Thursday Morning Astros, etc Round Up
by Evan Hochschild on Aug 20, 2009 10:14 AM CDT
in Link Dumps
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Mike Hamtpon has a tear in his rotator cuff. The guy is resilient to say nothing else, as he has
...opted for rehab instead of surgery with hopes of returning this season.
A signficant tear to me means that he can rehab all he wants, but with a little over five weeks remaining on the season, it'd be difficult to imagine Hampton returning. Danyah, if you have any insight into the injury, we'd be happy to hear it! DQ pegged Hampy at 110 IP in 2009. Right on the head, good sir. It looks like Felipe Paulino/Yorman Bazardo are going to get their shot, albeit on less than desireable terms. So it goes with veteran pitchers with a history of injury...
Good 'ol Dickie J plays the blame game in his recent blog post. After writing some rosy posts the past few weeks, Richard spares no punches in casting his net of blame across all of Astro-Land. Can't say I blame him, but his bi-polar attitude towards the team continues to puzzle me to no end.
Baseball America gives a pretty evenhanded synopsis of the Ivan Rodriguez trade. Their quick take on the deal from the Astros' perpsective:
As Houston fell 10 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central, the Rodriguez deal indicated that the Astros might be looking toward next season. Without Rodriguez, Chris Coste and Humberto Quintero will split time behind the dish. For giving up Rodriguez, Houston received at least two mid-level prospects and helped pave the way for catcher Jason Castro, the team's 2008 first-round pick.
Their take on Matt Nevarez:
With 90-95 mph velocity and a hard slider, Nevarez's game is geared toward power. His physicality helps his stuff play up in the bullpen, and he could move quickly in that role if he tightens his control. Nevarez had walked 15 batters—or 3.9 per nine innings—this season in the Rangers system.
FanGraphs, as well sees this as a positive move for a beleaguered Astros' club:
Neither player is going to turn around the Astros, but credit Ed Wade for getting something out of nothing.
Our last bit of quoteage comes from none other than Jeff Francouer, who described a four base hit thusly:
That was a lot of fun, Jeff Francoeur said. You just keep pounding balls into the gap. The one thing you don't want to do is hit a home run. That's a rally-killer.
Hat tip to Driveline Mechanics for that one. The former writers at FJM are smiling somewhere.
***DQ Insert***
Here's a link (click link to listen) to the ESPN 97.5 The Ticket interview I fielded yesterday. Remember that we do these every Sunday morning at 9:45 AM (CDT).
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as for the Francouer quote....
he already set sabermetric web site laughing earlier in the year, when he said something like, “If OBP was important, it would be shown on the stadium scoreboard when I come to the plate.”
At BBTF, some people pointed out that some of the stadium scoreboards, like the Nationals’, do put the OBP up.
Talking Chop had some pretty awesome t-shirts made
I think Amazin’ Avenue now has them in the Mets version.
The Crawfishboxes
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by Stephen Higdon on Aug 20, 2009 10:08 AM CDT up reply actions
More on UZR....
If Michael Bourn registers a surprisingly low UZR in the middle of the season, only a few of us care. But if Mark Texeira registers a surprisingly low UZR, all hell breaks lose in New York. UZR’s creator, mgl, defends himself in this Newsday article He says it’s possible that Texeira played good defense for 120 games and that he is pulled down by measurement error in 12 games. I think mgl is pointing out the sample size issue. He says no metric is perfect, but UZR is a good metric over larger sample sizes.
By the way, Bourn’s negative UZR/150 after the midpoint of the season apparently was affected by small sample size.. Bourn’s UZR/150 now stands at +5.1.
Very good interview
Everything said made sense.
When I have time I need to explain why the Astros run to the playoffs may not be over just quite yet. Quick Summary of the argument: Astros schedule gets a little more manageable in September and the Cardinals cakewalk ends in September. May be a pipe dream,of course. (and I keep my eye out for hurricane threats)
Astros fan for life
by Joe in Birmingham on Aug 20, 2009 12:39 PM CDT reply actions
Thanks Joe
I agree, it’s not over (just look at last year). If Norris and Bazardo can be successful, anything’s possible. Hell, even if just one of them is consistent, that’s 3/5 starters we could put faith in, a fourth that you have hope for, and then Moehler…
The Crawfishboxes
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by Stephen Higdon on Aug 20, 2009 1:37 PM CDT up reply actions
With Oswalt, Wandy, Norris, Bazardo, Paulino, and Moehler
The potential is there to make some kind of run, but that’s a lot of youth to be relying on. The back end of the rotation hasn’t really impressed me with their ability to eat up innings, and the bullpen at this point seems to be ineffective because of the way it’s been handled through out the season.
Everyone talks about 2004, but you have to remember their were 4 teams competing for the wild card and no one was able to separate themselves from the pack. Which allowed the Stros on their 36-10 run to grab the WC on the final day of the season.
It's definitely a lot to ask for
But it does allow us to still keep hoping.
The Crawfishboxes
A good friend of mine used to say, "This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains." Think about that for a while.
by Stephen Higdon on Aug 20, 2009 3:15 PM CDT up reply actions
some of the comments in the last two weeks made about the cardinals by the media
have been hilarious. seeing that they’ve been in a ridiculously soft stretch, as Joe pointed out. They jumped out to 6 games in a bit over a week from 1 or 2 games. They can fall back just as fast. They’re the favorite at this point, but there’s still 40 plus games left. let’s see where they are in a couple of weeks.
Chiming in on the rotator cuff issue
I may not be the best resource on this particular question, as I only tend to be exposed to people with injuries severe enough to receive operative treatment. My understanding is that some rotator cuff injuries can definitely be rehabbed and healed, but frankly, I’d be surprised if this is one of them. I guess it depends upon the interpretation of the word “significant.” However, with the information that we all have available to us here, I’m guessing surgery was recommended and Hampton refused it. I’m not in his shoes, but IMHO, his is an unrealistic choice from every angle. Even if rehab is successful, it will not be so in the time frame encompassed by the remainder of the season. He is done, probably for good.
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4 game series vs Dodgers @ Minute Maid Park
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Thursday, Sep 9, 2010, 7:05 PM CDT Partly cloudy,rain. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 90. |
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| Fri 09/10 | 7:05 PM CDT | |
| Sat 09/11 | 6:05 PM CDT | |
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cincinnati
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79 | 60 | .568 | 0 | Lost 4 |
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St. Louis
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72 | 65 | .525 | 6 | Lost 2 |
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Houston
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66 | 73 | .474 | 13 | Won 2 |
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Milwaukee
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65 | 74 | .467 | 14 | Won 2 |
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Chicago
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60 | 80 | .428 | 19.5 | Lost 2 |
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Pittsburgh
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47 | 92 | .338 | 32 | Lost 1 |
(updated 9.9.2010 at 9:41 AM CDT)
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