2015 Astros Regular Season Thread

[eagle eye]

Houston lost the first game of their series in Los Angeles with the Angels by a score of 4-3. Brett Oberholtzer gave up just 2 runs in his 5.2 innings of work. Unfortunately, one of the 4 hits he gave up was a two run home run to the recent hot as hell Albert Pujols. That was in the 5th inning and gave the Angels their first lead of the game at 2-1. Pujols hit a 2-out solo shot of Josh Fields in the bottom of the 7th to extend the lead to 3-1. Houston came back to score two runs in the top of the 8th to tie the game but Chad Qualls came into the game in the bottom of the inning and set the table for the go ahead run to be scored by allowing a lead off single to Erick Aybar and allowed him to advance to 2nd on a wild pitch. He got Efren Navarro to pop out for the 1st out of the inning. AJ Hinch pulled Qualls at that point and call upon Joe Thatcher who promptly walked Matt Joyce and to make matters worse the Astros allowed Aybar to steal 3rd on the play. At this point Thatcher was out and Will Harris came in. Daniel Robertson laid down a bunt that scored Aybar for the go ahead run that got charged to Qualls. Harris retired the next two batters but the damage was done and the Astros didn't mount any sort of threat in the 9th.

The one bright spot was that Jose Altuve returned to the lineup and he hit the ball solidly including hitting a 2 RBI double in the 8th inning to tie the game. Last week against the Rockies AJ Hinch challenged a safe call on a stolen base. After review the replay showed the base runner came up off the bag momentarily and Carlos Correa had kept the tag on the runner through the play. The call was reversed and the runner was called out much to the displeasure of the Rockies fans. The runner beat the throw but when he popped up a bit after his slide into the base he was off the bag and was ruled out. Well, darned if it didn't happen again last night. Albert Pujols tried to advance to second from 1B when a pitch got away from Jason Castro. Pujols clearly beat the throw but Jose Altuve held the tag on Pujols through the play and, by golly, if the same thing didn't happen again. AJ Hinch challenged the safe call and even though it wasn't as clear as the play in Denver last week Pujols had a narrow gap between his leg and the bag and he was called out. Again, much to the chagrin of the Angels fans, and Pujols, he was called out. Pujols got his revenge in the best way possible with 2 home runs resulting in 3 Angels runs in the game. BTW, I don't understand why you even pitch to Pujols when he's hot like he's been lately. Both of his home runs came with two outs in the inning and with 2 strikes in the count. It's an old baseball axiom---don't let the other team's best player hurt you. Last night the Astros let Pujols do just that.

[KABrother88]

Updated:

 

1A - Alex Bregman

Slot - $7,420,100

Signed -

Saved -

 

1B - Kyle Tucker

Slot - $4,188,700

Signed - $4,000,000

Saved - $188,700

 

1C - Daz Cameron

Slot - $1,668,600

Signed -

Saved -

 

2 - Thomas Eshelman

Slot - $1,325,700

Signed -

Saved -

 

3 - Riley Ferrell

Slot - $765,600

Signed -

Saved -

 

4 - Anthony Hermelyn

Slot - $522,700

Signed - $250,000

Saved - $272,700

 

5 - Trent Throrton

Slot - $391,500

Signed - $325,000

Saved - $66,500

 

6 - Neator Muriel

Slot - $293,100

Signed - $250,000

Saved - $43,100

 

7 - Michael Freeman

Slot - $219,600

Signed - $100,000

Saved - $119,600

 

8 - Garrett Stubbs

Slot - $176,000

Signed - $100,000

Saved - $76,000

 

9 - Zac Person

Slot - $164,200

Signed - $10,000

Saved - $154,200

 

10 - Scott Weathersby

Slot - $153,400

Signed - $5,000

Saved -$148,400

 

Total Savings Thus Far:

$1,069,200

[eagle eye]

The Astros have now signed 27 of their 42 draft picks leaving 15 left to get under contract, 4 in the top ten picks. Deals should get done for Houston's top pick Alex Bregman as well as P Riley Farrell and P Thomas Eshelman soon since LSU, TCU and Cal State-Fullerton have been knocked out of the CWS. Cameron is waiting to see if Houston can come up with the dough to pay him the 5 mil he was demanding prior to the draft.

It would be nice to see Houston go 42 for 42 in signings but I don't think they will go 100%. But, if the last four picks unsigned in Houston's top ten sign then they would be 18 of their top 20 picks signed. The 2 not signed in the second ten are LSU's LHP Zac Person who is free to negotiate now and LHP Patrick Sandoval from Mission Viejo Cal High may be weighing his options but his season just ended when he pitched a 2 hitter to win the California State Division II Southern Section title game on June 6th. Sandoval is committed to go to USC so it may take a little cheese to entice Sandoval NOT to go to hot girl heaven at SC.

If he doesn't sign and the rest do (assuming a lot, aren't I?) then Houston will have 19 of their top 20 draftees under contract. That would be pretty sweet.

[eagle eye]

Houston went off last night on the Angels whooping them 13-2. A bunch of hits (16 - should have been 17 but an infield was deemed an error on the 3rd baseman) and long balls (3) and 4 BBs. One good thing was Houston hitters only had 8 K's which is better than the double digit K's they have been recording en masse lately. Carlos Correa had a big night going 3-6 with a monster 3 run home run in the 2nd inning. Luis Valbuena had his one good hitting game of the week and last night it was really good. He went 3-5 including 2 HRs with 3 RBIs and 3 runs scored and NO K's! For Valbuena that is close to a miracle. Chris Carter is being patient at the play drawing a good amount of walks but in the last 7 games he's 6 for 28 with 12 K's. He has 3 BBs (I thought it was more than that) with 4 runs scored and 4 RBIs with 1 HR. We are still waiting for him to try to figure it out again. Another guy I'm worried about is Evan Gattis. He is still driving in runs but he isn't hitting very well. It looks like he is swinging for the fence on every pitch. If nothing else if he just cut his swing down with 2 strikes he could salvage some of his ABs. Right now he isn't striking out all that much but he's popping up a lot or he's hitting slow rollers which tells me he's just not getting the sweet spot of the bat (duh!) that could turn into solid hits if he backed off his swing a little. Like Biggio did at his best, choke up a bit try to just make contact. Gattis would be dangerous if he did that. Jose Altuve looked a lot more comfortable in the batters box last night than I've seen him in a while. It's translating into the solid contact we are used to seeing from him. Good sign. Last night he went 1-3 but the hit wasn't a legged out dribbler in the infield, it was a solid contact hit. One of the other outs was a hard hit fly ball to center field. I'm not going to worry about Altuve any more. We should be seeing multi-hit games from him soon.

Just watching lately I have to think that AJ Hinch will change the top of the batting order soon. With his hitting for average and the power he can generate Carlos Correa looks like a prototypical 3 hitter. Springer is doing really well as the leadoff man and Altuve has done his bet hitting (IMO) in the 2 hole. What's scary is that Correa is still a neophyte in the bigs, he's going to only get better. Scary good I think.

One last thing, something has to done about this crap that Kansas City fans have figured out how to jam All Star voting to send all their position players to the head of the line. Good Grief, Omar Infante leading all 2nd basemen in votes? The guy doesn't even deserve consideration. He should get the Clark W Griswold at the Grand Canyon consideration, a couple of head bobs and move on, and yet he's leading 2nd place Jose Altuve by over 550K votes. This is after the league cancelled 60-65 million votes they found were fraudulent. 6 of the 8 position player starters are Royals. THAT is a load of crap.

Edited June 24, 2015 by eagle eye

[KABrother88]

As bad as I hate for Altuve to get screwed this is exactly what needs to happen for MLB to get rid of this crap letting fans pick the All-Star starters. I've said this since they started it but if you are going to put home field for the WS on the line in an exhibition game there is no freaking way the manager should be handcuffed on who plays. Now conveniently the manager of the All-Star team just happens to be KC manager Ned Yost so he won't do the right thing and pull all the undeserving "All-Star" starters and put in the guys to help him win the game...

[KABrother88]

According to Astros.com reporter Chandler Rome, Alex Bregman has agreed to a deal with Houston. Now the wait to see what kind of savings and if it looks to be enough for a shot to sign Cameron.

[eagle eye]

According to Astros.com reporter Chandler Rome, Alex Bregman has agreed to a deal with Houston. Now the wait to see what kind of savings and if it looks to be enough for a shot to sign Cameron.

 

Just posted on Astros.com: http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/132623718/no-2-draft-pick-alex-bregman-agrees-to-deal-with-astros

[KABrother88]

[tweet]613796171056742401[/tweet]

 

If this is the case that would put our know savings number at $2,489,300. The magic number to hit the Daz Cameron asking price is $3,331,300. With only 2 players left to sign other than Daz (2nd rounder Thomas Eshelman and 3rd rounder Riley Ferrell) I don't see us hitting that number. Feel like we can probably save maybe a couple $100,000 on Eshelman and maybe up to about $25,000 on Ferrell. If Cameron doesn't come off of his $5 million number Houston will have to dip into that up to 5% penalty range to pay him (extra $864,460 without losing a pick). I'm honestly think Cameron is crazy if he doesn't take 4 million and call it good. That would put him right in the range that most "experts" had him going before the draft. That being said, his dad knows how the business is so they might want to kill every dime possible while they have leverage.

Edited June 24, 2015 by KABrother88

[eagle eye]

It took 13 innings and over 5 hours but Houston managed to not hit their way to a loss in yesterday's game with the Angels. They did get 7 hits in the game and only one that came when a runner was in position to score. I would say credit the pitching but the Angels has a guy who has been brought up from AAA that was getting smacked around in the minors to the tune of a 5.83 ERA. Of course I'm talking about Andrew Heaney who shut down a Houston offense that exploded for 16 hits and 13 runs the day before. Heaney went 6 innings giving up only 4 hits and one run, walking 1 and striking out 5. Did I happen to mention the one walk was intentional? In the 6th inning after Carlos Correa doubled home Jose Altuve to tie the game at one Heaney walked Evan Gattis to get to Colby Rasmus. It sort of looked like an odd move considering Gattis has been cold at the plate and Rasmus has been pretty good. It turned out to be a smart move as Heaney struck out Rasmus on 3 breaking balls to end the inning. Three pitches total is what he threw to Rasmus. The killer was having Chad Qualls in the game in the 13th. Qualls has been on a bad streak lately that continued with a walkoff base hit just over Chris Carter's head to score the winning run.

The whole Astros team had a bad day at the plate except for Luis Valbuena. Go figure. I'm also beginning to believe that Lance McCullers is taking over for Dallas Keuchel as the snake bit pitcher on the team. His record is now 3-3 and he's pitched well enough to win at least twice in his two losses.

 

Mark Appel has been promoted to AAA Fresno. After a slow start to the season he has really come on to pitch well in Corpus Christi prompting the move.

 

Houston begins a series with the Yankees today with Dallas Keuchel getting first crack at the Bronx Bombers at 7:10 at the Juice Box.

[KABrother88]

Alex Bregman's deal with Houston was actually a shade under $6 million coming in at $5.9 million. Current total savings at $2,589,300. I've seen it reported that Daz and Houston actually have a "gentleman's" agreement at $4 million. Current savings is enough for that even if both remaining unsigned guys (2nd rounder Eshelman and 3rd rounder Ferrell) are signed at slot value. I also saw tonight where sources were saying Ferrell is to be in Houston tomorrow to sign a deal.

[eagle eye]

Houston beat the Yankees in their series opener last night 4-0 and the story was the masterful job Dallas Keuchel did last night. It was a great bounce-back game for Keuchel who had a very uncharacteristically bad game against the Mariners where he gave up 5 runs which included 3 home runs. If you have paid attention to Keuchel's work over the last two seasons you know that Keuchel just doesn't give up homers, certainly not multiple HRs in one game. So, looking to redeem a bad game, and knowing that the bullpen was used extensively in the 2-1 13 inning loss to the Angels on Sunday, Keuchel went out and pitched a complete game shutout of the Yankees. A Yankees team that has been hot lately and currently sits in second place in the AL East. Keuchel held the Bombers to 6 hits for the game two of which came in the 9th when Keuchel later admitted he was getting tired. It was shaky whether AJ Hinch would let him finish the game but after a short conference with Keuchel after a walk in the 9th Hinch decided to let Keuchel finish what he started. Keuchel started off the 9th with two quick outs but then a hit, a walk and another hit loaded the bases with the tying run coming to the plate in the person of Jose Pirela. Pirela hit the ball hard but it was right to Luis Valbuena who threw to 2nd and got the last out of the game.

The other big story of the night was Jose Altuve. He's been in a slump the last month or so but he showed signed of breaking out of the slump after he came back a second time from a pulled hamstring as he seemed to be making more solid contact with the ball that he had been. Last night was Jose's first multi-hit game in a long time but it was hopefully a breakout game for him and a return to the form that should make him a shoe-in starter in the All Star game except for the hammer job Kansas City Royals fans have done to the AL voting process. Altuve is still in second place to Omar Infante of the Royals, a guy whose stat line looks like a joke compared to Altuve's. Jose went 3-4 in the game with 3 runs scored and 2 stolen bases. Now THAT is the Jose we've grown accustomed to the past two or three years. George Springer and Carlos Correa have cooled off a lot and it would be awesome to see all 3 clicking at the same time.

Here's a video from the game last night when in-game reporter Julia Morales introduces "Keuchel's Korner" section of the stadium with the fans in that section wearing orange T-shirts with Keuchel's image and most are wearing a fake beard in support of the Astros ace pitcher. The second link is of the TV broadcast team of Bill Brown and Alan Ashby both wearing Keuchel beards.

 

http://m.mlb.com/hou/video/v198126483/nyyhou-astros-reveal-the-new-keuchels-korner/?c_id=hou

 

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2015/06/26/132954570/keuchel-pitches-shutout-in-front-of-crowd-wearing-his-beard

 

Here's another interview from the game where Julia interviews newly signed 1st round pick Alex Bregman who was at the stadium yesterday to sign his contract. He also took the field shagged ground balls with Carlos Correa and he took batting practice with the team as well. As you'll see in the interview Bregman was to leave at 6 AM this morning for Davenport, Iowa where he will begin his pro career as a member of the A League Quad Cities River Bandits. It shouldn't take long for Bregman to move up in the Astros system as good a player as he is.

 

http://m.mlb.com/hou/video/topic/8009980/v197977183/nyyhou-bregman-on-joining-astros-meeting-correa/?c_id=hou

[KABrother88]

Updated:

 

1A - Alex Bregman

Slot - $7,420,100

Signed - $5,900,000

Saved - $1,520,100

 

1B - Kyle Tucker

Slot - $4,188,700

Signed - $4,000,000

Saved - $188,700

 

1C - Daz Cameron

Slot - $1,668,600

Signed -

Saved -

 

2 - Thomas Eshelman

Slot - $1,325,700

Signed -

Saved -

 

3 - Riley Ferrell

Slot - $765,600

Signed - $1,000,000

Saved - $-234,400

 

4 - Anthony Hermelyn

Slot - $522,700

Signed - $250,000

Saved - $272,700

 

5 - Trent Throrton

Slot - $391,500

Signed - $325,000

Saved - $66,500

 

6 - Neator Muriel

Slot - $293,100

Signed - $250,000

Saved - $43,100

 

7 - Michael Freeman

Slot - $219,600

Signed - $100,000

Saved - $119,600

 

8 - Garrett Stubbs

Slot - $176,000

Signed - $100,000

Saved - $76,000

 

9 - Zac Person

Slot - $164,200

Signed - $10,000

Saved - $154,200

 

10 - Scott Weathersby

Slot - $153,400

Signed - $5,000

Saved -$148,400

 

Total Savings Thus Far:

$2,354,900

 

3rd rounder Riley Ferrell has signed but it took an over slot deal to get him...really surprising to me cause over slot deals are generally reserved for HS players to sway them away from college. By going nearly $250,000 over slot I assume that means they knew they had the funds for Cameron squared away already...hope so at least. All that said, Ferrell could potentially be a guy who you see in Houston this year.

[KABrother88]

Being reported Eshelman has reached an agreement and will sign next week. No word on numbers

[eagle eye]

The Astros had a two zip lead into the 7th inning as Vincent Velasquez had his best outing as a pro. As a matter of fact, he was only 85 pitches into the game when he got the hook from AJ Hinch after back to back one out singles. I'll bet you Hinch wishes he would've let Velasquez try to pitch his way out that jam considering what happened when Will Harris came on to pitch. First batter Harris faced was Chris Jones who promptly drilled a line drive home run to left field to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead that would end up being the final score. I believe that Hinch was trying to preserve the win for Velasquez by pulling him but Velasquez didn't look happy coming out of the game and I'll bet he looked even less happy when Jones homered. The fact was Velasquez had decided to relax and have fun pitching and not clutter his mind overthinking things. The new approach definitely worked and maybe Hinch will be less likely to pull the plug on his young pitcher in the future. Jose Altuve continued to make an impact as he went 1 for 4 and that one was a hustling infield single to 3B. He later stole second and hustled home on a bloop hit by Evan Gattis.

I really am getting tired of Gary Pettis' work as 3B coach. Early in the game he sent less than speedy Hank Conger home on a base hit by Carlos Correa to shallow center field. Yankee's CF Brett Gardiner came up throwing and if the throw had been just a little better or the catcher more attentive to catching the throw before trying to tag out Conger he would have been out without it even being close. Pettis ruined a possible big inning the previous night by sending Luis Valbuena home on a double by Evan Gattis. If Pettis holds up Valbuena at 3rd the Astros have men on 2nd and 3rd with only one out. Instead Valbuena was easily cut down at home on a play that ended up being closer than it seemed at first glance but still it was silly to send the slow footed Valbuena when the field set up in the Astros favor. The score was 4-0 after Altuve scored so the opportunity for a huge inning was right there but Pettis' over aggressiveness cost the Astros yet again. I really wish Hinch would bench Pettis and put someone else coaching 3B.

 

The Astros play this afternoon, right now as a matter of fact. It is Brett Oberholtzer (2-1, 2.81 ERA) vs Masahiro Tanaka (4-3, 3.17 ERA).

[eagle eye]

Brett Oberholtzer didn't have it yesterday. He had a chance to get out of a bases loaded situation but instead he gave up a grand slam to Brian McCann in the first inning. Obie had a stare down earlier in the inning because he felt home plate ump Rob Drake was not calling strikes when he should. In the second inning Obie again struggled as he retired the leadoff batter on a fly ball but then Brett Gardner doubled and Chris Young homered to extend the Yankees lead to 6-0. A-Rod was the next batter and whether it was intentional or not Obie threw inside on him and Drake promptly tossed Obie out of the game. After 1.1 innings and 50 pitches he was done for the day. To add insult to injury immediately after the game the Astros optioned Obie to AAA Fresno. In the press conference after the game AJ Hinch said that it was not how Houston does business in reference to Obie seemingly throwing at A-Rod immediately after giving up another home run. If you listened closely you caught a tidbit of how the Astros will need pitching because in the last two games and 3 of the last 4 the bullpen has been used extensively. It looks like Houston is coming down hard on Obie but I really think it's more about the need for some bullpen help. I look for Obie to be back if not for his next start but the one after that. For Obie's part he swears he wasn't throwing at A-Rod.

Houston got down 6-0 in the first two inning but Houston fought their way back as they chipped away and finally tied the game in the bottom of the 5th. The Stros comeback began in the 2nd when Chris Carter doubled in Domingo Santana for their first run and George Springer followed that up with a single that scored Carter. Carter came back in the 4th with a solo HR which cut the Yankees in half at 6-3. Carlos Correa homered in the bottom of the 5th driving in George Springer and the next hitter, Jose Altuve also homered to tie the game. The Astros had a chance to blow the game open in the 7th when Correa doubled, Altuve walked and Evan Gattis walked to load the bases. Luis Valbuena and the recently called up Jon Singelton both made outs to end the threat. I have made my feelings know about Valbuena and a guy in June hitting just .197 is minor league material. I appreciate the fact that Valbuena has 19 home runs which is pretty high on the AL list but he has disappointed far too many times to just give him a pass. It was the 19 HRs that make him more favorable than last year's 3B Matt Dominguez, but not by much. Jon Singleton had been tearing up AAA pitching in Fresno and when the Astros had to put Chad Qualls on the DL Houston decided to give Singleton another chance. All he's done so far is strike out which is why he got sent down to begin the season anyway. Valbuena went 1-5 in the game and through the 3 games vs the Yankees he's 1-10 with 2 walks and 3 Ks with no RBIs and no runs scored. Singleton has been just as bad going 0-4 with 3 Ks yesterday in his only action since being brought up. Houston needs to have some consistency in their lineup but with the lead league in both Ks and HRs this may be something we just have to live with.

 

Earlier this week Chad Qualls got put on the 15 day DL with a pinched nerve in his neck. This is a condition he's been trying to play through for a while but with yet another blown hold that resulted in another L in his record in his last appearance against the Angels this past Monday he decided to tell the trainers about his problem. That game, by coincidence was Obie's previous start further highlighting Obie's bad week.

 

Scott Feldman has started throwing off the mound and he was upset he didn't throw better. AJ Hinch said that he got mad was a good sign that he was close to returning after he suffered a torn medial meniscus in his right knee on May 27th. There is still no time table for Feldman's return but the fact that he's pitching off a mound is very encouraging.

 

Michael Feliz is celebrating his 22nd birthday today but he won't be celebrating with his teammates at AA Corpus Christi because Houston called up Feliz to fill a spot left by the optioning of Obie to AAA. Feliz has had one fill-in stint for Houston this season and this time it may be a little longer and may include his first big league start. Feliz has an A+ fastball and he adds to the power in the line up began by Josh Fields and has continued with the call ups of Lance McCullers and Vincent Vasquez.

Edited June 28, 2015 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

You know this past week seemed better than it actually was. Now 3-4 for the week isn't horrible but when you lose 3 one run games you wonder what might've been. A 2 of the one run losses were to the Angels and the other was a bit of a heartbreaker to the Yankees. Vince Velasquez had his best outing since being called up earlier this month and after 6.1 innings and 85 pitches he was pulled by AJ Hinch and the next batter up was Chris Young who promptly belted a 3 run homer to give the Yanks a 3-2 lead. That's how the game ended up on Friday night. Hindsight being what it is maybe Hinch should've let Velasquez pitch his was out of the 1 out-2 on jam. The Astros did finish the week with a 4 game lead in the AL West but things have flip-flopped a little in the standings. The Rangers who had been en fuego were only 3 games back at the beginning of the week but they have cooled off -- a lot -- to the tune of 2-8 in their last 10 games is now in 3rd place in the division behind a semi-resurgent Los Angeles Angels team who have got 6-4 in their last 10 who are now in 2nd place. Two one run losses to the Angels hurt as the Astros bullpen, that has been one of the solid rocks of the team faltered mightily this past week. Chad Qualls blew a game vs the Angels and by the weekend he was on the disabled list with a pinched nerve in his neck. A condition he's been trying to pitch through but after costing the team another game early in the week he finally told the trainers about his problem.

Dallas Keuchel was beat up early in the week but he came back on Thursday with a gem of a game. Yet another complete game and this time it was a shutout and the offense actually gave him some run support for a change in a 4-0 Astros win. Collin McHugh had two very strong outings this week resulting in two wins. The best of them was yesterday with McHugh going 8 innings allowing only 2 hits in the game and zero runs. He shut down the Yankees offense completely. He is now tied for the team lead in wins with Dallas Keuchel. As a matter of fact both have identical 9-3 records. This also means that the Astros are the only pitching staff in the AL with two pitchers with 9 wins or more. Pretty cool, there.

At the other end of the spectrum you have Brett Oberholtzer. Early in the week he had pitched a good game and left with a lead and it was given up by Chad Qualls (reason he finally confessed he was hurting) and on Saturday afternoon he gave up 6 earned runs in 1.1 innings of work. He had run ins with the home plate ump who he felt was squeezing him and after a 2 run home run in the 2nd inning he threw a pitch inside on A-Rod and the ump tossed Obie and the Yankees CC Sabathia had to be restrained at the dugout by Yankees manager Joe Girardi to stop him from going after Obie. Not only did Obie get tossed but he was sent down to AAA immediately after the game. It was reported that AJ Hinch called Girardi and told him that the perception of Oberholtzer going after a player is not the way the Astros do business. Oberholtzer's demotion punctuated that statement with Obie continuing to assert that he was not throwing at A-Rod but rather trying to come inside and the pitch just got away from him. Obie needs a little cooling off period and the Astros have sent a message to the league they are not a dirty playing team. Michael Feliz was called up from AA Corpus Christi yesterday to fill Obie's spot in the lineup. It is not clear if Feliz will get the start for Obie or if it will be Roberto Hernandez.

Scott Feldman began pitching off a mound this weekend and this is a signal his return will not be long in coming. Someone, somehow has to fill that 4th starters role. It appeared Obie was rounding into form before his meltdown on Saturday. Now the candidates are Feliz and Hernandez at least until Feldman's return. The 4 spot has been a black hole all season for Houston and it is wide open for someone to take hold of it and make it his own.

3 more games until the halfway point of the season. Seems like a blur doesn't it? Houston has owned the AL West lead since mid April. That seems surreal doesn't it? Ten games over .500 in wins and leading the AL in home runs and stolen bases on one hand and owning the worst batting average in the AL on the other. I can't help but wonder if the whole thing is about to come crashing down at any moment. I have replaced resignation for ineptitude that has haunted the Astros for 10 years with worry they can't maintain this level of excellence long enough to make the playoffs which is a full 3 months away. Where's my xanex?

[KABrother88]

[tweet]615581778934239232[/tweet]

 

[tweet]615599490846851072[/tweet]

 

As I expected, $4 million looks to be enough to sign Daz Cameron. There will also be an extra $23,500 for the Eshelman deal that has already been agreed upon.

[eagle eye]

With agreement in principle with Cameron and Eshelman with just the signing formality to be done this means that Houston has signed their first 12 picks in this year's draft with only high schooler Patrick Sandoval yet to be signed. This also means that Houston has agreed to terms with all but one of their top 21 picks and leaving only 9 more deals to work. I really believe this signing percentage is pretty phenominal! Jeff Luhnow and the front office for the Astros has done a really good job of targeting their draft picks as well as being able to sign them after the draft. The exception was their failure to sign 2014 #1 pick as well as #5 pick Jacob Nix. The Astros actually had agreed to terms with Aiken contingent on his physical which took place prior to signing the deal. At that time the Astros doctors found an anomaly in Aiken's pitching arm. The Astros discovered that Aiken's Ulnar Colateral Ligament to his elbow was under sized and while he wasn't having problems at the time a red flag went up and he was likely to have problems with it in the future. At that time Houston dropped their offer from the original $6.5 MM deal to $5 MM. Aiken wasn't interested so he passed. As it turned out Aiken tore the UCL ligament and had to have Tommy John surgery this spring. He tore it in his first game of the spring. Aiken was still drafted earlier this month by Cleveland with the 17th pick in this year's draft but, of course, Cleveland is betting on the come with Aiken because the earliest he'll see a field for the Indians is 2016 and if the TJ surgery history tells us anything it may be 2017 before he's really 100%. That's assuming he comes back to 100% at all. What did it cost Aiken to pass on the Astros? $2.606 MM dollars. He signed with Cleveland for $2.394 MM. Only time will tell if Aiken will develop into the player he was projected to be but right now it doesn't look like Aiken made such a great deal. Now Jacob Nix failed to get signed because his signing was contingent on the Aiken signing. No Aiken then no Nix because of the loss of slot money with Aiken not signing. KABrother88 can tell you much more clearly than I can when it comes the slot money thing. Now, only time will tell if Houston came out smelling like a rose or not by losing Aiken and gaining LSU SS Alex Bregman and the jury is still out on whether Bregman is better than, or at least more valuable than LHP Carlos Rodon who the Astros considered taking instead of Aiken. Rodon has been really good so far as he has already made the bigs earlier this year as Lance McCullers faced off against Rodon way back in May a battle of rookie big leaguers. Rodon won the battle that day but neither pitcher factored into the final decision. So, in reality we need to keep an eye on Bregman and Aiken over the next few years and factor in Jacob Nix too. Nix went back into the the 2015 draft and he actually did better than if he signed with Houston when he became the 3rd round pick of the San Diego Padres. In the meantime after 10 starts in the IMG Academy, a post high school graduate training ground, Nix had improved his fastball up to the 95-97 mph range and improved his changeup and he developed a curve ball. The loss of Nix alone could prove to be a much bigger loss than Houston ever expected.

[KABrother88]

Watching the career comparison of Bregman/Cameron vs Aiken/Nix will be an interesting follow. I added Cameron because with out the Bregman pick we probably don't have the funds to make a run at Cameron. But really it could be an Aiken/Nix/Marshall comparison. If you recall the rumor was when Houston dropped their Aiken offer it was believed they were trying to work the system using a "bogus" Aiken physical to make a run at 21st round pick Mac Marshall. Obviously now it's apparent that Houston wasn't lying about Aiken's UCL but I'm sure that additional savings had Aiken taken the $5 million offer would have been applied to Marshall. Marshall was originally thought to be a tough sign due to his firm commitment to LSU...well money talks and Marshall ended up playing JUCO in the spring to be draft eligible...he parlayed that into a 4th selection from the Giants.

 

Sandavol isn't going to be a tough sign I think. However, I've been seeing a lot of people thinking Houston is going to use that additional 5% without losing a pick penalty. If that is the case they can get close to a $1 million dollar offer to Sandavol.

[eagle eye]

Ah, to be young and good at a sport. Nothing like a $1MM contract for a high school graduation present!

 

Astros, Angels and Rangers all won last night so no change in the division standings.

 

Lance McCullers pitched his best game since he was called up last night. He shut down a prolific Royals offense and had his longest outing as a big leaguer going 7 strong innings. The only blemish was solo home run by Salvador Perez to lead off the 7th. Otherwise he worked hard, got out of a couple of jams and he also got to enjoy some run support as well. It's funny how much better 4-2 looks than 3-2.

 

I saw an interesting stat on Root Sports before last night's game. Keuchel and McHugh are a combined 18-6 W/L while the rest of the staff combined 11-15. It would be 12-15 now with McCullers' win. Wow!

 

Keuchel goes tonight for Houston vs KC's Danny Duffy (2-3, 5.44 ERA with 34 Ks in 43.0 innings of work).

 

Altuve is inching closer to Omar Infante in the All Star Voting. Big A was over 400K votes down last week but the updated count has him around 230K behind. Altuve outdid Infante last night in the field and at the plate. Infante went 0-4 on the night batting 8th while Jose went 1-3 with a walk hitting 2nd. He scored a run and drove in a run, both because of a solo home run to lead off the 3rd inning.

 

Chris Carter and Luis Valbuena are duking it out for worst hitter on the team. Valbuena actually leads Carter by BA .199 to .198. Val went 2-4 with 2 runs scored and K last night while Carter went 1-4 with a run scored, an RBI on a home run and 2 Ks and a walk. Jon Singleton, who seems to be trying to join the mediocre race went 1-2 with 2 runs scored with 2 walks and a K. It was Singleton's best night at the plate since being called up last week. His BA is now .167.

 

Neither George Springer nor Carlos Correa did squat last night. Both went 0-4 and were a non-factor offensively. Hopefully they get better. Springer, when he did his best hitting, was going with the pitches thrown and using the whole field. During his recent slump he's swinging from his heels for the fence. He needs to back the truck up a little and get back to what was working so well for him. He had gotten his BA up to .289-ish and now it's back down to .262. We all know he can do better.

Edited June 30, 2015 by eagle eye

[eagle eye]

The month of June is gone, in the history books but Houston is still in first place in the AL West (that makes 80 days now they have led the division), They are 4 games up on the Angels and 5 up on Texas. The Rangers cooled off considerably in the last couple of weeks but at one time they were within 3 games of the Astros in second place but have fallen back a little bit after going 3-7 in their last 10 games. The Angels started to get hot about the time the Rangers faltered and they beat Houston 2 out of 3 games in a series last week in Anaheim.

Jose Altuve when through an extended slump during June but he is breaking out of the slump and looking like his old self in the past week. George Springer continues to make highlight plays almost every game for Houston on defense but he's fallen off after a hot beginning to the month. Carlos Correa has also come back to earth at the plate after beginning June on fire. Here lately he looks a bit uncomfortable at the plate but it didn't hamper him from getting what was described as a little league home run at the time when a long out to center field turned into a misplay by the left and center fielders allowed the ball to drop in for what was officially called a double with a two base error when Yankee center fielder Brett Gardiner fell down trying to pick up the ball which allowed Correa to score. Correa is more than solid at SS making hard plays look routine and making routine plays look way easier than they are.

Except for one bad outing against Seattle Dallas Keuchel has been pretty darn spectacular. 2 complete games this month giving him 3 for the year tying him with two other pitchers in baseball with 3 CGs. Last Thursday against the Yankees he was magnificent getting a 4 hit complete game shutout in the series opener. Keuchel closed out the month last night with a dominating performance in a 4-0 shutout win over Kansas City. Unless the Seattle game messes him up Keuchel could get his 3rd consecutive Pitcher of the Month Award. After some bad starts at the end of May and beginning of June Collin McHugh has found himself and he's actually tied for the team lead in wins by a starting pitcher with 9 (this was until last night). Lance McCullers has been pretty good since being called up and he had a good June. His record doesn't reflect how good because he couldn't buy any run support or the bullpen couldn't hold a lead. He finished the month 3-2 in six starts with a 2.11 ERA. The low ERA should tell you a little something about how well he pitched. The problem with McCullers has been he can't get past the 5th inning because his pitch count is over 100 pitches by then. That is until his last start against KC this past Monday. In that game he attacked the strike zone more and stopped trying to nibble around the corners. In that game he went 7 innings giving up just a solo home run in the 7th to KC's Salvador Perez which was one of just 4 hits given up by McCullers in the game. If McCullers has really found something the Astros could have a real strong 1-2-3 punch in their starting rotation. Vincent Velasquez was called up and has pitched well enough to stay with the big club. Velasquez had even more trouble than McCullers with high pitch counts and until his last start he didn't make it past the 4th inning of any of his starts. In his last start last Friday against the Yankees he changed his approach and, like McCullers, showed his capabilities. In that game he went 6.1 innings and threw only 85 pitches and he was pulled with a 2-0 lead. I think Hinch was trying to help protect the lead and give his pitcher confidence but Will Harris came in and promptly allowed a 3-run homer to Chris Young of the Yankees that turned a 2-0 lead into a 3-2 deficit which ended up being he final score. Velasquez is due up to begin July in the series finale against KC today and we'll see if he is really on to something. The fourth spot in the starting rotation continued to be a black hole where no Houston pitcher had found success. That is until the return of Brett Oberholtzer. He showed his 2014 form and actually looked like the 4 spot problem was finally resolved--that is until last Sunday when Obie gave up 6 runs in 1.1 innings and after throwing inside on A-Rod he was tossed from the game. It didn't end there because immediately after the game Obie was optioned to AAA Fresno. Michael Feliz was called up from Corpus to fill his spot on the roster but the starting pitchers for this weekend's Boston series have not yet been announced. Roberto Hernandez just sucked as the 5th starter in June and he was demoted to the bullpen. He's had to come out for long relieve a couple of times including last week when Obie got tossed and pitched very well. Long relief may just his cup of tea going forward. Scott Feldman has continued his rehab from the knee injury that has kept him out since May. He began pitching off a mound last week and any day now he could be going to a minor league rehab assignment with his scheduled return after the All Star break. The bullpen was solid for most of the month but since around June 15 they have shown some chinks in their armor. Gregerson, Neshak, Qualls and Harris have blown holds or saves that cost Houston some wins. Chad Qualls was placed on the 15 DL last week after blowing a save in Seattle because of a pinched nerve in his neck that he's tried to pitch through for over a month. In 8 appearances in June Qualls in 0-2 with an 8.44 ERA--yeah, I think he was struggling.

The offense, like it has been all season has been sporadic. Often times more cold than hot but Houston still has managed to win more than they've lost. In June they went 15-14 and that includes a bad stretch where they lost 7 in a row. In their last 3 series they lost to the Angels 2 games out of 3, split a four game series with the Yankees and won a 3 game series with KC by winning the first two games. The Royals came into the series with the best record in the AL but I'm glad to say our Houston Astros finished the month as the team with the best record in the AL after smashing the Royals in the first two games of the series. All in all, June wasn't terrible but after a shaky May I think I would love to see Houston have a really good July.

[KABrother88]

Updated

 

1A - Alex Bregman

Slot - $7,420,100

Signed - $5,900,000

Saved - $1,520,100

 

1B - Kyle Tucker

Slot - $4,188,700

Signed - $4,000,000

Saved - $188,700

 

1C - Daz Cameron

Slot - $1,668,600

Signed - $4,000,000

Saved - $-2,331,400

 

2 - Thomas Eshelman

Slot - $1,325,700

Signed - $1,100,000

Saved - $225,700

 

3 - Riley Ferrell

Slot - $765,600

Signed - $1,000,000

Saved - $-234,400

 

4 - Anthony Hermelyn

Slot - $522,700

Signed - $250,000

Saved - $272,700

 

5 - Trent Throrton

Slot - $391,500

Signed - $325,000

Saved - $66,500

 

6 - Neator Muriel

Slot - $293,100

Signed - $250,000

Saved - $43,100

 

7 - Michael Freeman

Slot - $219,600

Signed - $100,000

Saved - $119,600

 

8 - Garrett Stubbs

Slot - $176,000

Signed - $100,000

Saved - $76,000

 

9 - Zac Person

Slot - $164,200

Signed - $10,000

Saved - $154,200

 

10 - Scott Weathersby

Slot - $153,400

Signed - $5,000

Saved -$148,400

 

Total Savings:

$ 259,200

 

All 12 top 10 round picks have now signed. With the current savings Houston can afford to go up to $1,123,660 to the 5% overage. Any bonus over $100,000 after round 10 counts towards your pool so realistically Houston could offer Sandavol $1,223,660...should be plenty if Houston chooses to go into the 5% overage.

[eagle eye]

Next guy to sign is Sandoval. To me if Houston gets the top 21 rounds of picks signed this draft, from a signability aspect, is a huge success. The last eight draft picks are from the following rounds (not counting Sandoval); 22, 23, 27, 34, 35, 37, 38 and 39. I know that even if Sandoval doesn't sign this still isn't anything to sneeze at. Good job Jeff Luhnow and staff. This is going to be the last draft with so many opportunities at the top of the draft to finish laying the groundwork for the next decade. I think the Astros under the ownership of Jim Crane and guidance of Jeff Luhnow has done a great job. I think the only glitch was last year when Houston went with Brady Aiken over Carlos Rodon and now they have neither. That puts a little more pressure on Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker to be good. Maybe not just good but great.

 

Last night Houston completed the sweep of the Royals with a narrow 6-5 win but it could be a very costly win. In the 5th inning after a Marwin Gonzalez homer and a walk to Jason Castro KC starter Edinson Volquez came inside on George Springer and hit him in the right hand right at the heel near the thumb and wrist. There is talk about Springer going on the DL. Big loss both on the field and at the plate. After Springer got hit and took his base Jose Altuve had a base hit scoring Castro. Evan Gattis followed with a single scoring Springer and Altuve. Gattis was overly aggressive trying to go to 2nd on the play and he was easily cut down for the first out in the inning. It didn't matter because Valbuena and Carter had bad ABs and struck out to end the inning but not before they had taken a 5-3 lead in the game after scoring 4 runs in the inning. Springer left the game in the 6th when Domingo Santana pinch hit for him and Santana remained in the game.

Vincent Vasquez pitched very well again after a rough start to his night. He gave up two runs in the 1st and another in the 2nd to put Houston down 3-0. But he settled down and retired the next 14 of the next 15 batters taking him into the 7th inning for the 2nd start in a row. In the 7th Vasquez walked Salvador Perez and got Alex Gordon to strike out for the 1st out. At that point, Just like the Yankees game last Friday, AJ Hinch pulled the plug on Vasquez' night after 6.1 innings and just 88 pitches. Josh Fields came on and gave up a single to Alex Rios and got an out on an Omar Infante flyout. Then came Jarrod Dyson who tripled to left-center scoring Perez and Rios to tie the game at 5. I wonder if Hinch regretted giving the hook too early on Vasquez--again. As a result of Josh Fields' failure to hold Vasquez failed to qualify for a decision for the 5th time in 5 starts. If I'm not mistaken that is an MLB record (in futility). Vasquez has to be wondering why he keeps getting an early hook when he has been pitching so well. I believe if Vasquez finishes the 7th then it's set up for Neshak in the 8th and Gregerson to close the 9th. Game over, Astros win 5-3. But, because Hinch pulled Vasquez instead of letting him finish the 7th we'll never know.

One other interesting thing was KC seemed to be taking target practice on Houston best hitters last night. After Springer was hit in the 5th Jose Altuve was hit in just the same way only on the forearm instead of his hand by new Royals pitcher Kevin Herrera to lead off the 8th inning. That clearly pissed off the Houston crowd and Altuve was lucky he avoided being hit in the hand or the elbow. Being hit in either place with a 97 mph fastball may have done some damage. When Neshak came on in the 8th there was already one out recorded by Joe Thatcher who started the inning. Neshak got Lorenzo Kain to ground out to short bringing Kendrys Morales, the Royals cleanup hitter to the plate. With a 1-2 count Neshak hit Morales and many people thing it was payback for Springer and Altuve. At that time both benches were warned about throwing at hitters but the message was sent, Houston will not put up with their players, especially their best players, getting hit. Neshak retired the next batter on a groundout to end the inning. In the bottom of the 7th Houston scored a run to go up 6-5 and when Neshak and Gregerson closed out the game that became the final score.

Houston swept the Royals, the Central Division leader and that's after splitting with AL East 2nd place NY Yankees. Houston is proving they can play, and win, against the big boys. Their current 47-34 record at the halfway point of the season is tied for best in franchise history. They have been in the division lead now for 81 days. It's ironic that 81 games is the halfway point of the season. The next ten games beginning tomorrow with be big because Houston will be on the road for all of them. They begin with 3 in Boston followed by 4 in Cleveland and they finish the road trip with 3 in Tampa Bay. All 3 teams are either 4th or 5th in their respective divisions but all have been playing better of late. Houston will definitely face Indians starter Carlos Carrasco who was one out from a no-no last night against the D-Rays. If Houston can go say, 7-3, they will go into the All Star break looking pretty darn good in the division race. The Rangers last 11 days before the AS break is not picnic. They finish their series with division leading Baltimore tonight then return to Arlington to face the Angels for 3. They then take on Arizona for two followed by 3 with San Diego. In their last 9 games before the AS break they could easily go 5-4 which means they lose ground to Houston. The Angels face the Rangers followed by Rockies for 2 and Seattle for 4. The Angels could easily go 5-4 in their last nine games as well. Houston, if it goes as I project could actually have a 7.5 game lead over the Angels and 8.5 over the Rangers because Houston plays the extra game. Not bad.

[eagle eye]

Despite hopes that George Springer would not miss any time on the DL because of being hit in the wrist by a pitch from Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez were dashed this afternoon when the Astros put Springer on the 15 day DL with a broken wrist. In truth this will keep Springer off the field for 6 weeks. This is a huge loss for the Astros who will have to deal with Springer's loss until the middle of August. Last season Springer played about 6 weeks before a season ending quadriceps injury on July 20 and now he will be out for an extended time this season. Both these injuries are sort of flukish but still part of the game. I don't think Volquez hit Springer on purpose but it doesn't make the loss of one the best players on the team any easier to take.

 

In other news the Astros have called up Dan Stailey from AAA and he will make the start on Friday night against the Red Sox. Maybe KABrother88 can explain why the Astros brought up Straily and passed over, yet again, Mark Appel who has pitched better than Straily overall except for a slow start in AA to begin the season? Curious.

Straily, who is 6-6 with a 4.06 ERA at Triple-A this season, has 70 strikeouts in 77 2/3 innings. In his only season as a full-time starter, he went 10-8 with a 3.96 ERA in 2013 with Oakland, starting 27 games.

"He's got some experience to take from, he's gone down [to Fresno] and pitched very well, pitched deep into games," Hinch said. "He's earned the opportunity. We've run through a number of starting pitchers so far, some we expected, some we didn't expect, but when we acquired Dan, we expected him at some point to contribute and now is his opportunity." -- from Astros.com

 

Carlos Correa has been named AL Rookie of the Month for June by MLB.com.

 

Correa, who made his Major League debut on June 8, hit .287 with nine doubles, five home runs, 15 RBIs, four stolen bases and a .543 slugging percentage in his 21 games in the month. Among AL rookies in June, Correa ranked first in OPS (.852), doubles, RBIs and in slugging percentage. Additionally, he ranked tied for first in home runs and third in hits and in batting average.

Correa is just the sixth Astros player to win a Rookie of the Month Award and the third in the last two seasons, joining right-handed pitcher Collin McHugh (September 2014) and outfielder George Springer (May 2014). Correa is also the second Astros player to win an AL monthly award this season, as left-handed pitcher Dallas Keuchel won the AL Pitcher of the Month in April and May.

Defensively, Correa has committed just one error in his 83 total chances this season for a .988 fielding percentage.

At 20 years old, Correa is the youngest position player to play in the Major Leagues this season. He's also the youngest player to start a game at shortstop for the Astros and the youngest position player for Houston since infielder Derrel Thomas debuted for the club in 1971. -- from Astros.com

 

One last news item; the international signing period began today with Houston signing Dominican Republic OF Gilberto Celestino.

 

The Astros have signed teenage outfielder Gilberto Celestino of the Dominican Republic. The package is worth $2.5 million, according to industry sources.

The deal for Celestino, ranked No. 7on MLB.com's Top 30 International Prospects list, includes a $2.25 million signing bonus and $275,000 for college.

 

More -- from Astros.com

[KABrother88]

I think Straily was called up more due to lack of options than anything and he has big league experience. My guess of the next starter called up if one is needed will be Mike Hauschild...he's quietly been a pretty solid pitcher in our system for the last few years. I just don't think Appel is ready at this point so I don't see the need to call him up. He had a very rough outing in his AAA debut giving up 7 ER in just 3 IP. He followed that up giving up "just" 3 ER in 5.2 IP but allowed 9 hits. I also would have liked to have seen Tony Kemp called up to take the place of George Springer instead of Alex Pressley...we've already seen what Pressley can do and is personally rather something else...

 

So I was doing a little research on some of our unsigned draft picked and noticed something interesting. We took LHP Sandavol in the 11th round and he's been get the majority of the attention for us reaching into the 5% penalty to sign. According to MLB.com Sandoval was the #139 draft prospect. Round 22 pick RHP Cole Sands came in at #55. And round 37 pick RHP/1B Luken Baker came in at #54. LHP is always important but I'm wondering if they go after second round talent instead. Baker is basically the same player we got in 2nd rounder A.J Reed last year...a masher at the plate who is limited defeansively but also has the versatility to be a pitcher...he's also from Conroe so you have to wonder what kind of discount, if any, he would give the hometown club. The signing deadline is in 2 weeks (July 18th) so there is plenty of time to get one of them signed if Houston tries to make a run