Houston Astros Off Season News

Gosh the World Series has only just begun and danged if the Royals aren't up 1-0 on the NY Mets. Yep, the very same Royals Houston had a 6-2 lead on going into the 8th inning of Game 4 of the ALDS up 2-1 in the best of 5 series. 6 measly outs away from the ALCS and 4 wins away from the Fall Classic. Kind of makes you sick, don't it? But no use crying over spilled milk, as they say. Time to move on. I certainly bear no grudge against the Royals, heck, I'm rooting for them if, for no other reason, that I hate the stinkin Metropolitans. The animosity lingers on still after the luckier-than-crap Mets first beat the Astros in the NLCS for the right to go to the World Series then they backed into beating the Red Sox for the championship. Of course all this took place way back in 1986 but that wound cut deep into me and a lot of other Astros fans. Deeper even than the loss to the Philadelphia Phillies again in the NLCS in 1980. Maybe that's when I started to dislike Pete Rose. Anyway, GO ROYALS!

 

There really is off season news to talk about concerning the Astros. On Monday the 26th Carlos Correa was named The Sporting News American League Rookie of the Year. The award is very meaningful because it is voted on by the AL players. Correa, who made his Major League debut June 8 and was the youngest position player in the Majors this season, hit .279 with 22 doubles, 22 home runs, 68 RBIs, 14 stolen bases and a .857 OPS in 99 games. He led all AL rookies in home runs, slugging (.512) and OPS, while ranking second in RBIs and on-base percentage (.345), and third in batting average.

Correa set both the franchise rookie record for home runs and the franchise record for home runs by a shortstop.

In voting by a panel of 176 AL players, Correa finished with 98 votes, easily ahead of second-place finisher Francisco Lindor of the Indians (30). Miguel Sano of the Twins was third, with 13 votes. Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. received a pair of votes, putting him in seventh place. (from an article on Astros.com) Correa is still in the running to win the AL Rookie of the Year Award as voted on by the Baseball Writers of America.

The awards are continuing to roll in for the Astros and that's as it should be went you are a playoff team. One of the reasons you are a playoff team is because you have players who are exceptional and they help carry a team through a season. Dallas Keuchel has won the Houston chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America Most Valuable Player on the Astros team. Keuchel was also named Pitcher of the Year for his 20 win season and 2nd place ranking in ERA in the AL. Keuchel is the first pitcher to win the team MVP award since reliever Doug Jones won it way back in 1992. Carlos Correa was named Houston's Rookie of the Year and backup catcher Hank Conger won the Darryl Kile Good Guy Award. The Diamondbacks Paul Goldschmidt won the Houston area Player of the Year award.

 

There are a bunch of awards to decided in the baseball like the Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and many other awards and several Astros are in the running. Dallas Keuchel has got to be the front runner for the AL Cy Young Award and Carlos Correa is in the conversation for Rookie of the Year. Also, Keuchel, Jose Altuve and Jason Castro are among the 3 finalists at their positions to win Gold Glove Awards. Keuchel won his first Gold Glove last season. The other finalists at pitcher are Mark Buehrle (Tonoto) and Sonny Gray (Oakland). 2nd base finalists are Brian Dozier (Minnesota) and Ian Kinsler (Detroit) and the catchers finalists are Russell Martin (Toronto) and Salvador Perez (Kansas City). The Gold Glove is awarded to the player who is the best fielder at his position so, to have 3 players as finalists is pretty special.

 

On Monday the Astros will have the official ground breaking for their new $130MM spring training facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. The Astros and the Washington Nationals will share the facility. Among the people expected at the ceremony will be MLB commissioner Rob Manfred joining Astros owner Jim Crane and GM Jeff Luhnow and Nationals owner Mark Lerner and GM Mike Rizzo. The ground breaking will take place on the same day the MLB GM winter meetings will begin in Boca Raton.

 

Houston has already made a roster move of sorts. They have declined to exercise their option on relief pitcher Chad Qualls making him a free agent.

 

Lastly, The Astros minor league system was named the best in baseball. This article from Astros.com explains the recognition.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/156548388/astros-farm-system-ranked-no-1-by-milbcom

Houston has already made one roster move by not exercising the option on Chad Qualls contract and allowing him to become a free agent. Now they have attempted to make a roster move by offering OF Colby Rasmus a $15.8 MM qualifying offer for next season. Rasmus had a good season with Houston last season and he was red hot in the playoffs. It's not a bad move by Houston to get a player who did play a big part in their success this past season and he practically carried the team in the post season. Not only does this show Rasmus he is wanted but it also has a residual effect. Because they tendered an offer if Rasmus signs with another team for next year Houston will get a compensatory draft pick in next summer's draft. Rasmus has on week to accept the offer which will lock him in at the tender offer salary or he can decline and become a free agent. The clock is ticking and this coming Friday is the deadline.

The awards are starting to be announced for the 2015 season and Houston has 3 players who have been winners as voted on by the players, hence the name of the awards are The Players Choice Awards. I would think that the fact that you are recognized by your peers. Dallas Keuchel won TPCA for AL Outstanding Pitcher of the Year, Carlos Correa won for Rookie of the Year and Jose Altuve won the inaugural awarding of the Majestic Athletic Always Game Award given to the player who continually exhibits grit, tenacity, perseverance and hustle.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/156896912/

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2587691-dallas-keuchel-wins-al-outstanding-pitcher-at-2015-players-choice-awards

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2587516-carlos-correa-wins-al-outstanding-rookie-at-2015-players-choice-awards

 

Among the needs the Astros have headed toward the 2016 season are at the corner infield spots and relief pitching. Houston addressed the 3rd base position this year by signing Luis Valbuena. He provided some pop in the lineup but he also struck out a lot and didn't hit for much an average. At first base Chris Carter held down the position despite posting a sub .200 batting average. Finally, in the middle of September, Carter and the Houston hitting coach figured out why Carter didn't hit worth a crap when they made a slight adjustment of his bat position when he was waiting on the pitch. Prior to the move Carter held his bat straight up and down with his arms sort of close to his body. The adjustment was to move his hands back toward his back shoulder and let the bat drop to about a 45 degree angle in what would be considered a traditional batting stance. The move paid off dividends as Carter got hot as a firecracker the last two weeks of the season and he carried the team's offense to the playoffs. Carter made an adjustment in his address last season after the All Star break and he was the hottest hitter in baseball the second half of the season. Will Houston waste time on hoping Carter has really found his swing and take the chance on him struggling through another year of poor hitting hoping they can straighten it out before September or will they finally give up on Carter and look for a 1st basemen who can actually hit with some consistency? Surely the Astros took note of how valuable it is for hitters to actually make contact and put the ball in play rather than be among the league leaders in K's as they were this season. Here are links from Bleacher Report about the top 15 corner infield prospects in free agency this winter.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2583701-br-mlb-offseason-100-the-top-15-corner-infielders-available

 

Houston has a need to bolster their bullpen. They did it last season adding Luke Gregerson and Pat Neshak and the bullpen was pretty solid for 5 months. Unfortunately, the baseball season lasts six. I suppose the arms in the pen just got tired or something because they were absolutely dreadful in September ultimately costing Houston the opportunity to advance past the Royals in the Divisional Round of the playoffs when they blew two leads. The worst of the lot was the 5 runs given up in the top of the 8th when Houston had a 6-2 lead that ultimately became a 7-2 deficit by the time the inning was over. Hopefully the Astros learned a little something about contact hitting and the value of NOT striking out in that game as hit after hit came bouncing of Royals bats in that nightmare of an inning. Houston needs a power arm or two at the back end of the pen similar to the Mets and Royals pens when they seemingly have an endless supply of guys who throw 98 mph fastballs---for strikes. Here is the top 15 bullpen free agents according to Bleacher Report.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2583268-br-mlb-offseason-100-the-top-15-relief-pitchers-available

 

One last thing, the Astros have had the lowest, or close to the lowest, payroll for several years now as the rebuilt their farm system. The Astros have been successful doing that judging by the fact their farm system was named the #1 system in the major leagues. They have jumped up and reached the playoffs a couple years before they were expected to and they have a solid group of players, both pitchers and position players, to build around. As I pointed out above Houston has some gaps to fill to make the club even better in 2016 and this article from Astros.com talks about how owner Jim Crane is making resources available to GM Jeff Luhnow to do just that. The Astros are also looking at artibration dealings with Dallas Keuchel, Evan Gattis and Jason Castro which, if all three players are retained by the Astros, will cause a big jump in the Astros overall payroll. That doesn't mean the dealing will be over and that is a good sign for happenings this winter.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/156884692/astros-ready-to-spend-in-free-agency

Yesterday the voting for the Gold Glove awards was done and 2 Houston players won GG awards. Pitcher Dallas Keuchel won his 2nd GG which makes 2 years running he's won the award. Jose Altuve also won the GG and it was his first time to win the award. Over the next week there will winners voted on and announced. Houston still has players in the running for several different post season awards which is what happens when teams start to do well.

It was announced today that two former Astros are on this year's Hall of Fame ballot. 1B Jeff Bagwell is on the ballot for the 6th time and former closer Billy Wagner is on the ballot for the 1st time.

 

I haven't investigated the numbers but if he's made the HOF ballot he must be in the conversation so I wish Billy Wagner all the best. As far as Jeff Bagwell is concerned, I think Baggy deserves to be in the HOF. Between he a Biggio they were the backbone of the team for over a decade and they made the Astros relevant. His number compare very favorably with 2014 inductee Frank Thomas even though Thomas played 4 more years than Bagwell. Some of the accolades Bagwell got were in spite of having to deal with a 1st baseman heavy National League that featured Mark McGwire, Eric Karros, Todd Helton and Fred McGriff.

 

Bagwell had nine seasons with over 30 home runs, eight seasons with 100 or more RBI, and nine seasons with over 100 runs scored. In six consecutive years, from 1996 through 2001, he reached all three marks in every season. He drew at least 100 walks for seven straight seasons, and had six seasons with a .300 batting average. To go along with that Bagwell was the first first baseman in MLB history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season. Bagwell was an excellent base runner who stole 202 bases over his career. He had 2 seasons when he stole 30 bases and 5 other seasons when he stole at least 15. For a power hitting 1B those are excellent numbers. Unlike many of the slugging 1B Bagwell combined exceptional offensive numbers with stifling defence. Bagwell was one of the best defensive first basemen ever. Even though he only won 1 Gold Glove award he was among the best at turning the 3-6-3 double play and his intimidating presence on bunts caused batters fits. He was often times within 10 feet or closer by the time a batter who squared around to bunt actually made contact. Bagwell could run, hit, field, hit for average and hit for power. You also have to consider that Bagwell lost big portions of 3 seasons, 1993, 1994 and 1995 due to breaking bones in his hand being hit by pitches. These 3 years were in the prime of his career so his numbers would have ballooned accordingly. Bagwell had one of the best season's ever in 1994 that resulted in his being a unanimous winner of the NL MVP award. He also won Rookie of the Year honors in 1991. The Astros should have gone to the playoffs and would have had a good shot at winning it all had it not been for the players strike that began in September of 1994 and caused the World Series to be cancelled. I think that the Bagwell story is much more interesting than that of Frank Thomas and his numbers compare very favorably. Baggy deserves to be in the HOF and maybe the induction of Houston's first homegrown HOF'er Craig Biggio has paved the way in for his friend Jeff Bagwell.

The awards keep coming in as Jose Altuve won his second straight Silver Slugger Award given to the top offensive player at each position in each league. Altuve won this award as the best offensive player in the American League at 2nd base and he won it again this year as well making Altuve only the 3rd player in franchise history to win the Silver Slugger and the Gold Glove awards in the same season. Craig Biggio won in 1994, 1995 and 1997 and Jeff Bagwell did it in 1994. Altuve continues to put up impressive numbers adding 2015 on his list of impressive performances.

 

Altuve hit .313 with 40 doubles and four triples and set career highs with 15 home runs and 66 RBIs in 154 games last season. He led all AL second basemen in hits and doubles, while ranking second in batting average. Among all AL players, Altuve led the league in hits (200) and stolen bases (38) for the second consecutive season, joining the Yankees' Snuffy Stirnweiss (1944-45) as the only players in Major League history to lead the AL in hits and steals in consecutive seasons. Altuve also became the first player in franchise history to reach 200 hits in a season twice.

 

In other news, today was the deadline for Colby Rasmus to decide whether or not to accept the Astros one year $15 MM qualifying offer. Today Rasmus agree to accept the offer.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/157183486/colby-rasmus-accepts-qualifying-offer

 

There have been 10 Astros who have won a Silver Slugger Award: Altuve (2014-15), outfielder Carlos Lee (2007), third baseman Morgan Ensberg (2005), left-handed pitcher Mike Hampton (1999), outfielder Moises Alou (1998), Bagwell (1994, '97, '99), Biggio (catcher in 1989, second baseman in 1994-95, 1997-98), first baseman Glenn Davis (1986), outfielder Jose Cruz (1983-84) and shortstop Dickie Thon (1983).

Established in 1980, the Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Awards are the top offensive honor in Major League Baseball. Managers and coaches of all 30 Major League teams vote for the players they feel are the best offensive producers at each position in both the American and National Leagues. -- (Info from Astros.com)

 

Edited November 13, 2015 by eagle eye

Houston has 3 people up for the big awards for the 2015 season. They would be Carlos Correa for Rookie of the Year, Dallas Keuchel for AL Cy Young Award and A J Hinch for Manager of the Year. The awards come from the Baseball Writers Association of America and they reward the best of the best for a given season as determined by a vote by the members of the BBWAA nation wide.

 

Last night as announced on the MLB Network Carlos Correa won the 2015 AL Rookie of the Year Award edging out Cleveland shortstop Francisco Lindor 124 votes to 109 with Correa getting 17 first place votes to 13 for Lindor.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/157446668/astros-carlos-correa-wins-al-rookie-of-year

 

The Manager of the Year Award will be announced tonight at 5 o'clock CST on the MLB Network. Hinch is one of 3 finalists for the MOY award joining the Rangers Jeff Bannister and the Twins Paul Molitor.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/157433102/astros-aj-hinch-up-for-al-manager-of-year

 

The AL and NL Cy Young Awards will be awarded this week as well but AL CYA finalist Dallas Keuchel earned another award. He will be taking home the Warren Spahn Award given to the best left handed pitcher in baseball in a given season. The award is named after Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn who is from the state of Oklahoma. It just so happens Keuchel is from Oklahoma as well and he has said this award is very meaningful to him.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/157425294/astros-dallas-keuchel-wins-warren-spahn-award

They just paid Rasmus Waayyyy too much.

The bullpen strikes again. How so? In the Manager of the Year voting the ultimate winner was Rangers skipper Jeff Bannister because basically because the Rangers came out of nowhere to win the AL West. A J Hinch led the Astros from equally, if not worse than, nowhere to take 2nd place in the AL West and earn a wild card berth in the playoffs. The Astros won the Wild Card Playoff game vs the Yankees and came within 6 outs of beating the Kansas City Royals in the ALDS. Both the Astros and the Rangers fell in their ADLS series against the Royals and Blue Jays respectively but the real shame is Hinch had the Astros in first place for 5 months of the season but in September the bullpen just went to the dogs. The relief pitching just plain stunk as the Astros lost the division lead and had to play their rear ends off just to make the Wild Card. Tell the bullpen thanks, kids. Thanks bullpen. If the relief pitching had not collapsed the Astros win the division and last night A J Hinch would have won the MOY award instead of Jeff Bannister.

 

I somewhat agree with Big T that Colby Rasmus got overpaid. I think that his hot streak in the playoffs helped Jeff Luhnow make a decision. His .238 BA was below his career average but his 25 home runs on the season was a career high and his 61 RBIs was the 4th most in his career. I don't like that he struck out a career high 154 times. I think if the Astros as a team needs to concentrate a lot harder to be better contact hitters. I also think there are several hitters that need to learn to go opposite field when teams go into the shift which leaves a ton of open grass on the opposite side of the shift. I have no clue why guys don't take advantage of the shift to get base hits. Teams that got to see frustrate opposing teams all the way to the World Series by just putting the ball in play---base hitting other teams to death. Why don't they take a page from the Royals book to improve their offense. Is it ego? Are they willing to sacrifice BA for home runs? Who knows but I am fully convinced that Houston needs a different hitting coach. To me, that is what Houston needs almost as much as bullpen help.

By golly, I almost can't believe it! Dallas Keuchel won the 2015 AL Cy Young Award! Now I am not surprised he won it because the numbers he put up make him the clear favorite. David Price got some love but Keuchel's 2015 season was just too good. Keuchel had the most wins (20) of any other AL pitcher and he was 2nd in wins only to the Cubs Jake Arieta who had 22. By coincidence Arieta won the NL Cy Young. Imagine that. Still, Price was a previous Cy Young winner and he has more notoriety than Keuchel. It made me nervous especially after A J Hinch lost out in the Manager of the Year award to the Rangers Jeff Bannister yesterday and because Keuchel was named the winner of the Warren Spahn award given to the best left handed pitcher in the major leagues earlier this week. Good for Dallas Keuchel and good for the Houston Astros.

As I was looking up the stats for Keuchel to make this post I was taken by the fact that his team mate, Collin McHugh, had his own breakout season this year. McHugh won 19 games which was the 2nd most wins in the AL. The Astros have a pretty nice 1-2 punch at the top of their starting pitching rotation. Keuchel is just the 3rd pitcher in Astros history and the first since Houston moved from the NL to the AL in 2013. Mike Scott and Roger Clemens are the other two. Pretty sweet for the Astros to take 2 of the top post season awards.

 

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/157613946/

 

http://m.mlb.com/video/v530342183/keuchel-takes-home-the-2015-bbwaa-al-cy-young-award

 

 

On Bleacher Report there was talk of a rumored mega-deal that involved as many as 5 players. What deal. Apparently, there was talk about a deal between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros that involved Braves slugging 1B Freddie Freeman. No other names were mentioned in the article but the Astros and Braves are saying there is nothing to the rumored deal. Depending on the who Houston would have to give up I wouldn't mind the Astros getting Freeman. He certainly fills one of the Astros needs. If Houston had to give up say, Luis Valbuena, Chris Carter and a pitching prospect for Freeman and top end prospect I would pull the trigger on that deal in a heartbeat. Of course, that won't happen because nobody in their right mind would go for a deal like that. That's the hot stove for you.

Topps announced their MLB All Star Rookies today and danged it Carlos Correa adds another laurel to his trophy case as he was named as the Topps All Rookie shortstop. Here is the list of all of the Topps Rookies.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/157778660/topps-announces-mlb-all-star-rookie-team

 

Houston added 5 minor league prospects to their forty man roster today to protect against them being taken in the Rule 5 draft that takes place after the Winter Meetings. The link below talks about those 5 as well as prospects that Houston chose not to protect. There may be a surprise or two on both lists.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/157781136/astros-add-five-minor-leaguers-to-roster

 

Tonight on the MLB Network the winners of the Esurance Awards will be broadcast. This link talks about the different categories of awards and Houston has two players up for an award. Dallas Keuchel is in the running for Best Starting Pitcher. Each category has 3 finalists and Keuchel is going up against LA Dodgers Zack Greinke and the Cubs Jake Arieta. Carlos Correa is up for Best Rookie (imagine that!). The other 2 finalists are Francisco Lindor and Kris Bryant.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/157719770/esurance-mlb-award-winners

 

Earlier I mentioned that 5 players were added to the Astros 40 man roster to protect them in the Rule 5 draft. Houston had to make some moves on that 40 man to make room for those players. OF Robbie Grossman and LHP Luis Cruz were released today. At the time Houston only had 34 players on the 40 man. Houston added the 5 players previously mentioned so they have one spot open. I don't know the rules for how trades affect players in the 40 man roster but Houston traded Jonathan Villar to Milwaukee for pitching prospect Cy Sneed.

 

The 2016 season opener has been set and Houston will begin the 2016 campaign against the New York Yankees on Monday April 4th at 1:05PM in Yankee Stadium. It's part of a 7 game schedule to be televised on ESPN with a triple header on Sunday the 3rd and 4 games on Monday. Houston-NY is the first game of the ESPN quadruple header.

In the "Can't win 'em all" category Dallas Keuchel and Carlos Correa both lost out to a pair of Cubs players for Best Starting Pitcher and Best Rookie awards given out this week.

Keuchel lost to Cubs ace Jake Arieta and Correa lost to Cubs 3B Kris Bryant, the NL Rookie of the Year according to the BBWAA. Still, it was a great year and accolades and awards won by Keuchel, Correa as well as Jose Altuve were very well deserved. Nice ending to a nice season.

 

The Astros had added 5 players to the 40 man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft as detailed in an earlier post. At the deadline to finish filling out the 40 man roster Houston added two more prospects to the list. The Astros added outfielder Andrew Alpin and infielder Nolan Fontana. The Astros also designated L J Hoes for assignment.

 

Here is the list of the current top 30 Astros prospects.

 

http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2015?list=hou

 

If you look at the list of top 30 prospects you may wonder why some of these players are not protected. There are rules pertaining to who is eligible to be drafted. Some on the list are available to be drafted while many are not. Because I'm lazy and didn't want to type for an hour I decided to depend of Wiki for help. Here is the Wiki definition and criteria for the Rule 5 draft including why it's called the Rule 5 draft.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_5_draft

The Astros have welcomed in the Thanksgiving holiday by making a couple of roster moves.

> SS/3B Jed Lowrie has been traded back to the Oakland A in exchange for RHP Brendon McCurry. McCurry had an outstanding season for the Athletics splitting time between Class A Advanced Stockton and Double-A Midland in A's farm system. In 50 games, McCurry was 1-3 with a 1.86 ERA, 27 saves in 28 chances while allowing 39 hits, 17 walks and striking out 82 in 63 innings. He was a 22nd-round pick out of Oklahoma State in the 2014 Draft. For his part, Lowrie said he is disappointed to leave the Astros because he felt the team is headed in the right direction and he liked playing for the Astros. He said he assumed he'd be in Houston for the duration of the 3 year deal he signed when he came back earlier this year. But, if nothing else, the business of baseball includes making trades. Personally, I'd rather have Lowrie rather than Luis Valbuena but I'm sure the Astros front office has a plan to fill the corner infield spots so I'll trust in Jeff Luhnow and his staff---for now. (LOL)

> OF LJ Hoes has been dealt to the Baltimore Orioles for cash considerations. Hoes has not done much for Houston and he was among the many guys on the roster who had a propensity to strike out a lot.

 

One of the perks of having success in pro sports is you get to do a lot of stuff most of us will never get the chance to do. In the video link below from Astros.com Dallas Keuchel gets to go on special ride along in one of the Breitling Jet Team jets flying in formation with team in a practice run in Houston.

 

http://m.mlb.com/hou/video/topic/40172882/v531614883/keuchel-flies-with-the-breitling-jet-team

The first big free agent signing of the off season was made today when the Boston Red Sox signed P David Price for a 7 year $217 MM dollar deal which means he will make $31 MM a year. Not bad a 30 year old ball player who won't turn 31 until late August of 2016. If Price stays healthy he should be able to fulfill all 7 years of his deal. At least 4 or 5 as an effective pitcher. Great. So, now Price has set the bar for the other free agent pitchers out there. But, who are those FAs? Here's a link to CBSSports.com's top 20 free agent pitchers with a few bonus players thrown in at the end. Notice that Houston's Scott Kazmir is ranked No. 6 on the list.

 

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/25367332/mlb-free-agent-rankings-pitching-market-is-loaded-with-big-names

 

Houston is said to be looking for a top tier starting pitcher to add to their rotation for 2016. I wonder if Jim Crane and Jeff Luhnow will get scared off by the David Price deal? If Houston was to name a starting rotation right now this is what I believe it would be.

 

LHP Dallas Keuchel

RHP Collin McHugh

RHP Lance McCullers

RHP Scott Feldman

RHP Mike Fiers

 

Of course this is open to debate. There is lefty Brett Oberholtzer who should be healthy by spring training. There are a string of righties both young and who can bring the heat to pick from like Asher Wojciecowski and Vincent Velasquez. There are also guys like Dan Straily, Michael Feliz and Juan Minaya to name just a couple of the young arms Houston has to choose from next spring.

With the bag open now and Price setting the "Price" tag for free agent pitchers you would wonder just how money the Astros are willing to part with for that top tier pitcher. In a perfect world Houston would be able to land Zack Grienke but unfortunately this is not a perfect world. I'm sure Jeff Luhnow doesn't want to spend his whole free agent budget on one player even if it is Grienke. That's the fun of this time of year for baseball fans, to make their own free agent moves and see if they agree with the ones their favorite team makes.

I guess the first question Houston will have to answer is whether a starting pitcher or a top closer is at the top of their list of "must haves".

Yesterday at the tender offer deadline the Astros made tender offers to all of their arbitration eligible players including Dallas Keuchel except for two. Backup catcher Hank Conger was traded to Tampa Bay for cash considerations and Chris Carter was not tendered an offer which means he becomes a free agent. I'm not sure, but I think Houston could still offer Carter a deal but it would be cheaper than the 5-6 million dollar arbitration number would have been had they tendered him an offer. Besides Keuchel the other arbitration eligible players who were tendered offers were C Jason Castro, DH Evan Gattis, 3B Luis Valbuena, IF Marwin Gonzalez and P Josh Fields. The offers will not be made public until after the first of the year when arbitration meetings will take place. Here is what the remaining arbitration-eligible Astros players are estimated to get, according to MLBTradeRumors.com: Valbuena ($5.8 million), Castro ($4.6 million), Gonzalez ($1.9 million), Keuchel ($6.4 million), Fields ($800,000) and Gattis ($3.4 million). Players can sign their tender offers at any time but if they don't sign by January the club and the player will submit salary expectations for the arbitration meetings.

 

In case you were wondering who is eligible for arbitration here is the definition from MLBPlayers.com.

 

A player with three or more years of service, but less than six years, may file for salary arbitration. In addition, a player can be classified as a "Super Two" and be eligible for arbitration with less than three years of service. A player with at least two but less than three years of Major League service shall be eligible for salary arbitration if he has accumulated at least 86 days of service during the immediately preceding season and he ranks in the top 22 percent (increased from 17 percent in previous agreements) in total service in the class of Players who have at least two but less than three years of Major League service, however accumulated, but with at least 86 days of service accumulated during the immediately preceding season.

 

On December 15 the MLB Network will air a special chronicling the Houston Astrodome and it's place in history in a show entitled, "The Eighth Wonder of the World". The Dome celebrated it's 50th birthday this year when the world's first domed stadium opened in 1965. Many people have fond memories of The Dome and it will hopefully be a nice tribute to the stadium and many, many memories that came from there.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/158735472/mlb-network-to-show-documentary-on-astrodome

The 2015 MLB Winter Meetings began today in Nashville, Tn. As described in the link below from Astros.com GM Jeff Luhnow expects to be very busy over the next 4 days of meetings. It will be very interesting to see what the Astros brain trust can come up with.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/158948554/jeff-luhnow-astros-arrive-to-winter-meetings

The Astros have hired Alonzo Powell as assistant hitting instructor for the club replacing Alan Zinter was left to become the hitting coach in San Diego. I hope he has a better influence on the Astros hitters because this line up still strikes out too much and works too few walks.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/159065358/alonzo-powell-joins-astros-coaching-staff

 

The Astros want to improve their bullpen. Trouble is everybody seems to want to do the same thing. So far in the Winter Meetings the only thing happening is talk and the Astros, who wanted to be active during the meetings to address several weaknesses on the team haven't made a move as yet. Well, other than hiring an new assistant hitting coach.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/159056376/astros-seek-relief-pitching-at-winter-meetings

Astros get their closer in a trade with, who else, Philly. Astros acquire Ken Giles in return for Vincent Velasquez, Obie, Fisher, and a PTBNL. Overall, depending on the PTBNL, this is a very fair trade and a brilliant move on the part of Lunow staying away from Chapman and Kimbrel. VV is a legit prospect and Giles is a legit closer. I would give the trade an A- just wish we hadn't given up Fisher as well.

Astros get their closer in a trade with, who else, Philly. Astros acquire Ken Giles in return for Vincent Velasquez, Obie, Fisher, and a PTBNL. Overall, depending on the PTBNL, this is a very fair trade and a brilliant move on the part of Lunow staying away from Chapman and Kimbrel. VV is a legit prospect and Giles is a legit closer. I would give the trade an A- just wish we hadn't given up Fisher as well.

 

I agree with Big T whole heartedly! Giles is a power arm that gives the Astros a dominating pitcher to close out games. With a fastball that averages 97 mph and tops out in triple digits it will make Houston's bullpen so much better than it was. If Jeff Luhnow can find a left handed reliever to replace Tony Sipp the Astros could be set up (no pun intended) for 2016. MLB.com's Richard Justice calls this acquisition a perfect fit for the Astros.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/159288688/ken-giles-is-perfect-fit-for-houston-astros

 

Houston has, without question, one of the best farm systems in baseball and as those players come up to the big club my sincere hope is that they are teaching the value of quality at-bats. If I was A J Hinch the first 3 days of spring training I would show film of the Royals and the quality ABs they have then I would show film of the Astros striking out with runners in scoring position and otherwise poor ABs because they were swinging for the fences. Every hitter except Jake Marisnick hit below their career average in 2015 so I was glad the Astros got a new assistant hitting coach. My hope is that assistant has a positive influence on the lineup. Another thing I'm disappointed in is Houston's inability to upgrade the 1B and 3B positions so far in the Winter Meetings. Chris Carter is gone but who will replace him? Jon Singleton isn't the answer IMO and I want Luis Valbuena gone so I'm not advocating his move to 1B. It would be hard to plug Valbuena in at first when you don't have anyone but Marwin Gonzalez to play third. Besides cutting Carter Houston also parted ways with Jed Lowrie in a trade with Oakland. Are the Astros depending on prospects filling roles next season? Is anyone ready for the bigs? The Astros are in a transition phase with the team being a playoff contender that is still rebuilding. Does the front office remain patient and fill position holes with home grown prospects or do they throw out big bucks on free agents. Or, do they mortgage some of their farm system in a trade like they did when they acquired closer Ken Giles. It cost them a good man in Viincent Velasquez so Houston has to be careful to manage the organization so they don't sacrifice their future for present success. So far Jeff Luhnow is modeling the Astros after the organization he came from, the St Louis Cardinals, so you have to have confidence that Luhnow won't pull a Tim Purpura and wreck all they have built.

 

According to the Bleacher Report in one of their team by team series discussed the top prospects from each team that are in a make or break season coming in 2016. The BR singled out former 1st pick in the 2013 draft, Mark Appel, as Houston's MOB guy. I'm not sure that Appel really qualifies here. He pitched 140 innings in the minors in 2013 and he missed a couple of months in 2014 when he had to have an emergency appendectomy in early February. Appel struggled much of the 2014 season because of the late start he got and because he was getting into shape while he was pitching. Despite his struggles he advanced all the way to the AA Corpus Christi Hooks during the season. In 2015 he again struggled early but he did show improvement and by the summer he was promoted to AAA Fresno. The guy has only been a pro for 2 years so I think we need to tap the breaks a little. He ERA isn't great (4.26) but he went 5-1 in Corpus and he was chosen for the All Star Futures Game. In Fresno he finished with a 4.48 ERA in 12 starts. Appel deserves a little more patience and you have to trust that the Astros are not rushing him up through the minors too fast. To me, if anyone is needing to make a big jump is Jon Singleton who has been quite disappointing. He needs to show something or it will be time to cut bait. He will hit okay in the minors but he just sucks with the big club. He is a strike out machine and that needs to be addressed if he's going to be a big leaguer.

A report I saw yesterday claimed 2015 2nd round pick Thomas Eshelman was to be the PTBNL. In baseball a player can not be traded until after 1 year from when he was drafted (or signed if he was an UDFA). Typically the deal is made and the PTBNL is already set but the PTBNL just can't be announced. Eshelman was a guy I liked at Cal State-Fullerton but he won't pop off the charts in terms of arm strength...he's a control pitcher and really good at it. He walked 17 batters in 362+ innings of work in college...that's less that 1/2 walk per 9 innings. I think he's a good prospect but probably not someone who would ever end up at the top half of a rotation.

 

In regards to Fisher. I think he will turn out to be a good player but he is strictly a LF due to his arm. With Houston having drafted Cameron and little Tucker, along with Springer, big Tucker and some other young guys, Fisher became expendable.

 

Also saw today that Houston had 1 pitch all season that was 99 MPH or higher (Velasquez). Giles hit 99+ 37 times alone.

Edited December 10, 2015 by KABrother88

Perhaps the best part of the trade is that Giles is under team control until 2020. If it were not for that then this trade would be a disaster in my opinion. But this is not a rental type of trade which is what makes it such a great move. And while Fisher was expendable, there is no assurance that either little Tucker, big Tucker, or Cameron are going to pan out. I tend to like options.

The Astros are reportedly done with their search for bullpen help after resigning LHP Tony Sipp to a 3 year $18MM deal on Thursday. Sipp has been pretty good out of the bullpen. He's not a dominating type of pitcher but, except for Ken Giles, everyone in the bullpen is kind of the same--solid, good stuff but nobody is overpowering in terms of velocity. I envy the Royals BP because they have 3 or 4 guys who can throw in the upper 90's for strikes. It's a pretty nice feeling to have that kind of talent to come in late in games and shut down the other team. Last year's 'pen was good most of the time but they did have some slumps, of course the worst slump can in the whole dang month of September. There was some dead weight on the bullpen last year--guys who never really did squat like Oliver Perez who was just in the lineup because of injuries. I hope the search isn't over for a left handed power arm (if one is out there). I would hope that the Astros can find a top lefty starting pitcher too but then again there may not be one available. Right now, except for Dallas Keuchel we are right handed in the starting rotation.

 

I found an article in Bleacher Report that headlined, 'Astros "open" to trade offers for George Springer. Immediately I'm like WTF!!!! That's crazy. So, obviously, I had to check that out. I linked the article below but the bottom line is the Astros would need a helluva deal to pull the trigger on a trade involving Springer. Another guy who is reportedly being discussed is OF Carlos Gomez. To be honest, I wasn't real impressed with Gomez and if Houston got some nice prospects or a quality pitcher I have no problem with dealing Gomez. A guy with a so-called fiery personality like Gomez isn't worth the hassle if he doesn't produce and for Houston he didn't really do all that much. I wish we had just kept the prospect we gave up for him. The Astros got P Mike Fiers in the same deal and his no-hitter was a highlight of the season. Bang for buck there even though he didn't do much else for the Astros. I like Jeff Luhnow and his plan for the organization but even a genius makes a bonehead move every once in a while and there were a couple of deals I really scratched my head over this past season. The Carlos Gomez deal was one of those moves IMO.

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2597370-george-springer-trade-rumors-latest-news-speculation-on-astros-ofs-future

Perhaps the best part of the trade is that Giles is under team control until 2020. If it were not for that then this trade would be a disaster in my opinion. But this is not a rental type of trade which is what makes it such a great move. And while Fisher was expendable, there is no assurance that either little Tucker, big Tucker, or Cameron are going to pan out. I tend to like options.

 

No such thing as a guarantee that a prospect will pan out. But when you have a wealth of options it's easier to move 1-2 of them because odds are you have someone who will. Obviously Houston was high on Fisher since they took him with their 2nd pick in 2014 (Comp Round A). To me he is more of a high floor, low ceiling guy...you know what your gonna get and there isn't much of a gamble. Cameron and little Tucker are both high ceiling guys with a lower floor to me...you might strike Carlos Correa or you might strike Jiovanni Mier. Being under team control until 2020 as you mentioned makes that price tag higher than normal as well. Rebuilding the way Houston did serves 2 purposes...A.) you build your team with young talent under team control and B.) have chips to use to get more proven players at need positions.

Edited December 11, 2015 by KABrother88

The deal for Ken Giles is done but it has cost the Astros dearly. Unlike the original deal that would bring Giles to Houston and the Astros would send P Brett Oberholzer, P Vincent Velasquez, OF Derek Fisher and P Thomas Eschelman to Philadelphia. The problem was Derek Fisher's physical which raised some questions about his health. The deal had to be augmented to please the Phillies. What pleased the Phillies was getting two of Houston top pitching prospects, former #1 draft pick Mark Appel and Vincent Velasquez who was part of the orginal deal, and Fisher was off the table. Here's the link to the article from Astros.com about the trade.

 

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/159500100/astros-acquire-closer-ken-giles-from-phillies

 

A note or two about the deal. I think Ken Giles better be a damn good closer for a long freaking time to justify this deal. I think Jeff Luhnow lost his damn mind. What ever made him feel it was okay to give up a 24 year old pitcher with only 2 years of pro experience who was your #1 pick in the draft just 2 years ago expendable is beyond my understanding. It was bad enough to give up Velasquez, the only pitcher to throw a pitch 97 mph on the whole damn team last year, but to give up Appel too? That's just too much. The Phillies must have drugged Luhnow's iced tea to get him to agree to a deal like this. Appel looked to be the only real power arm in the starting rotation as it currently stands for Houston. He would have been given a chance to play his way onto the big league club next spring because there would be definitely room for him. If he was the 3rd, 4th or even 5th man in the rotation that would be okay. It would have given him a chance to evolve in much the same way Dallas Keuchel evolved into the staff ace. Who better to learn from than a guy like Keuchel? I am very, very disappointed in this deal. I just hope the Astros don't have to feel the same way down the road.

As for Derek Fisher, the Astros still have him but the outfield will get pretty crowded with the prospects the Astros have in their system. Players that are better than Fisher quite frankly. Fisher has some nice power but his type of player is too much a part of the problem in the Houston organization. Strike outs. Fisher strikes out a whopping 23% of his at-bats and that is just not going to get him to the bigs. It's bad luck Fisher couldn't pass the physical because it cost us yet another top pitching prospect.

The other part of the deal is the swap of minor league prospects. The Astros get 17 year old SS prospect from Panama Jonathan Arauz from the Phillies and they send P 20 year old prospect Harold Arauz to Philly. One thing I found out is that while these two young men are both named Arauz it is not believed they are related. If you look at it this deal looks even worse considering that Houston has lost 5 pitcher from their organization and gotten one pitcher and a 2nd base/SS prospect. Considering Houston has Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa acquiring a middle infield prospect seems pointless. I still can't believe Houston made this deal. All deals can't be judged when they are made, I get that, but this sure looks like a bonehead deal to me.

 

I think I missed this because it happened way back in November but Houston declined to exercise their option for Chad Qualls making him a free agent. This past week the chance of resigning Qualls went out the window when, on Tuesday, Colorado signed Qualls to a contract. I really don't know of anyone sad to see Qualls go judging by the poor season he had this past year.