Thursday Morning Hot Links

*On this, the day where we are legally obligated to give thanks, I am thankful for each of you. We share interests, have disagreements about things related (and unrelated) to baseball, largely through my own doing, but we all generally seem to get along. Except for that one guy who went after Jexas. Happy Thanksgiving. And if today isn't such a time of thanks for you, my thoughts are with you. Here's some Hot Links.

*The son of Braves manager Brian Snitker - Troy Snitker - was announced as one of the Astros' hitting coaches for 2019. Snitker was Corpus' hitting coach in 2018. He'll share hitting coach duties with Alex Cintron, who was 2018's 1B coach. Also Don Kelly was named as Cintron's replacement and Josh Miller was promoted to bullpen coach from minor-league pitching coordinator.

Kelly, born about two weeks after me, hit .230 with 23 home runs in his career. He made his MLB debut on April 2, 2007 against the Astros at Minute Maid Park and was longish-time teammates with Justin Verlander in Detroit, where he was a scout. Kelly:
Detroit's a second home to us, but this was too good.

*Jon Morosi reiterated the Astros' interest in DH Nelson Cruz.

*SI: The Mets are "seriously considering" trading Noah Syndergaard. If the Astros could somehow acquire Syndergaard, they would have the four best Hairs in the Majors (Cole, Gurriel, McCullers, Thor).

*Check out Brian McTaggart's inbox, where he discusses the possibility of bringing back Marwin and of signing Bryce Harper.

*Here's Jake Kaplan on why the Astros spent a 40-Man spot on Bryan Abreu, who appeared as high as Quad Cities last year. Kaplan:
Abreu's best weapon is a 12-6 curveball that team officials believe rivals any in their minor-league system. His fastball velocity sits in the low-to-mid 90s, and he rounds out his repertoire with a slidere and a changeup.

Luhnow:
I think Bryan is one of those guys that, had we left him unprotected, people would have heard of him because someone might have popped him (in the Rule 5 Draft). He's just one of those big arms that tends to get popped in the Rule 5 even though he hasn't pitched above A-ball.

Awfully bold to use "popped" twice about a pitcher after the Brady Aiken Debacle (eyes roll out of head).

*A bunch of Astros went out into the community to help people.

*SI's Ben Reiter wrote about what it's like to correctly predict a World Series title 3+ years out, and fail on the repeat.

*The Rays hired Rodney Linares as their 3B Coach. Linares had spent 22 years with the Astros organization with a 787-752 record as manager since 2007. He had just finished an 82-57 campaign with Fresno - and six winning seasons in his previous seven - before the Astros let him go on September 18. The Astros' Triple-A franchise will return to Round Rock for 2019.

Linares, on the call from Tampa Bay:
I was speechless, it took me a little while to gather my thoughts after I was told. It was such a blessing. I immediately started crying and I called my dad right away. It was just a special moment. You work your whole life to get to the big leagues and now this opportunity arises. It's an amazing feeling. 

New #Rays 3B coach Linares had his car stolen 1st week back in DR, lost his US cell phone so Cash wasn't able to reach him. #Astros manager A.J. Hinch reached out on Instagram to tell Linares of #Rays interest and they connected.

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) November 21, 2018

*Unsurprisingly, Sig Mejdal will be Mike Elias' assistant GM for analytics in Baltimore. So that's Elias and Sig in Baltimore, Mike Fast in Atlanta. Hope Osuna was worth it.

*Thanks, Jose Altuve, for putting everyone into Panic Mode:

This is frustrating!!! I can’t take it anymore. No más. I’m quitting!

— Jose Altuve (@JoseAltuve27) November 21, 2018

*Buster Olney: Why the Marlins need to trade J.T. Realmuto.

Astros County: ...To the Astros...For three bags of peanuts and a bus.

*Unlocked on The Athletic: FOAC Levi Weaver, on the magic of Adrian Beltre.

*Good news for Danny Farquhar, who had an aneurysm in the dugout during an April appearance against the Astros, and was medically cleared to resume baseball activities.

*FanGraphs: The Braves' profits provide a look at baseball's financials.

*A start-up company is trying to pool together minor-leaguers' earnings in an effort to share risk.

*Jay Jaffe: Slights, Returns, and Hall of Fame Ballots.

*El Chapo's trial is NUTS.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

Happy hump day everyone! The Astros won quite big last night, so I decided to bring you the game recap from The Olympian, because they don't seem to be "digging it". I dig it, however, and I really enjoyed the sad undertones throughout this piece. This win takes the Astros to 5 games up on the A's, who lost to the Angels 9-7 last night. The magic number to clinch division: 7. The magic number to officially clinch playoffs: 2. Also, I believe this is the first Hot Links that I have made where Marwin hit a home run the night before. Here have a look!

Josh Reddick feels perfectly fine, but will likely be kept out of the lineup until Friday out of precaution.

Lance McCullers on the other hand, is a different story. He pitched a simulated game, but is running out of time to show he is ready for October.

MLB.com is talking about how good the Astros are again.

The Fresno Grizzlies have moved on from Houston and are going to be the affiliates of *checks notes, squints, and tilts head slightly to the right to signal a slight feeling of confusion* the Washington Nationals? I saw this news yesterday, and made a fun tweet about it. Honestly, it's probably one of my better geographical tweets I've made.

Speaking of new AAA teams, it looks like the Astros will be relocating their AAA team to Round Rock.

That Astros vodka I've shared on this blog before is now being sold at Minute Maid Park.

The Astros are parting ways with four minor league managers, including AAA manager Rodney Linares and High-A Buies Creek manager Morgan Ensberg.

The Astros gave a 3-year old fighting cancer a World Series ring and a chance to meet Jose Altuve.

Why the Astros outfield isn't perfect, but more than sufficient.

The Orioles wore their Braille jerseys last night.

There is a California town where the mayor is a dog wearing a tie. What a country. Here is his official website, so contact him and make sure to tell him he is being a good boy.

On This Day in Baseball History

In 1973, Astros infielder Dave Campbell hit a first inning double, snapping a record 0-45 streak.

In 1980, Al Kaline became the first Tiger to get his number retired.

In 1982, Orlando Mercado's first hit in the big leagues was a grand slam.

In 2007, the Tampa Bay Rays became the first team to lose at least 90 games for 10 consecutive years.

In 2010, Tyler Colvin's chest was punctured by a broken bat. He did not play for the rest of the year and was immediately taken to the hospital.

In 2011, Mariano Rivera recorded his 602nd save, the most in Major League Baseball history.

Saturday Morning Hot Links

Keuchel back. A second consecutive great Keuchel start means things might finally be clicking, even if the Astros got held to three runs off a scuffling Sean Manaea. Astros win 3-1 to improve to 75-47. The Angels lost and the Red Sox won, so that's a 13-game division lead and a 4.5-game lead on Boston.

*Keuchel: 7IP, 3H/0ER, 3K:1BB - 17 groundball outs, one flyball out. Hinch:
He was awesome and really impressive with how he went about it with only one difficult inning they made him work. He's so fun to watch pitch when he can control contact the way he does, the ball's on the ground.

Keuchel:
It was probably the best movement I have had in a long time pre-injury.

*Bregman, on playing behind Keuchel:
It's fun to play behind him. You know you're going to get some ground balls that day, you know you've got to be on your toes, you know you've got to be at your best. He's the ace for a reason.

In his career, Keuchel is 5-3 with a 2.39 ERA/1.14 WHIP against Oakland.

*Chris Devenski allowed four home runs in 108.1IP in 2016. After last night's home run allowed, he's up to nine in 63.2IP in 2017.

*Ken Giles replaced Devenski one pitch into an at-bat and recorded a five-out save, five days after recording a six-out save. Giles, since the All-Star Break: 13 appearances, 14.1IP, 7H/2ER, 21K:3BB. 1.26 ERA/0.70 WHIP. Giles is loving it:
This is crunch time and I've got to be ready to do anything. I've got to be ready for two innings, three innings maybe. I'm going to be out there ready to go when he needs me. 

*Bregman and Altuve went back-to-back in the 3rd inning. Six of the seven hits came from Altuve, Gurriel, and Reddick. It was Altuve's 50th multi-hit game, against 24 0-hit games.

*McTaggart notes that Bregman is hitting .324/.410/.619 since July 4.

*Correa took ground balls and ran the bases again while Harris and Sipp threw simulated innings to Evan Gattis. McCullers will throw a bullpen session on Sunday. Hinch, on McCullers:
If he can throw a really good live session, we don't feel like he is restricted in any way or holding back or tentative on the mound, we could possibly introduce a rehab assignment. 

*The Astros should get McCann back late next week. He probably won't need a rehab assignment.

*SI's Jay Jaffe writes that the Astros need to make a trade for pitching help, but there aren't many options remaining.

*Jeff Luhnow doesn't mind if you @ him on the God-forsaken website Twitter dot com. But you might catch that block:
My rule is if you curse or say something very insulting or personal, you're blocked. I have 20-25 people I've blocked. Some people I've blocked and they asked me to unblock them and apologized for their comments, so I've unblocked a few too.

*The Astros won't renew the contracts of eight scouts this off-season. Here's hoping they hire me to make jokes and provide levity in trade talks.

*Rogelio Armenteros threw 7IP, 1H/0ER, 9K:2BB for Fresno last night. Armenteros' last four starts: 22.2IP, 17H/3ER, 37K:8BB. Let's let this guy make some September starts.

*Franklin Perez - the youngest pitcher in the Texas League (Forrest Whitley is second-youngest) - threw 6IP, 2H/2ER, 4K:2BB in last night's Corpus win. In his last four starts he's thrown 21IP, 14H/4ER, 18K:5BB. He's 19. The win was Rodney Linares' 231st win at Corpus, tying a franchise record.

*This is good to see:

Very excited to be back doing what I love to do (😎🙈) pic.twitter.com/vlq9rW1TW5

— Colin Moran (@morancolin92) August 18, 2017

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*Hold the phone: the Astros won a 1-run game...on the road...against the Rangers? Unreal. Tense as it was, the Astros held on to a 6-5 win to improve to 40-16. Matt Young tells us that eight other teams in the last 50 years have won 40 of their first 56 games, and seven of them went to the World Series.

*The 2016 Chicago Cubs' record after 56 games: 40-16. Prior to that, the 2001 Mariners (who went 116-46) were actually 44-12 after 56 games and wouldn't lose their 16th game until June 18 to put their record at 52-16.

*The Astros' 40-16 record is the best in baseball, five games better than the 2nd-place Nationals, 6.5 games better than the Yankees, who have the 2nd-best record in the AL.

*Just some perspective, there are 106 games left. If the Astros go 53-53, they'll finish the season 93-69. 60-46 (a .566 win%) would give them a 100-win season.

*A.J. Hinch:
None of these are easy. It may look easy when we score double-digit runs, but we're going to have to win games like this. 

*The Astros are 14 games up on the Rangers, with 13 games left to play against the Witches of West Forney.

*The Astros have 111 hits in their nine-game win streak.

*Rougned Odor didn't want to talk about the game. Andrew Cashner:
That's a tough team, a tough lineup. But we have a great lineup over here, too. It just comes down o making pitches for us. I think the biggest thing for us right now is we need that big hit with runners in scoring position.

Rangers' LOBsters by inning, thanks to the bullpen:
5th: 2
6th: 1
7th: 2
8th: 0
9th: 1

*Lance McCullers allowed four earned runs in all of May combined (36.1IP). He got hit around a little bit last night with 4.1IP, 6H/4R (3ER), with 8K:2BB. McCullers didn't make it out of the 5th for just the second time in his 12 starts. Hinch, on McCullers:
His command was fading. He got into the game a little rough with his command, then he settled in nicely, and as he got a little tired and a little bit deeper into the fifth inning, it was time for him to go.

*Altuve and Beltran were each 3x5 with a home run; Beltran's opened the scoring, and Altuve's closed it out as the eventual go-ahead homer. Altuve has had 110 3-hit games since his debut in 2011.

*Luke Gregerson balked - for the first time in his career - sending Elvis Andrus to 2nd. Will Harris came in after Gregerson walked Adrian Beltre and got two strikeouts to end the 7th. Gregerson's night: three batters faced: single, strikeout (balk), walk.

*Ken Giles has allowed a run in back-to-back appearances for the first time since allowing runs in three straight appearances from April 6-15.

*George Springer is not your stereotypical leadoff hitter.

*The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Mac Engel says Nolan Ryan's move back to Houston hurt the Rangers more than it helped the Astros. And then he throws this smoke bomb:
Not even a team from Houston, where choking is a celebrated way of life because of the humidity and sports teams, could blow a division lead this big. The Astros are not going to maintain a plus-.700 winning percentage, but the AL West now goes through Houston.

By all means, get riled up. I'll always encourage getting rowdy against a DFW writer, but click the link and you'll get some measured analysis about the direction the Rangers are trending.

*Ah, the old "You have a problem" headline, but flipped on the Rangers.

*Brian T. Smith says that this team begins and ends with Dallas Keuchel.

*Lance McCullers: "For me, it's look good, feel good, play good."

*FanRag Sports: Should the Astros regret signing Yulieski Gurriel?

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article154251319.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article154251319.html#storylink=cpy

*A.J. Hinch said that Derek Fisher is probably ready to come to Houston, but he won't be called up to sit the bench:
He's got many tools that can be weapons up here. He's still in the development stage and he's made quite an impression. 

*In an article about Hooks starter Kyle Smith, who threw five perfect innings last night, manager Rodney Linares talked about how the progress made in the analytics department has impacted his managing.

*Bob Grossman's slash line since debuting for the Twins in May 2016: .280/.394/.449.

*Former Astro Luis Gonzales helped a woman out of a burning car after a wreck.

*Adult baby Brandon Phillips thinks the Reds should have retired his number by now.

*Before you go:

I wonder if Houston Astro's starting pitcher & 3x Gold Glove Award winner Dallas Keuchel knows that he is a fake beard model in New Zealand? pic.twitter.com/0z1YtkSpw5

— Paul Williams (@PaulWilliams_12) June 3, 2017

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

I know I know. Last week I said "We're back!" and we actually weren't. Are we now? Who's to say - sometimes things get in the way. That said, let's get to it:

*Carlos Beltran basically wrote Astros Erotica on the Players' Tribune yesterday. Beltran:
Astros fans, I'm here to tell you: It's going to be a special year. Mark it down. I can already tell...after just one dinner uptown. 

*Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers reported to Minute Maid yesterday, apparently with both arms intact and seemingly healed. Keuchel:
I've been telling some of the guys it kind of feels weird to actually feel good. First time in a long time that I feel 100 percent, and that's just exciting. And I know Lance feels the same way. 

Also, within that link we find that the Astros have until the end of Friday to extend salary offers to their remaining arbitration-eligible players: Keuchel, Collin McHugh, Mike Fiers, George Springer, Jake Marisnick, Marwin Gonzalez, and Will Harris.

*Brian McTaggart writes that acquiring Jose Quintana "makes sense" - given that the Red Sox have David Price and Chris Sale while the Indians have Corey Kluber and will get Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar back. And we all know the Ramgers could throw a blown-out tire in a spot start and get 5IP out of it. McTaggart:
If the Astros reach the postseason, a rotation of Keuchel, Quintana, McCullers, and McHugh could match up against anyone considering the offense the club will have. The Astros are in win-now mode and know their window to contend is wide open. 

*Hooks manager Rodney Linares will be back in Corpus for a 3rd straight year. Joel Chimelis, who had been Quad Cities' hitting coach for the past four years, is back in Corpus for the first time since 2012.

*Morgan Ensberg will be the manager at Tri-City - the first managerial stint in his career. Russ Steinhorn, who was at Tri-City, has been bumped up to Quad Cities.

*The Ballpark of the Seven Isles Palm Beaches will open to the public for the first workout on February 18.

*Here are your Astros Winter Caravan dates.

*My two heroes: Guy Fieri and Jeff Bagwell.

Speaking of Bagwell, with 190 known ballots, Bagwell is sitting at 91% with the BBWAA. He needed to pick up 12 votes to get to Cooperstown, and he has gained 16.

Nathaniel Rakich's projections have Bagwell at 86.3% when the final tally is announced.

Friday Morning Hot Links

Late night/early morning so let's get straight to the links.

FanGraphs now has the Astros as the team with the highest percentage of simulations that ended up with the AL pennant, facing the Dodgers in the World Series. The Astros won the World Series in 12.1% of 10,000 simulations, 2nd behind the Dodgers, who won the World Series in 20% of simulations.

*The Sporting News talks about the Astros' power. Marwin needs one homer and Conger needs two more in order to tie the major-league record for most players on a team with 10+ home runs. Kazmir, on the Astros:
As a pitcher, you can't take any breaks, because you know that a walk here or a bloop here, you're one pitch away from giving up a crooked number. It's a luxury to have, being on this team.

*Sports Illustrated wrote about the Astros and J.D. Martinez. Luhnow:
In retrospect, I wouldn't make the same decision.

And on the process of Missing with a player like Martinez?
We're not trying to get (decisions) all right. We're trying to get more of them right than our competition.

*Rosters expand to 40 on Tuesday, and the Astros aren't planning on calling up 15 more guys to help with the playoff push. Evan Drellich writes that the Astros are expecting to call up four players, not including Springer: Max Stassi, Josh Fields, Preston Tucker, and "a left-handed reliever." Keep in mind that Fresno and Corpus will both be in the playoffs.

*Corpus manager Rodney Linares was named Texas League Manager of the Year. Corpus lost last night, but are 80-49 on the season, the best record in the Texas League, and have already clinched a playoff spot.

*There are only three teams in the minors who have won 80 games. Two of those teams are Astros affiliates: Corpus and Quad Cities.

*Carlos Correa straight cleaned up at the Minnesota State Fair last night:

Had a blast at the #MinnesotaStateFair on my day off with my boy @GoGoGominsky22 ! My game was on point lol😂 #WINNER pic.twitter.com/qWPWx1RgVi

— Carlos Correa (@TeamCJCorrea) August 28, 2015

Lancaster had a team meeting

Eric Smith wrote that Lancaster had a team meeting before last night's game where Lance McCullers and Kyle Smith struck everybody out. Some interesting quotes:

Manager Rodney Linares:
Some guys spoke up and said some things...we can't have distractions on the team. It wasn't like somebody wanted to kill somebody...Maybe the guy next to you went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts...I wouldn't want to hear somebody laughing if that happened.

Dan Gulbransen:
We could have a better environment around here. The work ethic is there but the attitude and concentration can be improved. 

The JetHawks came into last night's game having lost three in a row (outscored 24-10) and five of their last six, which isn't the end of the world. These two comments say a lot...

Minor-League Managers and Staff

Building on some news from yesterday, the Astros have announced minor-league staffing assignments. 

Morgan Ensberg: Roving Instructor. "Will be with Lancaster for home games and scout the Cal League or serve as a roving instructor while Lancaster is on the road."

Adam Everett: Infield Instructor. Will shuttle between the Major-League team and minor-league infielders. 

Vince Coleman: Outfielding/Baserunning Development Specialist, Quad Cities

Managers:

Oklahoma City: Tony DeFrancesco

Corpus: Keith Bodie (2012 Texas League Manager of the Year)

Lancaster: Rodney Linares (Returns for 2nd season with JetHawks)

Quad Cities: Omar Lopez (Greeneville's manager for 2011-12)

Tri-City: Ed Romero (manager of Greeneville in 2010

Greeneville: Josh Bonifay (managerial debut, Lexington's hitting coach in 2012)

GCL Astros: Edgar Alfonzo (previously GCL Astros' hitting coach)

DSL Astros: Johan Maya

Tom Lawless is an infield developmental specialist for OKC, and Mark Bailey will be the catching developmental specialist for Corpus. Former Gold-Glove OF Cesar Cedeno will be Bonifay's hitting coach in Greeneville. 

Quad Cities GM Stefanie Brown:

"It's a somewhat unique set-up, but it shows the emphasis on development that is taking place throughout the Astros organization. We're excited about the staff that Houston has sent us in the first year of our affiliation with them."

DeShields has gotten "100% better"

In Zach Levine's minor-league notebook, he takes a look at Delino DeShields - who has struggled somewhat in his first full season.

But don't worry! says manager Rodney Linares:
"This kid was just put into second base, and he was hurt in all of instructional league, so he’s a little bit behind. But at the same time, I would say that he’s 100 percent better than when he got here. He’s more confident out there.”

Chris Wallace has no cheek

With a captip to both Farmstros and Deputy Street, here's a sweet article on Chris Wallace.

It's well-documented how Barret Loux shattered his face, but we get a glimpse into what makes Wallace such an exciting prospect from Rodney Linares:

"The good thing about it is that he's driving the ball out of the park, and he hasn't pulled the ball yet," Manager Rodney Linares said. "Everything's been right-center, left-center and right field. He's hitting the ball hard, and he's consistent with his approach."

Where should he be freed? Linares answers:
"My biggest thing is, if he's going to move, he probably deserves to go to Double-A."

Linares, on Jorge De Leon

Rodney Linares had some nice things to say about shortstop-turned-pitcher Jorge De Leon:

"I've had the fortune of having De Leon since he walked into the (Astros') academy in the Dominican. He's always had a great arm, but he profiled better as a shortstop. Down the road, his hitting didn't come along, but his arm was still there. ... A guy who can throw anywhere from 94 to 99 mph is a pretty special arm...He's still not there yet, but when you've got an arm like that and when you can pop your fastball at 98 mph, that helps.

Rodney Linares not currently managing the Legends

Within this Lexington Herald-Leader article we see that Rodney Linares has been granted a leave of absence for personal reasons. Minor-league catching coordinator Danny Sheaffer is managing the Legends in his absence.

Mier and his "growing pains"

Mark Maloney at the Lexington Herald-Leader offers up a good article about Jiovanni Mier's struggles this season.

Manager Rodney Linares, on dropping Mier from the #2 spot to #7:
"He was thinking way too much when he was hitting second. He didn't show that he was able to see a lot of pitches early, and he was getting behind in the count early. And he wasn't producing. We talked and, as a consensus, we agreed on dropping him down, and you see the results. He's driving the ball. He's getting his hits."

Since bottoming out on June 17 with a .199 average, Maloney notes, Mier is hitting .289 (22x76).

Linares:
"He's as good as advertised. I said it at the beginning of the year — he's a pretty special player. He's just going through growing pains. At 19 years old, playing 'A' ball for the first time, just finding out what his swing is. I didn't expect him to struggle as bad as he did in the beginning but, to his credit, he just works on it, and his defense hasn't slowed down."

Altuve is short. And good.

The Lexington Herald-Leader's Mark Maloney has a nice profile on Legends 2B Jose Altuve, who is wee.

Rodney Linares:
"One thing going for him is that people see him, and he looks short. He can swing the bat. His biggest thing is that he drives the ball to right-center. He can drive the ball out of the park ... and he's a good hitter."

Ricky Bennett:
"He makes up for his stature by the way he plays the game. He's a little energizer. He plays hard, runs the bases hard, hits in the leadoff spot, and he just goes about his business every day, willing to work hard to be a better player...

...I want him to cut down on his strikeouts because, like I said, sometimes his swing gets a little too big at times. But if he can shorten his swing, put the ball in play, continue to bunt a couple times a week to use his speed that way offensively. ... And just become more consistent defensively — making the routine play, turning the double play at second base. The smaller things we're looking for out of him the second half."

Altuve has already played in a career-high 70 games this season, after hitting .302/.387/.451 between Greeneville and Tri-City, though that was brought down by his 21 games in Tri-City where he hit .250/.337/.316 (and .324/.408/.508 in Greeneville.)

His K:BB ratio is currently 1.63 - the first time in his four professional seasons that it's been higher than 1.00, and his 27.9% extra-base hit rate has dipped a touch from 32.1% coming into this season.

Ahead of him in the organization at 2B (while fluid) is Albert Cartwright at Lancaster (.303/.370/.523, .952 Fld%) and Jose Vallejo and German Duran.

It'll be interesting to see how he fares from here out, as he extends his season past the 66 games he played in during 2009.

Levine on Hinze

Nice profile on Lexington's Kody Hinze from Zach Levine.

Rodney Linares:
"His approach has changed so much from year one, and even last year to this year, where he's not swinging at balls. He's looking for that ball up that he can drive."

Michael Bourn, who watched a 7th-grade Hinze take BP at Nimitz:
"I knew he could always hit. He was hitting them out of our high school park when he was in the seventh grade."

Levine, on Mier

Nice profile by Zach Levine on 2009 1st-Round pick Jiovanni Mier, who's having a bit of a tough time in Lexington.

Mier:
"The year's not going as I want it to be, but it's still a blast to be out here every day, and it's definitely a blessing to be out here out here every day with the opportunity to play this game. (It's been a struggle) offensively, and a lot defensively, too. It's kind of an up-and-down year, but it's still real early, and I'll continue to work and try to turn it around."

Legends manager Rodney Linares:
"Jio's going to be all right. I said it last year and I say it with my word that he's going to play in the big leagues for a long time as a shortstop."

Ricky Bennett:
"The encouraging thing is that he's not striking out, he's taking his walks, he's making consistent contact, and I think as he goes through the next month or six weeks, we'll start to see his average increase."

Levine:
The near certainty that Mier remains at shortstop leads to a near certainty that he will control his own trajectory through the organization. The position in the Astros' minor league system is relatively thin, meaning he'll ascend as fast or as slowly as his readiness allows.

Kody Hinze: Blowin' up

Nice little article from the Lexington Herald-Leader on Kody Hinze's breakout season so far.

Hinze, on whether he thought he'd break out:
"No, I didn't think I would. I was just going to try to stay afloat and then it just happened to blow up into something big."

On his Wu-Tang tattoos:
His tats include a stacked I, IV, III (for "I love you") on one bicep, a sexy lady and the word Cream ("cash rules everything around me"). "It's just an old saying," he says of the latter. "I just love tattoos."

Manager Rodney Linares:
"The kid can hit. He will drive the ball. The good thing is that he's starting to recognize breaking balls, and he's doing a good job. I think he's got four or five home runs with two strikes, which is pretty good, and they've been no-doubters. They're home runs anywhere."

Linares, on Lexington

In a catch-up with 2009 Greeneville manager Rodney Linares, he discusses his appointment as the manager of the 2010 Lexington Legends (where he was the hitting coach in 2005-06, before managing the Gastros):

"I love Lexington, love Kentucky, love the fans. It's a great town. I still talk with many of the people I met there."

We won't know about the minor league assignments until late March, but some players will skip Tri-City and play for their old manager on a new team:

The Astros' top draft choice in 2009, shortstop Jiovanni Mier, is expected to be with the Legends in 2010. Count Linares among those who were impressed with Mier during his debut season with Greeneville.

"People like Jiovanni Mier don't come around that often - a kid at his age who can be a leader on and off the field," Linares said. "His maturity level is so 'up there' that I wouldn't be surprised if it takes him in the next two or three years to being a starting shortstop in the big leagues."

Minor League coaching carousel

Zach Levine breaks down the ripple effect of the coaching carousel that has occured in Houston with the hiring of Brad Mills and his staff.

Coach	2009 role	2010 role
Ed Romero	Bench Coach, Houston	Manager, Greeneville
Rodney Linares	Manager, Greeneville	Manager, Lexington
Tom Lawless	Manager, Lexington	Manager, Corpus
Luis Pujols	Manager, Corpus	N/A
Mark Bailey	Hitting Coach, Houston	Hitting Coach, Corpus
Keith Bodie	Hitting Coach, Corpus	Hitting Coach, Round Rock
Ron Jackson	Hitting Coach, Round Rock	N/A

Deductive Reasoning: Rodney Linares needs a job

Doing a little deductive reasoning, now that Ed Romero is apparently managing A-Level Greeneville, that means now-former (oxymoron?) Greeneville manager Rodney Linares needs a job.