Houston Astros Off Season News

I don't know why I continue to punish myself on my evening drive home from work by listening to "The Blitz" on 97.5 ESPN, I really don't. Both AJ Hoffman and Fred Faour constantly piss me off. Faour is tolerable when AJ is off but Hoffman is just a douche. The thing that drives me the most crazy is how they absolutely dog all the Houston sports franchises. I seriously can't believe the fans in Houston haven't risen up and burned these guys at the stake. They constantly dog the Rockets and, to be fair, the Rockets deserve it. They were the second seed in the Western Conference last season and instead of building on that they came out and played aweful basketball, got their coach fired and are really on the bubble as to whether or not they even make the playoffs this season. I get that. Bash away at will guys. They have no mercy when they talk about the Texans. Two seasons ago I predicted they would go 9-7 that could be 10-6 if things fell right. The Texans went 9-7 missing out on the playoffs by hair. AJ and Fred? They both said the Texans would be lucky, LUCKY, to win 4 games. This past season it was more of the same. Can't get to .500 with crap at QB. It looked like the Blitz Boys were right as Houston stumbled out of the gate losing four of their first 5 games and at the half way point of the season Houston was 3-5 and looked clueless. After their Week 9 bye Houston was a different team. They went 6-2 in their final 8 games and in so doing took over first place in the AFC South and they actually won the division with a convincing win in a Week 17 blowout of division rival Jacksonville who had been on a bit of a roll themselves. Houston finished 9-7 but this time it was good enough to win the division and earn a first round home game vs Kansas City. Fred and AJ saved a little face when Brian Hoyer stunk up NRG Stadium with a horrendous performance which saw him personally turn the ball over 5 times. But the fact remained AJ and Fred undersold the hometown team again. They have done the same thing with the Astros. Their contempt of the boys in orange and blue is unexplainable. On Wednesday, which is dubbed "What are the odds Wednesday" they encourage callers to call in to ask what the odds are something will happen in the world of sports, a caller asked what were the odds that Houston would win more than 85 games this season. Now, in case you didn't know Houston started their climb back to respectability in 2014 after 3 straight 100+ loss seasons. Again, AJ and Fred saw no hope for the Astros saying the team sucked and there was another 100 loss season in their future. Wrong. Now, you have to understand Houston set a franchise worst 111 losses in 2013 against just 51 wins so there was some basis for Fred and AJ to be skeptical about the Astros prospects. I, on the other hand, said Houston would win 75 games in 2014. That would have been a 24 game improvement over what was the worst season in franchise history. Big T said I was crazy and we bet a fitted cap that Houston would not get to 75. Turns out Big T was right. Houston won 70 games in 2014, an improvement of 19 games which was the second best improvement in the majors. I paid off my bet when I met Big T at a Lamar baseball game. My point is, I saw the improvement coming even though I overshot the mark a little. The fact is Houston could have won at least ten more games in 2014 except for a bullpen that sucked the big one. That's why prior to 2015 the Astros signed Pat Neshak and Luke Gregerson to shore up the 'pen. It paid off too as you all well know. Houston won 85 regular season games that could easily have been 95 if not for a total collapse of the pitching staff except for Keuchel and McHugh. Houston went 11-16 in September of last year and it seemed much worse than that. It was the only month that they had a losing record. Despite this the Astros improved another 15 games in 2015 over the previous season and made the playoffs. That's a 34 game improvement over two years. According to AJ and Fred the Astros would still be floundering around between 60-70 wins. On Wednesday the response to the caller's question was that the odds weren't good the Astros would win more than 85 games. Both said there was a about 30-40% chance they would or looking at it the other way a 60-70% chance they would not. That's pretty bleak for a team that added a starting pitcher, cut loose some dead weight and have promising prospects looking to make the team and brand new 100 mph throwing closer. I just can't fathom why the boys on The Blitz can't be a little more hopeful. I think it's not only possible but probable that Houston will bust 85. In fact I could easily see them win 95 games this season. This is a young and talented team with even more young and talented players looking to crack the roster like George Springer, Lance McCullers and Carlos Correa have done. And the question begs to be asked again, 'Why do I torture myself listening to guys who's outlook on Houston sports is mostly negative?'. Edited February 26, 2016 by eagle eye

Spring training games begin on Thursday when Houston travels to Clearwater Fla to take on the Phillies. Doug Fister will get the start because, as AJ Hinch said, he wants to get a good look at Fister this spring and getting more starts will allow him to do that. It looks like Wandy Rodriguez will start Friday against the Cardinals in Kissimmee. It was great to see the Astros report and begin practice for spring training and now games are right around the corner. It's nice to see the season get started. With Lamar 10 games into the college season it's beginning to look like spring.

 

AJ Hinch is going to give the players a day of rest today after two weeks of work so far. Several pitchers will get the bullpen or throwing work in and Evan Gattis will do his rehab thing from his offseason hernia surgery. Other than that, everyone else is getting a little break.

 

The Astros will have a guy in his second big league camp competing for a spot in the bullpen. James Hoyt, a 6'6" RHP is looking to make an impact this spring. He's a big, intimidating guy who throws in the 93-95 mph range with a good breaking ball. He was in Astros camp last year but he had played winter ball in Venezuela and he admittedly came to spring training fatigued. This past year he again played in Venezuela but he shut himself down in December giving himself a chance to rest up and be his best in spring training. AJ Hinch said that Hoyt is "intriguing" as a prospect but what is left unsaid is he will have a hard time cracking the Astros big league lineup filled with veteran arms. But, even if he ends up in AAA he is just one injury or one poor performance away from getting his shot. Another bit of evidence of how the Astros minor league system continues to produce quality talent.

It was just a year ago that Houston had the #1 minor league system in baseball. That was a result of some good drafts over the last 5 years and getting good value in trades made when the Astros were cleaning house between 2010 and 2013. Yesterday MLB.com reported that Houston has the 10th ranked farm system in baseball. That seems like a precipitous drop over just one year but when you look at it the fall doesn't seem so drastic. In the last year Houston has added Carlos Correa and Lance McCullers to the roster. Not to mention bringing George Springer up in 2014 but last season was when Springer made his biggest impact. You also have to consider that Houston lost Mark Appel, Vincent Velasquez, Domingo Santana and Josh Hader via trades and you can see just how much talent Houston has taken out of their minor league system. However, Houston still has a wealth of talent to run with. AJ Reed, Daz Cameron, Kyle Tucker and last year's 2nd pick in the draft, Alex Bregman come immediately to mind. Not to mention pitching prospects like Francis Martes, David Paulino and Joe Musgrove who have emerged as viable prospects. Houston seems pretty set for a while to come. The only real hole in their list of prospects is at catcher. It seems like that position is a very difficult one to fill. The Astros have had Jason Castro but they have been hurting for backups. The main thing is finding a guy who can handle the defensive side of the ball and handle a pitching staff as well as provides some decent offensive numbers. Castro has become a pretty darn good defensive catcher. His trouble is that except for 2013 when he hit .276 on the season and earned a berth in the All Star game his batting numbers have been pretty bad. In a perfect world Castro will figure it out and get back to that 2013 form. Finding a backup is really the main problem.

 

Tomorrow spring training games begin for the Astros. They have already begun with games played last night. Spring training games actually started this past Sunday when the Phillies took on the University of Tampa which the Phils won 8-3. There have been several exhibitions between major league teams and college teams so far. The Red Sox actually had two games on Monday with different college teams. They played Boston College shutting them out 6-0 and they also played Northeastern winning 8-3. Baseball is cranking up people and that ain't nothing but a good thang.

Yesterday was the first spring training game of 2016 for the Astros. They played the Phillies in Clearwater, Fla and they won the game 3-2. I'm not really about the score in spring training especially on March 3rd but I won't lie when I say I'm glad they won. The games right now are about looking at prospects and recent additions. The only guy who is a guaranteed opening day starter that played yesterday and that was George Springer. He had three AB's that went as follows, HBP, double, double. The double in the 3rd was probably going to be a triple except for the fact that Springer fell down as he approached first base. I don't know if he tripped over his own feet or a blade of grass but it had to be a little embarrassing.

So, here are the prospects/newbees and how they did.

P Doug Fister - 2 scoreless, looked pretty good for a first start.

LF Eury Perez - O-1 at the plate, threw out a man at home from LF.

3B Matt Duffy - shaky defense, booted a couple of balls. 1-2 at the plate with a monster HR.

SS Alex Bregman - didn't see him play D (quit watching after 6th to go to bed) he went 0-2 at the plate with 2 K's. He only played A ball last season.

1B AJ Reed - 1-2 with a K.

DH Tyler White - 1-3 with a run scored and no K's.

DH Joe Sclafani - 0-2 but no K's

SS Danny Worth - 1-1 with 2 BB's, no glaring issue at SS.

3B Colin Moran - 0-0 with a BB, No issues with fielding.

C Max Stassi - 1-3 officially but he got on another time due to a fielding error by Phillies 3B on a very hard hit ball. He could easily have been 2-3 but the Phillies 3B should have made the play. Made one throw to 2nd on steal attempt. Poor throw but the Astros got the out because the base runner came off the bag.

2B Nolan Fontana - went 0-2 with a BB, a K and an RBI.

P Kevin Chapman - 1 inning, 0 runs, 2 hits.

P Michael Feliz - 2 innings, 0 runs, 2 Hits, 2 BB's and 2 K's.

P James Hoyt - 1 inning, 0 runs, 2 BB's, 2 K's. Hoyt was the winning pitcher of the game.

P Brendon McCurry - Looked shaky and results prove it. 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 error, 1 BB, 1 K and 2 wild pitches one of which scored a run for Philadelphia.

P Danny Reynolds - (Looks like he's about 14 instead of 24) 1 inning, 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 BB and 1 wild pitch.

P Jandel Gustav - 1 inning, 1 run, 1 hit, 1 BB and 2 K's. Gustav got the save to end the game.

 

I didn't see any of the game after the 7th other than Danny Reynolds looked like a kid skipping jr high. I'm sorry I missed Gustav pitch and a couple of the position players but it's the first game and it was nice to see the Astros in action again. Altuve, Correa, Keuchel and McHugh may see their first action this weekend sometime. Today an old new guy, Wandy Rodriguez, is starting for Houston.

The Astros have been looking pretty good so far. The pitching has, for the most part been solid and the offense has been good except for Saturday's loss to the Mets. Jon Singleton finally got a hit in a game. He's played in 3 of the 5 games so far and until yesterday he had failed to get a hit. He made up for that by going 2-4 with a double and a HR with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI's. The encouraging thing was he did not strike out during the game. This is in contrast to a horrible AB against the Mets on Saturday which saw Singleton come up with men on 2nd and 3rd trailing by a score of 3-1 in which Singleton struck out on a pitch down and in that would surely have been a ball. That ended the game and it's sort of what we have come to expect out of Singleton as a big leaguer. Yesterday was much different. He swung at good pitches and he put the ball in play every single time he went to the plate. Was yesterday's game an anomaly or is this the new and improved Jon? Still way too early to tell.

 

The Young guys in camp have certainly been playing well and hitting well. We are just 5 games in and it's way too early to say anything definitive but these young guys have been playing pretty well.

 

The record during the spring is meaningless but it can be an indicator of how well the Astros prospects are playing since most of the games, especially early on, are showcase games for young players who probably won't be on the final 25 come April 4th. Houston has to be pleased with the young guys so far and the Astros record sort of reflects that. In their first 5 games of spring training Houston is 4-1. It seems like the Astros success so far is indicative of how strong their farm system really is.

Since my last post on Monday Houston has played 4 games this week. Beginning with yesterday Colin McHugh got his 2nd spring start and got his first spring win. He went 3 innings this time out and he looked pretty good allowing no runs on two hits and no walks. Houston edged Washington 4-3 and guys got their work in as a total of 17 position players and 5 pitchers saw action.

On Wednesday Houston beat the Atlanta Braves 9-5 behind some good pitching for the most part. Dallas Kuechel made his spring debut pitching 2 innings allowing no runs with 1 hit, 1 Walk and 1 K. Of the 7 pitchers who worked for Houston in the game only 2, Neil Cotts and Dan Straily, were tagged with runs.

Tuesday Houston fell to the Nationals 4-2. Doug Fister had his second outing of the spring going 3 innings giving up a run on 2 hits, 3 BB's and 3 K's. You don't want to see that many walks but Fister didn't let them hurt him. Ken Giles, who has been struggling this spring took, the loss giving up a run, a hit, a walk and a K in his single inning of work. The fact is 4 of the 5 pitchers who worked on Tuesday gave up a run. Fister, Giles, Wandy Rodriguez, who pitched his second game of the spring went 3 innings, and Tony Sipp. Only Will Harris held the Braves scoreless.

Monday Houston began the week by shutting out the Yankees 1-0. Mike Fiers let it be known by his play he wants a spot in the Astros rotation with 2 solid innings of work. Michael Feliz made his second appearance going 3 innings and Cesar Valdez followed with 2 good innings. Jake Buchanan pitched one inning and prospect Juan Minaya closed out the game and preserved the shutout.

 

It looks like Houston is going to have a pretty damn good pitching staff as long as they stay healthy. I'm worried about Ken Giles though. He has not had a good spring. I know he's only had 2 appearances and he's pitched only 2 innings so far but he's given up 4 hits, 3 earned runs and had 2 BB's and only 1 K. Very small sample, I get that, but you want to see the guy dominate a little more don't you? Maybe I'm not being fair. Maybe I'm holding the Mark Appel deal against him a little. I probably should lighten up some but dammit if you throw 100 mph fastballs I want K's and not a run allowed. C'mon EE, calm down it's only the first part of March. Okay, I'm better now.

 

Guys who have looked good so far: Tyler White (just like advertised, makes contact and puts the ball in play) Matt Duffy (up and down but basically solid although I would like his glove to be a little more solid.), Andrew Aplin (been pretty good in the field and has shown some hitting skills), Colby Rasmus (maybe getting a contract and feeling wanted was just what he needed) Jason Castro (much better swing at the plate early on even though his BA doesn't reflect it) Luis Valbuena (man I don't like to give him too much credit but he has been pretty decent), AJ Reed (what can you say about the Astros top prospect?), Eury Perez (He's making Jake Marisnick or Kyle Tucker look expendable)

Guys who haven't looked so good: Jon Singleton (except for one game he's been his old no-hittin', strikin' out, no walk workin' hitter he's always been in the big leagues. He's batting himself right out of the bigs and he has nobody but himself to blame), Carlos Gomez (has yet to get a hit in the spring but he did screw himself into the ground over-swinging at a pitch or two), Alex Bregman (he's obviously not ready for the bigs yet. His .100 BA is indicative of the way he's been hitting. Not good)

 

Houston goes against Detroit led by Scott Feldman making his second start of the spring. Noon start.

I was noticing in the box scores of the spring training games that Alex Bregman has been struggling at the plate. I haven't gotten to see many games so I'm not sure if he's been any good in the field but I suspect he has. Just this morning Houston made their first cuts of spring training by reassigning Bregman, JD Davis, Derek Fisher and Jon Kemmer to minor league camp. Here's the article from Astros.com about the moves.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/167044772/bregman-jd-davis-fisher-kemmer-sent-down

 

Spent today enjoying "live" MLB games via snap chat. Check out the article on Astros.com.

 

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2016/03/11/166521054/mlb-stars-and-snapchat-give-fans-a-look-at-spring-training

The Astros have had a bit of a set back, the first real issue the Astros have had so far. C Max Stassi is back in Houston getting some tests on the hamate bone in his left hand. He injured earlier in spring training and it has been giving him some discomfort so the Astros decided to get him some attention. Here's a link to the article on Astros.com talking about Stassi and the depth they apparently have left behind Jason Castro.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/167294762/astros-max-stassi-to-see-hand-specialist

 

I guess Stassi isn't the only problem the Astros have to deal with. Lance McCullers, who has been a special pitching program so far this spring including the fact he hasn't made an appearance in a spring training game as yet. Recently he has been experiencing discomfort in his throwing shoulder. Apparently, the problem is not serious but will require rest and it is not quite certain whether he will be available when the season starts in three weeks. Here's a link to the article in Astros.com with more detail about McCuller's shoulder.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/167183830/lance-mccullers-to-rest-a-bit-after-clean-mri

 

It appears that P Mike Fiers wants a spot in the Astros starting rotation. This article linked below talks about the great start to spring training Fiers has had.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/167237876/astros-mike-fiers-posts-another-stellar-start

Houston has made some more personnel moves sending Juan Minaya, Joe Musgrove, David Paulino and Danny Reynolds to minor league camp and they reassigned two other players, Brady Rodgers and Brendon McCurry. This, coupled with the Astros sending four other prospects to minor league camp it should have the spring training roster down to 52 players. Last Friday Houston sent SS Alex Bregman, IF JD Davis and OF's Derek Fisher and Jon Kemmer.

 

Today is Marwin Gonzalez' 27th birthday.

 

MLB.com released it's mid spring training power rankings and what do you know, Houston comes in a #9! Without knowing who will take the open spots at 1B and 3B and issues with backup catcher along with lingering issues with injuries to Max Stassi and Lance McCullers and Evan Gattis coming off hernia surgery there isn't enough there to rank the Astros any higher. It's looking like Gattis could be back on track to be ready for opening day as he's already been taking batting practice. It is also said he will get a crack at playing catcher but that may be a little too much to hope for at this point. If Gattis will be there to DH on April 4th that would be a good thing. The only other AL West team ranked higher than Houston is the confounded Rangers.

 

The battle for 1B was billed as a battle between 3 players, Jon Singleton, Tyler White and AJ Reed. Singleton has been awful so far and looks to be playing himself back to the minors leaving the job open between White and Reed. Both guys are 6-20 (.300 BA). White had 2-DBL and a HR while Reed has 2-DBL and no HR's. How about this? White plays 3B and Reed plays 1B with Valbuena backing them up or better yet, trading Valbuena for a prospect or a draft pick. According the best hitter of the spring for Houston is White.

 

Dallas Keuchel is making his 2nd start of the spring today in a game vs Nationals and Houston has already staked Keuchel to a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st.

A couple of days ago I posted that Max Stassi went back to Houston to have some tests run on his injured left hand. He has a bad hamate bone, which is a bone in the heel of your hand near the wrist. I serves a function but it is not critical to structural integrity of the hand or wrist but it is quite painful. A break or hairline fracture of the hamate bone is a common injury for baseball players and a technique of removing the bone is frequently done. Many baseball players have had this surgery like Ken Griffey Jr, David Ortiz and Troy Tulowitzki. Stassi did not have the bone removed but rather he had a hook on the bone repaired by Dr Thomas Mehlhoff in Houston. Stassi is slated to be out 6 weeks recovering from the surgery meaning he won't be available on opening day. When Hank Conger was traded to Tampa in the off season it left the backup catcher job open and it looked like Stassi would be the guy most likely to be that guy on April 4th so this setback has got to be a bitter disappointment.

 

Colin McHugh was really good for 2 innings yesterday but his 3rd start of the spring had him slated to go more than that. McHugh came out in the 3th and couldn't seem to be able to get anyone out. In the space of 7 batters he gave up 3 runs to the Washington Nationals on the strength of RBI doubles by Daniel Murphy and Michael Taylor. It looked like McHugh was going to be tagged with more runs to begin the 4th inning when he sandwiched a double in between 2 walks to begin the inning. With the bases loaded McHugh got a K and line out to get the Astros to within an out of escaping without giving up a run. AJ Hinch relieved McHugh and brought in Tony Sipp who got Daniel Murphy to fly out to CF to end the threat. Houston battled back and chipped away at the 3-0 lead the Nationals had after the 3rd inning. Marwin Gonzalez, who had a good game yesterday, began the Astros comeback in the 4th with a solo HR, his fourth of the spring. In the 5th it was Marwin again with a bases loaded RBI single to get the Astros within one at 3-2. In the 8th Eury Perez and Preston Tucker each had an RBI single to give the Astros a 4-3 lead. Unfortunately, there was still the 9th inning to play and Jake Buchanan was tasked with nailing down the win for the Astros. Again, unfortunately, Buchanan wasn't up to the task as he gave up 3 runs in the inning allowing the Nats to retake the lead. Houston was unable to mount another comeback in the bottom of the 9th and that's how the game ended. You would have liked to see McHugh have a better outing in his 3rd start of the spring but he battled and kept the Astros within striking distance which is what you need from a starting pitcher. Buchanan, on the other hand, is not making a very good case for himself to make this roster. So far this spring Buchanan is 0-1 in 4 appearances going 1-1 in save opportunities. He's pitched 10 innings with a 6.75 ERA allowing 6 hits and 3 ER's with 4 K's. Not exactly MLB roster material.

 

BTW the statistically best pitcher this spring is Kevin Chapman who hasn't allowed a run so far this spring in 5 appearances with 4.1 IP. He's allowed 5 hits, 2 BB's and he has 1 K.

The best hitter so far is OF Colby Rasmus who sports a .545 BA (6-11) with a double and 2 HR's and 8 RBI's. He's only had one K and has one BB. He has a .538 OBP, a 1.182 slugging % and a 1.720 OPS. Rasmus had a career high 25 HR's in 2015 tying him with Luis Valbuena for 2nd most on the team behind Evan Gattis' 27 HR's. He hit just .238 last season but it seems he's found something in his swing and if it's the real thing then I'm sure Rasmus will be a major contributor to the team this year. Maybe the fact that the Astros seem to like, and want, Rasmus makes a big difference. If you listen to his interviews he IS an Astro. He feels comfortable here and accepted here unlike his old team, the Toronto Blue Jays who benched him for lack of performance. You wonder how oppressive working conditions affect an athlete sometimes and in Rasmus' case the affect of a good clubhouse atmosphere and feeling wanted and appreciated is seemingly making a big difference for him.

Edited March 16, 2016 by eagle eye

It appears that Lance McCullers will not be on the opening day roster. As I posted the other day he's got issues with this right shoulder and the Astros are taking the cautious route in dealing with it. McCullers had an MRI on the shoulder and it showed no problems but he has been sidelined since March 6 because of pain in the joint. The Astros are wisely thinking long term with this and are giving the 22 pitcher time for any inflammation to subside before allowing him to throw. That is why AJ Hinch announced yesterday that McCullers would begin the season on the DL so he doesn't have any pressure on him to be ready for opening day.

 

Brad Peacock didn't do his hopes of being in the Astros starting rotation any favors yesterday when he got roughed up by the Detroit Tigers. In the 2nd inning yesterday Peacock got the first two outs of the inning and then in a 3 batter succession he gave up a HR, a walk and a 2 run HR to stake the Tigers to a 3-0 lead. Peacock has struggled to even stay on the field the past year and a half and this outing in his 2nd spring start isn't what he needed to have happen. AJ Hinch said he was glad that Peacock did go 3 innings and he was also glad he got his pitch count up. Peacock wasn't the only Astros pitcher who struggled yesterday. Dan Straily and Cesar Valdez both allowed the Tigers to score 2 runs. Straily worked 3 innings and Valdez worked 2. What was disappointing was Houston's offense struggled and the first few innings the Astros fielded what could very well have been their opening day lineup. Only George Springer and Jon Singleton hit the ball as they combined to go 4-7 with Singleton getting 3 RBIs and a run scored with an RBI double and a solo HR.

 

Singleton has been really struggling at the plate in the spring. He had one good game about a year ago (actually last week but it seems like longer than that) in which he went 2-4 like he did yesterday but he fell right back into the easy out rut he had been in. Hopefully, this will allow Singleton to start hitting more consistently. The before yesterday the 2 hits I mentioned before were the only two he's had all spring as he was hitting a mind numbing .103. After yesterday's game he is up to .152 and it doesn't take much to change your BA in the spring but yesterday's game doesn't mean squat if he doesn't keep hitting the ball. Personally, I am not going to hold my breath on this because I will definitely pass smooth out waiting on another big day for Singleton. I'm sorry to be so negative but if his history tells us anything it that he can't consistently hit big league pitching.

 

AJ Hinched voiced his displeasure about the frequency his hitters have been hit this spring. He said that teams are pounding the ball inside and a side effect of that is his players are getting hit. Yesterday Carlos Gomez and Jason Castro were hit by pitches and just a day earlier George Springer was hit in the elbow. That makes 3 times this spring Springer has been hit. It also is worth noting that Springer missed a lot of time in 2015 after a Kansas City pitcher hit Springer in the wrist breaking a bone that put him on the DL for about 6 weeks. I'm glad Hinch is making an issue of this but I'd like to see the pitchers protect their hitters by plunking the offending team. That's one of the unwritten rules of baseball -- you hit my guy I'm hitting your guy and if my gets injured I'm taking your guys head off. DL for DL and that is the check and balance for dirty pitchers. It was better when pitchers had to bat and the opposing pitcher could retaliate against the guy who hit his guy. I get a little blood thirsty when it comes to hitting batters. I know it really hurts and has the potential to do real damage and I don't like it. The Astros Dickie Thon was on his way to a stellar career when he got hit in the head and he was never the same player after that. Thon was touted as a future Hall of Fame player until he was hit in the face by a Mike Torrez fastball that broke the orbital bone around his left eye and his depth perception was never the same again. Thon was an excellent fielder as well as a really good hitter but his hitting was never the same as a result of being beaned. He had a real shot at being the Astros first HOF player had the incident not happened. Thon actually played another 9 years after being hit but the questions about what might have been should still linger. Umps have to do their part to stop that sort of thing too.

Houston had their second split squad games of the spring yesterday and they won both games. In one game Houston topped Toronto 7-5 on the strength of the hitting of George Springer, Carlos Correa and two prospects, 3B Matt Duffy and C Tyler Heineman. Heineman went 3-4 on the day going the full 9 innings. Duffy went 1-3 with 2 RBI's and a stolen base in 5 innings of work. Heineman is battling for the backup catcher position behind Jason Castro and having a big day yesterday was important to that cause. Heineman could be the next man up after Max Stassi had to have surgery on a broken hamate bone in his left hand. Duffy is fighting for a roster spot at 3B. Tyler White and AJ Reed have been battling Jon Singleton for a spot at 1B. The intensity of these battles is nothing but a good thing for Houston.

 

It seems like Preston Tucker is working on flattening out his swing moving away from the upper cut swing he fell into the habit of as the 2015 season wore on. The work paid off yesterday against Toronto as he absolutely crushed a ball over the right center field wall for a 2-run HR.

 

Michael Feliz pitched 3 innings against the Jays allowing 3 hits and no runs. It was a good outing for him as he displayed a mid to upper 90's fastball and a change up and a slider. It's not likely Feliz will be on the final 25 but he's is developing into a quality pitcher. The only guy who really struggled among the 6 Astros pitchers was Jordan Jankowski. Janko went 1.1 innings allowing 3 hits, 3 runs with a BB and K.

 

In the other game Houston squared off against the Braves and they won that contest as well by a score of 5-3. While most of the regular position players were in the game against the Blue Jays there was enough firepower left over to beat the Braves. 1B AJ Reed and SS Danny Worth did most of the damage driving in all five Astros runs. Mike Fiers had a disappointing outing as he gave up 5 hits, 3 runs-2 earned and 3 BB's on the day. It should have been just 1 earned run as a throwing error by Nolan Fontana on a force play allowed two Braves base runners to score. But, Fiers put them on base so that part is on him. 5 pitchers followed Fiers to the mound and they combined to allow just one hit from the 4 inning to the end of the game.

Houston didn't finish the week so good losing on Friday and Sunday but fortunately W's don't matter in March. Houston is getting to see players who can, and will, help them come April. Houston did make some roster moves this weekend. They went into the weekend with 49 players on their roster and the goal is to get down to the final 25 by April 4 (Opening Day). I'm not sure you realize it but that is only 15 days away!

Yesterday Houston optioned P Asher Wojciekowski, IF Nolan Fontana and OF Andrew Alpin to AAA Fresno and they reassigned Tony Kemp to minor league camp. That means the roster is down to 45. Here's a link to an Astros.com article about the four players and AJ Hinch's feeling that all 4 can, a will, contribute to the big club in the near future.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/168252202/astros-make-three-more-spring-training-cuts

 

Evan Gattis is ahead of schedule in his rehab from his hernia surgery back in February. He is actually doing DH work in the minor league camp spring training games. There was a plan for Gattis to begin working at playing catcher before his surgery 5 weeks ago but it is not clear if Gattis will be able to get the work in needed to actually catch a big league game before opening day. With Max Stassi going out because of surgery on a broken hamate bone in his wrist and unable to play for six weeks backup catcher is one of the positions AJ Hinch has to make a decision on. Gattis was catcher when he was with the Braves and he lost some weight in the off season with the intention of playing either 1B or C. He played some games in the outfield last season but he's not an outfielder and it's pretty clear that his best bet at playing a position was at first or behind the plate. The important thing is that Gattis' bat is in the lineup on opening day. He may not be able to leg out triples, like he did 11 times in 2015, at the start of the season, but his bat would definitely be missed if he was not able to play. He led Houston in 2015 with 27 HR's, 11 triples and 88 RBI's. His .246 BA in 2015 was hurt by a simply horrendous start to the season. If not for a dismal April Gattis would have hit in the neighborhood of .275 and for a power hitting DH that is totally acceptable. You'd like to see him cut down on the K's. He had the 3rd most K's on the team last year behind Colby Rasmus (154) and Chris Carter (151). So far this spring Rasmus is not striking out as much and he's hitting much better than last year too. Carter is gone so Gattis needs to follow Rasmus' lead and start making contact a little more often.

 

Ken Giles has struggled some this spring. He's giving up runs almost every outing which is not what you want to see from you big money, free agent power pitching, reliever that you gave up four players, including the #1 pick in the 2013 draft. Yesterday he pitched one inning giving up 3 hits, 2 earned runs while striking out 2 batters in Houston's 5-4 loss to the Phillies. Despite this line score Giles said afterward, "The results, you don't want, but this was the best outing I had so far. My timing was great today. The ball was coming out of my hand really well today. I was very, very pleased." Giles first pitch hit 101 mph on the radar gun which is what you are hoping to see from him. You would certainly like to see Giles dominating hitters even in spring training but it doesn't matter until the lights go on opening day. That is when you need Giles to dominate. AJ Hinch said he saw good things in Giles' performance yesterday. The extra velocity on the ball was chalked up by Hinch as a little extra adrenalin facing his old team but Giles disagreed. Giles said he has been working on getting his timing down and in sync with his mechanics and he claims he's finally there with both. He's also been working on getting his balance down and he says the extra velocity was a result of all the extra work he has put in. Yesterday was also the first time Giles has worked consecutive days this spring. He pitched an inning in a minor league game Saturday.

Giles hasn't been named the Astros closer officially but, considering his contract, it's probably his to lose. Luke Gregerson was the closer last season and he has said he isn't just giving the job to Giles but he has yet to pitch in spring training because of a strained oblique suffered just before spring training games began. Gregerson will have a lot of catching up to do when he is cleared to pitch again.

 

Wandy Rodriguez is making a push for the 5th starter position. He has pitched pretty will this spring and he went 4 innings allowing just 2 hits and one run with 5 K's and no walks yesterday against the Phillies. Colby Rasmus continued his hot spring going 1-3 but that one was a 3 run HR in the sixth inning that gave Houston a 4-3 lead. Unfortunately, Asher Wojciekowski couldn't hold the Phillies as he gave up 2 runs on one hit and 2 walks and no K's in the bottom of the seventh.

 

There were 3 players with an OPS of 1.000 or better in the Astros lineup yesterday. They had another 4 with an OPS over .900. If that carries over into the season, whoa Nellie! Houston also had 7 players who are hitting .300 or better this spring. I know they are facing a lot of pitchers who won't be on a big league roster in April but it is still impressive.

 

Scott Feldman makes his third start of the spring today against the Nationals at 12 noon.

Houston has been rather run challenged lately. The 8 runs they scored in a win over Atlanta was the most since they scored 10 on March 11th against the Tigers.

 

Of the prospects hoping to make the opening day roster Tyler White is making it impossible for manager AJ Hinch not to keep him. He continues to play well in the field and he has gotten better as the spring has worn on. Beginning today White is hitting .371 for the spring and so far he's 1-2 with a double and run scored in the top of the 4th. His BA is now .378. Houston is facing the Mets today and so far it's all Astros. The Mets pitchers have combined to throw 108 pitches and it's only the top of the 4th inning. As I was writing this White walked.

AJ Reed is not just giving White a free pass to the bigs. He's played well this spring too. He's hitting .268 which isn't in White's territory but he's has shown some power and he's played better defense. Reed is 2-2 with a double a walk and 2 runs scored and an inside the park home run. The Mets pitching so far has been awful and you could say that the Mets are lucky to only be down 7-0.

The 3rd guy who is looking to make the big club at 1B is Jon Singleton. When spring training began it was generally considered that 1B was Singleton's to lose because of the contract Houston signed him to when the brought him up from AAA. So far this spring Singleton seems determined to hand the job over to either White or Reed. With the success that George Springer exhibited when he was called up Houston hoped lightning would strike again. Unfortunately, there has yet to even be a thunder cloud in the sky. Singleton has been unable to hit at the big league level not even able to crack the Mendoza Line of a .200 BA. The fact is he can't crack .150 and so far in the spring he's hitting .136. He's not even in the conversation with White and Reed and with 11 days to opening day his chances of making the final 25 are pretty slim. It's hard to explain why he struggles so much because he just has torn up pitching at the AAA level. He's always been seen as a player who strikes out a lot but he also hit the ball, most of the time with power in AAA but when he has been at the major league level he continues to strike out a lot but he doesn't hit the ball almost at all.

 

Last week the hottest hitter for the Astros was Colby Rasmus but he's cooled off a lot since. The guy who is the hottest hitter right now is Carlos Correa hitting a blistering .419 this spring with Marwin Gonzalez right behind him at .391.

 

Colin Moran is making his case for making the big league roster. So far this spring he's hitting .320 and he's playing some slick 3B too.

 

Dallas Keuchel made his 3rd spring start today and he went 5 innings allowing zero runs on 3 hits, a walk and notching 5 K's. He had 62 total pitches with 42 for strikes. All this in intermittent rain on a clay dirt infield. I'm just grateful he got his work in without getting hurt.

Edited March 24, 2016 by eagle eye

The Astros and Padres just played two games in Mexico City over the weekend. It was a nice PR trip for MLB and a nice trip especially for the Latin American players, particularly the ones from Mexico. It wasn't much more than that. Both the Astros and Padres pitched guys who will not be in the bigs next week. The most AB's the Astros star players, Altuve, Gonzalez, Correa never got more than 3 AB's in either game. Both games were blowouts with the Astros winning 11-1 on Saturday and the Padres winning 21-6 on Sunday but, as I said, the best pitchers for both teams never made the trip. Houston also had a split squad game in Florida beating the Tigers 8-3. The story in this game was that Scott Feldman started and went 4 innings allowing 5 hits and one run with no BB's or K's. Solid is what you'd classify his outing. Luke Gregerson pitched one scoreless inning and Mike Fiers pitched the final 4 innings allowing 2 runs on four hits with no BB's and 3 K's. The runs he gave up came on a 2-run HR in the 7th by C James McCann. The bottom half of the roster was the part of the lineup that led the way offensively with every guy having a multi-hit game except for 3B prospect JD Davis who went 1-3. AJ Reed (3 H), Jason Castro (2 H) and 2B prospect Daniel Hyde (2 H) were the offensive stars of the game.

 

As of today we are 7 days away from opening day. It is no longer a question of weeks but it is down to days. Houston will leave Florida this week after Wednesday's game with Atlanta. They only play 4 games this week; today, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Doug Fister will get the start today vs Atlanta and he will be facing former Astro Mike Foltynewicz, Wednesday will be Dallas Keuchel's last spring start when they play Philadelphia. The Phillies starting pitcher has yet to be announced. Thursday and Friday at the Juice Box the Astros have not announced the starting pitchers as they close out the spring against Milwaukee. I would expect that Colin McHugh will get the start one of those two days. Getting close folks and the biggest news this week will be the 15 or so players who will be cut so the Astros can get down to their final 25 man roster.

 

One guy who we know will not be on the opening day roster is DH/C Evan Gattis. Gattis has been rehabbing from hernia surgery that he had just before spring training. He was going to get his shot at being the backup catcher but the surgery derailed that notion. The Astros concentrated as hard as possible to get Gattis ready for opening day as DH but he has not progressed enough for that to occur. As for the backup catcher, the guy who seemed to have the inside track on that position was Max Stassi but he had surgery to repair the hamate bone in his hand and he will miss the first month of the upcoming season. The next man up is Tyler Heineman who has been solid and I feel he will be the b/u catcher next Monday.

 

Jon Singleton had another 2 hit game this spring raising his BA .151. With a week left in the spring I can't help but believe Singleton has played his way off the big club. Tyler White and AJ Reed has both played much better than Singleton and IMO they both have earned the right to begin the season on the final 25. You can't say Houston hasn't given Singleton a chance this spring. He's had more AB's in the spring than anyone else on the roster and he has twice as many K's (17) as he has hits (8) in his 53 trips to the plate. He has also only walked 3 times in the 22 games (team high) he's played in.

 

I think it's pretty well known that I'm no Carlos Gomez fan and this spring he's stunk up the place. He's hitting an anemic .192 for the spring after going 0-4 yesterday against Detroit. I would much rather see Jake Marisnick in center over Gomez. I think Big Jake plays comparable defense and I believe he has a better arm than Gomez. Marisnick hasn't lit it up in the spring at the plate either though as he went 0-2 in Mexico City yesterday lowering his spring BA to .149. I just think Marisnick is better for a club house than Gomez. To me, Mike Fiers was the best part of the deal that brought Gomez to Houston last summer. That deal cost Houston 4 prospects and we'll have to see how time decides the true value of the deal but, as of right now, Milwaukee may have gotten the best of the deal even though Fiers has been pretty good so far. Fiers is vying for a spot in the Astros starting rotation and he will likely be the 4th or 5th starter.

 

Right now this is what I see as the opening day lineup:

1. 2B Jose Altuve

2. RF George Springer

3. SS Carlos Correa

4. DH Colby Rasmus

5. LF Preston Tucker

6. 1B Tyler White

7. CF Carlos Gomez

8. 3B Luis Valbuena - I would give the nod to Tyler White or Colin Moran considering the really good spring they had and have AJ Reed at 1B but I don't see Valbuena sitting.

9. C Jason Castro

 

SP - Dallas Keuchel

 

I could easily see Gomez hitting 9th considering the crappy spring he had but AJ Hinch probably won't do that to him even though he deserves it. I chose Rasmus as DH because it's just a spot that needs to be filled by a veteran player. Tyler White, AJ Reed and Colin Moran had 34 or more AB's this spring and all are hitting over .300. Rasmus value will be enhanced if he can cut out the K's and make contact more consistently which, for the most part, he's done this spring.

After yesterday's high scoring game between the Astros and Braves in which Houston won 12-9 the cuts have begun in earnest as Houston makes it's way to their final 25 man roster. As for the game yesterday the stars were the stars. In order, George Springer went 3-3 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI's, Colin Moran 3-5 with 2 runs scored and 4 RBI's, Carlos Correa 2-3 with a run and an RBI, Colby Rasmus 1-3 with an RBI, Carlos Gomez 1-5 with a solo HR. It's here that I stop because it was Gomez who the first man in the lineup with a strikeout. Dig this, the top five men in the Astros lineup had but one K in the game and that includes 4 subs as well. That my friends is good work. Houston banged out 17 hits yesterday with only 6 K's in the game and nobody had more than one strikeout. Springer hit 2 HR's, Gomez 1, Preston Tucker 1 and Colin Moran went deep once. Jeepers Batman, does this team have potential, or what? The downer of this game was the poor outing by starter Doug Fister. I guess it would have to be considered a disaster considering the team is a week away from opening day. Fister gave up 6 runs in 4.2 innings allowing 7 hits and 4 walks with 3 K's. Wandy Rodriguez didn't help himself much when he came on in the 7th inning and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits and a walk with no K's. He actually gave up the lead to the Braves at that point but Houston would not be denied as they put up 3 runs of their own in the top of the 8th to take the lead for good. Ken Giles, who is getting better the closer we get to games that mean something pitched a scoreless 8th but he did struggle a bit allowing 2 hits. It's not how you start, it's how you finish and as long as Giles brings good things to the table we'll gladly take it.

 

With a day off today it allowed Houston to make some roster moves. The team has either optioned or reassigned 8 players. Jon Singleton is gone and it's no surprise considering how he's struggled at the plate this spring. IF Joe Sclafani, P Jake Buchanan, C Tyler Heineman is gone and I am fairly surprised here as Houston is hurting for a backup catcher. More on that later. Also sent down is 1B/3B AJ Reed. This is also a bit of a surprise because he had a better than average spring. Gone are P Cesar Valdez and P Michael Feliz and C Carlos Perez.

The reassignment of Heineman and Perez was made possible because Houston made a deal with San Diego for a veteran catcher. Houston gets a veteran catcher in the person of Erik Kratz and they give up a top pitching prospect Dan Straily. I hate to be a hater but I don't like this deal. Straily is a guy who would have ended up in Houston at some point all they get out of the deal is a 35 year old catcher who will likely be gone after Max Stassi and/or Evan Gattis gets healthy. Another bad deal for Houston IMO. I would much rather have kept Straily and let Tyler Heineman backup Jason Castro until Stassi gets back.

 

Now, if you noticed, there are two names that are not on the cut list, Tyler White and Colin Moran. Both of these kids had a phenomenal spring. With just 3 games left in the spring White hit .348 in 46 AB's and Moran .385 in 39 AB's. Both guys will make the final 25 and White will likely be the opening day starter at 1B. White had just 9 K's and Moran just 4 as Houston has a couple of guys who will stem the tide of strikeout rich players on the roster. I can see Luis Valbuena giving way to Moran if he struggles. As it is they will likely platoon as Houston works Moran in as a big leaguer. Youth is being served as this roster gets younger and more talented each year. As a leadoff hitter all Jose Altuve has to do is what he does best, put the ball in play and get on base. This second point would mean Altuve needs to be a little more selective at the plate and work more walks. Altuve's OBP is not much higher than his batting average which means he doesn't walk much. With the firepower this lineup possesses they need their leadoff man just needs to get on base. It's amazing to think our leadoff man has been the #1 hitter in the AL the past two years. Lord this lineup can be so freaking good if they play like they have this spring.

Yesterday's game was good, really good and it was bad, really bad. It had to be a case of nightmarish deja vu for Dallas Keuchel who pitched 7 shutout innings only to have the bullpen and negate his effort that resulted in a no-decision for him and an Astros loss after a disastrous 8th inning in which the Phillies erased a 3 run Astros lead and suddenly became an 8-3 lead. Pat Neshak faced 3 batters all of which got base hits to load the bases. Tony Sipp came on and gave up a run on a line drive out. How all 3 batters advanced on a liner to 1B Matt Duffy is still a source of confusion to be. I have got to find a highlight of that play to understand just what the hell happened. Anyway, that was the first out of the inning. The second out was a sac fly that was misplayed by CF Carlos Gomez allowing the man to score from 3rd and allowing the runner on 2nd to advance to 3B and the batter no not only NOT be out but he ended up on 2B because of Gomez' error. The next hitter bunted the ball back to Sipp but the runner on 3B scored and the batter made it to 1B on the play. Now it's 1st and 3rd still with just one out and all three of the runners allowed on base by Neshak scored. After facing 3 batters AJ Hinch had seen enough of Tony Sipp and he brought on James Hoyt. Hoyt takes the mound with the Astros and Phillies tied at 3. Obviously, Hoyt was supposed to stop the bleeding but it just wasn't in the cards. The first three batters Hoyt faced resulted in an RBI single, ground out and walk. The walk re-loaded the bases with the Phillies Andres Blanco, who began the inning with a leadoff single, coming to the plate. His second AB was a grand salami that gave the Phillies an 8-3 lead. Hoyt retired the next batter for the last out of the inning which was a little too little and little too late. Every runner that Neshak and Sipp allowed scored with Hoyt putting the icing on the cake with the meatball he served up to Blanco. Houston got an oh-by-the-way run in the top of the 9th on a double and RBI single by Preston Tucker and Jason Castro but losing 8-4 when the bullpen just had an evil flashback to the Kansas City playoff game just sucked and not what you wanted to see out of 2, possibly 3, relievers that will be on the final 25 5 days before the season begins. The Astros scored in the 5th on a 3-run HR by Jose Altuve that broke a scoreless tie at the time.

 

AJ Hinch has named the rest of the starting rotation to go along with Dallas Keuchel and Colin McHugh. Mike Fiers, Scott Feldman and Doug Fister will round out the starting rotation to begin the season hereafter being referred to as F Troop in honor of the last names of the back end of the rotation. All that will be broken up when Lance McCullers comes back.

 

Speaking of McCullers, the Astros took his shoulder issues he had early on in spring training and when uber conservative with him because they were thinking of his long term health. They have had him on a special throwing program since it was determined that there were no serious issues with the right shoulder. McCullers will be on the DL to begin the season but he won't be there long. They actually will probably go through the rotation at least once before he joins the team in uniform. He will be there for opening day anyway because AJ Hinch wants him to experience his first opening day as a big leaguer. Last season he was brought up from AA Corpus Christi in May after Scott Feldman went on the DL.

 

As for Keuchel, get this. In 4 starts this spring Keuchel pitched 17 innings and he allow zero runs. That's none, nada, zippo. He only allowed 7 hits and 3 BB's while striking out 16 batters. 16 in 17 innings. Keuchel is not a power pitcher so his success at striking out hitters is pretty phenomenal. It appears like he is absolutely ready for 2016 to begin.

 

The Astros know who will be on the final 25 with some question on if they take 12 or 13 pitchers to New York and thereafter. If they keep 12 then IF Matt Duffy will make the final 25. If they keep 13 pitchers then Duffy will end up in AAA and Hinch will have to decide which pitcher to cut between Wandy Rodriguez, Michael Feliz and James Hoyt who are in a battle for the 2 remaining spots in the bullpen. It's a shame that Wandy's and Hoyt's last outing were not good. Neither can say they have done much to elevate themselves ahead of the other. Throw in Neshak's and Sipp's lousy showing yesterday and you have to have serious concerns about the bullpen. Shoot, the closer role has not been decided yet between Luke Gregerson and Ken Giles. At this point in time you would have hoped such things would be settled and you would have a lot more faith in the pitching staff than you do right now.

 

Houston, earlier this week, played their last game at their old spring home in Kissimmee. Next season they will be in the new facility they will share with the Washington Nationals in West Palm Beach.

 

Houston will be back at the Juice Box in Houston today and tomorrow as they conclude the spring at home. Colin McHugh is likely getting a start either today or tomorrow but neither starting pitcher facing the Brewers has been named yet. The game today will be played at 7 o'clock this evening with the Friday game starting at 1 o'clock.

Last night's game at the Juice Box was the final tune up game before the season begins Monday for P Colin McHugh and I'll bet he wishes he had another. McHugh wasn't sharp giving up 6 hits and 4 runs on the evening. He didn't get much help from his teammates either. McHugh pitched 5 full innings and to one batter in the 6th when AJ Hinch decided that his night was over. The final hit McHugh gave up resulted in the batter reaching second because of a throwing error by Carlos Correa. Luke Gregerson came on in relief and promptly gave up a ground rule RBI double. Gregerson followed that up with a strike out of the next batter and his night was done. Tony Sipp came on and pitched the final 2/3 of the 6th and you'd have to say he struggled by allowing two hits but he did not allow a run to score. Ken Giles pitched a scoreless 7th allowing one hit with 2 K's. Pat Neshak came on in the 8th and he pitched 1/3 of an inning allowing 2 hits. Michael Feliz closed out the final 1-2/3 innings allowing 2 hits and 1 run with 4 K's. The relievers didn't do a great job except for Giles and to some extent Feliz but you have to be disappointed in the rest of the bullpen. Gregerson allowed a run that was charged to McHugh and Sipp allowed a run charged to Gregerson. Every reliever struggled on the night and the to their credit they battled hard because the score could have, and maybe should have, been much worse. Sipp and Neshak were coming off terrible outings on Wednesday and they both continued to struggle last night. It's not what you want to see with opening day just 4 days away as of last night. Make no mistake though, Colin McHugh was not sharp last night and the initial damage was done with him on the mound. Unlike Keuchel who dominated in his final spring outing on Monday McHugh wasn't as sharp as you'd hope at this point.

You can't blame the whole game on bad pitching. The offense was nowhere in sight. As a team the Astros only had 4 hits in the game and the top five spots in the batting order, starters and subs, did not have a single hit in the game. In fact, the only hitter in the top 5 who even got on base was a walk by George Springer. Luis Valbuena, Preston Tucker, Tyler White and Jason Castro each had one hit and Tyler White accounted for the Astros lone run with an RBI double that scored Tucker. I'm going to say the Astros were tired after finishing a game late Wednesday afternoon, packing up and traveling to Houston and getting back to their homes. Exhausting. Really. Okay, they stunk up the place but it's preseason so don't put a lot of stock in it.

 

Houston have their final 25 set. The final piece was decided yesterday as the Astros let Wandy Rodriguez would not make the opening day roster. This means that Michael Feliz and James Hoyt have made the roster. Wandy has the option of accepting an assignment to AAA Fresno or he can shop for a team that needs a pitcher. As for the Astros, they hope he stays with the Astros organization.

 

Also yesterday, the Astros informed IF Matt Duffy that he was going to make the opening day roster. With Duffy making the roster that meant that the Astros would carry only 12 pitchers going into the season and it also meant they would have to cut a pitcher. Wandy Rodriguez was the odd man out.

 

Lance McCullers threw batting practice yesterday in Kissimmee as part of his prep for the season. He has been slowed by shoulder soreness and the Astros have him on a special throwing program to get him ready for the regular season. He will not be on the opening day roster but it shouldn't be long before he will be back in the Astros rotation.

 

The final spring game is today at noon at the Juice Box vs the Milwaukee Brewers. Mike Fiers will get the start for Houston and Matt Garza will start for the Brewers. Houston travels to New York for it's opening day game against the Yankees on Monday. It is all about to get started for real and I couldn't be happier.

The Astros looked a little more ready for the season opener Monday when they beat the Brewers yesterday at the Juice Box by a score of 4-2. Starter Mike Fiers was good only allowing 2 runs on 2 solo HRs by the Brewers in his 5.1 innings of work. In all he allowed 5 hits with 7 K's and no walks. A very good outing indeed. The main goal of the last two games was to not get anyone hurt and the Astros accomplished that. The Brewers weren't so lucky because their starting pitcher Matt Garza left the game after 3.1 innings with shoulder soreness. The condition isn't considered serious and he is expected to make his scheduled start next week. Former Astro Domingo Santana led off the game with a home run giving Milwaukee an early lead. Ryan Braun made it 2-1 after Houston scored in the bottom of the 2nd on a Tyler White line drive HR. Braun hit his shot with 2 outs in the top of the 3rd but that was all the Brewers could manage on the day. The Astros rallied in the bottom of the 6th scoring on a 2-run double by Carlos Gomez and a single by C Erik Kratz that scored Gomez. That 3 run sixth gave Houston a 4-2 lead and that is how the game ended as Houston's bullpen held the Brewers scoreless the rest of the game. Will Harris, Luke Gregerson, James Hoyt and Josh Fields combined to shut the Brewers out and even better they didn't allow a single hit. Harris got the win as he got the final two outs in the sixth in relief of Fiers.

 

Prior to yesterday's game the roster was finalized when the Astros decided to send P James Hoyt to AAA Fresno to begin the season. Michael Feliz did make the final roster as well as Tyler White. White was informed earlier this week he would make the roster and yesterday just made it official. Houston also made it official when they placed Evan Gattis, Lance McCullers and Max Stassi on the 15 day DL to begin the season.

 

Monday's opener in New York will feature a rematch of the starters in the Wild Card game last season. Dallas Keuchel will face off against Masahiro Tanaka at Yankee Stadium.

 

Linked below is a discussion between MLB.com's Brian McTaggart and Astros radio announcer Robert Ford about the outlook for the upcoming season.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/170166208/astros-announcer-ford-previews-2016-season

 

With today's post it concludes my activity on this thread. Thanks to those who followed and contributed to this thread over the past few months.

Time to start a regular season thread!! WOOHOOO Baseball is back!!!