros are on it.
*They lost the biggest New Jersey high school football game ever played. Can one agonizing defeat destroy a life?
*Magnus Carlsen, the best chess player of the last decade, is on the verge of topping the fantasy (English) football table.
*A Musical Selection:
*Chandler Rome writes that the Astros' moves in July are impacting their December. Hinch:
We're trying to be just as creative and just as aggressive at the needs that we have, but you've got to find a dance partner if you're going to make a trade. You've got to find a free agent that's ready to sign. You've got to evaluate your own talent to see who can fill from within.
Luhnow:
I can't comment on what our budget is, and that number is something that Jim and I discussed. We're clearly going to be in territory that we've never been in before. But we feel like with the resources available to us, we can accomplish the goals we need to accomplish. Any bigger moves would require some sort of trade to free up the payroll space. But those are things that are also part of our consideration.
*Jim Crane is confident in the Astros' nucleus. Crane:
I think anybody can do the math on where we're at. We've got a few holes. We need to sign a catcher, need a few arms - bullpen, maybe a starter. When you look at those ingredients and look at where we're at, more than likely that will put us over the luxury tax.
This would be the first time the Astros have been over $208m - the cutoff for the financial penalty, which would be a 20% tax from $208m-$228m, and a 32% tax from $228m-$248m.
*Ken Rosenthal reports from "sources" that the Astros have considered trading Carlos Correa. Rosenthal:
No deal appears close, and the timing might not be right for such a move, considering that most teams are set at shortstop and Correa's trade value is down. But at some point, the Astros will need to make difficult decisions, and Correa might be the odd man out...A trade of Correa might help the Astros address their pitching shortage at a time when they want to sign center fielder George Springer to a long-term deal, sources said.
Let's be clear: the Astros have parameters in place to trade you and I, and the mustache guy, and every single player, should the conversation come up. That the Astros "have considered" trading Correa means absolutely nothing, other than that they have contingency plans on contingency plans.
That said, these dudes are saying that there is framework in place for a Correa (and possibly Reddick) swap with the Reds for Luis Castilo.
*Lance McCullers is apparently ready for Spring Training, and the Astros are looking at 100-120IP out of him in 2020.
Between Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley, the Astros are looking to replace 379.2IP from the 2019 rotation.
*The Astros are going to have to bid against the Rangers, Tigers, Rays, and Pirates for Robinson Chirinos, the last living catcher.
*Chandler Rome has a story on the most uncomfortable 19 minutes of the Winter Meetings - A.J. Hinch's press conference regarding the sign-stealing scandal. Hinch:
If I was in your shoes, I would be on the other side of this table, and I would want to ask questions and find answer and get some more information on the investigation and all the allegations and things like that. I know you're probably expecting this, but I can't comment on it.
Hinch promised to talk about it...one day.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicated that, if the allegations against the Astros are true, then it represented an attack on the integrity of baseball.
Related, Yahoo's Tim Brown: Mike Fiers - hero or snitch? He interviewed some people:
"Heroic," said one current American League West player. "Takes big nuts to call bull-- on people and stand there and take the heat that follows. I admire that.
"Freakin' punk-ass bitch," said a former Astro.
"Mike Fiers?" said a current Astro. "Then give back your ring and your World Series share.
*Jeff Passan is reporting that the Yankees are in agreement with Gerrit Cole. It's apparently 9yrs/$324m, an AAV of $36m. The Astros were one of Mark Feinsand's "mystery teams" (and Joel Sherman's) in on Cole, apparently. The Astros will get an extra pick in Comp Round B in 2020.
11 years after getting dropped like 3rd Period French by Gerrit Cole in the draft, the Yankees finally got him. Chandler Rome, on Gerrit Cole's legacy in Houston.
In just two seasons, Gerrit Cole left his mark on the Astros' record books. He's 19th all-time in franchise history in fWAR (13.4). He has the highest K/9 among any Astros pitcher in a career (13.13) as well as the highest K/9 in a single season (13.81 in 2019), the 4th-lowest ERA for a starter (2.68), 3rd-lowest FIP for a starter (2.67). Cole is one of four Astros pitchers to strike out 300 batters in a season. He set the Astros' single-season strikeout record in 2019, with 326. Cole is one of ten Astros pitchers to record 20 wins. Hinch, on Tuesday prior to Cole signing with the Yankees:
I had a very heartfelt conversation with him following Game 7 of the World Series. I'll cherish his words that he said to me whether he returns to our team or whether he goes on, but those are some big checks being talked about around the league, and I'm not writing them.
We were truly blessed to watch Gerrit Cole pitch in Houston for two seasons and I'll never understand how he didn't get a ring. Cole was eight outs away from winning a ring (in the bullpen) in 2019 and apparently getting those final eight outs was what sent him to New York. A friend told him, "When your primary goal is to win a championship, it doesn't matter where you sleep." Andy Pettitte was instrumental in Gerrit Cole signing with the Yankees.
Bob Nightengale is ready to print some "Yankees: 2019 Winter Meetings Champs" shirts.
ESPN's Alden Gonzalez: What will the Angels do now after losing out on Cole? Well, I'm not sure, but I'm guessing the answer is "Waste the prime of Mike Trout's career."
*There's apparently an All-MLB team and some Astros are on it.
*They lost the biggest New Jersey high school football game ever played. Can one agonizing defeat destroy a life?
*Magnus Carlsen, the best chess player of the last decade, is on the verge of topping the fantasy (English) football table.
*A Musical Selection:
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Tuesday Morning Hot Links
The deadline to offer contracts to arbitration-eligible players was Monday night, and the Astros decided not to offer SP Aaron Sanchez a contract for 2020. Ol' Hurt Shoulder Sanchez is now a free agent. Related, the Astros and RP Joe Biagini agreed on a one-year deal to avoid arbitration. Biagini and Sanchez were acquired in July from Toronto (as well as Cal Stevenson) for Derek Fisher.
There are now eight arbitration-eligible Astros still on the 40-Man Roster (with MLBTR's arbitration projections in parentheses)
Carlos Correa ($7.4m)
Aledmys Diaz ($2.4m)
Chris Devenski ($2m - club option for $2.825m)
Jake Marisnick ($3m)
Lance McCullers ($4.1m)
Roberto Osuna ($10.2m)
Brad Peacock ($4.6m)
George Springer ($21.4m)
Add that up...carry the one...and that's a projected total of $55.1m in arbitration salaries. Richard Justice writes that Springer should never play a game in another uniform.
*Will Leitch predicts Alex Bregman will be the Astros' best player in 2020.
*Catcher James McCann agreed to a deal with the White Sox, and Jake Kaplan maintains (and I agree) that bringing back Robinson Chirinos makes the most sense for the Astros behind the plate.
*Still not ready for this, but McTaggart wrote up the Astros' 10 best games of the decade.
*The Yankees are meeting with Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg, both clients of the Hallelujah Boras, Reminder that the Winter Meetings begin next Monday. Here is the need-to-know regarding the 2019 Winter Meetings.
*Former Astros Great Domingo Santana was non-tendered by the Mariners. Former Astros Great James Hoyt was non-tendered by Cleveland. Chicago's Addison Russell was non-tendered.
*The Rangers are probably going to sign Anthony Rendon. The only possible adjective for Anthony Rendon is "swashbuckling." They may also sign Zack Wheeler. Rangers are clearly tired of 4th-place trophies.
*MLB's five best free agent bargains.
*Astroline returns tomorrow night.
*A Bike Ride Through the Garden of Good and Evil.
*The Story Behind Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night."
*Ponzi Schemes, Private Yachts, and a Missing $250m in Crypto: The Strange Tale of Quadriga.
*A Musical Selection:
There are now eight arbitration-eligible Astros still on the 40-Man Roster (with MLBTR's arbitration projections in parentheses)
Carlos Correa ($7.4m)
Aledmys Diaz ($2.4m)
Chris Devenski ($2m - club option for $2.825m)
Jake Marisnick ($3m)
Lance McCullers ($4.1m)
Roberto Osuna ($10.2m)
Brad Peacock ($4.6m)
George Springer ($21.4m)
Add that up...carry the one...and that's a projected total of $55.1m in arbitration salaries. Richard Justice writes that Springer should never play a game in another uniform.
*Will Leitch predicts Alex Bregman will be the Astros' best player in 2020.
*Catcher James McCann agreed to a deal with the White Sox, and Jake Kaplan maintains (and I agree) that bringing back Robinson Chirinos makes the most sense for the Astros behind the plate.
*Still not ready for this, but McTaggart wrote up the Astros' 10 best games of the decade.
*The Yankees are meeting with Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg, both clients of the Hallelujah Boras, Reminder that the Winter Meetings begin next Monday. Here is the need-to-know regarding the 2019 Winter Meetings.
*Former Astros Great Domingo Santana was non-tendered by the Mariners. Former Astros Great James Hoyt was non-tendered by Cleveland. Chicago's Addison Russell was non-tendered.
*The Rangers are probably going to sign Anthony Rendon. The only possible adjective for Anthony Rendon is "swashbuckling." They may also sign Zack Wheeler. Rangers are clearly tired of 4th-place trophies.
*MLB's five best free agent bargains.
*Astroline returns tomorrow night.
*A Bike Ride Through the Garden of Good and Evil.
*The Story Behind Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night."
*Ponzi Schemes, Private Yachts, and a Missing $250m in Crypto: The Strange Tale of Quadriga.
*A Musical Selection:
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
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:
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:
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Saturday Morning Hot Links
I have a theory about Gerrit Cole and the reaction to Gerrit Cole's post-game [waves hands] thing. Gerrit Cole has known this offseason was coming from the moment he was called up. Cole was drafted by the Yankees - his favorite team growing up - with the 28th overall pick in the 2008 draft and elected instead to go to UCLA. Cole:
We did a ton of thinking - just an absurd amount of thinking about this. My dad has a Ph.D., and he's a real visual kind of guy, so he made charts, and we went over financial figures, comparing people who are drafted in the first round and have somewhat of a baseball career with others who graduated college and the average gross of what they make in baseball and afterward.
So when the Pirates drafted Cole with the 1st Overall pick of the 2011 draft, it paid off to the tune of an $8 million signing bonus. He has known he would be a free agent this offseason since he debuted on June 11, 2013. One playoff appearance with the Pirates and a trade to Houston later, Cole knew he had two chances to win the World Series: 2018 and 2019, because he doesn't know which team he'll play for next year (or, probably, the 6-7 years after). These were his two shots on a team built to win the World Series. He was loose in Game 7 and the call never came.
20 minutes after that loss Cole, who knew that perhaps his best shot had just come and gone and whose entire career was building to this offseason, didn't want to talk. He just watched the Astros lose Game 7 with him, the best pitcher in the game, sitting and watching. How do you talk about that? He didn't want to, so he popped off. Gerrit Cole is a thoughtful, articulate person and made some comments he admittedly later regretted.
The fans, though, pounced. Horse Guy weighed in and made us all look bad - as if we (Astros fans) needed help being embarrassed over the years. Which leads me to my theory:
Fans who were frustrated with losing the World Series, however it shook out, saw Gerrit Cole as an easy target: Boras guy whom pretty much everyone thinks is leaving, wearing a Boras hat (non-issue for me), not wanting to talk and being Obstinate. Flippant, even.
It's way easier to lash out at Cole and not, say:
Alex Bregman: .207/.258/.517 in the World Series, .191/.333/.404 after the ALDS.
Jose Altuve: Three extra-base hits in the World Series
Carlos Correa: .222/.300/.407 in the World Series, .191/.257/.382 with 27K:6BB in the 2019 postseason.
Or the team completely failing to get the Big Hit in Games 1-2 and 6-7.
The Astros were 2-4 this postseason when Justin Verlander started.
Going after Gerrit Cole and taking frustration out on him is way easier than saying that Alex Bregman had a pretty terrible couple of weeks, because that's not something that is easy to say.
*Craig Edwards: Why Gerrit Cole never came into Game 7.
Jake Kaplan had a really good one-on-one with A.J. Hinch about Game 7, asking a lot of tough questions. Hinch:
I don't regret our process. I don't regret our plan. I don't regret trusting the guys that we trusted. I regret the results. And that's hard to explain.
Brian McTaggart has a non-paywalled interview with Hinch that touches on a lot of the same questions.
*FanGraphs: The 2019 Astros joined a list of great failures. Well this is not a fun list, a full and complete list of MLB teams who won 107+ games in the regular season and did not win the World Series:
2001 Mariners (116 wins)
1906 Cubs (115 wins)
1954 Indians (111 wins)
1969 Orioles (109 wins)
2019 Astros (107 wins)
1931 Athletics (107 wins)
The article doesn't get better after that. Don't read it if you don't want to.
*Jeff Luhnow:
When you reach 107 wins during the regular season and go to 117 cumulative, you can't look back and be dissatisfied with that result. We'll take that result but obviously it fell short of what we ultimately wanted and what we said we wanted from the beginning, which is multiple championships. We're not quite there.
*You want to read something sweet? Read Collin McHugh's Twitter thread with his presumptive-farewell to Houston. It's sweet as hell.
Collin McHugh has pitched 800.2IP in the Majors. It breaks down as such:
Colorado: 19IP, 33H/21ER, 8K:2BB, 9.95 ERA / 1.84 WHIP
New York: 28.1IP, 39H/26ER, 20K:11BB, 8.26 ERA / 1.77 WHIP
Houston: 753.1IP, 699H/304ER, 743K:219BB, 3.63 ERA / 1.22 WHIP
Collin McHugh has been a starter and a reliever for the Astros. He has done whatever they asked. McHugh won 19 games in 2015, 20 if you count the 2015 postseason, is a World Series Champion, he started in the postseason, he relieved in the postseason. In the 2018 postseason, McHugh: 4IP, 1H/0ER, 5K:0BB. Collin McHugh did whatever the Astros wanted him to do. I don't know what's in store for Collin McHugh, but I'd be 100% okay with re-signing him. I wish him and his family the best if they don't.
*Robinson Chirinos had a Very Nice Video.
*McTaggart took a look at the Astros' offseason needs and moves.
*Mike Petriello says the AL Cy Young race is a dead heat between Verlander and Cole.
*Two-Time Former Astros Great Carlos Beltran will be the Mets' new manager.
*My favorite non-fiction baseball book is $5.99 for Kindle.
*Vanity Fair: Ten years ago, I called out David Letterman. This month, we sat down to talk.
*ESPN: The ugly, gory, bloody secret life of NHL dentists.
*Check out this NME interview with Michael Kiwanuka.
*A Musical Selection:
We did a ton of thinking - just an absurd amount of thinking about this. My dad has a Ph.D., and he's a real visual kind of guy, so he made charts, and we went over financial figures, comparing people who are drafted in the first round and have somewhat of a baseball career with others who graduated college and the average gross of what they make in baseball and afterward.
So when the Pirates drafted Cole with the 1st Overall pick of the 2011 draft, it paid off to the tune of an $8 million signing bonus. He has known he would be a free agent this offseason since he debuted on June 11, 2013. One playoff appearance with the Pirates and a trade to Houston later, Cole knew he had two chances to win the World Series: 2018 and 2019, because he doesn't know which team he'll play for next year (or, probably, the 6-7 years after). These were his two shots on a team built to win the World Series. He was loose in Game 7 and the call never came.
20 minutes after that loss Cole, who knew that perhaps his best shot had just come and gone and whose entire career was building to this offseason, didn't want to talk. He just watched the Astros lose Game 7 with him, the best pitcher in the game, sitting and watching. How do you talk about that? He didn't want to, so he popped off. Gerrit Cole is a thoughtful, articulate person and made some comments he admittedly later regretted.
The fans, though, pounced. Horse Guy weighed in and made us all look bad - as if we (Astros fans) needed help being embarrassed over the years. Which leads me to my theory:
Fans who were frustrated with losing the World Series, however it shook out, saw Gerrit Cole as an easy target: Boras guy whom pretty much everyone thinks is leaving, wearing a Boras hat (non-issue for me), not wanting to talk and being Obstinate. Flippant, even.
It's way easier to lash out at Cole and not, say:
Alex Bregman: .207/.258/.517 in the World Series, .191/.333/.404 after the ALDS.
Jose Altuve: Three extra-base hits in the World Series
Carlos Correa: .222/.300/.407 in the World Series, .191/.257/.382 with 27K:6BB in the 2019 postseason.
Or the team completely failing to get the Big Hit in Games 1-2 and 6-7.
The Astros were 2-4 this postseason when Justin Verlander started.
Going after Gerrit Cole and taking frustration out on him is way easier than saying that Alex Bregman had a pretty terrible couple of weeks, because that's not something that is easy to say.
*Craig Edwards: Why Gerrit Cole never came into Game 7.
Jake Kaplan had a really good one-on-one with A.J. Hinch about Game 7, asking a lot of tough questions. Hinch:
I don't regret our process. I don't regret our plan. I don't regret trusting the guys that we trusted. I regret the results. And that's hard to explain.
Brian McTaggart has a non-paywalled interview with Hinch that touches on a lot of the same questions.
*FanGraphs: The 2019 Astros joined a list of great failures. Well this is not a fun list, a full and complete list of MLB teams who won 107+ games in the regular season and did not win the World Series:
2001 Mariners (116 wins)
1906 Cubs (115 wins)
1954 Indians (111 wins)
1969 Orioles (109 wins)
2019 Astros (107 wins)
1931 Athletics (107 wins)
The article doesn't get better after that. Don't read it if you don't want to.
*Jeff Luhnow:
When you reach 107 wins during the regular season and go to 117 cumulative, you can't look back and be dissatisfied with that result. We'll take that result but obviously it fell short of what we ultimately wanted and what we said we wanted from the beginning, which is multiple championships. We're not quite there.
*You want to read something sweet? Read Collin McHugh's Twitter thread with his presumptive-farewell to Houston. It's sweet as hell.
Collin McHugh has pitched 800.2IP in the Majors. It breaks down as such:
Colorado: 19IP, 33H/21ER, 8K:2BB, 9.95 ERA / 1.84 WHIP
New York: 28.1IP, 39H/26ER, 20K:11BB, 8.26 ERA / 1.77 WHIP
Houston: 753.1IP, 699H/304ER, 743K:219BB, 3.63 ERA / 1.22 WHIP
Collin McHugh has been a starter and a reliever for the Astros. He has done whatever they asked. McHugh won 19 games in 2015, 20 if you count the 2015 postseason, is a World Series Champion, he started in the postseason, he relieved in the postseason. In the 2018 postseason, McHugh: 4IP, 1H/0ER, 5K:0BB. Collin McHugh did whatever the Astros wanted him to do. I don't know what's in store for Collin McHugh, but I'd be 100% okay with re-signing him. I wish him and his family the best if they don't.
*Robinson Chirinos had a Very Nice Video.
*McTaggart took a look at the Astros' offseason needs and moves.
*Mike Petriello says the AL Cy Young race is a dead heat between Verlander and Cole.
*Two-Time Former Astros Great Carlos Beltran will be the Mets' new manager.
*My favorite non-fiction baseball book is $5.99 for Kindle.
*Vanity Fair: Ten years ago, I called out David Letterman. This month, we sat down to talk.
*ESPN: The ugly, gory, bloody secret life of NHL dentists.
*Check out this NME interview with Michael Kiwanuka.
*A Musical Selection:
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Sunday Morning Hot Links
Jose Urquidy did some damn things, Bregman finally had a big swing, and the Astros have tied up the World Series at two games apiece. Let us pray.
Uh-oh. Best of 3. Watch out 👀— Yulieski Gurriel (@el_yuly10) October 27, 2019
The Projection swings in this series have been wild, man. According to FanGraphs:
Before G1: 60-40 Houston
Before G2: 55-45 Houston
Before G3: 65-35 Washington
Before G4: 52-48 Washington
Before G5: 65-35 Houston
Dan Szymborki has the Series 61-39 Houston. FiveThirtyEight has it 59-41 Houston.
The last two teams that won World Series Games 3&4 after losing Games 1&2 at home were the 1996 Yankees and 1986 Mets. Both of them won the Series.
The last two teams that won World Series Games 3&4 after losing Games 1&2 at home were the 1996 Yankees and 1986 Mets. Both of them won the Series.
The Astros scored eight runs for the 2nd time this entire postseason (ALCS G4). The last time they scored 9+ runs was 2018 ALDS G3. Since the Astros dropped all three 2017 ALCS games in New York, Houston is 8-6 on the road, winners of four of their last five postseason road games.
*Jose Urquidy made his 8th start in MLB in 2019: 5IP, 2H/0ER, 4K:0BB. Urquidy had previously made one start of 5+ IP and 0ER: September 27 against the Angels. Prior to that it was August 26, when he threw 5.2IP, 3H/0ER, 8K:1BB for Round Rock against San Antonio.
Urquidy pitches, by inning:
1st: 11
2nd: 13
3rd: 14
4th: 14
5th: 15
You know, I battled with that decision because going into the game you kind of put in your mind, go as long as he's good, which is what I said. I didn't want to get too greedy with him. His spot was coming up in the order so I was going to hit for him at the beginning of the inning. That inning actually played out how I feared his inning would. If they got things started, I didn't want him to face the middle of the order again. So I tried to be proactive and take him out. The other thing in the back of my mind is how long a series can get and how we might need him again back in Houston if we win the game, and then you get to go back to Houston, then Games 6 and 7 starts to factor in, try to save a few bullets along the way.
Urquidy is the 4th rookie in the last 30 years to throw a scoreless start in the World Series, the second pitcher from Mexico to start and win a World Series game (Fernando Valenzuela), and the second pitcher since 1969 whose first career postseason start was a scoreless outing in the World Series (Jon Lester, 2007). Urquidy:
Yes, a couple moments, a couple moments I was thinking, 'Oh, my God, I'm in the World Series pitching.' It was awesome.
My dream was pitching in the big leagues. I always imagined playing in the World Series and winning the game...Something very big for me, big year for me. And I think I'm proud of myself.
It WAS awesome. Adam Eaton, who was 0x3 with a walk, on facing Urquidy:
When you go in with a game plan of kind of working off his scouting report and he goes the complete opposite with it, by the time you kind of make the adjustment, it's too late. He threw me three sliders in my first at-bat, and he throws it 10% of the time, so I went back scratching my head. He didn't throw me any changeups and he's supposed to throw me 40% changeup. Then I go up my next at-bat and saw a curveball, which he throws 3% of the time, then a fastball and finally threw me a changeup to get me out. When you have guys you haven't seen before, you have to go off the knowledge you have.
Urquidy, whose mother was in Washington:
My mom is someone that I talk to a lot and obviously she helped me out this morning. We had coffee, just gave me some words of encouragement.
Hinch, on Urquidy:
From the very beginning I thought he was calm, I thought he was in control of his stuff. His fastball had a little extra life to it. It's had good life this postseason. And then he just came up with big pitch after big pitch.
The Athletic's Rustin Dodd, on the story behind Urquidy's World Series Moment.
Chandler Rome: The Astros almost didn't even call Urquidy up in September.
*Will Harris cleaned up Josh James' mess with two outs in seven pitches. Harris has come into a game this postseason with 12 runners on base (not all at once, that would be weird). Eleven of them have walked back to the dugout after the inning ended. MLB.com's Joe Trezza: Houston's bullpen in Game 4 set them up perfectly for Game 5.
*Hector Rondon played with fire, giving up three balls over 99mph off the bat (two of them were outs).
*Hector Rondon played with fire, giving up three balls over 99mph off the bat (two of them were outs).
*This postseason, 33 of the Astros' 60 runs (55%) have come via the home run.
*MLB.com: 19 key facts & figures from Game 4.
*Alex Bregman hit the 20th Grand Slam in World Series history, first since Addison Russell did it for the Cubs in 2016 World Series G6. Before that it was Paul Konerko in the 7th Inning of 2005 World Series G2 off of Chad Qualls. It was just the 2nd postseason Grand Slam in Astros history - Lance Berkman did it in the 8th Inning of 2005 NLDS G4, the 18-inning 7-6 win over Atlanta.
I think tonight was really the first time we really did what the Houston Astros offense can do.
ESPN's Jeff Passan: Alex Bregman's mic-drop grand slam means that the Real Astros have shown up. Passan:
He is also, in many ways, the Astros' metronome. When he lags, they lag. When he speeds up, they speed up. And his pace in an 8-1 throttling of the Washington Nationals on Saturday that evened the World Series was breakneck. When Bregman suddenly looked like his regular-season self, the Astros followed suit.
Bregman, ALCS-WS G3: 4x31, 1HR, 3RBI.
Bregman, WS Game 4: 3x5, 1HR, 5RBI.
Correa, after Fernando Rodney intentionally walked Michael Brantley to face Alex Bregman in Game 3: "Oh no, you don't do that to him."
Jenny Dial Creech: The Astros have their MVP back.
Bregman is the 3rd Astro in postseason history with 5RBI in a game, joining Carlos Beltran in 2004 NLDS G5 and Morgan Ensberg in 2005 NLDS G1.
Bregman is the 3rd Astro in postseason history with 5RBI in a game, joining Carlos Beltran in 2004 NLDS G5 and Morgan Ensberg in 2005 NLDS G1.
*The Astros got 13 hits, drew seven walks, and got five hits (5x13) w/RISP. 2-8 in the lineup went for a combined 13x30, 3K:5BB.
*Robinson Chirinos is the 6th catcher in MLB history to homer in back-to-back World Series games (Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, Roy Campanella, Gene Tenace, Ted Simmons). Chirinos:
I'm working so hard in the cage to be consistent, and I put a good swing to the ball [in Game 3]. I told everybody here I put myself in a good position. I was swinging at strikes, I was staying to the middle of the field and I did it again tonight.
Jake Kaplan: Chirinos has become an unlikely World Series Hero for Houston.
*Jose Altuve went 2x5 with a run scored and has gotten safely on base in 24 straight postseason games dating back to 2017 World Series G6. In those 24 postseason games, Altuve: .320/.376/.580, 11K:9BB, 6HR. In 15 postseason games in 2019, Altuve is hitting .365/.412/.698.
*Jose Altuve went 2x5 with a run scored and has gotten safely on base in 24 straight postseason games dating back to 2017 World Series G6. In those 24 postseason games, Altuve: .320/.376/.580, 11K:9BB, 6HR. In 15 postseason games in 2019, Altuve is hitting .365/.412/.698.
*Carlos Correa was 0x2 but drew three walks, a career postseason-high. He had drawn two walks in three other postseason games (2018 ALDS G3, 2018 ALCS G1, 2019 ALCS G5). He had three walks in 14 postseason games in 2019 prior to Game 4. It was just the second time this postseason Correa did not strike out. Correa:
What's important now is that we got our swagger back, and we're playing good. And we are dangerous when we feel like this.
What's important now is that we got our swagger back, and we're playing good. And we are dangerous when we feel like this.
*Yuli Gurriel went 1x4 with a walk, but also struck out twice, his 4th straight postseason game with a strikeout after not striking out once in 15 postseason games stretching from 2018 ALCS G2 through 2019 ALCS G6. In 41 career postseason games, Yuli has struck out 2+ times in just four.
*Apparently the Astros didn't have a players-only meeting after Game 2.
*SI's Emma Baccellieri: The Nationals' slogan is "finish the fight," but it feels like they're just trying to stay in it.
*New York Post's Ken Davidoff: Joe Espada's managerial prospects are on the rise.
*Keep heckling Harvey Weinstein.
*A Musical Selection:
*SI's Emma Baccellieri: The Nationals' slogan is "finish the fight," but it feels like they're just trying to stay in it.
*New York Post's Ken Davidoff: Joe Espada's managerial prospects are on the rise.
*Keep heckling Harvey Weinstein.
*A Musical Selection:
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Saturday Morning Hot Links
Well that was more like it...sort of. Still, four runs felt like a week's worth, and even some hits that had no business getting down found their way between a few of Washington's 17 fielders. Astros win 4-1. Nationals lead the Series 2-1. Game 4 is tonight.
*FanGraphs now has the Series at 52-48 Nationals. Dan Szymborski says it's 62-38 Nationals and that the two highest-percentage outcomes are Nationals in 5 (26.0%) or Astros in 7 (24.6%). FiveThirtyEights gives it 68-32 Nationals. Tonight's game is just as massive as Game 3 was. If the Astros can tie it up tonight, it makes the series a best-of-three with two of those at Houston. The last team to be down 2-1 in a World Series and win it: the 2017 Houston Astros.
*Richard Justice: Why Game 4 is so crucial.
*It's the first time since 1996 that the road team won the first three games of the World Series. That's the one where the Yankees were down 0-2 to the Braves, and won it in six games. 13 facts & figures from Game 3.
*Altuve:
We knew this game was real important for us and I know we're going to get some momentum going and win a lot of games.
*Hinch, on the win:
It kind of re-establishes us in this series. When they come into our ballpark and beat Gerrit and Justin, that's a big punch. They threw a big punch at the beginning of this series. Now we've got enough experience and enough feel about how series go that we knew - we win today, get a little mojo back on our side, get a little bit of momentum, start to swing the bats a little bit better, we're not afraid of playing in any venue. The fans here were incredible and just alive, like you would expect in the World Series. And our players thrive on that, too.
Tom Verducci, on how A.J. Hinch out-managed Dave Martinez. Verlander:
Our manager managed a hell of a game.
Robinson Chirinos, who homered off the foul pole:
I feel like in the postseason, we're trying too much, trying to be a hero. That's something we talked about on the plane...We're like, 'Let's have a good approach, good at-bats as a team and don't try to do too much. Just keep the line moving. Don't swing for a fence. Just go the other way and make sure we're seeing the ball and swinging at strikes, and I feel like we did that tonight.
Reddick, on his RBI double that left the bat at 62.1mph:
I think it was a big sigh of relief for us, because we have been dealing with so many hard-hit balls [for outs] and been frustrated by it. It was a finally-it-went-our-way moment to get us off our butt, so to speak, and get us moving forward.
Jenny Dial Creech: Reddick provided the spark for the Astros in Game 3.
After 41 swings-and-misses in the first two games, the Astros came up empty on swings just ten times in Game 3. Houston was 4x10 w/RISP in Game 3 - Washington was 0x10. The four Astros stolen bases set a franchise playoff record.
*Bregman was 0x5 with a strikeout to continue his miserable ALCS/World Series. He's 1x14 w/RISP in the postseason But he's smoking the ball. Last night in the 5th Bregman hit into a lineout with an exit velocity of 97.4mph with an expected batting average of .370, in the 6th he hit a ball 102mph off the bat. In the 9th he lined out to short with a 99mph exit velocity that had an expected batting average of .850. The hits should come.
Bregman, 2019: .296/.423/.592, 41HR, 83K:119BB, .281 BABIP
Bregman, ALDS: .353/.450/.647, 1HR, 6K:3BB, .500 BABIP
Bregman, ALCS: .167/.423/.222, 0HR, 2K:7BB, .188 BABIP
Bregman, WS: .077/.143/.308, 1HR, 4K:1BB, .000 BABIP
Yep, every ball that Bregman has hit in the first three games of the World Series either left the park or was hit to a defender.
*Altuve was 2x5 with a pair of doubles, and scored two of the Astros' four runs. He has at least one hit in 13 of the Astros' 14 postseason games in 2019 - ALCS G5 being the only hitless postseason game for Altuve (and even then he drew two walks). He's hitting .362/.413/.724 with 5K:5BB in October.
*Michael Brantley was 2x4 with 2RBI. Since hitting .125/.125/.125 through the first four games of the ALDS, Brantley is hitting .368/.467/.447
*Will Harris, 2019 postseason: 8.1IP, 4H/0ER, 10K:1BB.
*Greinke: 4.2IP, 7H/1ER, 6K:3BB, 95 pitches. Hinch, on Greinke:
This guy doesn't scare off. This is not somebody that I have any fear whatsoever is not going to be able to handle the stage or the magnitude. This guy has been good for a really long time.
*FanGraphs' Craig Edwards says Game 3 came down to pitchers hitting.
*ESPN's Jeff Passan: How the Astros just gave this World Series a shot at greatness:
Beyond being the first World Series game in the nation's capital since 1933, Game 3 rekindled the notion of baseball being played until the cusp of November. It planted dreams of a seven-game fracas and guaranteed the Astros could start Gerrit Cole in Game 5, which, at least until the Nationals beat him in the first game of the Series, was enough to almost guarantee a Justin Verlander start in Game 6.
*Jose Urquidy will start Game 4 tonight (7:07pm Central). How long will he pitch? Urquidy hasn't thrown 6+ IP in a month. Hinch:
He can go as long as he's good. I don't have necessarily a predetermined plan on how many innings, how many pitches.
Patrick Corbin will take the mound for the Nationals. He started NLDS G1 and threw 6IP, 3H/1ER, 9K:5BB. He started again in NLCS G4 and threw 5IP, 4H/4ER, 12K:3BB, and has made four relief appearances in the 2019 postseason, getting blown up in NLDS G3.
Jake Kaplan: Why the Astros are giving the ball to Jose Urquidy.
*ESPN's David Schoenfield: How many future Hall of Famers are playing in this World Series?
*MLB is still reviewing the Taubman Incident (which sounds like a Robert Ludlum novel). Rob Manfred:
I will say that there are a variety of issues. I'm not going to narrow the statement. We're going to continue to review the situation, have conversations with Crane. It's one thing to comment and investigate for 24 hours on a specific incident...I didn't say that there is going to be further action, but there are things we want to talk to the Astros about, continuing to have those conversations and gather information. I think it was important that they recognize that they had made a mistake. They issued an apology and they dealt with the individual situation in a decisive way, and those are all positives...I think when we get to the point when we have something more to say, it'll be public. Again, I don't want the expectation that this piece of it is going to be as quick as the last piece, because there is more to it.
What more could there be? Well in two pieces yesterday - one by former Chronicle reporter Evan Drellich and one by ESPN's Jeff Passan - the entire character and culture of the front office under Luhnow and Crane was called into question.
One unnamed source told The Athletic the culture in the Astros' front office is:
Toxic. Eats you alive. Cutthroat. Secretive. Not fun. But, winning, being first, innovative.
One GM labeled the Astros' initial actions this week as "The most Astros thing ever."
Passan:
Around the game, shots of schadenfreude have been chased by I-told-you-so's. Contempt for the Astros runs deep - and has well before this incident. Jealousy breeds some of it. The organization's arrogance accounts for the rest. The Astros painted themselves as a disrupter and reveled in the commotion. They lived with the perception that they didn't understand people. They fed their process, followed it with fealty, doubled down. They believed in it, and they never had much of a reason not to, not until a week ago, when the assistant GM high on the feeling of winning the pennant opened his mouth, and two days later when Luhnow and the Astros forgot to abide by that essential principle that has guided them for so long: Bad information leads to bad decisions.
The Drellich piece is paywalled (The Athletic, and whatnot). The Passan piece is free. I would encourage you to read it. Just because facts aren't flattering doesn't make them false, and it's worth knowing what the general tenor around the game is of the Houston Astros.
It can feel like the media is piling on with the Taubman Incident. They're not. Well, maybe some are, but it's not piling on to lend context to this bombshell of a week the Astros are experiencing off the field. There are things that I know that I didn't put on this hellscape corner of the internet, simply because it wouldn't make a ton of sense to just blurt it out, or I was asked not to post it. But things that I, and others who write here, have learned over the course of the last 6-7 years makes what happened with Taubman not all that surprising. And if I know these things, you better believe people who get paid to know these things do, too. What happened with Taubman provided an opportunity baseball writers to work those little tidbits in and assign it to this story because there is context there.
*Yahoo's Hannah Keyser: The Astros say they don't have a culture problem. Here's why they're wrong.
*SI's Emma Baccellieri: What reason is there to trust Rob Manfred?
*The Hardball Times: Racism: The Original Performance Enhancer.
*Brad Jordan - aka Scarface, who has probably done it all, homey, believe me - is running for Houston City Council, where everything is everything fo sheezy.
*A Musical Selection:
*FanGraphs now has the Series at 52-48 Nationals. Dan Szymborski says it's 62-38 Nationals and that the two highest-percentage outcomes are Nationals in 5 (26.0%) or Astros in 7 (24.6%). FiveThirtyEights gives it 68-32 Nationals. Tonight's game is just as massive as Game 3 was. If the Astros can tie it up tonight, it makes the series a best-of-three with two of those at Houston. The last team to be down 2-1 in a World Series and win it: the 2017 Houston Astros.
*Richard Justice: Why Game 4 is so crucial.
*It's the first time since 1996 that the road team won the first three games of the World Series. That's the one where the Yankees were down 0-2 to the Braves, and won it in six games. 13 facts & figures from Game 3.
*Altuve:
We knew this game was real important for us and I know we're going to get some momentum going and win a lot of games.
*Hinch, on the win:
It kind of re-establishes us in this series. When they come into our ballpark and beat Gerrit and Justin, that's a big punch. They threw a big punch at the beginning of this series. Now we've got enough experience and enough feel about how series go that we knew - we win today, get a little mojo back on our side, get a little bit of momentum, start to swing the bats a little bit better, we're not afraid of playing in any venue. The fans here were incredible and just alive, like you would expect in the World Series. And our players thrive on that, too.
Tom Verducci, on how A.J. Hinch out-managed Dave Martinez. Verlander:
Our manager managed a hell of a game.
Robinson Chirinos, who homered off the foul pole:
I feel like in the postseason, we're trying too much, trying to be a hero. That's something we talked about on the plane...We're like, 'Let's have a good approach, good at-bats as a team and don't try to do too much. Just keep the line moving. Don't swing for a fence. Just go the other way and make sure we're seeing the ball and swinging at strikes, and I feel like we did that tonight.
Reddick, on his RBI double that left the bat at 62.1mph:
I think it was a big sigh of relief for us, because we have been dealing with so many hard-hit balls [for outs] and been frustrated by it. It was a finally-it-went-our-way moment to get us off our butt, so to speak, and get us moving forward.
Jenny Dial Creech: Reddick provided the spark for the Astros in Game 3.
After 41 swings-and-misses in the first two games, the Astros came up empty on swings just ten times in Game 3. Houston was 4x10 w/RISP in Game 3 - Washington was 0x10. The four Astros stolen bases set a franchise playoff record.
*Bregman was 0x5 with a strikeout to continue his miserable ALCS/World Series. He's 1x14 w/RISP in the postseason But he's smoking the ball. Last night in the 5th Bregman hit into a lineout with an exit velocity of 97.4mph with an expected batting average of .370, in the 6th he hit a ball 102mph off the bat. In the 9th he lined out to short with a 99mph exit velocity that had an expected batting average of .850. The hits should come.
Bregman, 2019: .296/.423/.592, 41HR, 83K:119BB, .281 BABIP
Bregman, ALDS: .353/.450/.647, 1HR, 6K:3BB, .500 BABIP
Bregman, ALCS: .167/.423/.222, 0HR, 2K:7BB, .188 BABIP
Bregman, WS: .077/.143/.308, 1HR, 4K:1BB, .000 BABIP
Yep, every ball that Bregman has hit in the first three games of the World Series either left the park or was hit to a defender.
*Altuve was 2x5 with a pair of doubles, and scored two of the Astros' four runs. He has at least one hit in 13 of the Astros' 14 postseason games in 2019 - ALCS G5 being the only hitless postseason game for Altuve (and even then he drew two walks). He's hitting .362/.413/.724 with 5K:5BB in October.
*Michael Brantley was 2x4 with 2RBI. Since hitting .125/.125/.125 through the first four games of the ALDS, Brantley is hitting .368/.467/.447
*Will Harris, 2019 postseason: 8.1IP, 4H/0ER, 10K:1BB.
*Greinke: 4.2IP, 7H/1ER, 6K:3BB, 95 pitches. Hinch, on Greinke:
This guy doesn't scare off. This is not somebody that I have any fear whatsoever is not going to be able to handle the stage or the magnitude. This guy has been good for a really long time.
*FanGraphs' Craig Edwards says Game 3 came down to pitchers hitting.
*ESPN's Jeff Passan: How the Astros just gave this World Series a shot at greatness:
Beyond being the first World Series game in the nation's capital since 1933, Game 3 rekindled the notion of baseball being played until the cusp of November. It planted dreams of a seven-game fracas and guaranteed the Astros could start Gerrit Cole in Game 5, which, at least until the Nationals beat him in the first game of the Series, was enough to almost guarantee a Justin Verlander start in Game 6.
*Jose Urquidy will start Game 4 tonight (7:07pm Central). How long will he pitch? Urquidy hasn't thrown 6+ IP in a month. Hinch:
He can go as long as he's good. I don't have necessarily a predetermined plan on how many innings, how many pitches.
Patrick Corbin will take the mound for the Nationals. He started NLDS G1 and threw 6IP, 3H/1ER, 9K:5BB. He started again in NLCS G4 and threw 5IP, 4H/4ER, 12K:3BB, and has made four relief appearances in the 2019 postseason, getting blown up in NLDS G3.
Jake Kaplan: Why the Astros are giving the ball to Jose Urquidy.
*ESPN's David Schoenfield: How many future Hall of Famers are playing in this World Series?
*MLB is still reviewing the Taubman Incident (which sounds like a Robert Ludlum novel). Rob Manfred:
I will say that there are a variety of issues. I'm not going to narrow the statement. We're going to continue to review the situation, have conversations with Crane. It's one thing to comment and investigate for 24 hours on a specific incident...I didn't say that there is going to be further action, but there are things we want to talk to the Astros about, continuing to have those conversations and gather information. I think it was important that they recognize that they had made a mistake. They issued an apology and they dealt with the individual situation in a decisive way, and those are all positives...I think when we get to the point when we have something more to say, it'll be public. Again, I don't want the expectation that this piece of it is going to be as quick as the last piece, because there is more to it.
What more could there be? Well in two pieces yesterday - one by former Chronicle reporter Evan Drellich and one by ESPN's Jeff Passan - the entire character and culture of the front office under Luhnow and Crane was called into question.
One unnamed source told The Athletic the culture in the Astros' front office is:
Toxic. Eats you alive. Cutthroat. Secretive. Not fun. But, winning, being first, innovative.
One GM labeled the Astros' initial actions this week as "The most Astros thing ever."
Passan:
Around the game, shots of schadenfreude have been chased by I-told-you-so's. Contempt for the Astros runs deep - and has well before this incident. Jealousy breeds some of it. The organization's arrogance accounts for the rest. The Astros painted themselves as a disrupter and reveled in the commotion. They lived with the perception that they didn't understand people. They fed their process, followed it with fealty, doubled down. They believed in it, and they never had much of a reason not to, not until a week ago, when the assistant GM high on the feeling of winning the pennant opened his mouth, and two days later when Luhnow and the Astros forgot to abide by that essential principle that has guided them for so long: Bad information leads to bad decisions.
The Drellich piece is paywalled (The Athletic, and whatnot). The Passan piece is free. I would encourage you to read it. Just because facts aren't flattering doesn't make them false, and it's worth knowing what the general tenor around the game is of the Houston Astros.
It can feel like the media is piling on with the Taubman Incident. They're not. Well, maybe some are, but it's not piling on to lend context to this bombshell of a week the Astros are experiencing off the field. There are things that I know that I didn't put on this hellscape corner of the internet, simply because it wouldn't make a ton of sense to just blurt it out, or I was asked not to post it. But things that I, and others who write here, have learned over the course of the last 6-7 years makes what happened with Taubman not all that surprising. And if I know these things, you better believe people who get paid to know these things do, too. What happened with Taubman provided an opportunity baseball writers to work those little tidbits in and assign it to this story because there is context there.
*Yahoo's Hannah Keyser: The Astros say they don't have a culture problem. Here's why they're wrong.
*SI's Emma Baccellieri: What reason is there to trust Rob Manfred?
*The Hardball Times: Racism: The Original Performance Enhancer.
*Brad Jordan - aka Scarface, who has probably done it all, homey, believe me - is running for Houston City Council, where everything is everything fo sheezy.
*A Musical Selection:
Friday, October 25, 2019
Friday Morning Hot Links
Well the Astros thankfully didn't lose last night. I don't know what it is, but I still think the Astros win this series. Maybe that's my liver crying out for more punishment, I don't know. The Nationals have taken every advantage the Astros have given them, but the Astros lost both of those games rather than the Nationals winning. First pitch is at 7:07pm Central.
*SI's Tom Verducci: The Nationals have simply forgotten how to lose. Okay.
*ESPN: For the first time all season the Astros look beatable - very beatable.
*Mike Petriello, on Washington's Game 3 starter Anibal Sanchez and how he doesn't give up hard contact. Well the joke's on him because the Astros' offense has been, oh I see.
*The Nationals practiced staging a trophy presentation.
*A.J. Hinch:
Our guys believe we're going to win the World Series.
*A.J. Hinch:
Our guys believe we're going to win the World Series.
*MLB.com's David Adler did the math on the possibility of an Astros' comeback, and what needs to happen tonight in order to preserve that possibility.
*McTaggart: Three ways the Astros can climb out of an 0-2 hole.
*Without a DH for the next three games, will Yordan play in the outfield?
*None of the three hits Ryan Pressly allowed had higher than a 48% chance of actually being hits. He got soft-contacted to death.
*It might rain during Game 4.
*McTaggart: Three ways the Astros can climb out of an 0-2 hole.
*Without a DH for the next three games, will Yordan play in the outfield?
*None of the three hits Ryan Pressly allowed had higher than a 48% chance of actually being hits. He got soft-contacted to death.
*It might rain during Game 4.
*SI's Tom Verducci: The Nationals have simply forgotten how to lose. Okay.
*ESPN: For the first time all season the Astros look beatable - very beatable.
*Mike Petriello, on Washington's Game 3 starter Anibal Sanchez and how he doesn't give up hard contact. Well the joke's on him because the Astros' offense has been, oh I see.
*Brandon Taubman was fired yesterday. This was the biggest story of the day, as the Astros have to win at least two of the next three games in Washington in order to keep this fever dream season alive. Many people weighed in, because there was literally nothing else to talk about. I had some thoughts.
Luhnow, in an 18-minute press conference in Washington, yesterday:
[Taubman's] behavior was inappropriate and not representative of who the Astros are and our culture and what we stand for.
Luhnow was asked if he personally reached out to apologize to Stephanie Apstein, he said he was busy and didn't have time. She was sitting in the room.
Jake Kaplan wonders if anything is coming down the pike for the tone-deaf initial response on Monday. If Brandon Taubman's wreckage is floated out into the Ship Channel on a flaming trash barge (but, like, respectfully) and the Astros win another World Series despite it, sign me up. Jenny Dial Creech: The Astros took a step in the right direction.
*Ben Reiter ranked his Top 50 Free Agents, with the team that offers the best fit in 2020.
1. Gerrit Cole (Yankees)
24. Will Harris (Astros)
27. Michael Pineda (Astros)
34. Robinson Chirinos (Astros)
40. Wade Miley (Twins)
*The Nationals believe they were runners-up to Tampa in the Charlie Morton sweepstakes last winter.
*Vice: Everything we know about the 39 bodies found in a truck east of London.
*A Musical Selection:
*Ben Reiter ranked his Top 50 Free Agents, with the team that offers the best fit in 2020.
1. Gerrit Cole (Yankees)
24. Will Harris (Astros)
27. Michael Pineda (Astros)
34. Robinson Chirinos (Astros)
40. Wade Miley (Twins)
*The Nationals believe they were runners-up to Tampa in the Charlie Morton sweepstakes last winter.
*Vice: Everything we know about the 39 bodies found in a truck east of London.
*A Musical Selection:
Thursday, October 3, 2019
Thursday Morning Hot Links
*Well now we know: The Astros will start a five-game series at home tomorrow against Florida Men at [giggles] 1pm. The A's have the longest winner-take-all postseason game losing streak, at nine games. Six of those were at home.
More of this to come tomorrow, but an early analysis of Sarasota vs. Houston:
-The Rays won four out of seven games against Houston in 2019.
-The Astros outscored the Rays 40-27 in 2019.
-Tampa won three of those four games to open the 2019 season.
-The Astros scored nine runs in those four games, and scored four runs in the last three games of that opening series combined.
-The second HOU/TBR series was Aug 27-29. Houston won 15-1, won 8-6, and lost 9-8.
-The Astros are 5-12 at Tropicana Field since the beginning of the 2015 season. They're 2-6 at West Lakeland in 2018-2019.
FiveThirtyEight currently has it at 70% that the Astros make it to the ALCS. Bovada has the line at -125 that the Astros win the AL Pennant.
*There's a playoff rally today at City Hall in Houston at 10am. It's free. Reid Ryan, Jeff Luhnow, Chris Devenski, and Josh Reddick, and the Alien will be there.
*The Astros are set to open the ALDS with Verlander-Cole-Greinke. Hinch:
Not really news breaking when it comes to those three. I'm sure everybody could have predicted how we were going to go, and I wasn't going to commit to a Game 4 quite yet. All those guys are prepared and ready to go.
As for Correa, Hinch:
He looks great and is moving around in normal fashion, and I expect him to play on Friday.
Also: Framber, Cionel, Cy Sneed, and Joe Biagini were sent home. Biagini will remain on a throwing program in case he is needed in a later series.
It's worth mentioning, for the first note, that Verlander-Cole-Greinke lined up in the rotation seven times for 21 games, beginning on August 21. The Astros went 17-4 with those three, playing against Detroit, Anaheim, Tampa, Toronto, Milwaukee, Seattle, Oakland, Kansas City, Arlington, Anaheim, and Seattle
Looks like it'll be:
G1: Verlander v Glasnow
G2: Cole v Snell
G3: Greinke v Morton
*Chandler Rome has a good story on the relationship between Justin Verlander and Robinson Chirinos, the first personal catcher he has ever had. Hinch, on Chirinos:
He's going to be the calm one in the moment, maybe even the more reasonable one in the moment. That Midas touch he has, to be the calmest heartbeat, is very valuable to me.
*Zack Greinke threw four simulated innings in the bullpen today to stay fresh in the 11 days from his last start of the regular season to ALDS G3.
*Bregman admitted he gets "jittery" in the few days after the regular season and before the playoffs start, but "I'd rather take batting practice...and wait three days than play in that Wild Card game."
*Hinch:
Just things that add to a culture of playing 162 games you can't fake, you can't pretend. It's part of your DNA or not. [Bregman's] as authentic a baseball player as I've ever been around and as likable as anybody on our team. The other side probably feels a little differently. He plays with a little chip on his shoulder that irritates some people. I love that about him, and he owns it and doesn't run from it.
*"Everyone thinks I'm way fatter than I really am." Hunter Atkins has a great profile on sneaky good Will Harris.
*Jim Crane said he'd like to re-sign Gerrit Cole, but the Unofficial Luxury Tax will be an issue. Crane:
We'll see where we end up after the year. We may make a run at it. We're not sure yet. We're going to wait and see what else unfolds and who else is going to stay on the team. There's a lot of moves that Jeff will probably make in the offseason. We're going to keep a very close eye on it, communicate and see where that ends up. He's had a great year. He's young and he's likely going to command a big salary.
Yes, that's all true. But it's true because Gerrit Cole is the best option right now if you need a pitcher and heywhaddayaknow the Astros will need a pitcher. Feel free to play around with Spotrac if you want to see how the numbers work out. If the Astros go over $208m in 2020, they would pay a 20% tax on the overage. So let's say the Astros hit $215m on payroll in 2020, that's a $1.4m penalty the Astros have to pay in order to win another 106+ games.
*Braves manager Brian Snitker, on picking Dallas Keuchel to start NLDS G1 against St. Louis:
It's why we got him. He brought instant credibility. He's been through this war. He's a World Series champion. And I think when we signed him, we envisioned him making this opening start.
*Baseball Watching Today:
-St. Louis at Atlanta: 4:02pm Central
-Washington at Los Angeles: 7:37pm Cental
*Inside MLB's war on high-tech sign-stealing.
*Meet Pete. Pete is currently in the process of watching the extremely good show Gilmore Girls. Without sleeping. For charity.
*A Musical Selection:
More of this to come tomorrow, but an early analysis of Sarasota vs. Houston:
-The Rays won four out of seven games against Houston in 2019.
-The Astros outscored the Rays 40-27 in 2019.
-Tampa won three of those four games to open the 2019 season.
-The Astros scored nine runs in those four games, and scored four runs in the last three games of that opening series combined.
-The second HOU/TBR series was Aug 27-29. Houston won 15-1, won 8-6, and lost 9-8.
-The Astros are 5-12 at Tropicana Field since the beginning of the 2015 season. They're 2-6 at West Lakeland in 2018-2019.
FiveThirtyEight currently has it at 70% that the Astros make it to the ALCS. Bovada has the line at -125 that the Astros win the AL Pennant.
*There's a playoff rally today at City Hall in Houston at 10am. It's free. Reid Ryan, Jeff Luhnow, Chris Devenski, and Josh Reddick, and the Alien will be there.
*The Astros are set to open the ALDS with Verlander-Cole-Greinke. Hinch:
Not really news breaking when it comes to those three. I'm sure everybody could have predicted how we were going to go, and I wasn't going to commit to a Game 4 quite yet. All those guys are prepared and ready to go.
As for Correa, Hinch:
He looks great and is moving around in normal fashion, and I expect him to play on Friday.
Also: Framber, Cionel, Cy Sneed, and Joe Biagini were sent home. Biagini will remain on a throwing program in case he is needed in a later series.
It's worth mentioning, for the first note, that Verlander-Cole-Greinke lined up in the rotation seven times for 21 games, beginning on August 21. The Astros went 17-4 with those three, playing against Detroit, Anaheim, Tampa, Toronto, Milwaukee, Seattle, Oakland, Kansas City, Arlington, Anaheim, and Seattle
Looks like it'll be:
G1: Verlander v Glasnow
G2: Cole v Snell
G3: Greinke v Morton
*Chandler Rome has a good story on the relationship between Justin Verlander and Robinson Chirinos, the first personal catcher he has ever had. Hinch, on Chirinos:
He's going to be the calm one in the moment, maybe even the more reasonable one in the moment. That Midas touch he has, to be the calmest heartbeat, is very valuable to me.
*Zack Greinke threw four simulated innings in the bullpen today to stay fresh in the 11 days from his last start of the regular season to ALDS G3.
*Bregman admitted he gets "jittery" in the few days after the regular season and before the playoffs start, but "I'd rather take batting practice...and wait three days than play in that Wild Card game."
*Hinch:
Just things that add to a culture of playing 162 games you can't fake, you can't pretend. It's part of your DNA or not. [Bregman's] as authentic a baseball player as I've ever been around and as likable as anybody on our team. The other side probably feels a little differently. He plays with a little chip on his shoulder that irritates some people. I love that about him, and he owns it and doesn't run from it.
*"Everyone thinks I'm way fatter than I really am." Hunter Atkins has a great profile on sneaky good Will Harris.
*Jim Crane said he'd like to re-sign Gerrit Cole, but the Unofficial Luxury Tax will be an issue. Crane:
We'll see where we end up after the year. We may make a run at it. We're not sure yet. We're going to wait and see what else unfolds and who else is going to stay on the team. There's a lot of moves that Jeff will probably make in the offseason. We're going to keep a very close eye on it, communicate and see where that ends up. He's had a great year. He's young and he's likely going to command a big salary.
Yes, that's all true. But it's true because Gerrit Cole is the best option right now if you need a pitcher and heywhaddayaknow the Astros will need a pitcher. Feel free to play around with Spotrac if you want to see how the numbers work out. If the Astros go over $208m in 2020, they would pay a 20% tax on the overage. So let's say the Astros hit $215m on payroll in 2020, that's a $1.4m penalty the Astros have to pay in order to win another 106+ games.
*Braves manager Brian Snitker, on picking Dallas Keuchel to start NLDS G1 against St. Louis:
It's why we got him. He brought instant credibility. He's been through this war. He's a World Series champion. And I think when we signed him, we envisioned him making this opening start.
*Baseball Watching Today:
-St. Louis at Atlanta: 4:02pm Central
-Washington at Los Angeles: 7:37pm Cental
*Inside MLB's war on high-tech sign-stealing.
*Meet Pete. Pete is currently in the process of watching the extremely good show Gilmore Girls. Without sleeping. For charity.
*A Musical Selection:
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Sunday Morning Hot Links
The Astros needed a pinch-hit jack from Yordan as they scored late again to beat the Royals, again. Houston is 97-53. The Astros have won two in a row, and are 7-3 in their last ten, and are 19-8 since the previous time they dropped three of four to the A's. There are 12 regular season games left. Houston needs to go 7-5 in order to set a franchise record for wins.
*The Yankees won, the Dodgers lost, so...
New York (98-52): -
Houston (97-53): -1
Los Angeles (96-54): -2
*Zack Greinke threw 6IP, 6H/1ER, 7K:0BB. After walking seven batters in his first 19IP as an Astro, Greinke has now walked one batter in his last 30.1IP. Greinke mixed in some pitches in the high-50s/low-60s. Hinch:
I've never seen one that slow and I don't think he's thrown that many that slow. He threw a couple of good ones. It was a game plan that he was going to do against some of these guys who were a little jumpy at the plate. It was very, very effective.
Greinke's first six starts with Houston: 37.1IP, 41H/16ER, 27K:8BB, 5HR. 3.86 ERA / 1.31 WHIP.
Greinke's last two starts with Houston: 12IP, 8H/1ER, 11K:0BB, 0HR. 0.75 ERA / 0.67 WHIP.
Greinke:
I had planned on using the curve, and it was pretty good at the start, so I used it a little more than I planned on. It's one of my better pitches, so I thought it would be a good option. I just threw what was called for the most part. I thought everything was good today, except for a couple of mistakes.
Greinke has now recorded a Win over all 30 MLB teams, joining Max Scherzer as the only active pitchers with the achievement. He also has recorded a Win in 29 ballparks. The only active ballparks in which he has not won are: Fenway, Camden Yards, Tropicana Field, and Yankee Stadium.
*Kyle Tucker was 4x4 with a walk and an RBI. It's obviously a career-high in hits, his 3rd multi-hit game of the season (month), 4th of his career. Tucker raised his OPS from .757 to .918 in one game. Hinch:
Watching [Tucker] behind the scenes, I think he's much more prepared for the opportunity this time. We told him that he'd get more opportunities if he produced more. He's doing his part and we're doing our part.
Which seems...never mind.
Chandler Rome notes that Tucker is the youngest Astro to reach base five times in a game since Terry Puhl in 1978.
*Robinson Chirinos drew three walks for the third time in his career and the first time since he drew four walks against Seattle on June 6. That's five walks in Chirinos' last two games (he got the first game of the Royals series off because Cole was pitching). He had drawn five walks since July 22 (107 PAs).
*Alex Bregman hit his 36th home run of the season and also drew three walks.
*Yordan Alvarez hit his 25th home run in his 76th game. Game of other significant players' 25th home career home run:
Aaron Judge: 85
Albert Pujols: 101
Mike Trout: 128
Miguel Cabrera: 136
Alex Rodriguez: 141
Barry Bonds: 175
Jeff Bagwell: 254
Bregman, Springer, Altuve, Gurriel, Yordan. The Astros have never had five 25+ HR hitters in a season before 2019.
*SI's Tom Verducci says Yordan is the 4th-best rookie of 2019...
*The current plan for Carlos Correa is to rejoin the team when the Astros open a two-game series against Arlington on Tuesday and go finish up the rehab with Houston. Hinch:
It will be borderline like a Spring Training schedule with in-season responsibilities. He may play six innings and come out, even if it's not a blowout.
Ryan Pressly and Brad Peacock are also apparently feeling great, and getting ready to go.
*Fayetteville got shutout for 20 consecutive innings, losing 2-0 to Wilmington and ending their inaugural season at Segra Stadium.
*Wade Miley takes the mound to try to complete the sweep of the Royals before the Astros get two days off this week. The last 15 batters Miley has faced:
Single: 10
Double: 2
Walk: 2
Home Run: 1
Out: 1
*The Reds allowed one baserunner all night...and lost.
*Outside: The not-so-new rules of healthy eating.
*Vice: Amazon's "Undone" is everything streaming tv should be.
*A Musical Selection:
The Hot Links Playlist on Spotify is now at 190 songs and twelve hours long.
*The Yankees won, the Dodgers lost, so...
New York (98-52): -
Houston (97-53): -1
Los Angeles (96-54): -2
*Zack Greinke threw 6IP, 6H/1ER, 7K:0BB. After walking seven batters in his first 19IP as an Astro, Greinke has now walked one batter in his last 30.1IP. Greinke mixed in some pitches in the high-50s/low-60s. Hinch:
I've never seen one that slow and I don't think he's thrown that many that slow. He threw a couple of good ones. It was a game plan that he was going to do against some of these guys who were a little jumpy at the plate. It was very, very effective.
Greinke's first six starts with Houston: 37.1IP, 41H/16ER, 27K:8BB, 5HR. 3.86 ERA / 1.31 WHIP.
Greinke's last two starts with Houston: 12IP, 8H/1ER, 11K:0BB, 0HR. 0.75 ERA / 0.67 WHIP.
Greinke:
I had planned on using the curve, and it was pretty good at the start, so I used it a little more than I planned on. It's one of my better pitches, so I thought it would be a good option. I just threw what was called for the most part. I thought everything was good today, except for a couple of mistakes.
Greinke has now recorded a Win over all 30 MLB teams, joining Max Scherzer as the only active pitchers with the achievement. He also has recorded a Win in 29 ballparks. The only active ballparks in which he has not won are: Fenway, Camden Yards, Tropicana Field, and Yankee Stadium.
*Kyle Tucker was 4x4 with a walk and an RBI. It's obviously a career-high in hits, his 3rd multi-hit game of the season (month), 4th of his career. Tucker raised his OPS from .757 to .918 in one game. Hinch:
Watching [Tucker] behind the scenes, I think he's much more prepared for the opportunity this time. We told him that he'd get more opportunities if he produced more. He's doing his part and we're doing our part.
Which seems...never mind.
Chandler Rome notes that Tucker is the youngest Astro to reach base five times in a game since Terry Puhl in 1978.
*Robinson Chirinos drew three walks for the third time in his career and the first time since he drew four walks against Seattle on June 6. That's five walks in Chirinos' last two games (he got the first game of the Royals series off because Cole was pitching). He had drawn five walks since July 22 (107 PAs).
*Alex Bregman hit his 36th home run of the season and also drew three walks.
*Yordan Alvarez hit his 25th home run in his 76th game. Game of other significant players' 25th home career home run:
Aaron Judge: 85
Albert Pujols: 101
Mike Trout: 128
Miguel Cabrera: 136
Alex Rodriguez: 141
Barry Bonds: 175
Jeff Bagwell: 254
Bregman, Springer, Altuve, Gurriel, Yordan. The Astros have never had five 25+ HR hitters in a season before 2019.
*SI's Tom Verducci says Yordan is the 4th-best rookie of 2019...
*The current plan for Carlos Correa is to rejoin the team when the Astros open a two-game series against Arlington on Tuesday and go finish up the rehab with Houston. Hinch:
It will be borderline like a Spring Training schedule with in-season responsibilities. He may play six innings and come out, even if it's not a blowout.
Ryan Pressly and Brad Peacock are also apparently feeling great, and getting ready to go.
*Fayetteville got shutout for 20 consecutive innings, losing 2-0 to Wilmington and ending their inaugural season at Segra Stadium.
*Wade Miley takes the mound to try to complete the sweep of the Royals before the Astros get two days off this week. The last 15 batters Miley has faced:
Single: 10
Double: 2
Walk: 2
Home Run: 1
Out: 1
*The Reds allowed one baserunner all night...and lost.
*Outside: The not-so-new rules of healthy eating.
*Vice: Amazon's "Undone" is everything streaming tv should be.
*A Musical Selection:
The Hot Links Playlist on Spotify is now at 190 songs and twelve hours long.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Monday Morning Hot Links
Well. Justin Verlander threw a no-hitter, so I guess that's cool. Could have had one on August 21, but I guess now works, too. Houston won 2-0. The Astros are 89-49 and with the Yankees win/Oakland loss, maintain a 10-game lead in the division. There are 24 regular season games left.
*Justin Verlander threw his 3rd career no-hitter, and was a 1st Inning walk to Cavan frickin Biggio away from a perfect game. The Astros last threw a no-hitter on August 3, the combined no-no against Seattle.It's the 13th no-hitter in franchise history. Eighteen teams have thrown multiple no-hitters in the same season.
Shortest span between a team's no hitters, MLB History (1903-present):
1 Day: St. Louis Browns (Ernie Koob / Bob Groom), 1917.
5 Days: Cincinnati Reds (Johnny Van Der Meer / Johnny Van Der Meer), 1938.
25 Days: Los Angeles Dodgers (Josh Beckett / Clayton Kershaw), 2014.
30 Days: Houston Astros (Combined / Verlander), 2019.
30 Days: Milwaukee Braves (Lew Burdette / Warren Spahn), 1960
Verlander had lost two no-hitters in the 9th inning:
I'd be lying if I said I didn't know that. Definitely a big hurdle to get over, and a special moment for me.
It's the first single-pitcher no-hitter for the Astros since Mike F. Fiers no-hit the Dodgers on August 21, 2015. Verlander:
It's elation. It's so cool to be able to have everybody jumping up and down and have everybody else that excited.
Verlander's 9IP, 0H/0ER, 14K:1BB performance is just the sixth such performance in MLB history. The other five, organized by number of strikeouts:
Max Scherzer: October 3, 2015. 17K:0BB vs New York
Clayton Kershaw: June 18, 2014. 15K:0BB vs Colorado
Matt Cain: June 13, 2012. 14K:0BB vs Houston :-(
Sandy Koufax: September 9, 1965. 14K:0BB vs Chicago
Nap Rucker: September 5, 1908. 14K:0BB vs Boston
Verlander needed 27 pitches to get from the 4th-8th Innings.
*Our Dude Robert Flores: Verlander is the first pitcher in MLB history with multiple no-hitters as a visitor in one ballpark. Other pitchers with multiple no-hitters against the same team: Addie Joss (vs the White Sox in 1908 and 1910) and Tim Lincecum (vs San Diego in 2013 and 2014)
Verlander is the fifth pitcher in MLB history with five separate 250K seasons, joining Max Scherzer, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, and Roger Clemens. Verlander and Cole each have 250 Ks, making them the 2nd pair of teammates with consecutive 250+ K seasons in MLB history. The other? Randy Johnson and Curt "Dipshit" Schilling.
*The Astros needed a two-out 9th-inning home run from Abraham Toro - the second home run of his career and easily the biggest hit of his career - to let Verlander get the no-hitter in regulation. Verlander:
Where the f*ck is Toro?
Verlander, on Toro:
The moments matter in this game. The scene was scripted for him in his hometown (Ed. Note: Toronto is not Montreal.) All the guys were so fired up. You take everything into account that moment. That's baseball. Those are the special moments that I don't think you can create anywhere else.
Hinch, on Toro:
I know he wanted to do really well here. He's gotten as much attention these last three days as he's gotten in his entire career. To do it in front of family, friends in a park that he's been to before is special.
Toro:
It's unreal. My first no-hitter. First time playing in Canada as a professional. It's something I'll remember forever.
Hell yeah, Abraham Toro.
Astros' runs scored in Verlander's starts:
0 runs: 1
1 run: 2
2 runs: 3
3 runs: 5
4 runs: 5
5 runs: 4
6 runs: 1
7 runs: 3
8 runs: 1
9 runs: 1
10 runs: 1
12 runs: 1
So the Astros have scored four or fewer runs in 16 of Verlander's 29 starts this season, including today. Verlander is 17-5 and still has taken the L in three starts in which he allowed two or fewer runs. He has recorded a No Decision in four more Quality Starts. It's not out of the question for Verlander to be 21-3 right now.
*Other pitchers to have three no-hitters:
Nolan Ryan: 7
Sandy Koufax: 4
Larry Corcoran: 3
Cy Young: 3
Bob Feller: 3
Justin Verlander: 3
Here's Robert Ford's call of the last out:
Bregman:
Hopefully when he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame, it's with an Astros hat.
Chirinos:
It seems like JV is getting better and better. They don't come easy. He really works hard. He spends a lot of time in the video room to get to hitters' weaknesses. He's unbelievable. He's just getting better.
Bo Bichette, who grounded out to Toro to complete the no-hitter:
He was the most aggressive pitcher I've ever faced. He kept coming after me no matter what.
*Verlander, on his Apparently Extremely-Famous Wife, who is currently in Venice to watch some movies, I guess:
She was the first one I called. She was actually up very late watching the whole thing, so that's awesome.
*Chandler Rome, on the only mound visit of the day. Verlander, on Chirinos:
It's been a pretty special year for him and I. Right from the get in Spring Training, he works his butt off and tries so hard to get on the same page as pitchers and do whatever he can to help us win. I share this with him as much as anyone.
Hinch:
[Verlander] has been around so long that one of my coaches was an active player on his team during his last no-hitter.
*Tom Verducci: How Justin Verlander has found the sweet spot between pitching at the intersection of youth and wisdom.
*Verlander has 2,757 strikeouts. If he pitches every 5th game, he has four starts left. If the Astros get creative with off-days, he could have five starts left. He needs 43 strikeouts to get to 3,000 for his career, and would need 10.75 K/start if he has four and 8.6 K/start if he has five to get to 3K Ks. It's gonna happen in 2019.
*Verlander's WHIP is 0.77. Chandler Rome notes that the MLB mark is 0.73 in 2003, by Pedro Martinez.
*Bradford Doolittle: Verlander's 3rd No-Hitter adds to his Hall of Fame legacy.
*It's the 30th game of the season in which the Astros have scored two or fewer runs. They're now 4-26 when that happens.
*Josh Big Flames James is back with new confidence and a revamped delivery. James:
Just shortened up my arm swing a little bit just to kind of help me sync up a little bit. The longer delivery just led to some inconsistency. Now that I've shortened up, I'm able to be around the zone a little bit more, leverage some stuff and leverage my off-speed and feel better.
*Kyle Tucker and Garrett Stubbs were not in Round Rock's lineup on Sunday. Some call-ups will take place Monday, and again on Thursday. It's officially Bullpen Savings Time.
*Ken Schrom, Former Astros Great and Current Corpus Christi President, retired on Sunday.
*Fayetteville beat Down East 2-1 and are your Carolina League 2019 regular season champs.
*Frankie Tuesday, who got hurt and suspended, made his first start of 2019 - for Quad Cities - on Sunday. He threw 2.2IP, 1H/2ER, 6K:3BB in 35 pitches. Quad Cities lost 3-2.
*Got some extra cash lying around? Help out that Rays minor-league pitcher whose brother-in-law killed his wife, son, and mother-in-law.
*Jim Leavelle, the Dallas Police Detective (yeah, capitalized) handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when he got shot, died over the weekend at 99 years old.
*A Musical Selection, from a guy with whom I went to college and is not my normally-preferred genre, but I like it regardless:
*Justin Verlander threw his 3rd career no-hitter, and was a 1st Inning walk to Cavan frickin Biggio away from a perfect game. The Astros last threw a no-hitter on August 3, the combined no-no against Seattle.It's the 13th no-hitter in franchise history. Eighteen teams have thrown multiple no-hitters in the same season.
Shortest span between a team's no hitters, MLB History (1903-present):
1 Day: St. Louis Browns (Ernie Koob / Bob Groom), 1917.
5 Days: Cincinnati Reds (Johnny Van Der Meer / Johnny Van Der Meer), 1938.
25 Days: Los Angeles Dodgers (Josh Beckett / Clayton Kershaw), 2014.
30 Days: Houston Astros (Combined / Verlander), 2019.
30 Days: Milwaukee Braves (Lew Burdette / Warren Spahn), 1960
Verlander had lost two no-hitters in the 9th inning:
I'd be lying if I said I didn't know that. Definitely a big hurdle to get over, and a special moment for me.
It's the first single-pitcher no-hitter for the Astros since Mike F. Fiers no-hit the Dodgers on August 21, 2015. Verlander:
It's elation. It's so cool to be able to have everybody jumping up and down and have everybody else that excited.
Verlander's 9IP, 0H/0ER, 14K:1BB performance is just the sixth such performance in MLB history. The other five, organized by number of strikeouts:
Max Scherzer: October 3, 2015. 17K:0BB vs New York
Clayton Kershaw: June 18, 2014. 15K:0BB vs Colorado
Matt Cain: June 13, 2012. 14K:0BB vs Houston :-(
Sandy Koufax: September 9, 1965. 14K:0BB vs Chicago
Nap Rucker: September 5, 1908. 14K:0BB vs Boston
Verlander needed 27 pitches to get from the 4th-8th Innings.
*Our Dude Robert Flores: Verlander is the first pitcher in MLB history with multiple no-hitters as a visitor in one ballpark. Other pitchers with multiple no-hitters against the same team: Addie Joss (vs the White Sox in 1908 and 1910) and Tim Lincecum (vs San Diego in 2013 and 2014)
Verlander is the fifth pitcher in MLB history with five separate 250K seasons, joining Max Scherzer, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, and Roger Clemens. Verlander and Cole each have 250 Ks, making them the 2nd pair of teammates with consecutive 250+ K seasons in MLB history. The other? Randy Johnson and Curt "Dipshit" Schilling.
*The Astros needed a two-out 9th-inning home run from Abraham Toro - the second home run of his career and easily the biggest hit of his career - to let Verlander get the no-hitter in regulation. Verlander:
Where the f*ck is Toro?
Verlander, on Toro:
The moments matter in this game. The scene was scripted for him in his hometown (Ed. Note: Toronto is not Montreal.) All the guys were so fired up. You take everything into account that moment. That's baseball. Those are the special moments that I don't think you can create anywhere else.
Hinch, on Toro:
I know he wanted to do really well here. He's gotten as much attention these last three days as he's gotten in his entire career. To do it in front of family, friends in a park that he's been to before is special.
Toro:
It's unreal. My first no-hitter. First time playing in Canada as a professional. It's something I'll remember forever.
Hell yeah, Abraham Toro.
Astros' runs scored in Verlander's starts:
0 runs: 1
1 run: 2
2 runs: 3
3 runs: 5
4 runs: 5
5 runs: 4
6 runs: 1
7 runs: 3
8 runs: 1
9 runs: 1
10 runs: 1
12 runs: 1
So the Astros have scored four or fewer runs in 16 of Verlander's 29 starts this season, including today. Verlander is 17-5 and still has taken the L in three starts in which he allowed two or fewer runs. He has recorded a No Decision in four more Quality Starts. It's not out of the question for Verlander to be 21-3 right now.
*Other pitchers to have three no-hitters:
Nolan Ryan: 7
Sandy Koufax: 4
Larry Corcoran: 3
Cy Young: 3
Bob Feller: 3
Justin Verlander: 3
Here's Robert Ford's call of the last out:
Here’s what it sounded like as @raford3 called @JustinVerlander’s no-hitter on SportsTalk790!! @AstrosRadioMLB #TakeItBack pic.twitter.com/rTjQlOzkA6— SportsTalk 790 (@SportsTalk790) September 1, 2019
Bregman:
Hopefully when he gets inducted into the Hall of Fame, it's with an Astros hat.
Chirinos:
It seems like JV is getting better and better. They don't come easy. He really works hard. He spends a lot of time in the video room to get to hitters' weaknesses. He's unbelievable. He's just getting better.
Bo Bichette, who grounded out to Toro to complete the no-hitter:
He was the most aggressive pitcher I've ever faced. He kept coming after me no matter what.
*Verlander, on his Apparently Extremely-Famous Wife, who is currently in Venice to watch some movies, I guess:
She was the first one I called. She was actually up very late watching the whole thing, so that's awesome.
*Chandler Rome, on the only mound visit of the day. Verlander, on Chirinos:
It's been a pretty special year for him and I. Right from the get in Spring Training, he works his butt off and tries so hard to get on the same page as pitchers and do whatever he can to help us win. I share this with him as much as anyone.
Hinch:
[Verlander] has been around so long that one of my coaches was an active player on his team during his last no-hitter.
*Tom Verducci: How Justin Verlander has found the sweet spot between pitching at the intersection of youth and wisdom.
*Verlander has 2,757 strikeouts. If he pitches every 5th game, he has four starts left. If the Astros get creative with off-days, he could have five starts left. He needs 43 strikeouts to get to 3,000 for his career, and would need 10.75 K/start if he has four and 8.6 K/start if he has five to get to 3K Ks. It's gonna happen in 2019.
*Verlander's WHIP is 0.77. Chandler Rome notes that the MLB mark is 0.73 in 2003, by Pedro Martinez.
*Bradford Doolittle: Verlander's 3rd No-Hitter adds to his Hall of Fame legacy.
*It's the 30th game of the season in which the Astros have scored two or fewer runs. They're now 4-26 when that happens.
*Josh Big Flames James is back with new confidence and a revamped delivery. James:
Just shortened up my arm swing a little bit just to kind of help me sync up a little bit. The longer delivery just led to some inconsistency. Now that I've shortened up, I'm able to be around the zone a little bit more, leverage some stuff and leverage my off-speed and feel better.
*Kyle Tucker and Garrett Stubbs were not in Round Rock's lineup on Sunday. Some call-ups will take place Monday, and again on Thursday. It's officially Bullpen Savings Time.
*Ken Schrom, Former Astros Great and Current Corpus Christi President, retired on Sunday.
*Fayetteville beat Down East 2-1 and are your Carolina League 2019 regular season champs.
*Frankie Tuesday, who got hurt and suspended, made his first start of 2019 - for Quad Cities - on Sunday. He threw 2.2IP, 1H/2ER, 6K:3BB in 35 pitches. Quad Cities lost 3-2.
*Got some extra cash lying around? Help out that Rays minor-league pitcher whose brother-in-law killed his wife, son, and mother-in-law.
*Jim Leavelle, the Dallas Police Detective (yeah, capitalized) handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when he got shot, died over the weekend at 99 years old.
*A Musical Selection, from a guy with whom I went to college and is not my normally-preferred genre, but I like it regardless:
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