Tuesday Morning Hot Links

Scott Feldman struck out three in a 5-3 loss to the Nationals. 

*The biggest news of the day was that Evan Drellich is headed back to Boston to cover the Red Sox for the Boston Herald. So with Jose de Jesus Ortiz's impending departure to St. Louis, Drellich to Boston, and the mysterious parting of ways between the Astros and Amanda Rykoff, there are a lot fewer people covering the Astros now.

*Scott Feldman's changeup is starting to take shape, and A.J. Hinch noticed that his velocity is back.

*Richard Justice basically wrote a love letter to George Springer.

*A.J. Hinch hinted (hinchted?) that the Astros could carry 12 pitchers and 13 position players to open the season. That would mean that the final bullpen spot is between Wandy, Neal Cotts, and Dan Straily and allow the Astros to bring along a lefty like Preston Tucker plus whomever comes out as 1B.  (Try this route if you have trouble)

*Here's McTaggart on the race for the last bullpen spot.

*Dan Straily, out of options, is throwing 94mph and has a fingerboard.

*J.D. Alleva - who was a national amateur scouting supervisor - is no longer with the team.

*The Astros' outfield was ranked 7th in baseball by MLB.com.

*Carlos Correa took a picture with Lebron James.

*Scott Miller has the heart-breaking story of Tommy Hanson.

*Before you go, the 2015 Grizzlies got their rings:

Great to celebrate winning the National Championship again. This time with our rings! #growlifornia pic.twitter.com/NyibgoLLp9

— Tyler Heineman (@theineman13) March 21, 2016

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

*By now you may have read that the Astros were allegedly *not* the team that won the rights to negotiate with Byung-ho Park; that honor apparently goes to the Twins. Jerry Crasnick compared Park to Chris Carter.

*Dallas Keuchel won AL Outstanding Pitcher, Carlos Correa won AL Outstanding Rookie, and Jose Altuve won the Majestic Athletic Always Game Award (think, heart and hustle/rise and grind) at the MLB Players Choice Awards last night.

*Jim Crane said the Astros are prepared to increase payroll in the right parameters:
We'll focus on spending money wisely and adding a dimension or two that we might need. What's really nice is what we set out to do is starting to work. You've got a great farm system to draw from and you've got a lot of guys coming up, too, that could be Major League ready.

*Luhnow said there's a balance to strike:
The outcomes we're looking for is to create outs with our pitching staff and create runs with our offense and there's many different formulas. We don't feel like, 'We need a guy throwing 97 or else we're not going to be successful.' 

*Any decision to be made regarding the cheatin'ass Cardinals will be made before the beginning of the 2016 season.

*Tal's Hill will be removed before the beginning of the 2017 season.

*Richard Justice just !loves! the new Spring Training facility.

*It's that time of year again!

If I had a ballot: Raines, Bagwell, Piazza, Griffey, Bonds, Clemens, Schilling, Mussina, Trammell, Edgar.

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) November 9, 2015

*Jeff Passan gives the rundown on 192 free agents.

*Albert Pujols is doubtful for Opening Day 2016.

*Rockies SS Jose Reyes was arrested for alleged domestic abuse

*Sad news in MLB as former Braves/Angels pitcher Tommy Hanson has passed away at the age of 29.

Know Your Enemy: Tommy Hanson

The Astros come off their first series win of the season and head into Anaheim, where one of the dominant stories is likely to be how much more the Angels pay their players than the Astros pay theirs.

The game starts at 9:05pm Central and can be seen on MLB.tv (if you have a little program that can do some interesting things that may help in that regard).

*The Astros and Angels have played six times, and split the all-time series 3-3. They last played in 2007, when the Angels won the series 2-1 and your lone Astro winner was Jason Jennings. 

*The Astros face Tommy Hanson, a 26-year old 6'6" 260lb RHP out of Tulsa. He was drafted in the 22nd Round of the 2005 draft by the Braves, and was traded back in November from Atlanta to Anaheim for Jordan Walden.

*In four seasons with Atlanta, Hanson was 45-32 with a 3.61 ERA/1.25 WHIP and threw 170+ IP twice.
*He made his Major-League debut on June 7, 2009, having been called up to replace Tom Glavine, whom the Braves cut four days earlier. 
*2012 was the first season his ERA+ was under 100, when he posted a 90 ERA+ on the strength of a 4.48 ERA/1.45 WHIP (both career-highs).


*As he spent the last four seasons, he has some experience pitching against Houston. In five career starts against the Astros (34IP), Hanson is 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA, 43K:8BB.

*On April 10, 2012, he threw 5IP, 6H/2ER, 8K:3BB at Minute Maid.
*On June 12, 2011, Hanson threw 7IP, 3H/1ER, 14K:2BB in a win over Houston. Those 14Ks matched a career-high in strikeouts by a pitcher at Minute Maid Park (initially set by Bud Norris), and matched by Yu Darvish in G2 of the 2013 season.
*Hanson was put on the DL on July 31, 2012 with a lower back strain.

*Hanson seems to have lost some bite on his fastball in his one start this season (to which we'll get in a second). Hanson's fastball velocity by year, 2010-2013: 92.7mph, 91.1mph, 89.6mph, 87.7mph.
*He also throws a slider that sat at 78.9mph, with an 84.2mph changeup, and a 70.7mph curve (all numbers courtesy of FanGraphs).
*Hanson got the start on April 6 at Texas, getting one of Anaheim's two wins of the season, throwing 6IP, 6H/3ER, 4K:0BB, 2HR and 2WP. 56 of his 90 pitches were thrown for strikes, and 25 of those strikes were looking.

*Brett Wallace leads the way among current Astros in PAs vs. Hanson. But he's 0x9 with 5Ks against him for his career. Rick Ankiel is 2x5 with a homer and a walk; Carlos Pena is 1x5 with a walk. And Ronny Cedeno is 2x5. All told, current Astros are 8x41 with 18K:2BB against Hanson.

*Bud Norris has only ever faced two current Angels: Albert Pujols (5x26, 3K:2BB) and Chris Iannetta (1x3).
*Also keep an eye out for former Astro J.B. Shuck, who currently plays for Anaheim, and is 1x4 with 2Ks.

Know Your Enemy: April 10

*6'6" 220lb RHP Tommy Hanson
*Was baseball's #1 prospect heading into the 2009 season.
*After throwing 202.2IP in 2010, only threw 130IP in 2011.
*12.5% of his fly balls went for homers.
*Had a career-high 9.83 K/9 in 2011, striking out 142 in 130IP.
*Hanson was 2-0 in 2011 against Houston, striking out 24 batters in 14IP, with a 1.29 ERA/0.64 WHIP.
*He struck out double-digit batters three times in 2011, and two of them came against the Astros: 10 on May 16 and a career-high 14 on June 12.
*In his first start of 2012, he took the hard-luck loss, going 5IP, 4H/1ER, 4K:3BB in a 1-0 defeat at New York on Opening Day. 50 of his 83 pitches went for strikes, and he got five swinging strikes.
*His velocity for his fastball was way off last week, with his fastball averaging 88.7mph, down 2.5mph off his 2011 fastball.
*Only Carlos Lee has 10+ PAs against Hanson, but has a .928 OPS in 15 PAs. Matt Downs is 2x5 with a double, homer, walk, and 2RBI (.400/.500/1.200) off Hanson in 6PAs.

*Nobody on Atlanta's roster has faced Kyle Weiland!

Brad Mills explains the impatience at the plate

Brad Mills explains why no one wanted to be up at the plate for too long last night:

"His stuff was so good that we didn’t want to get behind too much. He was getting ahead with us and then he was putting us away, so the guys tried to get three swings as quick as they could.”

Sure. Why make the pitcher do all the work when you're willing to do it yourself?

Recap for G139 - Braves at Astros

Thank God for Rafael Soriano. He's the player of the game for the Astros, as Tommy Hanson made the Astros look foolish for eight innings. I understand Tommy Hanson is slowly returning from injury, but he was sitting at 98 pitches, with 5H/0ER, 7K:0BB. Think maybe he should have gone for the 9th? Who cares! That's a walk-off, 2-1 win.

Let's do the thing:

Wandy: 7IP, 3H/1ER, 6K:2BB, 20/26 first-pitch strikes, 27/59 non-contact strikes (20 called:7 swinging)
Wright: 1IP, 2K, 1/3 FPS, 7/9 NCS (3c:4s)
Valverde: 1IP, 2K, 2/3 FPS, 7/12 NCS (3c:4s)

Great pitching performance, and it's getting to the point where the staff needs to keep the opposition below two runs to win a game. At home, Wandy is 8-2 (with six no decisions), and a 1.58 ERA. 1.58, and six no decisions. That's disgusting.

Hanson dominated the Astros, who managed just five hits - all singles. Thankfully, Soriano came in and it all happened. Berkman got a clutch double in the 9th to move Matsui to third. An intentional walk to Lee (which is a great managerial move by Bobby Cox to get to double play-prone Miguel Tejada. Who ripped a single to center, scoring Matsui and Berkman to win the game.

Chris Johnson saw some game action at third after Blum was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures after suffering a contusion on his leg. More on that later this morning.

Pitch Count Hero: Hunter Pence - 16 pitches in 3 PAs (0x3, 2K)
Pitch Count Punk: Lance Berkman - 7 pitches in 4 PAs (2x4, 1K)

Man of the Match: Rafael Soriano (ha!). Tejada had a clutch hit, but it's going to Wandy.

Goat of the Game: It's hard to say. How about Pence - 0x3, 2Ks, and ended the inning twice.

Matchup for G139 - Braves at Astros

Game 139, 23 to play in this miserable (though strangely entertaining, if only for the train wreck aspect) season. The Astros have had four chances to get to five straight wins, and haven't done it. When was the last time they won five straight? Well, they won eight straight, twice, last year. So...there you go.

Wandy Rodriguez

I don't think anyone other than Carpenter or Wainwright will win the NL Cy Young this year, but if it hadn't been for a rough late-May/early-June, where he had three disaster starts in four games, he might at least be right there in the discussion. Factor those out (work with me here), and he's 13-6 with a 2.05 ERA. Just sayin'.

Last three appearances:

Date-Opp	IP	H/ER	K:BB	GB/FB	Pit/Str
8/25 @StL	7	3/1	6:1	8/10	93/64
8/30 @ARI	6	7/4	7:3	8/9	109/65
9/5 vPHI	7	7/0	7:0	9/12	111/82

Wandy pitched at Atlanta on May 3, getting - typically - a no decision in 5IP, 6H/3ER, leaving after just 86 pitches. And he wasn't happy about that.

2009 home: 8-2 (13 starts), 90IP, 69H/21BB, 1.60 ERA/1.00 WHIP, 79K:21BB

Let's do the splits:
vs Righties: .256/.323/.412, 125K:48BB
vs Lefties: .187/.238/.269, 37K:9BB

When swinging at the first pitch (66): .303/.303/.500, 7XBH (3HR)
After First-Pitch Strikes (381): .199/.236/.272, 117K:15BB
After First-Pitch Balls (276): .291/.404/.522, 45K:42BB

RISP: 32x135, .237/.316/.356, 31K:14BB
Runners on: 62x250, .248/.325/.352, 52K:25BB
2OwRISP: 16x68, .235/.342/.382, 17K:9BB

Tommy Hanson

Rookie Tommy Hanson is one of the reasons the Braves were willing to let Smoltz try his hand in a Boston uniform, and has been dominant, with a 9-3 record, and an ERA of 3.07

Last three appearances:

Date-Opp	IP	H/ER	K:BB	GB/FB	Pit/Str
8/22 vFLA	7	4/3	7:3	7/9	99/64
8/28 @PHI	2	2/1	4:0	1/3	29/19
9/3 @FLA	5	2/1	5:4	7/5	104/60

2009 road: 3-2 (8 starts), 2.68 ERA/1.37 WHIP, 43.2IP, 29K:21BB

This will be Hanson's first appearance in Houston.

Let's do the splits:
vs Righties: .220/.259/.327, 100K:16BB
vs Lefties: .243/.286/.409, 99K:20BB

When swinging at the first pitch (43): .293/.286/.463, 4XBH (1HR)
After First-Pitch Strikes (201): .186/.231/.314, 59K:7BB
After First-Pitch Balls (148): .288/.432/.466, 19K:29BB

RISP: 14x71, .197/.333/.394, 17K:13BB
Runners on: 29x160, .218/.331/.414, 29K:21BB
2OwRISP: 8x39, .205/.354/.410, 11K:8BB