For the first time in 10 seasons the Houston Astros played their way into the postseason and they showed they belonged there. So this edition of WTSWTM features Astros related quotes from chron.com (spit!!) and what the speaker really meant.
Edinson Volquez on having knocked out George Springer for 2 months with an inside fastball:
What he said – “He’s (Springer) a very special young guy. He’s a very talented guy. And you see that happen to a young guy, coming up from the minor leagues, you know, that could be a serious injury. So I felt really bad at the time. I reached out to him and I talked to him a little bit and I said sorry about what happened to him. I was really sad about that.”
What he meant – “I was a lot more sad about it when I tried to leave the locker room and Evan Gattis was standing there with a bat in his hands.”
Dallas Keuchel after A.J. Hinch left him in the Yankees play-in game with two on, two out and A-Rod coming to bat in the 6th inning:
What he said – “I feel like I’ve been the best pitcher all year. Not just on my team, but in the American League. I wanted that ball, and (Hinch) knew it, so there really wasn’t much conversation.”
What he meant – “I’m bigger than Hinch and younger than him and I told him if he was taking me out, he better go back to the dugout and bring help. A lot more help.”
Hinch on leaving Collin McHugh in the first game of the ALDS after a rain delay:
What he said – “We checked in with him a couple of times, but he was never really coming out of that game. I paid attention more so after the innings than after the delay. His innings, the first inning after going back was about as good an inning as he had the whole night.”
What he meant – “Weird how things go. I leave McHugh in after the rain delay and it works out. Ned Yost takes out Yordana Ventura and he loses. It could have been the other way around. But it wasn’t.”
Brent Strom on a bullpen without a flamethrower trying to stop the contact hitting KC Royals in the Game 4 meltdown:
What he said – “This is what happens. Obviously, what we don’t have — and it’s no discredit, we pitch the way we can — but if you have strikeout pitchers, it’s a little bit different. We strike out our share, but when you’ve got these guys that have good contact skills, a ground ball one way or the other, any time a ball is hit, you’re at the whim of the angles.”
What he meant – “These guys are what they are. They are not the high velocity bullpen over on the Royal side. But in 2014, our best reliever was probably Chad Qualls if that tells you anything. I was flinching more than Springer batting against Ventura when we went to the ‘pen. These guys in 2015 pitched to the best of their ability and were a good bullpen this season. What more could I ask of them?”
Twitter feed from Texas Governor Greg Abbott when the Astros were winning 6-2 and six outs from the ALCS:
What he tweeted – “Congratulations to the Astros on advancing to the ALCS! Hoping for an all Texas #ALCS. Looking at you @ Rangers!”
What he meant – “I wanted to jump on the band wagon two innings before most of the folks who don’t pay attention to the Astros.”
Twitter feed from Abbott after the Astros blew the four run lead and the game 9-6:
What he tweeted – “Follow the REAL Greg Abbott right here. No predictions. Just support.”
What he meant – “I knew I shouldn’t have hired Hillary’s IT guy to do my tweets.”
Colby Rasmus heading into game 5 of the ALDS on a super hot streak:
What he said – “I just try to relax with it leading up to the games, and not thinking about anything really except for what I’m going to do when I get out there. Keep it simple as I can to not get so spaced out to thinking about all these different things, the coulda, woulda, shouldas and all that.”
What he meant – “Of course I am relaxed. I played all year on a 1 year contract and now with all the eyes on the team I’ve been on fire. I probably made my self about $20 million in contract offers this off-season in the last 2 weeks.”
Carlos Correa after being asked about going 4 for 4 with 2 HR and 4 RBIs in the Astros 4th game crash and burn:
What he said – “It was not good enough to win the game, so it doesn’t matter.”
What he meant – “I’m a winner only if my team wins. I get it. I’m the most mature 21 year old you will likely find. When we get back here, we will get over the hump.”
Dallas Keuchel after getting hit around in a 5th game relief stint on short rest:
What he said – “I appreciate everything everybody else did. I’m sure I’ll look back in a couple days or week or so and think about some of the good things I did and I hope that the rest of the guys do the same thing because it took a lot of guys doing special things to get where we were. It’s just tough that it ends on this note. For me especially I didn’t help out there in the eighth.”
What he meant – “It hurts to be an individual and let the team down. I don’t care what I did the rest of the season to help get us here. Right now all I can think about is this last game of the season. It hurts.”
Jeff Luhnow on A.J. Reed getting a shot to make the team next spring training:
What he said – “He’s an exciting prospect. He’s a college guy, different from Carlos out of high school. First baseman different from shortstop, but he’s certainly one of the top prospects in all of baseball based off of what he did this year. We’d be foolish not to give him a shot to make this club.”
What he meant – “No snide comments about how foolish we were about first base the majority of 2015.”
Bonus quote – President of the Astros Reid Ryan on delaying modifications to Tal’s Hill:
What he said – “We’re under nobody’s time frame but our own, and we felt it as better to put this off a year rather than try to push a position that might put us on risk of opening day.”
What you think he meant ……
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
122 responses to “What They Said What They Meant – Postseason Style”
We really don’t have a good plan on how we want to do this and we don’t have the pieces in place so we’ll eventually get around to it.
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What he meant:
It turns out that the plan looks like a an expensive version of a children’s playground. Our landfill facility in Palm beach is going to cost us an extra $25 million.
We decided that we need a closer and a left fielder more than we need this Money Pit in center field.
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What Jeff Luhnow meant about AJ Reed.
“Jose told us that Correa was already a better player than he was last spring and we didn’t listen to him because we didn’t want to hear it. This year when Jose tells us that Reed is ready, we have to decide if we want to hear it or if money is more important. It’s a process. We don’t have enough comps on Reed to make a call because we haven’t seen anyone as good. It’s gonna be a tough call. We’re gonna try to come up with a mathematical answer.”
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The Astros are going to buyout the option on Qualls for $250,000 and let him become a free agent. MLBTR.
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He did a good job for us in 2014 and an inconsistent job for us in 2015. Only wish him well.
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17.1% of the fly balls hit off of him were HRs in 2015. That is a killer stat. I liked Qualls, but we have to get better.
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I think age caught up with him. He was pretty good in April/May, but terrible in June. After coming back from the DL he was very good in July/August, but horrendous in September.
I’m going to be unpopular and say we beat the Royals with a healthy Qualls in our bullpen. I’m hoping they offer him something like $2 million to sign for 2016. It’s a gamble and only small savings off what he would have made, but I think he gives us better innings out of the bullpen than Fields or Velasquez to name two candidates.
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I don’t understand, Devin. If you think age caught up with him this year, why would you want to pay him money next year when he is a year older.
We need to get better.
The Astros parted ways with Qualls today. That ship has sailed.
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I think it’s simple. He is still a good pitcher, but can’t be run out every day. He isn’t our closer, but when fresh would present another option in the 7th or 8th. You can improve the bullpen and not purge everyone.
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What they meant (about Tal’s Hill) – they certainly had no plan when they put a flag pole on the playing field and a mountain goat hill in CF so we thought we stay with the team’s tradition of not having a plan
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I am just looking for some feedback. The Astros have players all over the place right now (Arizona Fall League, Dominican Winter, Venezuelan Winter, Puerto Rico Winter, Mexican Pacific and the Australian Baseball League). Is one of this leagues considered the toughest in competition compared to the others or are they all about equal?
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Tim – I think you may have them listed in close to the right order. The AFL is usually handpicked prospects, so it is considered to be at a pretty high level. The Dominican and VZ Winter leagues have always been a combination of younger players from the minors and sometimes majors combined with more grizzled local veterans playing in sometimes very difficult envrionments. The other 3 would be considered a step below.
That is my take on it.
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I think you are right about the Arizona Fall league. It is a place to show off some studs, show off some trade prospects, and to send promising guys to get some extra work against better competition.
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Is one of THESE leagues considered the toughest (not THIS)? Ugh!!!
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I noticed that Jose Veras is still flying the Astros’ colors in winter league ball, and that Devenski got torched for six runs in 1.1 innings in his winter league debut yesterday.
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Zak Greinke just opted out of the remaining three years of his contract with the Dodgers and is now a free agent. Is there any chance that he signs with the Astros?
How would you like a rotation of Kuechal, McHugh, Greinke, McCullers, and Feldman or someone else for our fifth starter?
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I would love it, but. If the Astros give Greinke what he wants, what are they going to do with their home-grown Cy Young winner, as far as money is concerned?
What will paying $27 mil per to one and $7 mil to the other do to the team?
Somehow, I don’t think signing a $200,000,000 pitcher was part of the plan.
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I can’t imagine he comes to Houston. I expect LA brings him back (like ARod in NY). However, it makes it adds supply to the market which will either:
1. Drive down prices on Price, Cueto, Zimmerman, Kazmir, Leake, etc
2. Cause crazy, panic induced inflation
My hope is he’ll take enough out of another team’s budget to reduce their chances to sign someone we covet.
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I don’t expect it to happen, he is going to want way too much money, but that would be one killer rotation
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It WOULD be a “killer” rotation, but he’s going to want one of those $200mill + contracts, and that ain’t in Jim Cranes wallet. Plus……Greinke is one STRANGE dude, and not funny strange like Rasmus. He wrote the book on anti social behavior.
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It is interesting about Greinke. I have a son with Asperger’s Syndrome – high functioning autism. He is brilliant in a number of areas, but has extreme social anxiety. When I’ve read about Greinke and his problems – he reminds me of my son in that way. It is not something that he can do anything about – just try to control it in order to function.
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I don’t think that’s Greinke S problem, Dan. He is just anti social, and does NOT like to talk to ANYONE. He’s just an odd dude. I’ve known a lot of people who have a form of asbergers, and although they have a tough time sometimes, they are able to function quite well in society. Our grandson Tanner has a form of asbergers, but he is a genius. He’s in a special school just for kids like him……and doing EXCELLENT!
We have something in common, other than our love for the Astros!!
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I obviously don’t know enough about Greinke to know what is happening. I do know that there are adults who never had this diagnosed and without the assistance that kids like your grandson and my son are getting – they may not have developed the tools you need to cope with this type of problem.
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Grienke was diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and depression in 2006. It’s a battle that rarely fully goes away. I know from personal experience. I’d much rather deal with something curable like a broken leg.
Look at Grienke’s stats before 2006 when he bottomed out and since that point in his life. It’s remarkable what he’s been able to accomplish with what can be a debilitating illness.
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By my count, the Astros have 34 players on the 40-man, PLUS the three pitchers set to come off the DL.
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On here they show 43 players including the 3 on the 60 day DL and including Chad Qualls.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/HOU/2015-roster.shtml
Obviously, not all these are making it – but is the 34 your guesstimate of who stays?
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All five of the Astros free agents have been removed from the Astros roster, because they officially became FAs yesterday and I knocked Qualls out, too because he has been set free.
Go to the Astros website and look at the roster.
There are now 34/with Qualls out, plus the three guys who have to come off the DL by Friday.
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Thanks for the explanation.
This version of the 40 man is here.
http://m.astros.mlb.com/roster/40-man/
So Kazmir, Thatcher, Sipp, Perez and Rasmus are the 5 FAs. From that group I’m guessing Sipp might be the one they try the hardest to bring back, but all may be gone.
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best of wishes to your son, dan.
i don’t believe we need to spend 200 million on a pitcher of any kind and we don’t need to sign any potential clubhouse cancers. we want a team that is close, actually like each other, are young and hungry (for the most part). I’m anxious to see what moves are made.
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I will be a most surprised Astros fan if James Hoyt is not added to the 40-man by the November 20th deadline. His second half numbers in Fresno show a pitcher who was sent down to work on specific things and they worked. His first half numbers were the numbers of a pitcher who was working on his weak pitches and his second half numbers were terrific and he is pitching very well in winter ball.
Agreeing with Tim, I see him having a spot in the Astros bullpen next year.
Hoyt has a 95mph fastball and a slider that is his big K pitch. I suspect he was sent to work on a third pitch and pitch tunneling to get his arm motion repeated for all of his pitches.
Hoyt turned 29 in September, but has never appeared in the majors because he didn’t even start in professional baseball until 2011. He has low mileage on his arm and has the maximum club player control. If he made the team in ST he wouldn’t even be arb eligible until 2019 at age 32. That is the team dream scenario for a relief pitcher.
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He has given up only 1 run, so far, in the Venezuelan Winte League and that was from a solo HR. I am very high on Hoyt for next year. He has the stuff to be a closer, but not sure I want to put that pressure on him right away. Can you imagine our bullpen if we traded for Kimbrell and added Hoyt. It may be on par with K.C.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Hoyt becomes the best player involved, for both teams, in the Evan Gatiis trade? At the time he was considered a throw in.
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Looks like the team in Arlington are offering a contract to Doug Brocail for a pitching coach. Best of luck to Brocail, he was always fun to watch when he pitched!
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You have to wonder what the team will do with the guys who have been fighting injuries – Deduno, Peacock and Wojciechowski. They have all had problems performing well and being well. Feldman is likely to be stuck on the roster until he shows healthy enough to be traded, but you would think he is a trade deadline target.
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I am fairly certain Deduno will be DFA’d and clear waivers. We could bring him back. Peacock is borderline on whether they add him to the 40 or DFA. He could be our long man out of the bullpen.
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What he said, and what he meant about A.J. Reed:
“He’s an exciting prospect, a college guy we would be foolish not to give him a shot to make this club”……..
What he meant:
“We stuck with Cris Carter, because he USED to be good, and you know, we really didn’t want to put a guy at 1st base that can actually hit the dang ball, and have to pay him real money.” AND…….he’s only gonna get a “look” in spring training, because we till think Carter will learn to hit.”
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Sam Deduno is 32 years old, has a lifetime ERA of 4.38, and has a lifetime WHIP of 1.57. In 2014 he pitched in 5 games for us and did well – far better than his career numbers. But with Keuchel, McHugh, McCullers, Fiers, Feldman and Velasquez – and possibly Appel – in the stable I think he’s gone.
Brad Peacock is 5 years younger, has a slightly worse lifetime ERA of 4.67 and almost as bad a lifetime WHIP at 1.47. He has historically offered promise because he has good late movement, but he has never been able to combine that with any level of control or command of his pitches. Add to that the fact that he has a history of significant injuries, and I think the best move is to cut him loose as well. Teams will probably not be lining up to sign Brad, so if his agent works hard he might get an offer of a minor league deal if our team’s doctors think he will be healthy enough to pitch next year.
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Derek Fisher just hit a 3-run home run for the Glendale Desert Dogs. They lead Salt River 4-0. Way to go, Derek!
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At the game! JD Davis had 3 solid hits. Tickets are $6 for 55+. 345 in attendance on Monday. Baseball is much more entertaining when the game takes 2:16 to play.
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Let’s see for the Astros $6 is not enough to buy a beer. I love it when games get done in less than 3 hours these days. That is one nice thing at a Keuchel game – you have a good chance of a shorter than average game
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Salt River scored 6 runs in the bottom of the ninth and walked off. None of our pitchers were involved in that fiasco.
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Alex Gordon turned down the player option and became a free agent.
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Re Hoyt. I like the 4 walks and 40 K’s over the last three months of his season.
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I have something I would like to discuss that I am uncomfortable with. It’s Pat Neshek. I really like and admire the guy. I have a real soft spot in my heart for him and his family.
I want to know where the All-Star Pat Neshek went. When he was with the Cards, his pitches were coming in at or below the knees with movement and good velocity. Where was that this year? He was constantly up in the zone and wild with a lot less command. He fell behind hitters and was not getting the strikes he got the previous year. Is he hurt? If he’s hurt, why was he on the roster for the playoffs? Hinch did not have confidence in him, which is why Harris got so overused and worn out.
This is something that needs to get fixed because the Astros are paying him quite a bit of money and he needs to be the Neshek we paid for, not the one who’s fastball was pounded because it was coming in at the belt instead of the lower half of the knee. I suspect that his landing foot was hurting most of the season and he wasn’t landing on it with enough authority to get his velocity up and his location down.
Any thoughts?
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I must say Neshek made me nervous just watching his pre-delivery windup. You mentioned his landing foot, which would be his left foot, might have been hurting. That foot is why I was nervous. He always would pick up and put down his left foot a number of times before he went into his stretch. I thought that maybe he was tipping his pitches with the number of times he did this but I could not tell. He did not always tap his foot the same amount of times but he did tap it each time.
Qualls also made me nervous with his pre-delivery drill. He would always bend over backwards before he looked in for the sign. Made my own back hurt!
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Is there video of him we can go back and look at?? Haven’t thought about that, but you might be on to something. I’ll search you tube, and see if I see anything……..but I gotta say he was doubting his own self the last month of the regular season. You could tell he was uncomfortable on the mound……and afraid everything he threw that it would get hit outta the park. Even Gregersen had that look, which is why we will see Luhnow trying to pry Kimbrel from the Padres, over the winter. I’m curious to see how much money Crane is gonna invest in this club for 2016. Hmmmmm
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Something I find statistically interesting about Neshek in 2015.
In 59 appearances that were either a win or a no decision – he was great. in 51 Innings he had an ERA of 2.11 gave up 12 runs, 4 walks and 4 HRs and had an OPS of about .550.
In 6 appearances that were losses in 3.1 Innings he gave up 13 runs (10 earned), 4 walks, 4 HRs, had an ERA of 27.00 and a 1.815 OPS.
So it is not like he was dog meat out there, but he got off track in about 10% of his appearances which resulted in about 50% of the damage for the year.
I’m guessing with his odd delivery that it may be tougher to pick up something during his short stint that he may be doing wrong. Perhaps he had an injury, though 90% of the time he did not pitch that way and maybe Brent Strom finds it easier to coach more normal throwers.
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Could it be Strom? I’ve wondered the same thing about Kazmir. Both were good with their previous teams and lost something when they got here.
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It might be. Strom wants to pitch up in the zone more often than most guys. The damage on Kazmir and Neshek was largely from elevated fastballs. Both guys should be working hitters the way Keuchel does to be most effective.
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If the Astros are looking for a LF who hardly ever strikes out, hits for average, has a little power, is an average fielder, can run the bases, won’t cost huge money, has playoff experience, won’t cost any prospects, is a good clubhouse guy, one of those came available last night. Nori Aoki had his option declined by the Giants. He missed the last part of the season from a concussion, but should be recovered by spring. Aoki hit .287 for the year and struck out 25 times in 400 plate appearances. He hit over .300 from the leadoff spot most of the season.
He’s also a LH bat who hit righties and lefties for an almost even split and our RF fence is more available to his limited power than the fences in SF and KC, where he has been playing.
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His spray chart covers the entire field, too.
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He should cost less than Alex Gordon and, although Gordon is a better player, he is not substantially better than Aoki. I always liked Aoki, especially considering his cost is reasonable. How much was the option that SF declined?
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$5.5 mil and it was bought out for $700K. I think this guy reasonably(moneywise) fits into LF at MMP perfectly. and all of a sudden you have that high OBP/ high pitch count nemesis hitting at the top of the lineup, that beats shifts and gets on for Altuve and Correa.
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OP, i guess that means you’ve got Springer hitting fourth. I’m good with that.
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He isn’t a big SB guy, but he can steal a base, when needed. What I like about him is his high contact rate and high OBP. He would be a perfect leadoff guy on this team. Of course, that begs the question…What do we do about Tony Kemp? Do we sign Aoki for one more year and keep Kemp in the minors?
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Actually I would put Reed in Cleanup and Springer batting fifth. Lefty, righty, righty, lefty, righty.
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OP, that’s a perfect world! I’d give Reed the 6th slot initially and let him get his feet wet gradually. But sure, 4th might be the place for him ultimately.
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OP, and I’m also on record already saying that Springer will have his breakout year in 2016, hitting 3rd or 4th. I’ve got to be consistent.
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Consistent.
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We need at least another lefty bat in the line up, especially since we can pretty much assume that Rasmus will not be back.
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I pulled up some video on Neshek OP, but none of them were from this last year with us. I couldn’t tell that his landing foot was off on any of them. But you should see what he looks like without his beard! Not a bad looking guy! Who knows maybe every reliever in the bullpen was walking on thin ice in the last 4-5 weeks. As for Aoki you might have a point, but I’m tired of signing older players who might still have a little left in the tank, over a young hungry kid in our own organization. It’s like Clemens said last year in spring training, time to start winning, and KEEP winning.
But….I’ve got a feeling you’re probably right, Luhnow will probably go out and get another guy to play left. If Luhnow does this, it just tells Preston Tucker he’s not going to be a part of this team going into 2016.
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Becky, my thinking about a guy like Aoki is that he is affordable at a 2 year contract for a reasonable salary and maybe a third year option(just in time for Cameron or Tucker ll or Fisher to show up) and give the Astros the veteran OBP addition that allows them to take chances with their youth.
Having a guy like Aoki let’s me insert White and Reed and Heineman into the lineup without having to have Kemp as a fourth rookie to start the year. It gives Tucker a chance to go to triple A, if need be, and regain the confidence of the club as a DH.
Heineman hit over .275 for the year and struck out only 21 times in 400 plate appearances.
Trading Castro, Gattis, Valbuena, Singleton, Carter and Conger saves money, enhances your minors and eliminates hundreds of strikeouts.
The team would still have their position core of Correa, Lowrie, Altuve, Springer, Gomez and Aoki to provide excellent hitting, OBP and power to go along with the blending of the two most highly regarded hitters in the minors in Reed and White. And they would have a catcher at the bottom of the lineup who doesn’t strike out 180 times a season. They would still have Marisnick as a fourth OF, Marwin or you-know-who as a super utility guy, Stassi and either Tucker or Duffy on the bench.
That leaves them Moran, Fontana, Kemp and Gregor in AAA on the infield and Kemmer, Aplin, and another prospect in the outfield, along with Grossman if he’s still around. The rookies might struggle a little bit in the beginning, but I can guarantee you one thing: they would be replacing guys who hit under .200 last April and May. So would Reed and White really deliver less than we got from veterans Carter and Gattis at the beginning of 2015. I doubt it.
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I like your idea, OP1. Just hope the plan is not to trade Tucker and Kemp – as those two sure have not been shown much affection or appreciation by the F.O. If they are going to trade either of those two – or any of our rapidly dwindling supply of MiLB pitchers, they had better get Kimbrell in exchange.
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Unfortunately Mr. Bill, it looks like Tucker is DH material, and only against righty pitching. It’s clear that he’s not good defensively and is certainly not a pinch runner either. He’s a one tooler. That puts him at a real disadvantage.
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I know this won’t sit well with most of the masses here, but I think Astros fans are over rating Preston Tucker. As OP indicates, he is very one-dimensional and doesn’t hit LHs well. He has some value, but I would be open to trading him, depending on what we can get in return. As much as most of us want it to happen the Astros aren’t getting rid of Gattis by opening day. Thus, if they don’t trade Tucker they probably want him getting regular ABs in Fresno. I would like a Gattis/Tucker platoon at DH, but they rarely ask me for my opinion.
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Over-rating is such an interesting concept to define. Let’s see – is the mid-season rookie call up who hit .243, with 13 HR and 33 RBI with a .297 OBP in 98 occasional and partial MLB games, for league minimum pay, the one who is over-rated – or is it the highly-paid veteran CF who hit .242, and with 6 HRs and 13 RBI, with a .288 OBP, in 41 AL games most of which he played from start to finish, who is over-rated? Or is over-rating all in the eye of the beholder? Only time will tell.
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Does the rookie have multiple gold gloves and all-star apoearances under his belt? Clearly, injuries derailed Gomez this year, but when healthy he is one of the best CFers in the game. He’s that good.
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As far as Tucker is concerned, I would like Tyler White take Gattis’s job. When the chips are down and runners are on base I don’t want that big strikeout. I want the combination of power and contact at the DH that White provides and Gattis does not.
Now, Tucker. He’s a LH DH and PH and backup corner outfielder who is going to get better at hitting major league pitching because that is what he does, get better the second time around. If Reed gets 1B you have the luxury of Tucker going to Fresno and tearing it up every day as their DH. He is there if White, has trouble hitting as our DH or if one of our OF gets injured. He’s right there, ready, and getting that confidence. If he’s bombing it in AAA, maybe somebody wants him bad and offers you a player or players we love or need.
If we signed Aoki we would have another chance to look at Kemp in AAA and see if he is the player from the first half of last season or the one from the second half. I suspect he is right in the middle and BABIP had everything to do with his 2015. Kemp does not have to be protected this Winter! He is not Rule 5 eligible until next fall. If we sign a FA LFer, Kemp has time to show us who he’s going to be.
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I would take White over Gattis as DH without a second thought, but again, the Astros rarely ask for my thoughts on what’s best for the team.
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Former Astro pitching prospect Adrian Houser [another casualty of the Carlos Gomez trade] will start against Glendale [and Astros’ prospects J.D. Davis, A.J. Reed, and Derek Fisher] today. Good luck to all – but of course, a little more good luck to J.D., A.J., and Derek.
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Well, scratch A.J. Reed from the Glendale team’s roster. Whatever that means.
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The day belonged to the former Astro prospect, not the present ones. Houser throws five scoreless, and wins 1-0.
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Yes, but zero strikeouts in five innings in an AFL game will not show up well in the long term outlook for the majors. The 8-4 GO/AO will.
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MILB just announced the Astros farm system as the best system in 2015
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I saw that!!! Pretty cool!!
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I just saw it too. Impressive!
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A.J. Reed has been pulled from the AL and he’s headed home, after winning just about every single award he could win in the minors. Soooo…..I’m gonna be REAL p*ssed, if he isn’t given every chance to make this club in the spring! OP and I were talking about the possibility of this kid sticking at 1st base not long ago, it would be like our own Mike Trout at 1st!! He’s a BEAST!!
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Arizona Fall League…
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This is great news. According to Drellich, the Astros are shutting him down to get him ready for the spring. That tells me they saw enough of his defense to satisfy them he can handle first base. Drellich mentioned his heaviness last spring which leads me to believe that he is going into a workout program designed for him.
You might recall that Hinch was in Arizona last week for a few days, and I have to believe he was there to look at Reed.
It’s Happening!
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Thank you, all, for posting the news and updates. My first reaction was panic – obviously the Astros had a trade in the works. My next, calmer reaction, was concern…what if he got injured. I’m glad to hear they pulled him for other reasons…and am hopeful we get to see him against real pitchers in March.
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Chad Qualls is not listed on the Astros 40-man today and the Astros have 34 active players currently listed. Roster decisions on the three DL’d players due in the next 24 hrs.
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When is the possible QO to Rasmus due?
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I believe it’s 11 pm CT Friday night.
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I just found out the deadline to offer Rasmus a QO is 4:00 PM CST today. Just FYI.
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Royals just announced they will give Alex Gordon a QO. I think that eliminates the Astros from going after him. I cannot see them paying him fair market value and forfeiting their first round pick in the next draft.
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Gordon can still sign with KC after he turns down the QO, right, or does he have to wait until some time just before ST to be able to do so?
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He can still sign with the Royals. If he signs elsewhere K.C. receives a supplemental draft pick next year.
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He can sign with anyone starting this weekend. But only KC would not have to forfeit a pick. If KC doesn’t sign him, they receive a pick once he signs with another club.
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I looked it up – he’s free to sign with KC right now. Any other team that signed him would lose their first round pick UNLESS it is in the top ten of the draft OR he waits until after the June draft to sign. That’s what happened in 2014 with Kendrys Morales and Stephen Drew. It’s not something Gordon has to worry about.
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I have a feeling that Preston Tucker is gonna be used as trade bait, and that really p*sses, me off. That just tells me the organization sees no value in keeping him.
The kid never really got a chance to play and get in a routine that he SHOULD have been given. Sooo stick him back in AAA and wait until some team your trying to make a trade with, will include him in the package.GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
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Becky, I hate to see you upset about what you think could happen. Let’s focus on what we know is going to happen and deal with that. This is exciting and I think we are going to end up liking our team next year. If things don’t go like we want to, there will be plenty of time to GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.
How about we spend the next week or so going OKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK! OK?
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Maybe. Ok?
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Weirdness time. We’re at Arizona Fall League games all week. Missed A.J. Reed yesterday because he’s all baseballed out and has been sent home. Today Tigers #10 prospect JaCoby Jones (prospect received in exchange for closer Joakim Syria at the trade deadline) was pulled from the starting lineup last second (they even needed to reprint their roster sheets). Found out after the game he had just received his second 50 game suspension for drug abuse.
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You can’t fix stupid. I guess that kid wasn’t that into baseball.
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Jones was drafted out of high school by the Astros in 2010 and didn’t sign. Over five years later I am happy about it.
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I will take a few guesses as to what goes down with the Astros in the next few days.
I think Feldman and Peacock get put on the 40-man. The Astros have six openings at present and they would leave the Astros with four opening left. Why not keep Peacock around, because he doesn’t cost anything with all the slots open?
I think Deduno’s age and health makes him expendable, but they could put him on the 40-man and drop him anytime later, too. The reason for not putting them on the roster is the bother of the waiver process and all the paperwork. The club is deciding now whether these pitchers are in the plans at all.
Does the club make Rasmus a QO? If they have their eye on someone else and want to seriously pursue that person I don’t think they take that chance to have Rasmus get almost 16 million dollars with his projections all calling for a drop in his numbers. They got good value from Rasmus for $8 million and perhaps they should call that a win and move on.
I think Kazmir is a tougher call than Rasmus for the club because of Nottingham. I don’t know what to call on him but my gut says it would be better to let him become a FA and then negotiate with him if both parties are showing interest. It seems to me that the club is actually better off in pitching prospects than outfield prospects so they might not value him as much with Appel, Musgrove, Feliz and Velasquez all on the verge, plus having Fiers and Feldman.
The Astros still have two weeks before their 40-man is set, so there is no reason not to keep their roster gun as loaded as possible with players right up until the deadline.
They already protected one eligible player when they added Duffy to the 40-man. I suspect they will try to protect as many as 4-5 more.
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I am torn on whether to offer Rasmus a QO. The odds are in the Astros favor that he rejects it as no one has accepted a QO yet. However, nearly $16M to return to a team that he really enjoyed playing with the option to become a FA again next year might be too tempting to pass up for Colby. I would love to get that supplemental draft pick, but I can see Colby becoming the first player to ever accept a QO. My thinking is Luhnow will not take that chance, but I still wish he would.
There is no benefit to offering Kazmir a QO since there is no draft pick attached to him. They will allow him to become a FA, but I think they may still try to re-sign him. If so, they will put a cap on what he’s worth and if another team offers more they let him walk.
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So, I’m reading a Beyond The Box Score article about how the Padres should blow up their team and start over like the Astros did.
The very first commenter sarcastically thanks the author for saying how to blow up the Padres, but not how to rebuild them. Then the commenter goes into a long list of things the Padres need to do to get their rebuild going. Here is Number 1 on the commenter’s list and I quote: “Trade Kimbrel for a young SS who’s either in or near the MLB. I’m thinking a Jonathan Villar or Devin Marrero. Someone with a good glove who can put the ball in play.”
The first thing that flashes into my mind is to get this comment out there where it would do the most good. Specifically, to Becky.
Becky, how does this sound to you? This is how a Padres’ fan would start their rebuild.
The second thing that flashes from my brain is that this trade is not fair to the Padres. I suggest we sweeten the pot(that’s a pun) with a LH power hitting young AAA first baseman, just to help the Padres with their rebuild! I’m feeling generous tonight.
OKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!
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Two Jonathans for one closer. That seems more than fair.
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I would trade Villar, Singleton and even throw in another prospect, but not one in the top 15, for Kimbrell. I don’t think the Padres will do it, but it would be nice if they would.
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I am in favor of trading Villar for decent value or prospects. I would like to do it before either of the two happen. (A) Becky blows her stack on his next error or five or (B) we see him lay down that perfect bunt and then run to 3rd base.
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You know, it might take until he’s 28 or 30, but Villar will be a solid starter for some ML team one day.
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I liked what I saw from Villar when he was recalled this year. Keep him off of SS and he has some value. I’m not ready to give up on him yet and can see him being a better option than MarGo as a utility guy, but not at SS.
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i agree dave. if he can just calm down and not try to do everything at breakneck speed. that takes maturity to act in a controlled manner and he seems to be moving in that direction albeit slowly. and who else might be better than correa for a role model. villar as a super sub, while watching and learning from correa (and others) might be what the doctor ordered.
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I think if Luis Cruz is still on the 40-man roster on November 20th, it will be because the Astros want to look at him for the LOOGY spot next spring.
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The short stop that might REALLY help the deal is Bregman. Seriously guys, don’t you think the other teams already know what WE know about Villar? If he had been that good……Correa would still be in AAA. But……they know what value Bregman is.
So, if I’m looking to blow my team up, and I want a nearly ready SS, I’d be looking at
Mr. Bregman…..NOT an error machine called Villeror. And including Singelton is a good idea. The Padres wanted either Musgrove, or Devenski in the trade in July but Luhnow balked at that, so there went our deal for Kimbrel. Now……if they are dumb enough to take Villar, the by ALL MEANS I’ll pay for his plane ticket! 😄😄😄😄
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Becky, it would be interesting to see Houston make that move. Bregman is going to be one of their top three prospects on most lists this off season. If you are Luhnow, not trading Musgrove last summer to get Kimbrel but giving up a higher valued prospect to get an expensive closer with another half season of mileage on the arm seems like a huge 180.
Another aspect – Crane would have to take on the contract ($11m in 2016, $13m in 2017, team option of $13m in 2018 with $1m buyout) AFTER giving Bregman almost $6m to sign last summer.
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If I’m the Padres GM, I’d at least ask for Bregman. It might not happen no matter WHO we offer, because the Padres are in the cat bird seat. THEY have what we want, and we have what they need. Who knows, they might back off about totally tearing their club down like we did. The chance of the Astros getting Chapman is near zero. Walt Jockety probably told Luhnow to go fly kite, when he asked about Chapman after the break last summer. They are, let’s say not on the best terms.
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I just happened to look at the Astros 40-man roster just now, and all three of the Astros pitchers who were on the DL have been reinstated to the 40-man.
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This ought to be an interesting weekend…….
It might be time for another “Free blog Weekend”!
Dan, Brian, Chip????
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Becky, Brian T has one in the hopper that Chip should post soon. I’m starting to work on one myself. A lot to chew on….
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Colby Rasmus gets a QO.
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Whoa – so did they do it hoping that Rasmus does like all others and does not take it?? Does Rasmus take it because he likes living in a place where he can park his very large trucks (he said that is one thing he hated about Toronto). I am sure they did this to get the supplemental pick.
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OR, they are covering their six in case they might have their eye on a free agent who will cost them their #21 pick in the draft. A supplemental pick in the late 30s for Colby might make it not hurt as bad losing their #21.
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There is a chance that they are now willing to pay for that left handed hitting outfielder we certainly need. I’m not sure how many teams would have a better defensive leftfielder. And too, depending on what happens in house over the first half of the season with our own young talent, either he or Gomez could be gone before the deadline. I’m hoping Rasmus is the first guy to take a qualifying offer.
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I’m actually hoping he rejects it. We can still try and sign him to a multi-year contract with an AAV less than $16M, but also receive a draft pick if he signs elsewhere. Just my thoughts.
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As crazy as this sounds, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rasmus take this offer.
He really likes it here, and let’s be frank he’s got a reputation that proceeds him, and he has, I think found a team that let’s him be his unusal self. He has a manager, who knows what battles to pick, and Coby’S appearance ain’t one of them. He works hard and gives you another TRUE centerfielder, if Gomez goes down. I guess we’ll know next week…..but it wouldn’t surprise me to see him back next year.
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Aramis Ramirez retired…
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He needed to.
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LOL that’s what I was thinking too, until I saw he had better production at 3B than we’ve had for some time…
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I’m really glad the Astros extended a QO to Rasmus. I think he wants to be here, but I am guessing he rejects it and tries to get a multi-year contract with the Astros. OP gave an alternate strategy in offering the QO and one I hadn’t considered. There isn’t much of a difference between the 21st pick and the location of the supplemental pick. Maybe the Astros see a FA they like that was extended a QO, like Alex Gordon, that will cost them their first round pick. If Rasmus leaves losing the first round pick doesn’t hurt as much. I think the Astros made the right move in extending the QO to Rasmus.
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Dan P and UncleKnuckle: Thanks for your comments re Asperger’s and the information about Greinke and Social Anxiety Disorder. Dan, I’m glad your son is doing okay. UncleKnuckle, your comment was duly noted. There’s something to be said for a broken leg versus issues equally obvious to others, but not so easily resolved. Didn’t want to comment at the time, but just to let you know I heard. I might be a SAD case myself for all I know, have similar issues. But obviously have worked and earned a living all my life. Anyway, I thought about you both and obviously still am.
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We’re with you Diane – the world can be tough and a lot of people do not understand these types of problems in others. Think you should just “tough it out” and it is a lot more complex than that.
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