2015 Astros Regular Season Thread

[KABrother88]

Gimme Rodgers!

[Big T]

Astros take SS Alex Bregman out of LSU.

[KABrother88]

But I'll take Bregman too. I have liked him since he was a freshman at LSU

[Big T]

Rodgers is who I wanted as well but he just went 1-3 to the Rockies

[Big T]

I think at the 1-5 slot the Astros will take the SEC pitcher of the year out of Vandy Carson Fulmer.

[Big T]

Well... Astros took Preston Tucker's little brother Kyle Tucker at 1-5. A bit of a surprise.

[KABrother88]

I'm not surprised by it...he was a trending name at that spot and with Tate going at #4, Tucker was a good pick at 5. Supposedly a much better all around player than Preston and a chance at giving a finincial discount

[KABrother88]

Brady Aiken goes #17 to Cleveland. Slot bonus for #17 this year is 2.3 million.

[KABrother88]

An interesting name that is still available right now (currently at 32 with Houston picking again at 37) is Daz Cameron. He was one of the top 7 guys I mentioned a few days ago as being in consideration for one of the 2 top picks for Houston. He has slid and if Houston thinks they can save enough on the deals with Bregman and/or Tucker, then I wouldn't be opposed to us snagging Cameron if he's still there at 37...and I expect him to be since his signability has to be a question mark at this point.

[KABrother88]

And it happened...Love it! A guy who at one time was the top draft prospect but still a top 6-7 guy on the majority of boards. Houston has selected the #4, #6, & #7 overall prospects according to MLB.com. I think there is a good chance to sign all 3 as well.

[KABrother88]

And I absolutely love Eshelman...guy who isn't flashy but flat out doesn't walk people...will be a back end of the rotation guy and be there in a hurry

 

2013:

3 BB in 116 IP

 

2014:

8 BB in 123 IP

 

2015:

7 BB in 130 IP

 

Total:

18 BB in 369 IP

Edited June 9, 2015 by KABrother88

[KABrother88]

Been reported that Cameron slipped due to having a $5 million dollar asking price. The #37 pick carries a slot bonus of ~1.7 million so Houston needs to save ~3.3 million to hit that number (realistically I think Cameron would be crazy not to sign for something in the $4 million range). #2 carried ~7.4 million and #5 carried ~4.2. Eshelman at #46 is looking at ~1.3 but I feel we reached a little and in turn could save a couple hundred thousand. Would not be surprised to see Houston go after some senior arms today in an attempt to create more savings opportunity. Day 2 kicks off at 11:30

[eagle eye]

Day 1 was a pretty good haul so I am anxious for what today will bring. Speaking of which Houston has made their 3rd round pick (#79 overall) and it's a RHP from TCU named Riley Farrell. A guy MLB.com says could move to the big club in a hurry and he'll be a guy used out of the bullpen. He's had a lot of success at TCU as a reliever. He's a junior that is 6'2" and 200 lbs. KABrother8 is better at digging up the 411 on these prospects than me so I defer.

[KABrother88]

Electric fastball-slider combo guy. Runs his heater up in the high 90's with a really good slider when he's on. Rated the #45 prospect by MLB.com and was as high as #21 before the season started so getting him at #79 is pretty good. Reliever all the way but as EE mentioned he could be up by the end of this season. I actually watched him pitch against A&M in the Super Regionals the last 2 nights...not good results as he gave up a walk-off sac fly Sunday night and only faced 2 batters last night...hit the fist one and walked the 2nd...both came around to score later to tie the game and send it to extras where TCU ultimately won. So far we have drafted 2 HS players and 3 College players...all 3 college guys you'll be able to watch in the upcoming College Worls Series

[KABrother88]

Looks like the first real reach to me there in the 4th round with OU catcher Anthony Hermelyn...he wasn't in MLB.com's top 200. Was listed at #230 in January by minorleaguebaseball.com...I'll have to do some research

[eagle eye]

Does Houston have a phobia about drafting a left hand pitcher? Last year they went with Aiken who is a righty and passed the lefty Rodon and so far this draft the pitchers have all been righties. The latest is North Carolina's Trent Thorton in the fifth round.

[KABrother88]

Aiken was actually a lefty as well...but they do tend to take a lot more RHPs for some reason

[eagle eye]

LOL! You're right as usual KABro!

[KABrother88]

LOL! You're right as usual KABro!

 

No just get my wife to believe that! lol.

 

One think I actually was right about was thinking Houston would get some Senior pitching during day 2. In rounds 7, 9, & 10 that's exactly what Houston did and even with with a Senior catcher in round 8. What the advantage of drafting a Senior? Well a guy who is a senior has no leverage in bonus negotiations. Basically they take what the drafting team is willing to give or they go play Independent ball for next to nothing. The slot bonus for those 4 picks are $219,600, $176,000, $164,200, & $153,400. I had seen last year where team had signed these top 10 round college seniors for $10,000 (think this is a major flaw in the draft setup). Undoubtedly Houston will do what they can to save on these picks to get a little extra money for the Cameron deal.

[eagle eye]

I hate to bring up a subject other than the draft but good grief. This is an epic meltdown that really doesn't even equate to the rough start to the season. The Astros then at least had good pitching that enabled the Astros to hang around .500 ball. It doesn't matter how well the pitchers pitch because this offense is in full blown "sucks" mode. The Astros promoted Carlos Correa to generate a spark to the offense. It has, Correa went 2-4 with a home run last night. It didn't help that the home plate umpire couldn't decide on what his strike zone was other than it was bigger for White Sox pitchers than for Houston pitchers. Houston was trying to rally in the 9th last night and on a 3-0 count to George Springer the ump called a ball that was clearly low a strike to go to 3-1 followed by another low strike call to push the count to 3-2 and Springer then hit a fly ball to right for the 3rd out of the game. Before he got to first base on the play Springer had thrown his helmet down and was giving the ump an earful. Dallas Keuchel pitches 7 innings and gave up one 2-run homer to Alexi Abreu. That's it for 7 innings of work with 7 hits, 2 walks and 5 K's. He worked out of a bases loaded no-outs jam in the 2nd inning but he was his usual never-give-in-battle-to-the-end self. Keuchel could have gotten off the hook for the loss if Chad Qualls hadn't come in a stunk up the joint in the 8th inning. Qualls faced 4 batters to begin the 8th and this is how it went: single, single man on first gets to 3B, man on first steals 2nd, walk to load the bases and 2-run double that upped the Sox lead to 4-0. At that point Qualls night was over and it assured Keuchel would get his 2nd loss of the season. If you remember, in Keuchel's last game that was against Baltimore Keuchel left after 6 innings with a 2-2 tie and Qualls came on in the 8th and gave up a home run to give the O's the lead and the 3-2 score held up to give the O's the win. BTW that game began the Astros current 6 game losing streak. If I'm Keuchel I find a way to get Qualls not to show up when I pitch because the guy is bad news for me. It's not all on Qualls because the Astros had opportunities to score. They have had opportunities to score a lot more during this losing streak but the offense just can't produce for squat. I feel bad for Jose Altuve because the rough streak he's on seems to be working on his mind and he can't bust out of his slump at all. You may say that I need to give the opposing pitcher's credit for this streak and I say, "hogwash!". Every pitcher Houston has faced is not a world beater. I know Chris Sale is pretty good but his ERA ain't all that great this season and Toronto's R A Dickey has been next to awful all season, Houston got just 4 hits off him. The 4 run rally they had in the seventh came AFTER Dickey had left the game after the 6th and after he tossed over 100 pitches. This offense is a dumpster fire and for my money I'd bench Luis Valbuena and Jason Castro because both have just sucked lately. My expectation for those two is less than zero. I'm tired of watching them strike out especially with runners in scoring position. As a matter of fact, last night Houston was 2-8 with RISP. The only good thing is Houston is still in the lead in the AL West but that lead has now dwindled down to 2 games after Texas beat Oakland last night.

 

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Houston broke down and drafted a left handed pitcher. It was in the 7th round when they took 5th year senior Michael Freeman from Ok State then they took another LHP in the 9th round when they took LSU senior Zac Person. They got another LHP in the 11th round (are we sensing a pattern here?) when they took Mission Viejo, CA HS pitcher Patrick Sandoval. I'm feeling better now that we are getting some left handed arms. Now, if these guys turn out to be as good as Dallas Keuchel I'll be ecstatic!

 

Check out the Astros.com home page linked below and scroll down to the picture of Carlos Correa with a young fan in Chicago who returned his home run ball (and probably got the bat he's holding in the picture). The home run ball had to be special because it was from his very first big league round tripper he hit in the 9th inning off White Sox closer Zach Duke. Correa also stole his first base in the bigs in the top of the 6th with Carlos Rodon still on the mound. Of course it do any good because there were two out and Hank Conger popped out to 1st baseman Alexi Abreu in foul territory to end the inning. Christ, this team is so impotent at the plate a case of Viagra may not help! The picture along with a short text was front Correa's twitter account.

 

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=hou&sv=1

[eagle eye]

I am officially pissed at this team. Starting pitching really good for a debut by Vince Velasquez, an amazing night for Carlos Correa and not bad for George Springer and the only reason I'd keep Jason Castro in the lineup is for his ability to throw out base runners trying to steal. Now the relievers, probably due to the stress of not being able to make a mistake because the offense can't score try to guide the ball with bad results. Monkey balls. I am so frustrated I think I'm having a heart attack. Good night Irene this makes 7 in a row.

[puddin tane]

Does Houston have a phobia about drafting a left hand pitcher? Last year they went with Aiken who is a righty and passed the lefty Rodon and so far this draft the pitchers have all been righties. The latest is North Carolina's Trent Thorton in the fifth round.

 

More lefties would mean facing more right handed batters shooting for the Crawford Boxes?

[puddin tane]

I was bashing Gattis early...but I've moved on....Carter sucks

[eagle eye]

More lefties would mean facing more right handed batters shooting for the Crawford Boxes?

 

Lefties in a right hand dominated staff is needed and Dallas Keuchel doesn't have a problem giving up home runs at the Juice Box. If you have a hitter's park like MM you draft pitchers that are ground ball type pitchers. That why Jose Lima was good at the Dome and sucked at MM Park, he was a fly ball pitcher. The Dome was a pitcher's park whereas MM is not but if you are a ground ball pitcher you can pitch anywhere. Not everyone is going to be as good as Keuchel but you always need a quality lefty as a starter and reliever. Besides, if you have a guy who can throw in the mid-nineties there won't be that many balls pulled anyway!

[eagle eye]

The Astros had a much needed day off. A chance to get away from the ballpark, away from their struggles at the plate, away from the frustration of a 7 game losing streak. Is one day enough? Maybe, and I guess we'll see when Houston comes back to the Juice Box to face the Seattle Mariners. You'd think Houston was about to get healthy in a hurry playing a Seattle team that is 7 games under .500 and in 4th place in the division but you have to remember the M's were a playoff team last year and they do have good players. The Astros will need to continue to get good pitching and play good defense to hold the Mariners down. It isn't the best of news for a team on an extended losing streak to face one of the best pitchers in the AL in Felix Hernandez. Hernandez leads the AL in wins with 9. Add to that, Hernandez is 9-2 in 12 starts so far in 2015. Think about that for second, 12 starts and 11 decisions. Having just one no-decision game after two and a half months of the season is pretty phenomenal. Houston's best pitcher, Dallas Keuchel is 7-2 in 13 starts. A little run support and no Chad Qualls and Keuchel could easily be 10-1 and that's still 2 no-decision games. So, Houston had better of figured it out because breaking out of this offensive slump won't be easy, at least tonight.