A quick note: I deleted Twitter from my phone (Facebook, too, for largely the same reasons I'm about to explain). I found myself constantly scrolling to see what was happening RIGHT NOW. I had to know. Everything I saw that pissed me off (which doesn't take much, to be honest) could get me so incredibly angry that I would throw my phone. It was impacting how good of a husband and father I was. I know how silly it sounds, a grown-ass man who can't handle social media, knowing all the pitfalls (and straw-men, and bad-faith arguments, and willful ignorance) that come with it, but my wife and daughter have auto-immune issues so we have basically been at home for over two months, aside from a few trips to the grocery store and driving around a little bit. I am throwing in the towel on trying to be The Most Informed Man in the World. Over the past few days, I've checked Twitter maybe twice. It has been liberating and wonderful. I finished one book, and started another. I actually used a chainsaw to trim trees in our backyard (I forgot to take off my wedding ring, though, so my ring finger is one long blister) and built a fire last night. I'm Online way too much, and I'm trying to remedy that. Online is an exhausting place, and you don't have to be there. Too much of my identity is wrapped up in Astros Twitter, and as soon as I understood the ridiculousness of that statement, I knew it was time to go for a while. There's just more to this than [waves hands] this.
Some other stuff has probably happened in the previous five days, but I wouldn't really know. And I'm okay with that. Meanwhile:
*Chandler Rome: How MLB's spitting ban could affect the Astros.
*Ken Rosenthal: How Lebron James' media empire spurred Alex Bregman to leave his agent. It has to do with the upcoming documentary on the 2017 sign-stealing.
*Chris Sale: The 2017 Astros cheated, but it got blown out of proportion.
*Tim Kurkjian: Roger Clemens was a power-pitcher through and through.
*Lookit Anaheim social distancing in 1997! Well done!
*2004 Roger Clemens gets the MLB.com nod for the best debut season in franchise history. Clemens went 18-4 with a 2.98 ERA / 1.16 WHIP, 218K:79BB, and won his 7th Cy Young. He got 18 outs in 28 of his 33 starts. There were six other starts in which he threw 7+ IP, allowed 0 or 1 earned runs, and got a No Decision.
We're also not counting the four pennants, two World Series rings, nine Gold Gloves, nine All-Star nods. Among catchers already in the HOF, Molina is generally in the Top 10. Dammit yeah he's a Hall of Famer.
Regarding MLB plan to seek a 50-50 revenue split, Scott Boras, noting franchise value increases and previous profits (he mentioned a $476M gain in ‘19 for Braves, the one team owned by a public company), said on @JoeandEvan “You don’t privatize the gains and socialize the losses”
*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.
*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.
Apologies for yesterday's absence. It was the first day of school, my kid was super-jacked and woke up really early, and I had to leave early to get to my own classroom. Two things I'll need to reteach myself from this summer (and from last year when my conference period lasted all three lunches):
1) Learn to eat in 25 minutes. I ate half of my grilled chicken and broccoli.
2) Remember that you can't just go to the bathroom whenever you feel like it. Yesterday was the closest I've come to pissing my pants in 30 years.
Anyway, the Astros beat the Tigers 6-3. They're 81-46. There are 35 regular season games left. It's their 8th straight home win. Houston is 12-6 in August.
Houston, after 127 regular season games:
2019: 81-46
2018: 77-50
2017: 77-50
*Aaron Sanchez threw 46 pitches over 2.1IP. 19 were balls. To the 37-85 Tigers. He left the game with right pec soreness. His titty hurt, and has hurt for "six or seven starts" - something I'm sure the Astros weren't exactly thrilled to hear. Sanchez: It's been an ongoing thing. I've been trying to push through it. It's been up and down.
So now Sanchez is going on the IL. More Sanchez: Obviously today when my (velocity) drops the way it did, there's no sense in trying to push through it. Especially knowing where this team is going, and I want to be a part of that down the stretch. So the best bet is to just figure out what's going on and work from there.
*So the Astros basically got another bullpen game. Collin McHugh threw 2IP, 3H/0ER, 4K:0BB. McHugh, since the Trade Deadline: 12.1IP, 7H/0ER, 16K:7BB. He has walked two batters in his last 9.1IP.
*Springer and Altuve hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the bottom of the 1st. It's the 10th time this season the Astros have gone back-to-back. Springer's 10th leadoff home run set a single-season franchise record. It's Springer's 34th career leadoff homer - he needs 20 more to break Craig Biggio's franchise record. Altuve: We've gotten stronger. I see a lot of homers by Springer when I'm on deck and I love it. I think the fans love it, too. We need to keep hitting homers.
*Michael Brantley has a 14-game hitting streak.
*Yordan was 0x0 with 4BB. It's only the 4th time in 2019 that an MLB player has walked four times in four plate appearances. It's also only the 4th time in franchise history that an Astro has gone 0x0, 0K:4BB, and the first since cHRis carter did it on June 5, 2014.
*So of course Monday's game featured Carlos "Mr. Glass" Correa leaving the game in the 1st inning with "back discomfort." Last night's update is that Correa is "likely" headed to the IL. Hinch: [Correa's] doing a little bit better, but he's not doing well enough to play. I'm not optimistic that he's going to be able to avoid the IL. We'll make the determination tonight and into tomorrow. We haven't seen anything that's made us believe that this is anything major or massive, but it's going to take a couple days - and certainly up to 10 days - to mend.
I am extremely happy that Carlos Correa is an Astro for a long time to come. Carlos Correa is a generational talent, and his career has been extremely weird, given that he's had to deal with numerous fluky injuries to various parts of his body. I would very much appreciate Carlos Correa moving past the Fluky Injury stage of his professional career.
2014: Correa breaks his leg sliding into third at High-A Lancaster.
2017: Correa tears a thumb ligament on the catcher's shin guard while sliding into home. He later re-injures the thumb celebrating the Astros' ALCS G2 win over the Yankees, but deals with it.
2018: Correa misses significant time - and isn't the same for the rest of the season - when he hurt his back.
2019: Correa misses time with a broken rib he suffered during a massage. Then lower-back tightness is about to force him to the IL.
All of these are fluky. But a lot of flukes in five years isn't exactly fluky. I'm not about to say the dude is injury-prone, but I'm saying it's going to take a season of 140+ games to put a lot of this to rest.
Myles Straw got the start at SS for Round Rock last night. So that's how the next 10+ days is going to go. I bet Myles Straw doesn't post a .929 OPS like Correa did in the 22 games since he got activated from his last injury. The reasonable take is that the Astros don't need Correa to win the division, but they will absolutely need him to win another Pennant and World Series. This team should not be satisfied with just making the postseason. I will go to my grave thinking the Astros should have won the Pennant in 2018 but didn't, in part, because Correa wasn't healthy.
*Hey, why did Miguel Cabrera get ejected on Monday night? Cabrera, who has done nothing to Wrong anybody: So, after the inning, I was talking to Altuve about [Yordan], because I think the guy is pretty awesome but he's 22, at such a young age, he's really good, he's got a good approach at home plate. And if you see the pitch he threw me out on, it was down. So it's no reason for me to argue that pitch. So I say it's unbelievable how he called the pitch and then he threw me out. I was saying that to Altuve and not the umpire. Miguel Cabrera is a Hall of Famer, for his baseball skills and also for his passive-aggressive umpire burns. Fire all the umpires and replace them with non-titty-baby automatons.
*Tom Verducci says that Bregman vs. Matt Chapman is a Golden Age of 3Bs.
*Roger Clemens has apparently been encouraged to run for Congress. Who encouraged him to even consider this is unconfirmed. Clemens won't run for Congress. God bless us, everyone.
I'm not entirely sure how accurate this is, but this might be the first ever Astros County blog post to ever have been posted from our nation's capital. I just woke up from a pleasant afternoon nap that eradicated this wicked headache that I was battling all afternoon, so for the first time today I feel physically ready to break the news to you that the Astros did not sign Nelson Cruz. Yayyyyyy..
But don't worry folks, not are the Hot Links are this dreadfully sad. I got some good ones to bring to you too!
While we're talking about Astros offseason moves, Climbing Tal's Hill published a piece grading the Astros moves so far. Since there aren't a whole lot of Hot Links again today, I might as well also write an actual opinion piece which is something I think I was brought onto the team in the first place for (please also keep in mind I am a biased idiot).
Robinson Chirinos - Chirinos is the old man, no-average, high power, strong-armed catcher we were hoping 2018 Brian McCann would end up being. While I don't mind the signing, I hope it's more of a fallback plan in case the Max Stassi Experiment flops in 2019 because he is the main catcher that I want to see. I think I got officially burnt out on nausea-inducing BABIP scores in 2015 so when I see Chirinos' stat line, it makes me sad. Nevertheless, I don't mind the signing and I personally don't mind riding with Stassi instead of trading for Realmuto or shelling out cash for a Grandal. Grade: B
Aledmys Diaz - This one sucks a little bit because I don't even want to think about having to replace my favorite Houston Astro of all time, but I have to. This trade pretty much solidified that Houston's Hero is not coming back. However, we got Diaz for what I understand to be a steal. I'm no prospect man, but the guy we traded has a career minor league ERA of 4.23, so I don't mind this deal at all either. His consistent statistical numbers are eerily similar to Marwin's and he can play multiple positions, which takes away the pain a little bit and it makes me honestly okay with what has transpired this offseason. Although when I saw him in Toronto this summer he ONLY went 1-3 so he's gonna have to do a lot more to firmly woo this old codger over to his side. Marwin if you're reading this please come back. Grade: B+
Michael Brantley - As yes, The Big One. Our cornerstone move of the 2018-2019 offseason. We all know what this guy is all about. Can't stay healthy but when he does he is an All-Star. Decided not to spend money and take a risk with the new outfielder. All that. I like the signing. Again, this is a signing I like. I don't like his unhealthy past per se but looking at it from a wider scope the good free agent outfielders save Bryce Harper are quite injury-riddled (Brantley, Pollock, CarGo etc). I mean, you could have gone McCutchen in theory but are you going to pay Cutch 3 yrs. 50 Mil or Brantley for 2-32? This signing also makes me think of the Charlie Morton contract. "but he can't stay healthy" "but he's in the back end of his career!" they said. Obviously these two situations are completely independent of each other, but I have decided to completely disregard trades for injury purposes thanks to the fact he might, you know, stay healthy. This is an upgrade, and he is better than Kemp, Tucker (for now), and Marisnick. It isn't flashy, but it should get the job done and ease Tucker into the position. Grade: A
Packaging all three moves into one overarching theme, it seems as if he are replacing players and not necessarily upgrading the positions but maintaining them. We replaced McCann with McCann 2 (didn't get better), we replaced Marwin with Marwin 2 (didn't get better), and we replaced Marwin/Kemp/Jake with Michael Brantley (better). Will this be good enough? Honestly, I have no idea. It was in 2017 and not in 2018. Only time will tell and it isn't over yet. Still plenty of time for moves.
I would have never thought we would see the day, but MULTIPLE bloggerslikeTonySipp and want them on their teams?
HOF BALLOT UPDATE: There are 8 players who have put on a Houston Astros uniform on the ballot this year. 0 of them are in with 29% reporting but Clemens is currently sitting at a 73.7%.
If you are looking for some deep reading and like The Future, @AstrosFuture has composed many Astros MiLB reviews available for your viewing pleasure. I'll start you off on the starting pitchers but the rest can be found in the article.
Speaking of the Diamondbacks-Astros series, here is a Bob Nightengale throwback article floating the idea of this being the 2018 World Series. A quick series preview of this weekend can be found here.
Thursday, September 20th is the last Astros off day of the regular season.
Welp, we did it everyone. We finally made it through another 9 inning baseball game on ESPN. And it's Labor Day! Make sure to labor hard! I know I will continue to labor hard on these Hot Links and finish up this awesome side project for this blog, so I'll be pulling my weight! But anyways, let's get back to business and run some numbers:
0: Number of Astros losses in September, so the #OnPace numbers are looking pretty stupendous.
2.5: The amount of games the Astros are up in the division.
101: The Josh James fastball in miles per hour that we haven't yet talked about on this website.
A huge number: The number of Astros double-plays this season.
The Astros cannot hit at Minute Maid Park, right now. This is a fact. The Astros got embarrassed by the hopeless shell of a man who used to be known as Cole Hamels and they 05'd Justin Verlander again.
*Hinch, on facing Hamels: We chased a little bit in, but he did threaten us a little bit. Tonight was a little bit of a different game plan than he has had before and a little velocity spike. We just couldn't get anything going.
*The Rangers are 4-4 against Houston, and 12-20 against everybody else.
*Justin Verlander's last three games: 20IP, 9H/2ER, 29K:5BB, and the Astros have lost all three of those starts because they've scored two total runs.
*The Astros have given Verlander two or fewer runs of support in five of his nine starts. Verlander: It's easy enough to get frustrated, and I think the one thing you try to do is stay positive. Do you want to win? Yeah. Do I want to win? Yeah. I feel like I help my team the most when I get a win. The most you can do is just go out there and keep your team in ballgames...Runs come and go.
*Roger Clemens made 29 starts for the 2005 Astros. They "scored" two runs five times, one run once, and were shutout in nine games. Clemens lost three straight 1-0 games from April 13-23, 2005.
*On the Astros' hitting woes at home, Hinch: Everyone wants solutions or answers or takeaways from a small sample size. I'm not the least bit concerned about it. It is what it is. Maybe it's the teams we've played. Maybe it's when we've played at home, we haven't swung the bat the best.
Let's take these in order:
a) On the "small sample size:" The Astros get 81 home games in 2018 and have played 20 of them so far. A quarter of the home games is not exactly a small sample size.
b) The Astros have played 20 games against Baltimore, San Diego, Arlington, Anaheim, Oakland and New York. Their combined record is 109-123 (.470). Of course the Astros went 5-1 against the Orioles and Padres and 5-9 against Anaheim, Oakland, and New York. Anaheim and New York are legit, and the Astros went 2-5 against them. Houston was shutout in three of the seven games they played against the Angels and Yankees.
c) The Astros on the road, 2018: .289/.367/.464
The Astros at MMP, 2018: .219/.293/.342
*Last night was the first time the Astros got one-hit since August 20, 2015 against Tampa, also a 1-0 loss at home.
*The bastard Cole Hamels, who pitched with pinpoint control all night, hit George Springer in the elbow. X-rays were negative. Springer: It doesn't feel too good. It didn't feel too good at the time. We'll have to see what happens tomorrow and go from there.
*Jake Kaplan: What the first 40 games have told us about the 2018 Astros.
*Despite the disaster of a season the Astros have endured so far, including Dallas Keuchel "struggling" with a 2-5 record and a 3.53 ERA, SI notes the Astros are currently still Vegas favorites to win the 2018 World Series.
*The Astros have won the opening game in nine straight series after beating the Yankees 3-2 last night on Keuchel's strong start, Correa's 2-run homer, and Jake Marisnick's outfield assist to end the game. Keuchel threw 6IP, 5H/1R (0ER), 9K:1BB. Keuchel, who has a career 1.24 ERA in seven starts against the Yankees:
He sinks it, he cuts it, his curveball, his changeup. We did a much better job in the fifth and sixth innings, we made him work and got him out of the game. We just never really got the one big hit.
You have to take that shot. It took a perfect throw to get him. If there's less than two outs, you don't do it, but it's the right call. He made a perfect throw.
*The Astros are seven games up on the 2nd-place Angels, matching the biggest lead the Astros enjoyed in the 2015 season, last on May 4, 2015 before going and getting swept by Flower Mound.
We're going to be active in conversations so we know who's available and when they might be traded, but I don't feel like we're going to be in any hurry, especially since we've gotten off to a good start. As long as we continue to play well, there's no urgency to solve a problem right now.
*Jim Crane is going to stick to the plan of making steady increases in payroll (or "frugality" as it is referenced in the link).
*This is our fifth year in camp, and when I took over we had the worst team in baseball and the worst minor league system. We had a plan and we've stuck with the plan. I'd like to tell you we're smarter than everybody else, but we haven't won anything yet.
-Jim Crane.
*The goal is real simple. The goal is to win. To win the whole thing. -Jeff Luhnow
*LOL o' the day: Colbert Hamels has filed a lawsuit against a Philadelphia promoter for stiffing him on $70,000 VIP tickets to the Victoria's Secret show.
I'll be honest, none of us were in much of a frame of mind to go in and write about Jeff Bagwell receiving 71.6% of the vote in the Hall of Fame's election which was announced yesterday for fear of descending into staggering vulgarity and possible threats against writers whose opinions did not match our own. I still feel that way, but I think I can rein it in this morning.
*I tried not to think about it, but it's pretty hard not to. My standard line right now is Junior was in a hot tub the entire day not worrying about anything because he knew he was going to get in. It's the other guys that were struggling.
*It's okay. It's my sixth time, it's not like it's my first. I know there's a process. I'll wait my time. *You can blame mainly Boston, New York, and Chicago for Bagwell's non-election.
*The BBWAA is making progress where the 1990s are concerned, writes Brian T. Smith.
#congratulations to Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey . Next year will be Bagwell's.
*Dallas Keuchel became the first Astro to win the Cy Young award since Roger Clemens back in 2004 when he received 22 of 30 1st place votes - David Price received the other eight - from the BBWAA. Keuchel, Clemens, and Mike Scott are the only Astros pitchers to win the Cy Young.
*Here's a big something from Jeff Passan: Three sources told Yahoo Sports that Freeman's name came up in conversations with the Houston Astros as part of a mega-trade that would've included more than five players. It went nowhere.
...Man, it would be fun to know what those conversations were like.
*MLBPA head Tony Clark spoke to the Chronicle about the Astros, who are working their way off the union's crap list. Trying to change Ryan Vogelsong's contract after his medical (sound familiar?) doesn't help.
*Collin McHugh struggled, Michael Feliz didn't, and Brad Peacock and Preston Tucker are on the mend.
*Jonathan Villar was hit by a pitch above the right knee BUT! is okay.
Here's what you'll need to know as you start your first full week with actual baseball activities in 52 years*
(* - approximately)
*Interesting story out of Chicago, as apparently-former-Astro Jesse Crain made it to White Sox camp and had some things to say about his upcoming season: (The previous relationship) was a huge part of why I came back here. I'm going to come in here and go at the pace we need to go at, whatever that might be...They are going to take care of me and make sure I'm right. They aren't going to rush me to get out there. In that sense, it was a perfect fit.
Now whether he's just highlighting how sweet the White Sox are or making a comparison between the White Sox and Astros, we of course do not know. But given that the Astros gave Crain over $3m to not throw a single pitch, I can see how they'd be a little anxious about Crain's distinct lack of, you know, pitching.
*Evan Drellich has a big ol' notebook for everyone. Of particular import: Chris Carter will see more time at 1B and Evan Gattis will start the spring in LF, while Jonathan Villar is going to focus on playing 2B/3B to be more of a utility player.
*Jason Castro is working on putting all aspects of his game together.
*A.J. Hinch is big on having an open door, as well as communicating - a groundbreaking strategy in any business. No one has ever in the history of baseball considered these ideas in regards to management.
*Roger Clemens stopped by camp and talked to the, and also said that there's "just as much talent here as there is in" Kansas City. So...
*Mike Foltynewicz talked about 2015 with the Braves.
Blow off work on this Friday morning and circle the verbs in each of the following articles:
*Roger Clemens was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame (which includes Whitey Bulger, Leonardo DiCaprio from "The Departed," and Ben Affleck) prior to last night's game, and said that - should he ever be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, he would like to wear a Red Sox cap on his plaque.
*Now that Rat Bastard Selig is actually, like, for reals, stepping down, Jim Crane would like to take a more proactive role as an owner.
*Also within that link, Houston mayor Annise Parker was asked her thoughts on the 2014 Astros: That's not a real question, is it? The season sucked. I appreciate the investment in the farm teams, though, and it is the way to build a baseball team for the long term. And I am excited that maybe we'll be able to watch (games on television). I'm one of those Houstonians who can't watch at home.
*Matthew Leach points out that Domingo Santana is the 49th player since 1914 to start a Major League career 0x17. (Chris Carter started his career 0x33 with two walks before recording his first ML hit).
*Sad news: Gordy MacKenzie, a longtime scout/coach who had been coaching with the GCL Astros since 2008 (and had been a minor-league coach since 1966), passed away on Tuesday.
*Mark Appel (appendectomy) is getting closer to 100% and hopes to throw off a mound soon.
*Asher Wojciechowski (lat strain) will resume throwing tomorrow, but not off a mound.
*Jesse Crain now has a calf strain to go along with his biceps surgery recovery. He injured his calf exercising in the gym, and will have an MRI soon.
*Bo Porter got testy and called the team "disrespectful" after Roger Clemens addressed the pitchers.
*Rudy Owens's foot is getting better and doesn't hurt when he pitches - only when he runs.
*Baseball America wonders if the 16-30 Astros prospects in 2014 are better than the 1-15 Astros prospects in 2010.
*Jim Callis says the Correa/Appel tandem is the best hitter/pitcher prospect combo in baseball.
*Jesse Crain is about ten days away from beginning his throwing regimen
*Jim Crane told reporters in OKC that the Astros may extend their PDC with Oklahoma City (it expires following this season). Crane: We've made it clear as an organization we'd like to own our Triple-A
team, but right now there's nothing in the works. Our team
is here ... We like this market. This is a great ballpark and these
folks (Mandalay) do a great job.
*Bud Norris told Orioles101 that he is grateful to be in Baltimore, and "was very blessed and thankful for my time in Houston but losing 100+
games 4 seasons in a row was very hard on me, the team, coaches, and the
city." (Ed. Note: Four seasons in a row?)
A quick note: Some of you have emailed asking where the Morning Drive podcasts have been this week. The short version is that the hosting service cut their upload allotments and then raised the subscription fee. So the Morning Drive is on hiatus until that gets figured out. In the meantime, Astros County is in the process of working up a little podcasting partnership with one of your other favorite sites. More on that later.
Here's your Friday Morning Link Dump for...um, Friday.
*The New York Times' Tyler Kepner has a great article on the Astros, and the hope that is (might be) around the corner. The Astros' internal projections called for about 15 more wins, but Luhnow says 2013 is the first time in his career that all pitching prospects stayed healthy.
*Have you ever seen a headline that read "godforsaken Astros?" Now you have. Money quote in The Guardian's piece? "MLB's rules are complicit in helping the Astros engineer a farm system that makes Monsanto look small-time."
*New York's Newsday pleads with Rivera, Girardi, the Yankees, God, and anybody else I'm forgetting, not to pitch in Houston this weekend.
*Roger Clemens wrote a farewell to Mariano Rivera in today's Chronicle. The Yankees are going to be pissssssssed when Drayton McLane and Gerry Hunsicker lure Rivera out of retirement to pitch for the Astros next season.
*We'll look more at this in the coming weeks, but FanGraphs has a piece on how the Pirates built a playoff team. (Hint: xFIP)
*Andy Pettitte will pitch Saturday in Houston, not tonight. As Cockroach noted:
Interesting that the Yankees moved Andy Pettitte's final start to Saturday, so that the pitching line now reads "Pettitte vs. Clemens"...
— Cockroach (@cockroachHOU) September 27, 2013
*The Astros will hold a press conference at 2pm Saturday for a major announcement with the
Governor of Veracruz.
