Saturday Evening Hot Links

The sweetest sound in the world is ice melting off your roof.

*Ryan Pressly is presumably the closer for 2021. Brent Strom:

My guess right now is Ryan Pressly, who did a great job last year, save for two games. He only had like two bad outings last year...one game in Arizona that kind of blew him up a little bit, and then again in Texas, where his velocity was way below and a guy hit a home run to tie it up. Right now, I would say he is probably the leaders, having been with us.

Pressly allowed 5H/3ER, 1K:2BB in his first two appearances (0.2IP, nine batters faced), settling at a 40.50 ERA by the time both Verlander and Osuna were done for the year. Over his next 21 appearances, Pressly allowed 16H/5ER, 28K:5BB, 2.21 ERA / 1.03 WHIP, including that Texas game Strom mentioned. Dusty Baker just wants him healthy.

Strom also noted that Steve Cishek (which seems like a promising report on the chances of Cishek making the Opening Day roster), Joe Smith, and Pedro Baez could factor into the closer role, and that it's up to Dusty Baker. 

In that link we also find that Andre Scrubb and Bryan Abreu are drawing early praise, there's an awful lot of pitchers in camp, and Dusty Baker had very nice things to say about Pedro Gomez (who seemed like a very good person). 

*And here we find a very good article from Chandler Rome on the importance of Brent Strom. Strom:

There's this feeling out there that we do something super special as an organization. I think we just do our due diligence and we turn every rock over to try to find how we can help whatever pitchers we acquire. 

I truly hope there's a Brent Strom understudy.

*Joe Smith is very happy to be back with the Astros. Dusty, on Smith:

Joe is one of the leaders on this team. Guys listen to him, they gravitate toward him, they follow him. Not only is it great to have Joe in the bullpen, but he's a quality guy that we all trust. 

*Framber Valdez: "I want to have some nasty pitches this year." I, too, would like Framber to have some nasty pitches this year. 

*Jerome Solomon: Dusty isn't the retiring type.

*SI's first Power Rankings of 2021 have the Astros at #8. 

*Forrest Whitley, who may or may not exist, is in West Palm Beach but not working out at the team complex, for some reason. James Click:

Occasionally, out of an abundance of caution, there are protocol steps that have to be taken players and personnel are cleared to report. We expect those steps to be completed soon, which will still give everyone enough time to prepare for the season.

Related: Here is a really good interview from FanGraphs with the aforementioned possibly-alive Forrest Whitley, who is a Trevor Bauer fanboy. It's in there, I swear. Also, there's this quote:

Everything I've done since I've been with the Astros has...pretty much been self-driven. I haven't had much outside influence. I'm pretty stubborn. I don't always like to listen to people.

If there's anything that the Astros have been about since 2012, it's definitely without a doubt just sort of letting players do whatever they want. (But also keep in mind the above-linked interview with Brent Strom). 

But there's also this one: "It goes without saying that this season is super, super important for me."

It's a really, really insightful read, lots of mechanics/grip analysis. Good interview, and it's not pay-walled, so have at it. I'm actually really excited to see what Forrest Whitley does this year. But also I hope he stops listening to Tyler Bauer. 

*Missed this, from earlier in the week when the state was freezing over, but Keith Law released his Astros' farm system report. Law:

The Astros are still finding hidden value through R&D and some great work on the player development side, and have a number of guys who look like breakout candidates for 2021, if we get a minor-league season.

The Top 20 - click the link to read the write-ups:

1. Forrest Whitley

2. Luis Garcia

3. Pedro Leon

4. Hunter Brown

5. Jeremy Pena

6. Jairo Solis

7. Korey Lee

8. Shawn Dubin

9. Colin Barber

10. Jordan Brewer

11. Tyler Ivey

12. Alex Santos

13. Brett Conine

14. Luis Santana

15. Freudis Nova

16. Alex McKenna

17. Joe Perez

18. Nathan Perry

19. Zach Daniels

20. Austin Hansen

Jeremy Pena is #66 on FanGraphs' Top 100 prospects list. Brett Conine is #70 and Forrest Whitley is #100 on Dan Szymborski's Top 100 ZiPS prospect list for 2021. 

Kevin Goldstein is podcasting again!

*Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve teamed up to provide 25,000 meals to children affected by the storm this week.

*Outside: Lessons from the 100 most influential studies in sports medicine.

*A Musical Selection:

Saturday Morning Hot Links

I truly hope that every single person who reads this is doing okay. This week has proven to us that the Biblical imagery of Hell being hot may not be entirely accurate. My family and I are lucky - we live around the corner from a National Guard...outpost or whatever, and they're not going to shut off power to, like, The Army:

 

Anyway, this has been a hell of a week. I know that my wife and kid and I are extremely blessed/fortunate (depending on your view of Christianity/Deism/Atheism), and there are millions of people around Texas who are not doing okay. Here is a link to a Google Doc organizing direct relief, if you're in a position to help. If you/your family have a specific need, email me at astroscounty at gmail and I'll will do my absolute best to help you/your family. 

*Here is a list of food and water distribution sites in Houston, Austin, North Texas, San Antonio, Corpus.

*I guess the Astros did some stretching. But, more importantly right now, they're banding together to help out the Houston area:

-Alex and Reagan Bregman are distributing bottled water from 9am-2pm Saturday at the Astros Youth Academy (2801 S. Victory Drive).

-The Bregmans, the Brantleys, the Presslys, the Smith/LaForces, the Astros Foundation, Brothers Produce, Mayor Turner's office, and the City of Houston are handing out 5-gallon jugs of water at Butler Stadium (13755 S. Main Street) until they run out.

-Lance and Kara McCullers have pledged $150,000 and 400,000 water bottles for the Houston Food Bank, who will distribute the water. The Lance McCullers Jr. Foundation will also partner with several local organizations to help with water and veterinary services. Click here to donate to the LMJ Foundation, as they want to donate a literal million bottles of water to the Houston area.

-Carlos and Daniella Correa will donate 1,000 meals to law enforcement and public employees, as well as support in recovery and reconstruction efforts. To donate the Correa Family Foundation, click here.

*Brian McTaggart has notes! Zack Greinke won't report until the deadline, as is his custom, and is also not a big deal at all, Bryan Abreu came to camp slimmed down and looking good, Josh James likely won't get a 60-Day IL spot since he's projected to come back from hip labrum surgery before then, and Joe Smith knows he's old (and there's a certain amount of coolness that comes with that). 

*Chandler Rome: The signing of Former/Current Astros Great Jason Castro is all about helping Martin Maldonado get through the season. Machete, on talking with Jiminy Clicket about the Castro signing:

We had a really good conversation about it. I think Castro is going to give us another form of leadership behind the plate - a guy that's been here, been in the big leagues for so long. We are going to work together, get the best out of our pitching staff and be a unit.

There's mutual respect between the two catchers, and that can't be a bad thing. 

*MLB.com: Here is your projected 2021 Astros lineup/rotation.

*Jake Kaplan: Myles Straw and Bryan Abreu are among the Astros with the most to gain this Spring Training.

*Dusty Baker: Bryan Abreu looks "really good" so far. 

*Virtual Astros FanFest will be Saturday, February 27.

*Chandler Rome: Steve Cishek is trying to sidearm his way, along with Joe Smith, into the bullpen.

*Our Dude Brian wrote up a post about the Astros being 2021 AL West favorites.

*Former Astros Great Brandon Bailey will have Tommy John Surgery and miss the 2021 season.

*Wolves 1 Leeds United 0 in a bullcrap game that "technology" ruined.

*I tried to figure out a simple way to understand just what the hell happened to Texas this week.

*Uncle Nearest is the Most Important Story in American Whiskey History.

*How a Shadow Army of Ghost Kitchens Took Over America's Restaurants.

*Barcelona and the Crippling Cost of Success.

*A Musical Selection:

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

Oh so we're back to having to do these every day again, huh?

*The Astros have signed reliever Steve Cishek to a minor-league deal with an invitation to Spring Training, completing the Old Testament Bullpen Trifecta of Cishek (2021), Neshek (2015-16), and Abad (2010-12). Truly amazing. A blessing, really.

Cishek can make up to $2.25m in 2021 if he makes the club. Cishek will be 35 in June and has a career 2.78 ERA / 1.16 WHIP (2.52 ERA / 1.05 WHIP from 2016-2019). He ended 2021 with a 5.40 ERA / 1.50 WHIP which, sure, isn't great. But his first seven appearances of 2021 resulted in an 11.12 ERA / 2.29 WHIP, and a 3.14 ERA / 1.19 WHIP over his last 15 appearances. He and Joe Smith are going to both hit you with the side-arm.

Chandler Rome: Cishek will provide some competition for the Astros in Spring Training.

*Spring Training, by the way, for better or for worse, begins on February 18 with the first full-squad workout on February 22. 

*MLB.com: The Astros' biggest offseason upgrade just might be Yordan Alvarez.

*Baseball Prospectus released their first PECOTA standings projection of 2021, and it has the 93-69 Astros winning the AL West by six games, the 2nd-best projection in the AL.

*Minor-leaguers Anibal Sierra and Stephen Wrenn were released by the Astros on Tuesday. Sierra, 26, hit .210/.282/.293 between Round Rock and Corpus in 2019. Wrenn, the Astros' 6th Round pick in 2016, spent 2019 mostly in Corpus and hit .247/.336/.411.

*MLB and the MLBPA agreed to various health and safety protocols for 2021. 

*SI: Did MLB use juiced baseballs in 2020?

*ESPN: 2020's lost MLB giveaways could be a treasure trove for fans.

*Outside: My Path to Becoming Semi-Rad.

*On Beethoven, and the Gifts of Silence.

*This Unusual Japanese Train Station In the Middle of Nowhere Has No Entrance or Exit.

*I'm very excited to read this book, which came out on Tuesday.

*A Musical Selection: