Houston Astros 2014 Season Thread

[eagle eye]

George Springer made his debut last night getting his first MLB hit and scoring his first MLB run when he came in to score off of Jason Castro's two run shot in the 3rd inning. However, the same things are plaguing the Astros that plagued them last season. Poor relief pitching and lack of offense highlighted by a way-too-high strike out pace. Houston scored it's 4 runs on 2 two-run homers, the one by Castro and one by Mark Krauss in the 6th that gave Houston a 4-2 lead going into the seventh. Astros starter Dallas Kuechel battled all six of his innings that he pitched which you might expect with him throwing 97 pitches. But, he managed to hold the Royals to two runs in six. That's a quality start in anybody's book but when Houston strands 9 runners on base and you get a total of 10 hits you'd expect more runs scored. Houston is among the leaders in the AL in home runs but their OBP is terrible and RBI's are near the bottom. I seems like if the Astros can't hit it out they can't score. I'm so sick of Chris Carter. I didn't like the signing last year and despite the fact that he's consentrated on cutting down on his K's he's still striking out on a pace to reset his own K record from last season. He's hitting .136 and it's just a freaking joke they keep running him out on the field. Now, I read on the Astros web site that despite the fact that Jon Singleton is tearing up AAA pitching GM Jeff Luhnow says that he doesn't have the minor league history Springer has and he feels Singleton needs to build on his AAA equity before the bring him up. Considering how bad the offense is it shows tremendous discipline by Luhnow and the front office not to rush a guy up if they don't feel he's ready. In the short term that sucks but in the long run it should pay huge dividends.

In the past off season Houston signed some veteran guys who, in theory, should make the bullpen better but they have really struggled. Kevin Chapman is the worst. He's struggled every outing he's had so far. Last night it was Chapman, Brad Peacock, Jerome Williams and Matt Albers who combined to lose the lead and the game in terms of the runs they surrendered. Kuechel deserved to get the win but to go through 5 relievers in 3 innings is telling. If you think about it all they needed was 9 outs and only Josh Fields did his job successfully. The bottom line is Houston is struggling across the board and George Springer was a piece but not whole answer. The guys on the roster need to start playing better and playing smarter.

[eagle eye]

Here's some notes about the Astros as they travel to Oakland for a west coast road swing after being swept by the Kansas City Royals the past three days. The notes explain why Scott Feldman was off his game in last night's finale and just how gutsy Dallas Kuechel's performance really was on Wednesday. Also included is news that struggling reliever Kevin Chapman has been optioned to OKC and LHP Raul Valdes has been called up to replace him.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140417&content_id=72453560&notebook_id=72456622&vkey=notebook_hou&c_id=hou

[eagle eye]

It's sad to see Houston falling right back into the same old rut. They started out nice but then "It" happened. This time the "It" seems to have been the flu-like bug that has screamed through the Astros dugout like a hurricane sweeping up the coastline. It began with Dexter Fowler and the current player listed as down with this thing is Alex Pressley. It seems everyone in the clubhouse has had it. Yesterday's starter Brett Oberholtzer had been battling it and he battled in his start going 5-2/3 giving up just 1 run. The Astros still only managed 3 runs but they had a 3-1 lead going into the 9th with veteran Chad Qualls on the mound to close the game. NOT. Only one out and three runs later Houston was looking at the A's celebrating a comeback win and seeing their current losing streak extend to six games. This sickness isn't the flu--it's the black plague--and it's tearing the guts out of this team. You just hope things will turn around for the team soon before this season is lost. I'm serious, losing begets losing and the Astros are falling into the rut they have been in the past two seasons where they seem to be able to find a way to snatch defeat right out of the jaws of victory.

 

Here's some notes from the Astros including an update on DeLino Deshields Jr. DDJ was hit in the face by a pitch the other night and there's a rather gruesome picture of him in the article. Jon Singleton and Carlos Correa are both tearing it up at the plate in the minors. You have wonder how long it will be before the Astros front office loses its patience and starts to bring theses players up.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140419&content_id=72642636&notebook_id=72641986&vkey=notebook_hou&c_id=hou

[KABrother88]

Jon Singleton is killing the ball right now (when he makes contact)...he just hit his 8th home run of the year to go along with 6 doubles, a triple and now 24 RBI...batting .324 coming into today but has struck out 25 times in 19 games...but at least the power has shown up again after last season

[coachacola]

I don't follow MLB or the Astros anymore. Has Houston replaced KC as the perennial doormat now?

[Big T]

For three years nor yes they have. The big difference however is that the Stros have the number one ranked farm system in baseball and it is only getting stronger. In two years you will see a competitive Astros team and in four you will see them competing for a playoff spot. The future is beyond bright.

[eagle eye]

I agree with Big T on the state of the Astros although I'm hoping it will be less than 4 years before we compete for a playoff spot. As for Kansas City being a doormat their future is brighter than that although I don't think they are a playoff caliber team they do have some good players. Pittsburgh has actually had just as bad a rep as the Royals as they haven't been relevant since the early 90's before Barry Bonds blew up on steroids. They are a better club now with a wild card berth in the 2013 playoffs and losing in the divisional round to St Louis and they are currently in 4th place 6 games behind division leading Milwaukee. The Royals, btw, are in 2nd place in the AL Central one game behind the Detroit Tigers.

 

The Astros have won two in a row over Seattle scoring 12 runs in the last two games. Astros No 1 starter Scott Feldman will miss two starts due to tendonitis in his right triceps. Last night Colin McHugh who was brought up from OKC to fill in for Feldman pitched 6-2/3 notching 12 K's and allowing only 3 hits in the most dominant performance by a starting pitcher so far this year. The Astros are too dependent on the home run ball to score runs but after a 7 game losing streak a few homers feels pretty good. Matt Dominguez homered one in each of the last two nights with Chris Carter actually getting his first homer of the season last night along with a base hit. The Astros finish up this afternoon in Seattle then they return to the Juice Box for a rematch against the A's for 4 games beginning Thursday.

[eagle eye]

Damn the luck. Houston was two outs away from a series sweep of the Mariners when the bullpen, the group that was supposed to be a strength of the team when the season began, let us down again. Leading 3-2 in the 9th Josh Fields came in the game in relief of Chad Qualls who pitched a perfect 8th inning with 2 K's and he promptly allowed singles to Robinson Cano and Corey Hart. It seemed that maybe Fields may be getting himself together with a strike out of Justin Smoak but the next batter, Kyle Seager jacked a walkoff home run to rob the Astros of the win and the sweep. Ironically, it was Qualls who blew the last save opportunity last Saturday to the A's. In that outing he couldn't stop the A's comeback and yesterday the Mariners had no answer for Qualls. Houston blew a league tying 29 saves last season but with the addition of veteran arms to the bullpen it was hoped the worries about the bullpen were over. So far this season Houston already has 4 blown saves with 3 in the last 8 days. It just seems like Houston just can't get out of their own doggone way. As in last Saturday's loss yesterday's 3 runs scored just wasn't enough even though it should have been. Houston comes back home to begin a series with the A's. Maybe they can get some payback for the sweep they suffered last weekend.

[KABrother88]

After posting an ERA north of 6.00 in A+ Lancaster this year, last years 1st overall pick Mark Appel has been sent to extended spring training

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/2014/04/25/73348562/appel-leaves-lancaster-health-not-a-factor

[eagle eye]

I have to admit it, I'm totally frustrated with this team. One month in they can't hit, their starting pitchers are doing well but the bullpen is taking turns stinking up the joint. They already have two pitchers, starter Scott Feldman and reliever Matt Albers, on the 15 day DL and last night after spotting Oakland a 4 run lead the Astros have a big 5th inning and tie the game only to see it all go for naught in the ninth as Josh Fields and Anthony Bass give up 7 runs, SEVEN, in the top of the inning to ice the game for the A's---a team I have a growing dislike for.

[eagle eye]

Houston won the series against the A's yesterday beating them 5-1 in a game that saw Jose Altuve hit his first homer of the season. The game Saturday should have been as easily won but Jerome Williams, who came in the game in relief of Dallas Keuchel and pitched well until he had a major meltdown in the 9th. Leading 7-3 Williams allowed a leadoff single, a walk and home run to Brandon Moss to allow the A's to close to 7-6 before an out was recorded in the inning. A single by Nick Punto followed by a groundout by Coco Crisp was all manager Bo Porter wanted to see of Williams. Raul Valdez came in and promptly struck out John Jaso and former Astro Jed Lowrie to end the game. The game was actually tied at 3 until the Astros erupted for 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th. 4 straight singles, a wild pitch and the Astros put 4 runs on the board and they needed every one of them considering what happened in the 9th.

Yesterday, making his second start of the year since being called up from OKC to replace Scott Feldman who was placed on the 15 day DL, was young Collin McHugh. In his last start vs the Mariners McHugh went 6-2/3 innings with 12 K's and no walks. In the finale against the A's McHugh went 8-2/3 allowing 2 hits and one earned run while striking out 7 with 3 walks. He came within one out of pitching a 1 hit shutout but he couldn't close the door on his complete game. Raul Valdes got the final out for who McHugh seems to be making it really hard for Bo Porter to send him back to OKC. In his 2 starts he is 2-0 with a 0.59 ERA with 19 K's, 3 walks in 15.1 innings. Not bad for a 26 year old guy who made his big league debut in August of 2012 with Mets and was claimed off waivers from the Rockies this past December. Another young arm acquired by GM Jeff Luhnow that is paying dividends.

Speaking of dividends, the closer the past two games has been Raul Valdes. He's 1-0 in save opportunities which is a good sign. Valdes didn't qualify for the save yesterday. Valdes is an older guy who came to the USA when he defected from Cuba while with the Cuban national team. He began his career in the Cubs organization in 2004 and he made his MLB debut in 2010 with the Mets. The Astros claimed him off waivers from the Phillies last October. At 36 Valdes isn't going to be in Houston's long term plans but if he continues to close games for the Astros I'll bet they'll take it especially since nobody else seems to want it.

Long post, sorry about that but it's nice to see the bats start to come around. Nobody is setting the world on fire but guys like Dexter Fowler and Matt Dominguez and Jonathan Villar seem to be coming out of the tailspin they've been in since opening day. Even Chris Carter is making contributions. He's still hitting .169 but it's better than he was 10 days ago. Carter has surpassed LJ Hoes who is really struggling with a .146 average. Even Hoes isn't on the bottom of the barrel, that belongs to Marc Krauss who is hitting .132. At least one of these guys needs to right the ship and start hitting the darn ball. My money is not on Chris Carter. Despite having put up better numbers than Hoes or Krauss his 33 strike outs is disturbing. Hoes and Krauss together have struck out only 30 times. Bo Porter seems to want to go with Carter because he's got more playing time that either Hoes or Krauss but at some point he can't keep tolerating Carter's strike outs.

[eagle eye]

The Astros had a day off today but it doesn't mean the front office boys were sitting on their hands. As a matter of fact they struck a deal by trading RHP Lucas Harrell to the Arizona Diamondbacks for either cash considerations or a player to be named later. Harrell enjoyed a really nice year in the Astros rotation in 2012 but it all fell apart in 2013 and Harrell just seemed to lose his mojo on the mound. As the year progressed and frustration mounted he was sent to the bullpen and when he still struggled he was sent down to AAA OKC. 2014 was a new year for Harrell who worked really hard to regain his '12 form and he showed signs of doing just that. Unfortunately, spring training gave way to the regular season and Harrell fell back into his pitching funk. After going 0-3 to start the season--and not looking good doing it--Harrell was optioned and after clearing waivers he was assigned to OKC but both Harrell and the Astros felt it was time for Lucas to try a fresh start in a new place. That place is in Arizona where he is excited for the new beginning. He said he was grateful to the Astros for giving him a chance but he feels like was time to move on.

[KABrother88]

MLB.com has released their latest top 100 draft prospects and there is a new number 1...California HS LHP Brady Aiken jumps to #1 with Carlos Rodon sliding to #2. Shepherd HS flame thrower Tyler Kolek moved up a spot to #3 and most scouts think those will be the 3 guys in play to go 1.1. Aiken was viewed as a mid 1st round selection before the season but a spike in velocity (touches 97 now) combined with Rodon not impressing as many thought he would has led to Aiken getting alot more run as the possible 1.1 pick. One thing we do know is that Luhnow and Co. won't tip their hand and whoever they decide to go with wont be known until June 5th. Another name on the list that might look familiar is #93 Jake Cosart...younger brother of Astros pitcher Jared Cosart

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2014/#list=draft

 

Who are you wanting EE and Big T?

[eagle eye]

I am scared of Rodon only because he began the college baseball season out in less than dominant fashion. He's gotten better of late so I'm sure he's still being monitored very closely. East Carolina's Jeff Hoffman is on the radar but after a 16K game vs Middle Tennessee he's been shut down with arm soreness. The two high school kids are intriguing but for Houston to consider using that all important No 1 pick on a high school prospect I would think they would have some assurance that the kid will sign and not balk and go to college instead. Aiken, the kid from California is good with a ++ fastball and he's a lefty. Tyler Kolek is from Shepard, Tx which is located north of Cleveland. He is a true man-child at 6'5" and 230 lbs. He's a righty who has increased his velocity on his fast ball to the upper 90's and he's even been clocked at 102 mph out of the stretch. He seems cut from the same cloth as big Texas born pitchers Roger Clemens and Kerry Wood. Kolek has committed to TCU so signing him is definitely in question. To answer your question I tend to lean toward the lefties Rodon or Aiken. I worry about Rodon's lackluster senior year and I worry about signing a high school prospect. In the end I think it's got to go to Rodon. He will sign because his college is over this year and his track record speaks for itself and he hasn't had any arm issues I'm aware of.

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/hou/jonathan-mayo-brady-aiken-tyler-kolek-vying-to-be-no-1-mlb-draft-pick?ymd=20140429&content_id=73423150&vkey=news_hou

[KABrother88]

Actually Rodon is only a junior so he wouldn't have to sign...that being said I couldn't imagine anyone turning down the 1.1 money...especially one of the HS kids cause then they wouldn't be draft eligible again until 2017 (unless they went JUCO) and a lot can happen in 3 years...can't improve your stock much more. If I had to pick one today I'm going Rodon. I think he fits the timeline for Houston being a contender more than the HS kids and I'm not just sold on Hoffman. Also Rodon having a bit of an uninspiring season may work in Houston's favor come negotiating time. If the Astros fail to sign their first round pick (but like I said I can't see happening) they get another pick the next draft in the spot after their unsigned spot. So Houston would get the #2 pick in 2015 (and it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for them to have the worst record and in 2014 and the #1 pick again in 2015). Reports shay Aiken has more polish than Kolek who has an elite FB but lacking secondary offerings so Aiken would be my #2 option. Also being a LHP creates a little more separation between the 2 as only 1 of our top 10 pitching prospects is a lefty (Josh Hader)

[eagle eye]

Good points but next year's #2 is nice but at the expense of your #1 seems a little anti climatic. It's not like the NFL in terms flat losing the draft pick but it's still an opportunity lost. I agree that Houston could get a break on salary since Rodon is not dominating but they don't want to low ball him and make him mad enough to go back for his senior season. Frankly, considering Houston's not really breaking the bank with salaries I can't see trying to get the #1 pick in the draft for cheap. He will likely get about the same deal Mark Appel got.

Speaking of Appel, your post about Appel being sent to extended spring training is cause for a little worry isn't it? Big T isn't the only guy who was projecting Appel in the bigs this year or next not taking a step backwards.

[KABrother88]

Im not talking about low balling him...I too think Rodon will sign for around Appel money but remember we got a bit of a discount with him (about 1.5 million below slot value). I mentioned the scenario of us getting 2015 #2 since you mentioned something about being able to sign whoever we draft and not have them go to school in case someone reading thought we wouldn't get compensation for it. Houston has 3 selections in the top 40 so they may need to get a little creative if they go after a guy who may slip.

 

And I understand what Luhnow has said about Appel not being able to get into a professional routine vs the college routine and missing valuable spring training time but it worries me a little bit cause he pitched every 5 days last year at Tri-City and Quad Cities (succession of those names never hit me until now lol). Lancaster can be a pitchers nightmare but scouts were saying Appel's FB was sitting 89-92...even class A hitters will make you pay for that. I never give up hope of the future (I'd make a hell of a Cubs fan) but after the last few weeks a 1-2 of Rodon-Appel isn't what it looked to be last summer

[eagle eye]

How true. There are a lot of pitchers who are considered top 10 picks this year and that's what makes this year's draft so tough without a truly dominant one out there. I can't help feeling Houston knows they are left hand pitching poor and there are a couple of options but for the #1 pick you don't want to have a doubt that your pick is a no-brainer. The NFL draft is the same--they have some really good players at all positions but no your-a-fool-if-you-pass-on-this-guy player. When you have the #1 pick you really don't want to miss but one thing I do have confidence in is the Astros braintrust. IMO they have done a great job so far and as much as they can they have made the right choices almost across the board. They will do their due diligence and I think they'll get it right.

[eagle eye]

Is there a guy more snake bit on the Astros roster more than Brett Oberholtzer? As of today Obie is 0-5 in six starts with a 5.63 ERA but if you look at his stat line it really isn't bad and he deserves at least two wins blown by the bullpen. With a little run support he could be 4-2. That being said you have to look at his last two games when he got bombed by Oakland 10-1 lasting only 3-2/3 innings on April 24th and last nights loss to Washington when he gave up 6 earned runs in 4-2/3 innings. Prior to the A's game his ERA was 3.04 and has gone up to that 5.63 in the last two games when he's allowed 12 earned runs on 19 hits w/ 2 homers, 4 walks and 9 K's. I know that a guy can go through slumps but considering how well Collin McHugh has pitched and with Scott Feldman due to return for his next start, Obie needs to turn it around--pronto-- or he's may need his old apartment in OKC back.

 

This past week Houston has had a game they stranded 11 base runners and last nights 7-0 loss saw Houston strand 10. Houston finished April 9-19 and 9 games back of division leader Oakland. The one thing you have to say is the starting pitching with a few exceptions has been pretty good. Certainly good enough to have won more than 9 games. Except their have been some lousy hitting, lack of ability to score runs despite having opportunities to do so, and bullpen who can't hold a lead for squat. It's disappointing that the bullpen has been such a liability because with a bevy of off-season moves to add quality veterans to the pen they really have sucked. How bad have they sucked? They are dead last in baseball with a 5.86 ERA and a batting average against a whopping .289. I think Astros fans expected better than this from this team. It's encouraging to see some of the hitting slumps going the other way. Dexter Fowler, Jason Castro, Matt Dominguez, Alex Pressley, Jesus Guzman and Jonathan Villar have all rebounded to respectable levels after each and every one of them were batting under .200 at one time. The only guy who hasn't sucked is Jose Altuve but even he's left runners in scoring position. It's nice to see the team hitting better but they need to start stringing hit together and scoring runs. A great big hunk of the runs scored was via the home run, 29 so far in 2014. The telling thing is Houston is 29th of 30 teams in runs scored and their best OBP is Jason Castro's .330. That ain't good. Hopefully, the recent resurgence by the hitters is a sign of better things to come.

[eagle eye]

The Astros will play a 3 game series beginning tonight against the Mariners. The Astros will be sending Brad Peacock, Dallas Kuechel and the recently awesome Collin McHugh to face Seattle at the Juice Box this weekend. Here's a link to an Astros.com article that answers the question, "Who is Collin McHugh?"

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/hou/pitcher-collin-mchugh-bursts-onto-the-scene-with-astros?ymd=20140501&content_id=73879236&vkey=news_hou

 

The Astros were off yesterday but the front office folks didn't. They worked on signing LHP Tony Sipp. Sipp was stuck in the Padres organization at their AAA affiliate in El Paso with little hope of being called up to the Padres so he asked for his release. He will come to the Astros with a career 3.84 ERA in 304 appearances with the Indians (2009-12) and the D-backs last season. He's held lefties to a .224 average in his career and righties to a .209 mark. Sipp, 30 years old, will give the Astros bullpen another left hand option with only Raul Valdes currently the only lefty in the pen.

 

 

[KABrother88]

Nolan Ryan, Bo Porter, and bench coach Dave Trembley were up the road in Jasper last night as well getting another look (in what would be the last chance) at Shepherd fireball we Tyler Kolek. He gave up 4 runs (1 ER) on 3 hits and 10 Ks in 7 innings as Silsbee beat Shepherd 4-1 but part of Silsbee's gameplan was to bunt to make the defense make plays, and steal and make the catcher throw you out (which I've seen them this year and that is a very good gameplan)...Porter said he was impressed with with the gameplan used. Of the 4 runs he gave up 2 came in because Shepherd couldn't execute run downs, one run on a wild pitch, and one on a bunt where the 3rd baseman had the runner coming home but didn't tag him. Reports say Kolek hit 102 last night and the bunting strategy kept his strikeout number down

 

Also seeing Kerry Woods was in attendance and has been to quite a few Shepherd games this year...I guess he is working for the Cubs

 

Here is an article from the Houston Chronicle about it

 

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2014/05/02/shepherd-high-pitcher-tyler-kolek-draws-praise-from-ryan-porter/#22822-7

[eagle eye]

Houston finally won one in their last at-bat with a walk off single by George Springer in the bottom of the 11th scoring Jose Altuve. Springer's hit, a high chopper to 3B, broke a 2-16 stretch of hitting with runners in scoring position and gave the Astros their first walk off win of the season. Brad Peacock had a nice outing going 6 innings with 3 walks, 6 K's allowing 4 runs but only 2 earned. Rip off of the night was in the third with men on first and second Jason Castro hit a deep shot to center field that center fielder Abraham Almonte was unable to field in the air. Almonte had to run a long way and he could have caught the ball but it was also a very tough play. Long story short the official scorer saw it as an error on Almonte robbing Castro of a hit and an RBI. I really think this stinks because it was far from a routine play and when you're the home team you generally get the benefit of the doubt on plays like this. The game winning hit by Springer could have easily been ruled an error and it was misplayed by M's 3B Kyle Seager. I'm just saying. It didn't take long for Bo Porter to use his newest reliever Tony Sipp, who actually signed his contract earlier in the day. Sipp came in with 2 out in the 7th and retired the next 5 batters he face for a perfect outing. Jose Cisnero, Chad Qualls and Anthony Bass, who got the win, combined with Sipp to shut out the Mariners in relief of Peacock. The Astros begin May the same way they began April--with a win.

[eagle eye]

After stinking up the juice box with a 3-6 record on their last home stand the Astros have gone the road to Detroit and continued their losing ways. It didn't help that Houston faced Cy Young pitcher Max Scherzer in game 1 as the Tigers won 2-0 despite a really nice performance by Jared Cosart who went 7 innings allowing only 4 hits and only one UNearned run. Blame Scherzer for that one because he was dominant. Last night starter Brett Oberholtzer was better than recent outings but he still allowed 4 runs on 9 hits, a walk and 4 K's and he was tagged with his sixth loss vs zero wins so far this season. The bats weren't silenced like they were against Scherzer but Robbie Ray, who was making his MLB debut last night with Detroit, had enough to set down the Astros who only managed one run in the sixth off him. Houston scored three in the 9th but by then the game was lost due to a simply horrendous outing by Josh Fields. Fields came on in the 8th with Houston down 6-1 and in only 2/3 of an inning he gave up 5 runs on 6 hits and 2 K's ballooning his ERA to 12.00 and it's hard to believe it's not worse than that. Kevin Chapman and Lucas Harrell have already been demoted and in the case of Harrell traded due to poor performance. Josh Fields looks like he's on a pace to go back to OKC. For the most part Fields has just been awful.

 

Rather than being all gloom and doom here's some encouraging facts. Every Astros starter in the field except Chris Carter (.170) and LJ Hoes (.128) is hitting ABOVE the Mendoza Line (.200). This is a vast improvement when just a couple of weeks ago 5 of the 9 batters in Houston's lineup were under .200. As posted before Dexter Fowler (.248), Jason Castro (.214) and Jonathan Villar (.250) have rebounded from poor starts to the season. Castro has fallen off the last couple of games and I'm sure he'll be glad to get his ass out of Detroit. George Springer has seemed to be getting on track too bringing his average up to a respectable .222 considering how he started the season. Jesus Guzman has even clawed his way above the Mendoza Line although at .203 it ain't nothing to write home about. Matt Dominguez has been doing much better rounding up a decent .227 BA. Jose Altuve and Marwin Gonzalez have been the most steady and at .279 and .281 have been the most consistant hitters in the Astros lineup. So, there is cause for some cautioned optimism. The Astros offense is showing signs of life. Unfortunately, the starting pitching is apparently been dragged down by the bullpen as quality starts seem to be hard to come by. This is made even more frustrating by the continued struggles of the bullpen. I'm sure Bo Porter is hoping the pitching can right the ship but it would help if Houston would escape playing division leaders and play some division also-rans for a while. Oh well, you don't pick and choose your opponents, you play whoever is next on the schedule. Houston just needs to put together a few wins and get some confidence. We knew they weren't going to the playoffs but it'd be nice if they won more than once a week.

[KABrother88]

Cross Jeff Hoffman off your list of potential 1-1 draftees if you had him in the mix (not me)...per Keith Law he will have TJ surgery next week...he's only a junior so it will be interesting to see what he does if he gets drafted in the lower end of the first round...wouldn't gripe at all if he fell to us at 37...just don't want him at 1. Signability may be the kicker though if he slides and thinks he still deserves top end money

[eagle eye]

It's quite possible Hoffman could slip way down in the draft for no other reason than when you get Tommy John surgery it's two years before you're back to normal. The rehab is a year at least and it will take another year to get where he was before the surgery. With that in mind teams won't waste high draft picks that won't even be able to contribrute for a long time. Round four or five, maybe? There value right there.