Tuesday Morning Hot Links

The Houston Astros improved to 5-3 over the city of Chicago with a 6-4 win against the Cubs last night. Houston is now 22-19, 3.0GB of the Rangers who got torched 12-0 by Atlanta. Houston has won five of their last six games. 

The Astros' six runs were the most in a single game since a 6-4 win over Seattle on May 5, a span of eight games - the longest such span of the season. Houston's 11 hits were the most in a single game since cranking ten hits on May 1 against San Francisco - and of course nine of those hits were singles. The Astros at least mixed in two doubles (Abreu, McCormick) and a homer (Bregman) last night. Houston is 12-1 when getting 10+ hits. 

*Alex Bregman's 2-run homer in the 7th proved to be the game-winner. It's his first homer since May 3, which is also the last time he had multiple RsBI. In his last seven games, Bregman is hitting .286/.333/.464. He hasn't struck out since May 7. 

*Jose Abreu went 2x3 with a walk! It's the first time he's been on base three times in a game since April 3. 

Abreu's RsBI, April 26-May 14: 3

Abreu's RsBI, May 15: 2

*Mauricio Dubon had hisself a 3x4 night, the 4th time this season - and the 5th time as an Astro - he has recorded three hits in a game. 

*Yordan's 1x2, 2BB night gives him a 35-game On-Base streak to start the season. He's the second hitter to start a season in such a fashion, joining 2018 Odubel Herrera (whose streak ended at 41).

*Kyle Tucker went 0x4, joining Jake Meyers and Martin Maldonado as the only Astros not to get a hit. On April 19, Tucker was slashing .313/.438/.537. Since (22 games): .225/.270/.338.

*Home runs through 41 games:

2023: 36

2022: 56

2021: 48

2019: 75

2018: 44

2017: 55

2016: 53

2015: 61

2014: 43

2013: 41

2012: 30 

*Framber Valdez went 4IP, 7H/4ER, 8K:2BB - his shortest outing since being pulled with one out in the 5th on April 19, 2022. 27 of his 53 strikes were non-contact strikes (16 called, 11 swinging). Check out this Chandler Rome piece on "La Grasa."

*The bullpen: 5IP, 1H/0ER, 8K:1BB. 

*Astros pitchers struck out 16 Cubs - a single-game season-high. Astros pitchers struck out 16+ batters eight times in 2022 (Anaheim and Oakland were victims three times each). 

*Rafael Montero collected his first win of the season, allowing one hit. It's the sixth straight game in which he has allowed a hit, not recording a clean inning since April 22. Montero has allowed a hit in 15 of his 18 appearances in 2023. 

Chandler Rome: Montero's bad luck and big contract have him under a microscope.

*Jose Altuve's rehab stint will continue in Corpus tonight.

*Trey Mancini - whose 2022 WS G6 catch at 1B should be more heralded than it is - got his ring from the Astros last night.

*Even the freakin Train is hurt.

*Aaron Judge got caught looking into the dugout mid-AB and now people have Questions. I have more questions for Aaron Boone calling him "Judgie."

*My Hero Marcelo Bielsa officially agreed to manage Uruguay, ending a very sad saga in which I thought he would come back to Leeds United.

*ESPN: The decade-long plan that built Wenbayama into a once-in-a-generation prospect. It's just my opinion - one of an extremely casual Roggits fan - but they should cheat to get that guy.

*I recently read T.J. Newman's "Falling," and enjoyed it very much. The World Series plays prominently in the closing pages.

*A Musical Selection:

Sunday Morning Hot Links

*George Springer donated $100,000 to employees at Minute Maid Park affected by the delay of Opening Day.

*Alex Bregman has donated enough money to build 1,000 stand-by quarantine boxes for Houston's most vulnerable populations.

*Astros major-leaguers still have not reached a consensus about staying in West Palm Beach, or going home. Astros minor-leaguers are beginning to depart West Palm Beach.

*Rogelio Armenteros underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone spur from his throwing elbow. He will be out approximately four months and is another shot to the Astros' high level of pitching prospects.

*Richard Justice writes that Justin Verlander is one of the Coronavirus Shutdown's most interesting storylines.

*Drellich/Rosenthal:
At this point, industry sources believe it is unlikely the season will begin before May, which is dependent, of course, on the containment of the virus. 

This is a great rundown of the issues that MLB, MLBPA, and minor-leaguers across the sport face. Meanwhile, minor-leaguers are delivering DoorDash orders to get paid for the first time since August.

*What we know about the 27 Houston-area Coronavirus cases.

*ABC13: Houstonians could see Coronavirus Drive-Thru Testing as early as next week. Mayor Sylvester Turner:
There's no reason to panic. I know anxiety levels are high. I get that, but this is not a crisis we have not expected in some form or fashion. Harvey, that was a new phenomenon, structures impacted. But, we came through that and we're still standing, resilient. We focus on bouncing back. Houston has been challenged before, and we've risen to the occasion. We'll rise to the occasion if we don't panic, properly manage and recognize that it's not a sprint. You're going to have to run several laps. 

*Good news: Baltimore's Trey Mancini had a successful surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his colon.

*The Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum is closing indefinitely. In February 2007 Upstate New York got a blizzard that resulted in over 20" of snow. I was working for the Hall of Fame at the time, but I was with my boss and his boss (who would later become the President of the HOF) in Los Angeles, where it was 70 degrees. As we started to make our way back to New York, all our wives were calling/texting asking if we were insane to leave southern California to come back to the aftermath of a blizzard. Security at the HOF told us just to stay put. We didn't. We got back to Cooperstown, where I thought I could just crawl over a snowbank to get to my house and ended up with snow in my boxers as my bosses laughed and drove off. I got a text saying if I couldn't make it in to the office until 10am (we got back at 8am), it would be okay.

*Are you taking the quarantine seriously? Here's Keith Law's Top 100 Board Games. He hates your favorite board game.

*Have you screwed up your professional life beyond repair? May you have the survival instincts of Rick Pitino, and the desperation of an Iona in your life.

*This idiot, and her editors, just got fired for saying a global pandemic was "another attempt to impeach the president."

*These South Tennessee morons have 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer that they can't sell for a horrific profit because Amazon shut them down. Imagine being such a capitalistic vulture that Amazon shuts you down.

*Op-Ed: I'm an American living in Italy where 60 million people are trapped. It's horrific.

*What does coronavirus do to your body?

*30 Workouts For When You're Stuck Indoors.

*If you're going to be stuck inside for a while, take care of yourself. I suggest Smiling Mind. They're a non-profit, so everything is free. If you have some cash lying around, maybe Headspace is the best for you.

*A Musical Selection:

Friday Morning Hot Links

Everything is crazy right now. It's absolutely amazing. The remainder of Spring Training has been cancelled and Opening Day has been delayed for two weeks in order to allow Justin Verlander and Yordan Alvarez to heal up. because of COVID-19.

Mark Feinsand:
MLB and its clubs have been preparing a variety of contingency plans regarding the 2020 regular-season schedule. The league plans to announce the effects on the schedule at an appropriate time, though MLB also said it "will remain flexible as events warrant, with the hope of resuming normal operations as soon as possible.

This would put Opening Day on April 9 at the earliest. Opening Day for the minor-leagues - originally scheduled for April 9 - has also been delayed, though how long has yet to be determined. If MLB just shifts the dates two weeks, it would put the end of the regular season at October 11, which would be an early- to mid-November World Series, which the Astros will win. Or MLB shortens the season to 154 or 144 games (as they did in the strike-shortened season of 1995).

James Click:
Obviously, we're disappointed that we won't be playing baseball at Minute Maid Park in a couple weeks, but we understand that there are things that are bigger than Baseball.

The Astros' facility will be closed today (Friday) and Saturday. The Astros' probably won't work out until Sunday.

Astros scouts are not allowed to travel by air, but can scout if they can get there in their car, should said baseball event actually be taking place.

March Madness has been canceled for both Men & Women as well as the College World Series. So has the Texas High School Basketball Tournament. The NBA is suspended for at least 30 days. So is MLS. The manager of Arsenal tested positive for Coronavirus.

Jayson Stark (unlocked from The Athletic): It was a normal Spring - until it wasn't.

Jay Jaffe: MLB must soon decide its fate with COVID-19.

Tom Verducci: Shutting down MLB was the right call, but there's no precedent for what happens next.

*Chandler Rome: The Making of GM James Click. This is a really good article. Rays VP of Player Development Peter Bendix:
(Click) is very good at being a leader. He's very good at inspiring people to believe in him, at promoting a vision, at just kind of taking a group of people and moving them forward in the same direction just by kind of uniting them toward one goal. I don't know to what extent he is doing it intentionally or it's just natural, but it certainly comes across as natural.

*Prayers up for Baltimore's Trey Mancini, who had a malignant tumor removed from his colon.

*How Taiwan and Singapore contained Coronavirus.

*The biggest thing to worry about is hospital beds.

*The dumbest drug moments of the last 100 years.

*A Musical Selection. Pete Yorn was cool, then he sucked, then he didn't again. The Smiths are terrible, but I like this cover:

July 30 Evening Rumor Roundup / Running Post

Wife & Kid are out of town, which means that I can do this. Here's a running update on what has happened, rumor-wise, with the Astros on the evening/night of July 30. This does not replace Hot Links in the morning. This goes backwards, chronologically:

9:05pm: There's apparently a three-team deal with Cleveland, Cincinnati, and San Diego that sends Bauer to the Reds. Marcus Stroman went to the Mets. Tyler Bauer went to the Reds. You can't plan for Dumb People Doing Weird Things.

8:28pm: Matt Boyd "very likely staying" in Detroit.

7:10pm: Syndergaard actually took the mound against the White Sox.

6:44pm: Bauer is "very much in play." Bumgarner remains available. Interest in Robbie Ray has picked up. Jeff Passan: "The trade market is finally beginning to unclog."

6:27pm: Hinch (pre-game):
There's a lot of talk going on, there's a lot of action. I try to encourage our guys to not read too much into it. So many different people have access to so much different information, so stay patient and see what happens...We try to keep our 25 guys inside extremely close, and the Deadline anxiety and the Deadline stress is real.

I get a ton of questions. People see when my office door is open, or is it closed? Am I on the phone? Am I not on the phone? Chances are I'm working on the Indians and trying to set ourselves up to beat these guys. The transactions that may or may not happen, we'll all find out around the same time.

6:13pm: The Astros are "thought to be in the mix" for Bauer and Bumgarner, and any other top SP.

6:08pm: The Indians want Major-League help in any return for Bauer.

5:57pm: The Reds and Indians are trying to line up a Bauer trade, with a Double-A outfielder with a .688 OPS as one of the more intriguing names in the discussion.

5:53pm: The Indians are more likely to trade Trevor Bauer than to keep him.

5:04pm: The Astros, as well as the Braves, Yankees, Brewers, Twins, and Phillies are in on Arizona's Robbie Ray.

4:39pm: For those of you who are interested in catching, interest in Toronto's Justin Smoak is "picking up."

4:31pm: Joel Sherman quotes an anonymous executive who says, of the Mets' ask for Syndergaard:
It is not even worth a second conversation. I'm not even sure it was worth the first. Maybe some other team would say yes to that, but that is hard to believe. Because the Mets are not in the mode of meeting you in the middle of your offer and their ask, it is their ask or nothing.

3:00pm: 24 hours to go until the Trade Deadline.

2:59pm: "The buyers insist the sellers' demands are unrealistic. The sellers insist the buyer's offers are too low."

2:50pm: The Mets are asking for Major-League or Major-League-Ready talent for Syndergaard, even among teams with deep faarm (sic) systems.

2:48pm: Trevor Bauer is being fined, but not suspended, for throwing the ball over the center-field wall.

2:46pm: SI says that Syndergaard would be a "stellar compliment" to Verlander and Cole:
Trading Tucker could send a potential All-Star to New York. Holding onto him could cost the Astros a spot in the World Series.

2:44pm: It's "unlikely" that Pirates reliever Felipe Vazquez will get traded, despite "tons of interest."

2:00pm: Folks, Ken Giles is probably not going to get traded to Houston after receiving a cortisone shot.

1:52pm: The Padres have made what they believe to be a "strong offer" for Noah Syndergaard, but it's still not apparently enough. Because the Mets are stupid. The Padres have been on Syndergaard for quite a while.

1:16pm: "Rivals" are still skeptical on the Giants trading Bumgarner.

1:06pm: Tim Brown: "The stunner would if be if [the Astros] don't end up with one of the top-end available SPs."

12:36pm: Giants and Astros are "engaged" on Madison Bumgarner.

10:12am: Detroit SP Matthew Boyd is "likely to stay put."

9:10am: For some reason, the Astros are interested in Orioles 1B/OF Trey Mancini.