2016-7 Houston Astros Off Season

The Astros went from bad to worse yesterday. As of my post yesterday afternoon the Astros were losing to the Marlins 5-1 in the 4th inning. The final score yesterday was 9-5 but I think the score was not as indicative of the beating the Marlins put on the Astros. Astros pitching generally struggled from top to bottom as 8 pitchers were used yesterday and 6 gave up at least one run. The tone was set as 2016 ace long reliever Chris Devenski gave up 4 runs on 2 hits and 2 BB’s in 1.1 innings of work. The big blow was the 3 run blast my Marlins 9 hitter Miguel Rojas. Francis Martes gave up 2 hits and run when he came on in the 3rd inning in relief of Trent Thornton who closed out the 2nd inning in relief of Devenski. Thornton did not allow a hit or a run in his 2/3 of an inning of work. Martes pitched 1.2 innings before giving way to Kevin Chapman in the 5th. Before Chapman could get the final out of the 5th inning he allowed a solo HR to the Marlins Christian Yelich. Chapman did get through the 6th without any further damage. Reymin Guduan came on in the sixth and he allowed a run in 2/3 of an inning. This time it was CF Isaac Galloway who did the honors. Aaron West got the final out of the sixth in relief of Guduan but he gave up a run of his own on a home run by CF Isaac Galloway in the seventh. Jordan Jankowski pitched the 8th for the Astros and he gave up 2 hits and the final Marlins run with 2 K’s. The real bright spot on the day was Tyson Perez’ gem of a 9th inning as he struck out the side to end the notion that Houston couldn’t get 3 men out in an inning without allowing a run.

Houston’s offense didn’t fare as well against the Marlins pitchers. The M’s used 6 pitchers including former Kansas City Royal pitcher Edinson Volquez. The combined to allow 7 hits and 5 runs with 5 BB’s and 3 K’s.

The Astros offense has definitely not been clicking so far this spring. Yesterday’s 5 runs tied the high water mark in runs scored so far this season and Houston is 1-1 in those games. None of the Astros starting lineup on the day either scored a run or drove in a run except Yuri Gurriel who got the Astros first run on a fielder’ choice bases loaded ground ball to short scoring the man on third base. The other 4 RBI’s were recorded by subs. Trailing 8-1 going into the bottom of the seventh inning Houston rallied for 3 runs on an RBI single by Jack Mayfield that was deflected into center field by pitcher Scott Copeland scoring Andrew Alpin who was pinch running for Alejandro Garcia who has singled. Alpin advanced to 2B on a walk to JD Davis. Besides scoring Alpin JD Davis was able to advance to 3rd and Mayfield went to 2B on the same play. That allowed Davis to score on the groundout to 2B by the next hitter, Derek Fisher, for the inning’s second run. The final run in the inning came on an RBI single by Reid Brignac followed by Teoscar Hernandez who popped out to 2B to end the inning for Houston. The final Astros score came on a leadoff HR in the eighth by AJ Reed. The Marlins got the final six outs in a row after that to end the game.

Houston will be the home team today as they host their roommates, the Washington Nationals, at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches today at 12:05 pm. Brad Peacock will make his second start of the spring while the Nats send Kyle McGowan to the hill.

One final note, the good thing about these spring training games in sometimes there is room for fans to sit on the grass outside the outfield fence. That also affords the opportunity to pursue home run balls for souvenirs. Sometimes that can be a dangerous thing. Case in point; a fan named Alex was chasing a home run by the Marlins Isaac Galloway when the following mishap occurred documented in the link below from Astros.com.

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/03/01/217561712/fan-races-up-steep-hill-chasing-a-homer-but-the-hill-won

I’m not going to go too deep in analysis any more. It isn’t a big deal right now as pitchers are trying to find their groove and batters are trying to find theirs too. Yesterday Brad Peacock made his second start of the spring and he went 3 innings as he, and the rest of the pitchers, will start to be stretched out leading toward opening day. BTW, opening day is less than a month away. Back to Peacock, he sucked yesterday allowing 5 runs on 5 hits, including two HR’s, with 3 BB’s and 2 K’s. Cy Sneed came on with 2 out in the fourth and he pitched 1.1 innings and his stat line was unfortunately similar to Peacock’s. Sneed also allowed 5 runs on 5 hits with 2 BB’s and no K’s. 3 pitchers worked the last four innings after Sneed’s work through the 5th inning and they allowed 3 more runs but it wasn’t a big deal because between Peacock and Sneed stinking up the field and putting the Astros in a 10 run hole by the 5th inning allowing 3 HR’s that accounted for 5 of the ten runs the Washington Nationals scored on the day. George Springer and Alex Bregman had nice days yesterday with Springer going 3 for 3 with no BB’s or K’s and Bregman went 2 for 3 on the day. Unfortunately for the Astros the one time he didn’t get a hit he grounded into an inning killing double play. The only RBI on the Astros side was an oh-by-the-way solo HR to lead off the 9th inning by Tyler White. It’s not like Houston didn’t have chances to score more runs, they were 1-11 with RISP, it’s just they couldn’t get a clutch hit to save their lives. It’s no big deal but you’d like to see Houston’s bats start doing something pretty soon before this trend becomes a real threat to carry over into the regular season. It’s hard to keep spring training in perspective when the thing good teams have is good pitching and timely hitting and so far this spring Houston has been in short supply of both. Needless to say Houston lost to the Nats 13-1 and now you know my frustration.

Today Houston will take on the Mets at the Mets home at First Data Field in Port St Lucie. The Mets will send RHP Noah Syndergaard (14-9 in 2016) and he will face Houston’s newest pitcher Charlie Morton (1-1 w/ 4.15 ERA in 2016 in 4 starts with Philadelphia) will be making his first start of the spring. Last season Morton missed all but the first month of the season because of a torn hamstring. He tore it running to first base after hitting the ball in a game against Milwaukee on April 23rd and he was placed on injured reserve on April 27th. The good thing is it has been almost 11 months since his injury so he should be healthy and the other good thing is he’s in the American League so he won’t have to legging out any ground balls for the Astros.

In Pittsburgh, where he spent most of his time in the bigs, he became known as “Ground Chuck” because of his propensity to induce ground balls from opposing hitters. The scouting report is Morton features 4 pitches; a mid-nineties 4 seam fastball, a low nineties sinker, a curveball that comes in around 78-80 mph and a splitter that comes in at 84-88 mph. The sinker is Morton’s featured pitch and because of the fact he is a ground ball pitcher he has been compared to 2 time Cy Young winner Roy Halladay. His career stats are 46-71 with a 4.54 ERA with a WHIP of 1.44. He was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in 2002 in the 3rd round and he made his MLB debut in June of 2008 as he climbed the ladder in the Braves organization. He was traded to Pittsburgh after the 2008 season and he pitched 7 years in Pittsburgh, mostly on bad teams, and he was traded to Philly after the 2015 season. 2016 was basically a lost season for him because of the hamstring injury. He came to Houston this offseason as free agent signing a 2 year deal for $14 MM.

An interesting fact is Morton’s family owns the national franchise Morton’s Steakhouse so you know when his playing days are over he will have a nice career to fall back on.

The pictures I’ve seen of Morton on the Astros website I think he looks like late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon.

The Astros are 2-6-2 so far this spring with and with two ties in their last two games you can at least say they didn’t lose. Small comfort for fans like me who expected a lot more from the team given the upgrades Houston made this offseason. The thing that is often the hardest to maintain is perspective and, of course, the main point of perspective in the spring it that the games don’t count and most of the players who are seeing action will never make the final 25 man roster, they will be toiling away in the minors long before opening day in April. With 8 Astros going to participate in the World Baseball Classic a lot of these players will get extended looks this spring and that is a good thing because big league experience, even in the spring, is invaluable to the progression of up and coming prospects.

What is disheartening so far is the Astros lack of runs scored. The pitching staff has been allowing runs in droves but the offense has yet to explode. On Sunday the Astros did score the most runs they’ve scored in a game this spring, 7, when they played the Marlins. The downside of that is the Astros gave up 7 runs in a kiss-your-sister tie ball game. The real damage by Miami was done in the 6th when Tyson Perez gave up a 3-run homer to Adeiny Echavarria. To make matters look even worse Echavarria was the 9th hitter in the Marlins lineup. Mike Fiers started his second grapefruit league game going and he wasn’t all that sharp allowing 2 runs, one earned, on 3 hits with 2 BB’s and 2 K’s in 2.1 innings.

Yesterday Chris Devenski made his second start of the spring going 3 innings allowing 3 runs, all earned, on 4 hits with no BB’s and 4 K’s. The big ding on Devenski’s stat line was the 3 run home run he allowed to Boston’s cleanup hitter Sam Travis in the 3rd. Travis’ HR erased a 2-0 Houston lead and paved the way to the Astros second tie game in a row. The final score was Boston 5 and Houston 5 and the best thing you can take away from the game is that Houston scored 12 runs in its last two games which is a hopeful sign their offense may finally be coming to life.

Three years ago the Astros traded one of their bright pitching prospects to Miami for prospects. Miami, Florida at the time, needed pitching and Houston was rebuilding their farm system. Houston traded RHP Jarred Cosart, SS Enrique Hernandez and Austin Wates and they got Jake Marisnick, Collin Moran and Francis Martes. At the time of the trade in July of 2014 the Astros were in the middle of their first non-100 loss season in 4 years. Jose Altuve made his MLB debut that season and Houston’s arrow was definitely pointed up. At the time, I was upset at the trade because I liked Cosart, I certainly liked him better than Brad Peacock who was doing nothing to impress at the time. Since the trade both Cosart and Peacock have struggled through various injuries that has hampered their potential. Right now Peacock is the healthiest he’s been as an Astros but he’s still not lighting the world on fire as he’s in the middle of a big competition with 4 other pitchers for the final spot in the Astros rotation. Cosart is coming off elbow surgery where a 5 cm bone spur was removed from his throwing arm elbow. He looked pretty good in his first work of the spring on March 4 going one scoreless inning with 2 K’s. OBTW, he’s now a San Diego Padre having been traded last July in a 7 player deal. If you look at the loss of Cosart vs keeping Peacock you have to call that deal a push for the Astros. If you consider what Houston got from Miami for Cosart you would have call a deal that gets you a top notch defensive player in Marisnick even though you wish he could hit better. Also, you get a guy in Moran who was the 6th pick in the 2013 draft by the Marlins and is coming up through the ranks. So far this spring Moran is playing 3B and hitting .273. The third player in the trade is RHP Francis Martes who is also coming up through the ranks to the point where he is one of the pitchers trying to earn that last spot in the Astros starting rotation. Martes was signed as an international prospect by the Marlins in 2012 and he has steadily risen through the Astros organization. The last season and a half Martes has pitched at Corpus Christi, the Astros AA affiliate. Even though he was signed in 2012 Martes is still a very young man, he just turned 21 last November, so he still has a very high ceiling. Given all that the Astros got in the Cosart deal to Miami, you’d have to say the trade was a huge win for the Astros and a big loss for the Marlins but with the caveat that Cosart is still only 26 and the book isn’t closed on him just yet.

I will be interested to see how the deal that sent the Astros #1 overall pick in 2013 Mark Appel to Philadelphia for Ken Giles looks a couple more years down the road. I know Giles had a rough 2016 but at least he pitched. Appel missed the entire season with shoulder and elbow problems. In June of ’16 he had surgery on the elbow to remove a bone spur. Appel is in spring training with Philly now and so far he’s 0-1 in 4.2 innings of work with an ERA of 5.79 with 2 K’s and a WHIP of 1.07. Appel is just 25 and it’s way too early to judge this trade.

The Astros broke out of their lack of offense malaise in a big way yesterday whipping the NY Mets by a score of 12-2. It was free agent signee Charlie (Jimmy Fallon) Morton on the hill yesterday tossing 3 scoreless with 4 K’s and 1 BB looking pretty doggone sharp according to reports. Morton said post game that he was disappointed he couldn’t finish off more hitters but he was generally pleased with his outing. The 12 runs was the most scored by Houston so far this spring and the run outburst came after the first day off of spring training. Evan Gattis, Yuli Gurriel and Brian McCann led a 15 hit attack on Mets pitching. The good thing about yesterday was that Houston didn’t depend on the long ball to create runs. In fact, Houston had just two HR’s yesterday, one by Teoscar Hernandez in the 7th and the other by AJ Reed in the 8th. Hernandez HR was a solo shot while Reed’s was a two run HR. They also didn’t factor in the final outcome so much as adding insult to injury. The Astros already had a 7-2 lead going into the 7th on 2 RBI’s by Gurriel in the first and a string of RBI’s in a big 5 run 4th begun by a bases loaded walk to JD Davis followed by a wild pitch with bases still loaded scoring Evan Gattis. Next was a 2 run RBI single by Jake Marisnick with a sac fly by George Springer to close out the scoring in the 4th. The fact that Houston tacked on 5 insurance runs in the 7th and 8th innings combined was nice to see. It looks like Charlie Morton is going to be a nice addition to the Astros rotation and the fact that he is a ground ball pitcher is perfect for Minute Maid Park. When his pitches are working you could look for him to go deep into ball games with a relatively low pitch count. More on Morton in the link below.

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/218497622/charlie-morton-throwing-at-high-velocity/

Lance McCullers is scheduled to make his first spring start today when the Astros travel to Jupiter Florida to face the St Louis Cardinals. McCullers missed significant time last season with elbow issues and he, as well as fellow starters Dallas Keuchel and Colin McHugh, has been brought along slowly this spring. All three of the Astros top starting pitchers are coming of injuries that slowed their progress in spring training. The Astros have done the right thing protecting these guys and much as possible and McCullers is the first one of them to make his first start of the spring. Keuchel is slated to start Sunday while the timetable for McHugh is more up in the air. Mike Fiers and Charlie Morton have been good and really good respectively so far this spring which bodes well for Houston’s rotation as long the big three can stay healthy.

I posted a little while back that Jake Marisnick had worked a lot at improving his hitting. It’s looking like all that work is paying off. So far this spring Big Jake is hitting .273 with 6 hits including 1 HR, 4 RBI’s and 3 runs scored in his 22 AB’s. He also has 3 stolen bases taking advantage of Marisnick’s speed on the base paths. It’s a far cry better than the guy who only hit .209 in 2016 and owns a career .225 BA. The one thing that has held Marisnick back from being a real star has been his hitting. If he had a real batting epiphany this offseason it bodes very well for him and the Astros.

The Astros played the Cardinals yesterday in Jupiter Florida and they won by a score of 3-0. That is a good thing but it’s spring training and wins and losses don’t really matter much. I won’t lie, I like it much better when they win. The significant thing about the game was it was the first time this spring for Lance McCullers to pitch. In fact, he hasn’t pitched since August 2nd of last year. The result was 2 scoreless innings of work and McCullers saying he felt really good on the mound. McCullers outing was particularly strong as he got the Birds out 3-up 3-down in both innings he pitched. For an in depth look at McCullers’ first spring appearance here a link from Astos.com.

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/218653986/lance-mccullers-feels-good-after-first-start/

Joe Musgrove is starting for the Astros this afternoon on the road against the Mets with the most significant item about the game is the Mets will have former UF and NFL QB Tim Tebow in the game. It’s the bottom of the 3rd with the Mets batting. Tebow had is first AB of the game to lead off the inning and grounded out to first baseman A J Reed. Earlier in the inning he made a nice catch on a Jake Marisnick fly ball to right field followed by a nice throw to keep the Astros runner on 2nd base Derek Fisher from advancing to 3rd. Inning over and no runs scored by NY keeps the score 1-0. Houston scored on a solo HR to lead off the 3rd by Astros prospect Reid Brignac.

A young man had a dream come true experience by getting to throw to Astros bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte a few pitches. Young man may be a stretch, he was about an 11 year old boy who got the thrill of a lifetime. Cool. Check out this article with video of the kid’s experience at the Astros-Cardinals game yesterday.

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/03/09/218619900/young-astros-fan-pitched-from-the-bullpen

The Astros lost yesterday to the Miami Marlins by a score of 4-2. Not terrible in the grand scheme of things but where Houston was disappointing was in the pitching staff. Not all the staff but parts that you didn't expect would struggle. Francis Martes started yesterday's game and he only last 1/3 of an inning giving up a run on 2 BB's and hit with his lone out recorded via strikeout. AJ Hinch pulled Martes after 30 pitches I suspect because he didn't want to mess with his top pitching prospect's confidence. Martes is listed as #20 on the MLB top 100 prospect list so this outing can be chalked up to spring training, first start nerves. Martes had pitched 3.2 innings, all in relief, so far this spring. The other guy you might have some concern over was Will Harris. Harris came on in the 3rd inning and like Martes he gave up 2 BB's and a hit unfortunately that hit was a 2 run dinger by Miami's Derek Dietrich. Harris was able to finish the inning but the damage had been done. Harris was arguably the best (read, most consistent) reliever out of Houston's bullpen last season so it was a little disappointing to see him get tagged in a close game with runs. If you didn't think Harris was the best guy in the Astros bullpen last year then you would definitely have to say it was Chris Devenski. Devenski struggled some as a starter but coming on in long relief he was pretty much money last year. He showed some of that moxie yesterday as he took over after Jordan Jankowski pitched the 4th. Devenski came on in the 5th and he pitched 3 scoreless innings for Houston allowing 2 hits with no runs, 1 BB's with 3 K's. Pretty good afternoon's work for CD. Marlins pitching confounded the Astros bats allowing just 2 hits on the day with 3 BB's and 7 K's. Houston's 2 runs came on an RBI Triple by Reid Brignac that scored AJ Reed who led off the 6th inning with a walk. Collin Moran followed Brignac with a ground out to 2B that scored Brignac from 3rd. That was pretty much it offensively for Houston yesterday. The batting order has so many goose eggs in the line score it looked like the eggs had formed an army and were about to march forth and take over the world. All they accomplished was to conquer the Astros box score. Not a terrible game as it featured some good pitching by both sides but Miami's 5 pitchers used yesterday were better than Houston's unlucky 7.

Dallas Keuchel makes his spring debut today and let's hope he is as sharp as Lance McCullers was in his first start the other day.

Opening day is now exactly 3 weeks away!

Here's an article from Astros.com which talks about new Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell's arrival at spring training where he will be a guest coach.

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/218873174/bagwell-arrives-as-instructor-at-astros-camp/

Who is this Reid Brignac guy? In the last 5 Astros games in limited playing time Brignac has gone 4-10 with 6 RBI's. Among the hits was a triple and a HR. So who the hell is this kid? Brignac is a 31 year old shortstop who made his MLB debut in 2008 while with the Tampa Bay Rays. He played 5 seasons with the Rays but prior to spring training in 2013 he was picked up by the Rockies. In May of 2013 Brignac was traded to the Yankees for cash. Brignac played 17 games for the Yankees when he was released in June. Later that month he signed a minor league contract with Colorado. He spent the remainder of the season at the Rockies AAA team. After the season he became a minor league free agent. In 2014 Brignac was signed by the Phillies organization. He made it through half the season when he was placed on the DL with a high ankle sprain. In August he was designated for assignment and he chose to become a free agent after the season ended. Brignac spent 2015 in the Miami Marlins minor league system and in 2016 he was with the Braves until May when he was designated for assignment. This offseason Houston signed Brignac to a deal with the idea of adding depth to their minor league system. Brignac is seeing a lot of playing time this spring because of all the players Houston has participating in the World Baseball Classic. While his numbers are very good he will be in Fresno playing for the AAA Grizzlies. Don't feel too bad for Brignac because he has been in a relationship with former Playboy Playmate Lauren Anderson with whom he has one child.

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1105532.1341087862!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/gallery_1200/erin-andrews.jpg

Charlie Morton made his 2nd start of the spring yesterday and he went 4 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits with a walk and a K. Not bad. Certainly on a par with his opponent who started for the St Louis Cardinals, Michael Waca, who had basically the same stat line in 5 innings of work. You can tell it’s getting close to opening day as pitchers are starting to go deeper in their starts. Houston lost 6-3 but it doesn’t really matter as 1/3 of the Astros lineup is at the World Baseball Classic and they all seem to be doing just fine, thank you very much.

Lance McCullers gets his second start today against the Mets at home at The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. The Mets will counter with RHP Jacob DeGrom making his 3rd start of the season.

Saturday Houston gave P Kevin Chapman his outright release and he was claimed off waivers by Atlanta on Monday. In the Article linked below more details about Chapman and an update on several pitchers who have been nursing some dings.

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/219206854/astros-kevin-chapman-claimed-by-braves/

AJ Hinch announced over the weekend that he wants to carry 13 pitchers into the regular season which means there will only be room enough for 12 position players on the roster. In the article linked below it breaks down how the Astros website feels about who that will consist of.

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/219190016/astros-want-to-carry-13-pitchers-into-season/

Last week I posted an article with a short video of Astros bullpen catcher Javier Bracamonte giving a young fan a chance to throw off the mound in the bullpen. Yesterday when the Astros played the Cardinals Bracamonte was up to it again, this time getting a young fan to gear up and catch a couple of throws as the bullpen catcher. You may see Bracamonte become the fans most favorite fan if this keeps up.

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/03/13/219205886/astros-fan-gets-spring-training-catching-lesson-in-bullpen

The Astros beat the Nationals yesterday 8-2 behind some nice power hitting by C Brian McCann and prospect OF Jon Kemmer. Kemmer got his first HR of the spring, a 3 run dinger in a 5 run 3rd inning rally. McCann went 3 for 3 on the day and he was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle with 2 RBI’s. Joe Musgrove started for Houston as he continues to battle for the 5th spot in the Astros starting rotation. He went 4 innings allowing 2 runs on 3 hits.

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/219443696/brian-mccann-jon-kemmer-lead-astros-vs-nats/

In the article linked below it is revealed by Astros GM Jeff Luhnow that Houston actually could have gotten former White Sox ace Chris Sale who eventually ended up signing with Boston but it would have cost the Astros Alex Bregman. Luhnow was unwilling to trade away Bregman so no deal was struck but it also had something to do with the confidence the Astros have in their current stable of pitchers. It appears as if both Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers are healthy and rounding into shape for the upcoming season and the prospects for a strong staff are very good. That’s not me saying that, it’s new Astros catcher Brian McCann’s assessment.

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/219466202/astros-rotation-has-big-potential-for-2017/

It is now 18 days until Astros opening day!!!

The Astros made their second round of roster moves yesterday dropping the number of players currently in spring training camp down to 49.

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/219447838/astros-reassign-four-to-minor-league-camp/

The Astros played splint squad games yesterday with one half the roster at home at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches behind starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel and the other half of the roster in Fort Myers, Fla playing the Boston Red Sox at JetBlue Ballpark. In Palm Beach Keuchel threw 4 scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves as he continues to look like his dominating self from 2015. It is great to see Keuchel back and as good as ever. So far this spring Keuchel has pitched 7 innings in two starts with a 0.00 ERA and a WHIP of 0.57 with no walks and 3 K's. Vintage Keuchel for sure. The effort was nearly wasted as Houston went into the 9th inning trailing Atlanta 4-1 but a 4 run rally led by a two run bases loaded double by Derek Fisher to close the score to 4-3 and a two run walk off single by Jack Mayfield. Atlanta did not retire a batter in the 9th as 3 straight singles were followed by Fisher's double. The next batter walked to reload the bases and Mayfield's single ended the game.

In Fort Myers Brad Peacock is hanging on for dear life in the race for the final spot in the Astros starting rotation and he needed a good, or better than good, outing to keep his name in the conversation. The situation is desperate for Peacock because he is out of minor league options as he is trying like the dickens to earn a spot on the Astros final 25 man roster. Yesterday he was okay, which is not what he probably wanted, as he went 3 innings allowing 4 hits and a run with no walks and one K. Peacock's ERA is not great this spring at 5.84 which reflects the fact he has struggled at times. Francis Martes had the outing Peacock was probably hoping for. Martes went 3 innings and he retired all nine batters he faced with 3 K's. Martes is also looking to crack the 25 and this is just what the doctor ordered for him and Peacock, Martes and 4 other pitchers combined to beat Boston 6-2. The Astros offense was led by the usual suspects when Houston is successful, Evan Gattis (2-4 with an RBI), AJ Reed (1-3 with an RBI), Teoscar Hernandez (2-5 with 2 runs and an RBI) and JD Davis who went 2-5 with an RBI.

16 Days until Opening Day!

The Astros got bombed yesterday by St Louis 12-6 but starter Charlie Morton was not part of that problem. He pitched 5 complete innings allowing just 2 runs on 4 hits. One of those 4 hits was a 2 run home run by Jose Martinez to account for both runs Morton allowed. Encouraging to see as his innings increase is his continuing to be effective. So far the Astros starters have been very good to excellent with pleasant surprises coming from Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers. Doubts about how they would pitch following injury shortened 2016 seasons because of arm issues with both players had to be lingering. So far they both have quelled those doubts as both have been effective with no ill effects from their outings reported. The guys who pitched yesterday that really weren’t very good are players who won't be on the final 25 anyway. Jordan Jankowski, Framber Valdez and Tyson Perez will all be heading to minor league camp soon so it doesn’t matter that they combined to give up 10 runs on 7 hits with 7 walks and 4 K’s. The only other guy for Houston who pitched well besides Morton was Ryan Thompson who went 2/3 of an inning allowing no hits, no walks and no runs with a K. On the offensive side you have Jake Marisnick (2-3 w/ 2 runs and 2 RBI’s), Josh Reddick (3-3, RBI), Colin Moran (1-2, run), Reid Brignac (1-2 w/ run) and Alejandro Garcia (1-3 w/2 RBI’s and a run) lead the Astros attack. Jose Altuve in his first game with Houston after spending 2 weeks playing in the World Baseball Classic went 0-4 with a K.

The Astros play Miami today with Mike Fiers starting for the first time in a couple of weeks after sitting out his last scheduled start with a sore hamstring. He’s in a battle for the 5th and final spot in the starting rotation which looks like a two man race between Fiers and Joe Musgrove who has been pretty impressive this spring. The thing that could be in Fiers’ favor is his experience which is something a staff needs at the end of the rotation. Right now the rotation would be Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers, Charlie Morton, Joe Musgrove and Fiers. The guy who would be either the 2nd or 3rd man in the rotation, Colin McHugh has yet to pitch an inning in spring training. He came into camp with “dead arm” and he’s slowly been trying to revive it. He’s been pitching on the side and in the bullpen and he could be ready to make a start or two before opening day but there is no guarantee he will be ready for the regular season. McHugh is not scheduled to pitch at least for the next 5 games which leads you to believe he will not be ready to begin the regular season. Based on their performances this spring I would anticipate the starting rotation as of April 3rd will be Keuchel, McCullers, Morton, Musgrove and Fiers. I would not expect the Astros to allow Keuchel to pitch a complete game as he did at Yankee stadium last year. It’s when his arm problems arose and it was foolish for AJ Hinch to allow Keuchel to pitch a complete game in his first start of the season in frigid temperatures at Yankee Stadium in early April. I would expect a more conservative approach to the entire staff to start the season.

It is now 13 days until the start of the regular season!

It's been a few day since I last posted. The USA won its first ever World Baseball Classic against a strong Puerto Rico team that was previously undefeated. The USA didn't just beat them they put a whoopin' on them winning by a score of 8-0. They got to the finals by beating the also previously unbeaten Japanese team. Nobody handed Team USA anything, they went out and earned it. In the semi's the Astros had no less than 6 players playing. Team USA had 3B Alex Bregman and P Luke Gregerson, Team Puerto Rico had Carlos Correa and Carlos Beltran, both of whom made major contributions to the success of the PR team to reach the WBC final. Japan had Norichika Aoki who was a solid contributor. All these players with be back in action this weekend as Houston will have all their projected opening day starters for the first time since the second week of spring training.

This past week Houston got quality starts from, in order, Mike Fiers, Dallas Keuchel and Charlie Morton. The only guy all week to struggle was Lance McCullers who pitched in Saturday's 4-1 loss to Washington. This was the first games played by Carlos Beltran, Alex Bregman and Nori Aoki since returning from the WBC. Carlos Correa did not play Saturday because he got sick while in LA for the WBC and he asked AJ Hinch for an extra day to recuperate and Hinch agreed. Correa will make his spring debut with Houston tomorrow. While we are hoping for the best from the offense those guys just didn't have it Saturday afternoon. The offense only generated the one run on just 5 hits with just one walk and 8 K's. The Astros stranded a whopping 15 baserunners on the day with Houston going just 1-7 with RISP.

Lance McCullers set the tone for the day however. He pitched just 3.1 innings giving up 4 runs on 6 hits with no walks and 4 K's. McCullers gave up a run in the 3rd to give the Nats a 1-0 lead and then he gave up 3 more runs in just 1/3 of an inning in the 4th and that was all Washington needed to win the game. Houston had 4 other pitchers in the game Friday who did not allow a run. It was great to see Chris Devenski and Will Harris both have scoreless innings. Those two guys will be key coming out of the bullpen if Houston is to have any success. If you consider a bad outing as 4 runs allowed with no walks then McCullers qualifies but in reality 4 runs isn't terrible and the no walks is great. He was all over the strike zone but he couldn't close the deal often enough. The fact is, Houston's starting pitching is looking pretty good as opening day fast approaches and McCullers outing yesterday wasn't bad at all.

Staying with the starting pitching for just another minute, Collin McHugh is scheduled to pitch his first spring training game on Monday against the St Louis Cards. AJ Hinch feels that McHugh will begin the season on DL while he builds up his stamina. See link below.

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/220841200/collin-mchugh-will-start-monday-for-astros/

Dallas Keuchel was named as the Astros opening day starter for the 3rd season in a row. With Collin McHugh slated to begin the season on the DL here is the projected starting rotation for the Astros beginning the season.

1. Dallas Keuchel

2. Charlie Morton (or Lance McCullers)

3. Lance McCullers (or Charlie Morton)

4. Joe Musgrove

5. Mike Fiers

All these guys have looked pretty good this spring and even without McHugh they look like a formidable bunch. Brad Peacock looks like he will make the team as a long relief guy.

The Astros lowered their ST roster by 5 players yesterday as the gave LHP CJ Riefenhauser his unconditional release while the Astros sent P Tyler Perez, P Jordan Jankowski, OF Jon Kemmer and OF Alejandro Garcia to minor league camp. This takes the Astros ST roster to 34 players with 8 days left before opening day. The Astros will need to be down to 25 players on their roster by opening day a week from tomorrow. The Astros have already told C Juan Centeno, IF Reid Brignac, IF JD Davis and OF Derek Fisher they would not make the big club roster but they will remain with the team this week. Brignac, Reid and Davis all have had excellent spring training and they speak of the depth of talent Houston has built within the organization.

It is only 8 days until opening day!!!!

It is now 6 days until opening day!

Yesterday Colin McHugh made his first spring start and, apparently, it looked like it. He pitched just 1.2 innings allowing 3 runs on 5 hits a walk and 2 K’s. There is no real reason for AJ Hinch pulling McHugh prior to him recording the 3rd out in the 2nd inning, he only threw 17 pitches, but this something Hinch has done in the past much to the chagrin of his pitchers, I’m sure. He didn’t pitch horribly but I’m sure he’s a bit disappointed on one hand while I’m sure he was glad to out on the mound at last on the other hand.

Today will be Dallas Keuchel’s final tune up before he makes his 3rd straight opening day start. The Astros will play the Marlins at the their home in Jupiter, Fla.

The Astros website has a bit of a different look. No big deal but I haven’t had time to decide whether I like it or not.

After the last round of roster moves over the weekend the Astros are sitting at 34 players as the final week of spring training begins. They will need to be down to the final 25 man roster prior to opening day next Monday. The Astros have already informed 4 other players noted in previous post they will not make the final 25 so it leaves 5 more players who will not make the cut. Fortunately, for most of the guys not making the final 25 doesn’t mean they are out of a job like the players in the NFL are when roster cuts are made during training camp. Baseball players just head to minor league camp and their dream of playing in the bigs is just put on hold for a while.

I forgot to post this yesterday.

I don’t know what’s going to happen when the season begins but Dallas Keuchel looks like his old bulldog self. He pitched his final tune up before he is scheduled to pitch on opening day this coming Monday. He went 1-2-3 in the first inning but he struggled a bit allowing a total of 3 runs to the St Louis Cardinals in the 2nd and 3rd innings of yesterday’s game as he threw nearly 90 pitches in his 3.2 innings of work. He ended up getting the win yesterday as the Astros bats were at work banging out 14 hits and scoring 7 runs on the afternoon that ultimately gave Houston a 7-3 win over the Miami Marlins. Houston is looking like they are ready to begin the season despite the fact Keuchel’s outing was not as sharp as you would have liked.

On Monday the Astros optioned OF Preston Tucker to minor league camp. His brother, Kyle, got his first hit in spring training yesterday. It looks for the world that Kyle will eclipse his brother in the Astros organization. He is certainly ranked higher. We’ll see how it plays out but neither brother will be in Houston next Monday.

It is only 5 days until opening day!

The Astros rallied to beat the Cubs last night by a final score of 8-6. The rally didn’t come late in the game it actually came in the 6th when Houston put up a 4-spot to take the lead. Neither starting pitcher, Lance McCullers or Chicago’s Brett Anderson can be happy about their final tune up game before the season starts on Sunday. Anderson when 5 innings allowing 3 runs on 8 hits, a walk and no K’s and two HR’s. One of the dingers was a two run shot by Josh Reddick in the 2nd inning and the other a solo HR to Jose Altuve in the 3rd. McCullers went 4 innings allowing 5 runs on 5 hits 2 walks with 6 K’s with a HR by SS Addison Russell with a man on in the 3rd inning. Maybe we could forgive the pitchers here, after all, McCullers was facing the defending world champions while Anderson was facing a revamped Astros line up that is one of the favorites to go to the World Series this year. The Astros bats were certainly up for the challenge as every starter in the lineup except for C Brian McCann got at least one hit with Josh Reddick leading the charge going 3-3 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI’s including that 2 run shot in the 2nd. Evan Gattis was right behind Reddick as he went 2-3 with a walk, a run scored and 2 RBI’s. Neither Reddick nor Gattis struck out in the game. In fact, and hold on to your seats because Houston as a team struck out only 2 times the entire game! No misprint here folks, 2 FREAKING TIMES! One K was by Carlos Correa and the other by the guy you’d think least likely to strike out on the whole team, Norichika Aoki. All this while working 2 walks a team and banging out 14 hits on the way to beating the Cubbies. Garrett Stubbs came in for Brian McCann in the 8th and he got in on the festivities in his own way. On what turned out to be the last play of the game with Kyle Schwerber batting for the Cubs. The Astros put the shift on to the right side of the infield for the left hand batting Schwerber who hit a popup to 3rd base side of the infield. Alex Bregman, who was playing his part of the shift near the 2nd base bag was racing to get to the ball but he was not going to make it before it fell in for an inning extending hit. Garrett Stubbs was johnny on the spot though as he raced out his crouch and hauled in the pop up just 5 feet in front of the 3rd base bag. The catch set a record as the longest run by a catcher to make a catch than anyone ever in the statcast era. Here’s the article and video from Astros.com;

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2017/03/31/221661142/astros-garrett-stubbs-record-catcher

James Hoyt came into the game last night in the 5th in relief of Lance McCullers and he pitched 2 innings giving just one run on a solo HR by Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo. Jandel Gustave relieved Hoyt in the 7th and he pitched one scoreless, hitless inning. I mention that because both players were vying for the final spot in the Astros bullpen. Both guys, according AJ Hinch, were neck and neck in the race for the final spot but Hinch decided to go with Gustave. It had to be a bitter pill for Hoyt who is 30 years old and he’s only spent parts of seasons in the bigs as he sees his opportunities wane as he gets older. In the article linked below it talks about the Hoyt -Gustave battle as well as announcing the final 25 man roster as it will be heading into Monday’s season opener.

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/221659760/reliever-jandel-gustave-makes-astros-roster/

The Astros close out spring training and the month of March with a second game in as many nights against the Chicago Cubs. Houston sends Joe Musgrove to the hill while Chicago counters with RHP Kyle Hendricks.

Only 3 more days until opening day!!!!

The Astros closed out the preseason with a loss to the Cubs but it doesn't really matter other than the fact that Joe Musgrove had a decent outing in his last tune up and a couple of relievers Houston will be counting on this season didn't. Musgrove went 4 full innings and didn't allow a run and he had a minor scare in the 3rd that he promptly took care of. His counterpart, Kyle Hendricks held the Astros scoreless in his 5 innings of work. The Cubs half of the 5th is when things fell apart for Houston. Tony Sipp just plain sucked. Sipp allowed 3 of the 4 runners his faced on a pair of singles and a walk. Ken Giles replaced Sipp and he walked in a run and allowed another to score on a wild pitch. Chesney Young singled with two outs scoring two more runs putting the Astros behind 4-0 at the halfway point of the game. Houston couldn't solve Hendricks but when he came out after the 5th he was replaced by David Rollins and it was then the Astros went to work on a comeback. Rollins hit Nori Aoki with a pitch and allowed singles to Derek Fisher and Reid Brignac to load the bases. It looked like Rollins would escape with no runs allowed when he got back to back K's on JD Davis and Tyler White to get the Astros to 2 out. Pierce Johnson replaced Rollins at this point and he allowed a 2 run single to Yuli Gurriel to close the score to 4-2 but that's as close as Houston got in the game. Michael Feliz pitched a clean 6th but in the seventh Will Harris messed around and allowed two runs to score extending the Cubs lead to 6-2. Houston answered with a run in the bottom of the 7th but that was the extent of the scoring as Chicago beat Houston 6-3.

The Astros had a harder time than you might think making final cuts with guys like JD Davis and Reid Brignac having such a good spring. On the other hand, the Astros were blessed with a healthy spring which made the roster pretty easy after all. Here's an article from Astros.com talking about that healthy spring and giving us the final 25 man roster.

http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/221850302/predicting-the-astros-opening-day-roster/?topicId=27118380

Dallas Keuchel is healthy and ready to take the ball tomorrow night. Check out this article from Astros.com about Keuchel's anticipation of making his 3rd consecutive opening day start.

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/mariners-vs-astros/2017/04/03/490111?#=undefined,game_state=preview,lock_state=preview,game_tab=,game=490111

This will be my final post on this thread. The Astros have had a good spring and the best thing about it is nobody got hurt. Not even the 8 players who played in the World Baseball Classic so heading into the season Houston is as healthy as they are going to be this season. The only guy not currently on the final 25 is Colin McHugh. He begins the season on the DL as he was slowed this spring by arm fatigue. He looks like, barring any setbacks that he will come off the DL with the next two weeks. Here are my predictions for the Astros this season. I believe they will rebound from a disappointing season of a year ago and end up winning the AL West with a record of 96-66. I think the Astros have enough pitching, offense and defense to get to the post season and fulfill Sports Illustrated's prediction that 2017 will be the year the Astros finally win their first World Series. Here is my forecast for how the

AL West will shake out this season;

1. Houston

2. Seattle

3. Texas

4. Angels of Anaheim

5. Oakland

Enjoy the season!