Wednesday Morning Hot Links

*Brian McTaggart writes that the bullpen is trying to cut down on its inconsistency.

*Lest you get excited by Texas Governor Greg Abbott's prediction that the Astros will win another World Series as another prognostication of baseball dominance, he had this to say about the Astros' in-state rivals:
Nothing better than a World Series between the Astros and Rangers.

Indeed. That would be...something.

*The Venetian in Las Vegas has the following odds for the 2018 World Series:
Dodgers: 9/2
Yankees: 5/1
Astros: 6/1
Indians: 6/1
Nationals: 8/1
Cubs: 9/1
Red Sox: 10/1
Rangers: 100/1
Marlins: 300/1

*Tony DeFrancesco was hired by the Mets to be the Las Vegas 51s new manager. Joel Chimelis is the 51s new hitting coach, having been with the Astros in a minor-league coaching capacity since 2006.

*The Rangers don't think they can grow grass in their new $1.1b stadium scheduled to open in two years.

*Houston, how about some Caravan details with Brady Rodgers, Forrest Whitley, and Steve Sparks?
3:30-4:30pm: Chick-Fil-A on Fairmont Parkway in Pasadena. Wear Astros gear in this hour and get a free sandwich. No autographs.
5-6pm: Academy at 2804 Business Center Drive in Pearland. Autograph session with the commemorative World Series Champion autograph card.
5-7pm: Caravan Jam at Pearland Town Center, 30 minute appearance from players.

*Beaumont, how about Tony Kemp, Tyler White, and Geoff Blum?
4-5pm: Academy at 7130 Eastex Freeway, autographs with the commemorative card.
5-7pm: Caravan Jam at 1455 Dowlen Road, Beaumont.

*Austin, you're still up to get pictures with the trophy today. Here's the schedule:
3:30pm: Pluckers at 3909 South Lamar (no autographs, but there will be "mingling.")
5-6pm: Academy at 5400 Brodie Lane in Sunset Valley. Autographs with J.D. Davis, Brad Peacock and James Hoyt, and a picture with the trophy.
5-7pm: Caravan Jam at the Long Center (701 W. Riverside Drive). Q&A from 6:15-6:45 with Peacock and Hoyt

Astrodome at night pic.twitter.com/ZLPGrPpYKf

— John Bateman (@JohnnyBateman7) January 9, 2018

Saturday Morning 2-0 Hot Links

*Well. The Astros got to Drew Pomeranz, and the team that was 21-24 against lefty starters in the regular season is now 2-0 against lefty starters in the postseason. George Springer got sprung and the Astros eventually coasted to another 8-2 win over the Sons of Liberty.

The Astros played like Whataburger was on the line

— Whataburger® (@Whataburger) October 6, 2017

*(Houston) Keuchel took a little while to settle in, eventually throwing 5.2IP, 3H/1ER, 7K:3BB.
Keuchel, Innings 1-2: 48 pitches, 3H/1ER, 3K/1BB
Keuchel, Innings 3-5.2: 48 pitches, 0H/0ER, 4K:1BB

Keuchel retired 13 batters in a row.

*Springer, who hit a home run (2x4, BB, RBI)
For us to come out and score off of those guys over there is obviously huge for us. (Sale and Pomeranz) are two quality arms who have started the games, and we've been stringing along with some quality at-bats and scoring early.

*Correa, who went 2x4 with a walk and 4RBI:
You've seen it throughout the whole season. One through nine, everybody can do damage, everybody can go deep. That's the good thing about our lineup, there's no holes in our lineup, and we feel very confident, no matter if we went 0-for-4 the day before or if we went 4-for-4. 

*Alex Rodriguez broke down Carlos Correa's swing.

*The Astros had the bases loaded twice, and went 0x5.

*Dustin Pedroia, who is basically Matt Damon in The Departed at this point, summed it up:
They've played it great. They've done everything right, and we haven't done anything right. Hopefully, getting back home and getting in front of our fans will give us a boost and get us back in this series. 

*More Pedroia:
We just got our ass kicked twice. Confidence is irrelevant at this point. 

*Mookie Betts told Tyler Kepner:
We can only be ourselves. We can't go out and bang like them. We can't do a whole lot of things that they can do, but we can do what we can do. And what we do got us in the playoffs, and I'm pretty sure it can win us the World Series, too.

*Red Sox manager John Farrell:
They're very good, they're deep, and they have got a number of ways to beat you. So we fully respect and understood the opponent, and they're playing like that. 

*The Boston Globe's Pete Abraham:
There was a sort of grim resignation in the Red Sox clubhouse that Houston is a much better team.

*Boston Herald's Jason Mastrodonato:
Forget about talent. The Red Sox simply didn't look ready to play.

*Boston Herald's Michael Silverman:
But yesterday's brutal Game 2 Division series loss exposed the most glaring weakness this team possesses: That it's offense, a punchless and moody group of hitters who put their worst on display when the team needed them the most in the 8-2 loss.

*Hinch:
We won't take anything for granted. This is a team that's very, very laser-focused on winning the series. You don't win the series with two wins - you win it with three.

*Richard Justice says the Minute Maid crowd shows Houston's resilience. Keuchel:
Just to be at home, everybody is so comfortable here, and we played so well. I know we played better, record-wise, on the road this year, but just being back at home at Minute Maid, where everybody's gone through a lot...it just means a lot to us to be here and for the fans to be out here. 

*Jenny Dial Creech says these Astros look like something special.

*Providence Journal: Of the 56 teams to be down up 0-2 in the division series, 49 have gone on to win. Since 2003, 30 of 32 teams have gone on to win the division series.

*MLB announced that the Astros and Red Sox will play afternoon games as long as the Cleveland/New York series is still going on. Like it's 1922, or something.

*Brad Peacock will start G3 at Fenway on Sunday afternoon. Hinch, on the decision:
He's had an exceptional season as a starter. He's filled a couple different roles, and he's earned this start. I think his effectiveness, his calmness, his ability to throw strikes, he's got real weapons, he gets a ton of swing and miss. His season speaks for itself, which is why we would turn to him in Game 3.

Charles Morton would start G4. McCullers is presumably ready out of the bullpen to close out the series on Sunday. Or whatever afternoon/not-convenient time MLB has decided to play this series.

*FiveThirtyEight says the Astros won G3 5500 out of 10000 times in simulations.

*Carlos Correa has worked with Jim Crane to send another plane full of supplies to Puerto Rico, which pretty much everyone in the contiguous 48 states has forgotten about. Don't do that.

*Alex Speier wrote about the Astros trying to stay ahead of the analytics curve. Luhnow:
It's a double-edged sword. If (other teams are) following things we did first, it means, a) it works; and b) our advantage is gone, or dissipating. That's why we're constantly trying to figure out how we can gain small advantages in multiple areas. 

*FanGraphs: Has the era of the super-team arrived?

*Former Fresno manager Tony DeFrancesco has been hired by the Mets to manage their PCL team in Las Vegas.

*Oh hey here's a surprise, Jon Heyman picked Aaron Judge over Jose Altuve for AL MVP.

*Elsewhere in the postseason:
ALDS: Cleveland came back from an 8-3 deficit to beat the Yankees 9-8 in 13 innings. Edwin Encarnacion looked like he really hurt his ankle and I did not enjoy replays of that play. Cleveland has a 2-0 lead.
NLDS: Chicago held Washington to two hits, winning 3-0 to take a 1-0 series lead.
NLDS: Taijuan Walker became the latest playoff pitcher to not last two innings as LA beat Arizona 9-5 to take a 1-0 series lead. J.D. Martinez hit a home run, though.

*This is extremely my jam: 20 lost indie Britpop bands of the 2000s. (I'm sorry but The Bravery is not "lost.")

Friday Morning Hot Links

The Lima Time Time Bozoathon for Harvey Relief starts tonight at 7pm Central. We're trying to raise $10,000. We're now 13 hours away from the thing even starting at we're 13% of the way to our goal. Gonna be a bunch of great guests, gonna be a lot of fun, and we're gonna hopefully raise a ton of money. So tune in this evening, overnight, tomorrow morning, all day tomorrow, and tomorrow evening. We'll have an embedded player here.

*The White Sox are useless and the Indians won their 15th straight game. So the 86-53 Astros stayed at 14.5 games up on the idle Angels and 2.5 up on the Indians, who will never lose again.

*Off-day! Yesterday was the first of two days off in four days, as the Astros get Monday off between the A's series and the Angels series. By the time the Astros return home again on September 15 they'll have played 16 of their last 19 games on the road.

*World Series odds check! We haven't done this since the Astros acquired Verlander and Maybin, but let's see what the Simulations tell us:
-FanGraphs (100-62): 20.7% chance of winning the World Series
-FiveThirtyEight (100-62): 16% chance of winning the World Series
-Baseball Prospectus (100-62): 15% chance of winning the World Series

*Richard Justice: The Astros got better, and healthy, at just the right time.

*Jose Altuve has played a not-very-even-number 962 games. In those 962 games he has 1229 hits, a .317/.362/.453 slash line with 230 stolen bases. Also through 962 games:
Tony Gwynn: 1233 hits, .332/.389/.442, 201 stolen bases
Pete Rose: 1174 hits, .302/.361/.423, 47 stolen bases
Craig Biggio: 990 hits, .282/.365/.407, 172 stolen bases

*I swear I didn't read this before coming up with the Altuve vs. the World comparisons, but Ryan Spaeder wrote up a good piece on Altuve and his track to Cooperstown.

*The Tigers wanted Forrest Whitley for Verlander.

*While Tony DeFrancesco said, "It's time to see what else is out there," Hatin' ass Jon Heyman says, "The Astros could set the record for firings for a division winner."

*Jake Kaplan on Cameron Maybin's immediate impact and the adjustments he's made since coming to Houston.

*The Marlins will leave their roof partially open during Hurricane Irma (with a good reason).

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*Man that was a crazy 24 hours for the Astros. After losing David Paulino for 80 games (and the playoffs) the Astros beat the Yankees on a walk-off throw. The Astros are an AL-best 7-3 in their last ten games. They're 55-27 overall with a 13.5-game lead over Anaheim.

*Let's start with what transpired before the game: Reymin Guduan (auto-correct is not a fan of either of those names) was optioned to Triple-A Freshno. Dayan Diaz was recalled and it was announced that David Paulino - this being his side day - would be available out of the bullpen. But because it had been less than 10 days since Diaz had been optioned to Fresno, he would be ineligible to play. And because Guduan had been optioned, the Astros would only have 23 players available for last night's game. Luhnow:
I had assumed it had been 10 days. It certainly seems like 10 days ago or longer to me. It was my fault. I made a mistake and will learn from it. 

AND THEN it was announced that David Paulino had tested positive for Boldenone, a performance-enhancing drug. Because of the suspension - and because Paulino did not appeal -  Dayan Diaz was eligible to rejoin the Astros for last night's game.

Hinch, on Paulino:
It's disappointing because of all the good that he's done in his career and to be effective, but it's the nature of the business when you try to find a competitive edge. The program's in place to catch these types of actions, and clearly, it worked.

*Luhnow, on Paulino:
He's remorseful. That's all I can really say. He feels bad about it, and he feels bad that he put the organization in this position. He'll learn from it, and I'm sure David will have a long and fruitful Major League career. 

Paulino had made six starts for the Astros since Joe Musgrove went on the DL on May 30. His best game was on June 17 against Boston when he threw 6IP, 3H/1ER, 4K:1BB. In his last outing - June 28 against Oakland - he was tagged for 7H/7ER, but with 8K:0BB in 4IP.

*Boldenone, which is also called Equipoise (root word: equine, as in "f***ing horse"), is the steroid that Jenrry Mejia tested positive for back in February 2016. It apparently helps increase the appetite, leading to bigger lean muscle gains. On Mejia's positive test, ESPN's T.J. Quinn had this to say:

Mejia tested positive for boldenone, the 2nd time he was nailed for it. It's old school, unsophisticated, easily detectable. Career suicide.

— T.J. Quinn (@TJQuinnESPN) February 12, 2016

*What does this mean for the rotation? The Astros have 12 pitchers and will have to add someone to the 25-Man Roster today (currently at 24). With a rotation spot available, maybe they can finesse it for a little while until Charlie Morton is ready to start this coming Saturday at Toronto. Morton will throw another rehab start today, in Corpus. Peacock will start Tuesday, with Wednesday's starter TBD. So right now you have (in no particular order): McCullers, Fiers, Martes, Peacock and...probably Musgrove, with Morton the first pitcher back from the DL, which would probably shift Peacock back to the bullpen.

*So on to last night's game against the Yankees. The Astros gave up a grand slam for the second night in a row - and the third time this week, giving the Yankees a 6-3 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th. In the 8th, a Correa RBI-groundout preceded an Evan Gattis monster shot to left, which preceded a Yuli Gurriel two-run double, giving the Astros a 7-6 lead. In the top of the 9th, Ken Giles got Aaron Judge and Clint Frazier to pop up before Brett Gardner singled and got too aggressive on the bases, and was thrown out to end the game.

*Hinch, on the win:
This game will show you something crazy every day.

*Gurriel was 3x4 with 4RBI, his go-ahead hit off of Aroldis Chapman's 101.5mph fastball was the fastest pitch he had ever hit (according to Statcast). Hinch, on Gurriel vs. Chapman:
He was incredibly patient. That's about as mature of an at-bat as you can get in that situation. It was a really special at-bat.

*Yankees manager Joe Girardi (scroll down past the Clint Frazier-fellating to read anything about the Astros actually winning the game):
Their offense is relentless

*Altuve was 0x3 with a walk and two stolen bases. It's his third 2SB game of the season, and his 2nd in the last four games.

*Frankie Tuesday threw 5IP, 4H/2ER (one of those came courtesy of Will Harris' grand slam), with 7K:1BB but was taken out after 89 pitches. In 21.1IP with Houston, Martes has struck out 23 batters. Hinch, on Martes:
When I went out to talk to him, I told him, 'That's the best I've seen you throw.' I'm proud of him for coming back after a start where he took it on the chin, in an environment like this against a team like the Yankees - that's a big performance. 

*Last night's lineup had as many players (four) with an OPS over .900 as they did players with an OPS under .800. Carlos Beltran is hitting .210/.260/.377 at Minute Maid Park this season.

*Ken Rosenthal's video from yesterday told us two things: the list of Untouchables is basically Kyle Tucker and Forrest Whitley, and that over the winter the Astros rejected a trade proposal for Jose Quintana because of their insistence on Kyle Tucker.

*Gary Pettis apparently slipped on some wet grass in Minnesota on Memorial Day and tore his meniscus. He'll have surgery on Wednesday and Fresno manager Tony DeFrancesco will act as 3B coach for the next road trip while he recovers.

*The County Mountie wrote about the Astros' defense.

*MLB sent a letter to all 30 teams saying the ball is not juiced.

*The New Yorker: My Dentist's Murder Trial

Sunshine on home plate tonight. pic.twitter.com/SQqqFGcZAU

— Mike Acosta (@AstrosTalk) July 1, 2017

Friday Morning Hot Links

*OFF DAY. The Astros begin a series with the Red Sox tonight culminating with a Sunday Night Baseball appearance on...Sunday night.

*Here's the section of Buster Olney's podcast with Jose Altuve. It is very good and you should listen immediately.

*Chris Devenski's work ethic comes from his dad.

*Danny Knobler: Marwin Gonzalez has become the best bargain in baseball

*Brian T. Smith says the Astros need to go all-in at the Trade Deadline

*Beyond the Box Score: The Astros' offense is on a historically-good pace

*Mike Fiers adjusted his arm angle, and it's paying off.

*The Astros officially signed 20-year old Cuban RHP Elian Rodriguez to a $1.9m deal. Oz Ocampo:
...What stands out the most is his combination of athleticism, power stuff, and overall pitch ability and command. Elian is physical, athletic, and projectable with an impressive repertoire, including a 92-97mph fastball and two power breaking balls. 

*Fresno manager Tony DeFrancesco will be one of the managers for the Triple-A All-Star Game.

*RHP Andrew Walter was promoted from Buies Creek to Corpus. In his Age 26 season, this will be Walter's first taste of Double-A. He has only thrown 5.2IP for BCA this season.

*2017 1st Round pick J.B. Bukauskas is a finalist for the Golden Spikes award.

*Vice: Good Face, High Ass: A Baseball Scouting Glossary

*Lindsey Adler: How Baseball Prospectus Stumbled Into Its Uncertain Future

*Don't forget to check the updated 2017 draft page

Friday Morning Hot Links

*I wrote the first in a series on Astros Villains, looking at Kevin Brown and the 1998 NLDS.

*Jerry Crasnick asked current Hall of Famers how much "character" matters in the Hall of Fame.

*Evan Gattis is getting married tomorrow. Here's their registry, though I am trying to talk my wife into buying our resident C/DH this.

*Tony DeFrancesco is back with Fresno for the third straight year.

*Omar Lopez, who was the Quad Cities manager last season, is now the manager at the Buies Creek/Fayetteville team. Troy Snitker - son of Braves manager Brian Snitker - will be the hitting coach.

*Want your Astros season tickets printed out for you? That'll be $125.

*2005 26th Round draft pick Michael Thompson is the new manager of the Medicine Hat Mavericks.

*Check out the lineup for the 3rd Annual Josh Reddick Foundation Concert.

*Jon Bernhardt writes about the Mariners' risky path.

*Bo Jackson: "I would have never played football."

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*The Masked Marvel has the recap of last night's thumping of the Angels. Best recaps in the bidness! The best! All others are just sad!

*The Masked Marvel reviewed last year's trades.

*The Rangers beat the Royals. The Mariners beat the piss out of the Blue Jays. The A's beat the Rays.

*So the Astros are still 2.5 GB of Northeast Cleburne. The Red Sox and Blue Jays both lost, so the Astros are 2.0 GB of Boston and 0.5 GB of Toronto for a Wild Card spot.

*FanGraphs has the Astros at 50.4% to win the division (Ramgers at 38.4%) and 67.5% to make the playoffs.

*Why does Evan Gattis hit better when he's at catcher than at DH? Hinch:
I'm sure someone smarter than me can figure it out. I don't know if it's actually true in the numbers...

Note: It is. It absolutely is true in the numbers. In 22 games where Gattis has caught, he's hitting .310/.337/.702. In 46 games at DH, he's hitting .175/.260/.319.

I think it's the result of keeping him occupied, keeping his mind occupied, keeping his mind in the game. 

*With his 36th career home run, Carlos Correa is now the Astros' all-time home run leader for shortstops. Correa:
It's a great accomplishment, I guess, but the focus is to win ballgames every single day. 

It took Adam Everett 635 games to reach 35 home runs as a shortstop.

It took Correa 191 to get 36.

— Jordan Ray (@JordanLRay) July 24, 2016

*Fresno manager Tony DeFrancesco, on left fielder Alex Bregman:
The way the Astros are now with (Correa and Altuve) in the middle of their infield, for Alex to impact the game, it's going to be at a different position. And the way Bregman is swinging the bat real well right now, hopefully he can help them out real soon.

*Tommy Stokke has the details of Chris Sale's grounding. One-word version: Unbelievable.

*Ken Rosenthal writes that this unreal turn of events won't cause the White Sox to slash Sale's price. The Rangers and White Sox haven't made much progress towards a deal.

*Jon Heyman talked to a GM who called this starting pitcher market "the worst" he'd ever seen it.

*Jarred Cosart is coming up from Triple-A to start for the Marlins on Monday.

*Ichiro Suzuki is a big fan of the Hall of Fame.

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*The Astros beat the Rays 4-3. The A's lost Daniel Mengden's MLB debut, the Angels won and the Rangers beat the Mariners in 11 innings.  The division looks like this:
-East Weatherford: -
-Seattle: -4
-Houston: -9
-Anaheim: -11
-Oakland: -12.5

*The Astros have won 10 of their last 15, 13 of their last 19. Just ignore that whole "Arlington" thing.

*Will Harris' scoreless streak ended at 26 appearances and 26.1IP, but he got the save despite having lost the feel for his pitches.
My command was about as bad as it's been that I can remember. I couldn't really get on top of anything, so I kind of eliminated throwing any kind of breaking ball.

*Carlos Gomez crushed a 445-foot homer off Chris Archer last night:
I crushed that ball. I know it was to straight center, but I know when I'm hitting the ball right to (know) it's going to be a home run for sure.

Gomez only has five hits in eight games since returning from Corpus (.179 average) but four of those hits - one double and three home runs - have been for extra bases, giving him an eight-game slash line of .179/.281/.536.

*35 of the Astros' 40 picks in the 2016 draft were college players.

*Alex Bregman hit a walk-off homer for Corpus, his 13th HR of the season.

*The Astros have yet to initiate signing talks with 1-17 Forrest Whitley. Mike Elias:
...his season ended Friday night. We're going to give him a chance to unwind from that. He's obviously had quite a busy spring with the draft on top of that and everything. We're in no rush.

*Tim Lincecum gets the start tonight against Fresno.

*In the 37th Round of the draft the Astros selected Anthony DeFrancesco, son of Fresno manager Tony DeFrancesco.

*Astros scout Jim Stevenson (who found Dallas Keuchel) found the three players from Seminole State.

*MLBTR assesses the market for Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy

*Separating Babe Ruth's fact from fiction.

Which Grizzlies can help the Astros?

The Fresno Bee has a really good article on how the Grizzlies are watching the Astros. Plotting. Planning. For what?

Fresno manager Tony DeFrancesco:
They're going to take whomever they need at the time when they feel they need it. Right now, whoever's the hot man is probably going to get the opportunity...They're looking for guys that can give them a chance to win. This is a big year for us up there. They're not going to have a lot of patience when they lose.

The Fresno Bee points out that James Hoyt is killing it: 12.1IP, 20K, six saves. And Grizzlies pitching coach Dyar Miller said, "With Hoyt, it's not a matter of if, but when" he gets promoted.

Some other names get bandied about, so it's a good read.

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

And here we go...

*Beyond the Box Score has the offseason strategies for each of the five AL West teams here.

*The Astros will split up $2,271,169.85 between players, coaches, and staff, thanks to making the playoffs.  According to McTaggart, the Astros voted to give out 53 full shares (worth just over $36,000 each), with 8.5 partial shares, and nine cash awards. We are still waiting to find out if we received a cash award.

*Richard Justice makes his predictions for free agency and major trade candidates. In short: the Giants and Cardinals sign all the free agents, the Astros trade for all the relievers.

*Fresno's Tony DeFrancesco was named Baseball America's Minor League Manager of the Year.

*Tracy Ringolsby has a profile of former scouting director Bobby Heck.

*The Marlins are considering adding Barry Bonds as a hitting coach.

Friday Morning Link Dump

Hear's wot u knead to no on this Friday:

*Luhnow told MLB Network Radio yesterday that he wouldn't hesitate to call-up Carlos Correa or Mark Appel straight from Corpus, "if the need arises."

*12,000 (!) fans showed up to the Fresno Grizzlies' opener last night.

*Fresno Manager Tony DeFrancesco had Jon Singleton and Matt Dominguez hitting 6th and 8th, respectively, as a chance for them "to figure it out." DeFrancesco: "Eventually, they're all going to tell me where they're hitting."

*34-year old former Houston minor-leaguer Jose Capellan was found dead in his hotel room. In 2009, Capellan threw 98IP for Round Rock.

Tony DeFrancesco takes leave of team

Terrible news this morning as OKC manager (and former Houston interim manager) Tony DeFrancesco will be away from the team until May as he undergoes treatment for cancer.

Bench Coach Tom Lawless will take over as interim manager until May, when DeFrancesco is expected to make a full recovery and return to the team.

Best wishes to Tony DeFrancesco and his family.

Peacock has developed a slider

Brad Peacock's last three starts:

19.1IP, 11H/4ER, 20K:8BB.

In those three starts, he has lowered his ERA from 8.07 to 5.59 (helped by a .174 BABIP, but still...) So what has changed? According to Jason Castro, he's developed a slider.

He's also developed a slider, which has been a big pitch for him. He threw a lot of those tonight. It's his swing-and-miss pitch. I was really impressed when he came back that he was able to kind of get a feel for it that quickly. He's done a good job.

You really do have to hand it to the OKC coaching staff. Bo Porter acknowledged them in his post-game comments:

When you come up and go down, you're given certain information of things you need to do to pitch at this level...these guys are taking heed to the information. They're going down and working on the things in which they need to work on. Our Triple-A staff is doing a tremendous job and they're coming down here ready to play.

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."

Monday Morning Link Dump

Here's your link dump from the weekend:

*Tony DeFrancesco doesn't respect Ryan Howard, this is Charlie Manuel's complete lack of surprise.

*Fernando Martinez is dealing with right knee inflammation.

*The Astros invited Facebook fans to lunch with Joe Niekro, who died in 2006.

*Marwin Gonzalez just might return from his ankle injury this season.

*Joe Maddon thinks Dave Martinez is a worthy candidate for the Astros.

*Here are the Chronicle's Top 50 Astros of all time.

Tony DeFrancesco interviews

Interim manager Tony DeFrancesco interviewed for the manager position today, according to the Chronicle's David Barron.

DeFrancesco:
“I know the players, I know the organization, and I left there with some confidence. I’m happy to even have an opportunity to be chosen.”

Hard to argue with that.

Deadspin takes Tony DeFrancesco/Astros organization to the woodshed

Deadspin has a post up about the "news" that Tony DeFrancesco is handing out Dr. Dre's headphones to players who perform well during the last three weeks of the season. Brace yourself, because it's brutal.

The real problem here is that the Astros have a roster full of players so bad and poorly paid that they might actually play harder for fancy headphones. That's how the manager's logic works, anyway. It's much more bush league than big league.

I thought about trying to respond in a contrary manner. But I can't. It's dead on. The Headphone Incentive is something you try to keep In Tha Clubhouse - because there's no way to defend it. The Astros - no matter how bad they are - get paid at the very least hundreds of thousands of dollars to play a game. If they play harder because there's a set of $200 headphones on the line, isn't that a little insulting?

Ultimately, we all perform better when there's an extra reward on the line. Whether that's meeting a sales goal, or eating ten hot wings that make your tailpipe burn with the fire of a thousand suns under six minutes in order to get a polaroid of our broken-out face on a wall, we're - as a society - perfectly happy to go an extra twenty feet for a stupid reward.

But not if you're making over $400,000/year. The fact that five Astros got a pair of headphones for winning a 1-0 game on an unearned run deserves all the scorn that Deadspin is willing to hand out.

Tony D knows he's right for the job

Tony DeFrancesco says that he fits in with the direction of the club, given his past experience with the A's.

"My background is the A's, and the 'Moneyball' area," he said. "I grew up with that system. I believe in it 100 percent, and it's something I hope we can teach to these young players."

That's a valid point, but DeFrancesco is operating under the assumption that the Astros are actually going to follow Billy Beane's A's as an example. It certainly looks like they're drafting and targeting high-OBP guys, but this season has been about stripping the Astros down to the bare minimum. Luhnow has had - by early returns - a solid start to his tenure through trades and the draft. But we don't know exactly how he's going to rebuild the team. Who knows, the Astros may turn into drunken sailors and sign all the players (doubtful). It's clear that the Astros are rebuilding from the ground up, but whether they're following another blueprint (A's, Rays), or designing it on their own, is still unknown - to us, anyway.

Tom Lawless named OKC manager

First, look tomorrow morning for the Mills reaction piece. After 2,800 words, it was time to start over.

To replace Tony DeFrancesco, roving instructor Tom Lawless has been named as OKC's manager and will join the team tomorrow. (Captip to AZ Freeman).

What will Wallace and Johnson be working on in OKC?

I have to be honest, when I wrote the title of the post I mistakenly wrote "Wallace and Gromit."

Anyhow, in this article, we find that a checklist of things for Wallace and Johnson to work on has been passed on to manager Tony DeFrancesco (Mills expects both to be back for September call-ups). What could those things be?

For Wallace, that list probably includes identifying breaking balls (/snicker). FanGraphs says that he has a -5.5 wCB (Runs above average when seeing a curveball), a -3.6 wCH (changeup), and -1.0 wSF (splitty). He's also swinging at 31.8% of pitches outside the strike zone. And if Tony DeFrancesco sits him against LHPs, I'm going to burn down an orphanage.

For Johnson, he's going to have to prove that he won't just swing at everything. In 2009, his K% at Triple-A was 21.8% - which turned out to be fairly accurate for his last two years (it dropped to 14.1% in his short stint at AAA in 2010). In 2010, his MLB K% was 25.1% and was 24% at the time of his demotion. The only pitch type Johnson has a positive value against (again, according to FanGraphs) is the split-fingered fastball (1.1). He's getting killed on curves (-5.0) and sliders (-3.1), and even four-seam fastballs (-4.3). He's swinging at 42% of pitches outside the strike zone, and is seeing a first-pitch strike 63.8% of the time, with 12.1% swinging strikes.

Johnson is just going to have to work on his pitch selection. And his defense. Definitely his defense.