While CRPerry13 was educating us on slugging I was putting together these links for a delightful Sunday afternoon.

The Offbeat

Astros exec asking $3.2M in Bunker Hill Village | Ultimate Memorial
Tal's home is up for sale.

Rangers Mistakenly Attempt To Woo Roy Oswalt By Touting Dallas' Gay Nightlife Scene | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Astro fans will appreciate this.

You May Say I'm A Dreamer: Houston Astros | January
By Garrett Wilson

Ultimate Astros " Hoffman: One Astro’s short but stellar career
By Ken Hoffman

The Platoon Advantage: 2012 Topps: My Last Year of Collecting
By Cee Angi

The Non-Astros

Money and wins
By Dave Studeman

2012 Sabermetric Teams: The Market for Saber Players | FanGraphs Baseball
By Bradley Woodrum

The State of Sabermetrics in the College Game | FanGraphs Baseball
By Eno Sarris

What Is Sabermetrics? And Which Teams Use It? | FanGraphs Baseball
By Bradley Woodrum

How Much Risk Is Worth Additional Upside? | FanGraphs Baseball
By Dave Cameron

Draft and Astro links after the jump...

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While Clack was educating us on the possibility of Chris Johnson returning to form I was putting together these delightful links for your viewing pleasure.

Interviews

What the Heck, Bobby?: An Interview with Adrian Houser
More interviews!

What the Heck, Bobby?: An Interview with Brandon Barnes
Brandon Barnes talks about his experience in Australia.

The Grand Old Game: Player Interview: Brandon Culbreth, RHP, Houston Astros (MiLB)
A very good interview in which Clubreth discusses his draft day and what got him to that day.

Astros Stuff

Analyze this: Houston Astros' Sig Mejdal takes on unique role | astros.com: News
An interesting look at Sig Mejdal.

Hometown ties add motivation to Cosart
By David Dalati

Houston Astros Complete Organizational Chart - MLB Daily Dish
A complete, live chart of the Astros organization -- leadership, rosters, salaries, arbitration and options, as well as prospect rankings.

Other Stuff

Bryce Harper, Opening Day Starter? | FanGraphs Baseball
This is probably something we as Astro fans should keep in mind.

Joe Blogs: A Chain Experiment
An interesting experiment by the Poz.

Stress and Anxiety in Baseball | FanGraphs Baseball
By Jim Breen

While conroestro was comparing the Astros and Cardinals drafts I was putting together these delightful links.

All About The Astros

Richard Justice: Astros' name connects with fans' pride in city | astros.com: News
A good article by Richard Justice. I'm curious to know though why he choose two playoff loses as memories.

Broadcaster Jim Deshaies chats with Astros fans | astros.com: News
J.D. answered questions from fans in an online chat this past Tuesday. This is the transcript of that chat in-case you missed it.

Ultimate Astros " Best individual seasons in Astros history? The envelopes, please
By Steve Campbell

S2S 2012 Team Prospect Lists: Houston Astros - Seedlings to Stars - A Minor League Baseball Site - Draft and Prospect News, Blogs, Opinion and More
By Nathaniel Stoltz

The 1986 Astros reunion: celebrating good times and great baseball memories. " Alyson's Footnotes
Alyson Footer covered the 1986 Houston Astro reunion.

Delino DeShields Jr. Resembles Dad… Sort Of | FanGraphs Baseball
By Mike Newman

Not The Draft

Younger Is Not Always Better in the Dominican | FanGraphs Baseball
By Jim Breen

Pre-Season College Top 100 Draft Prospects - Minor League Ball
Ranking the college pool before the first pitch of the season.

Appy Astros: Age in the Appy and Making the Show
AppyAstros looks at the age factor for all teams in the Appy League.

While Brooks was educating us on injuries I was putting together these links to finish off your weekend.

Last Minute Links

How Sarah Burke would have wanted to be remembered - espnW
By Alyssa Roenigk

Interviews

Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | MLB Rookie Prg: Paul Clemens, HOU RHP - Video | astros.com: Multimedia
2012 MLB Rookie Career Development Program: Houston Astros prospect Paul Clemens on being traded and joining a new organization

What the Heck, Bobby?: Interview with Rafy Valenzuela
Q&A with utility Minor League player Rafael Valenzuela

What the Heck, Bobby?: An Interview with Jarred Cosart
Q&A with Astros Minor League pitcher Jarred Cosart

Taking Care of Business

As 2012 MLB Season Approaches, Blackout Policy Likely to Remain
File this one in the “broken record” department: prepare for yet another season of MLB’s blackout policy remaining in place. This probably doesn't affect those of you in the Houston area. For those outside the Houston area: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The Die Hard Astros Blog: Loyalty: A Response to Maury Brown
Matt has some issues with some of Mr. Brown's thoughts on the Astros fan base. He makes a good point.

The Inner Workings

Creative Destruction and Scouting in Baseball - Beyond the Box Score
Technological breakthroughs typically bring about disruptive effects on industries and labor pools. It's no different when it comes to scouting and evaluating talent in baseball.

Do Coaches Shape Pitchers in Their Own Images? - Beyond the Box Score
It makes intuitive sense that a pitching coach's own playing experience would affect how he mentors his staff. But does such an effect actually exist in baseball?

The Platoon Advantage: Leave other fans aloooooooooooone
By Jason Wojciechowski

While Jeff Luhnow was throwing 97 MPH, I was putting together these hot links for your viewing pleasure.

Statistics

What Starting Pitcher Metrics Correlate Year-to-Year? - Beyond the Box Score
By Bill Petti. Some pitching metrics are more descriptive than predictive. Here's a quick reference for which metrics correlate year-to-year for starting pitchers.

Aging Strikeouts: You’ll Never Be This Good Again | FanGraphs Baseball
By Eno Sarris

Hitters Age Like Wine — Power Like Cheese? | FanGraphs Baseball
By Eno Sarris

Debate Is A Good Thing

Hall debate spawns a new stats superhero, Saberboy
Fantastic!

Baseball Prospectus | BP Unfiltered: Watching Jack Play
By Colin Wyers

2012 Hall of Fame Vote: BBWAA Should End Secret Ballots - Beyond the Box Score
By Lewie Pollis | Don't think the BBWAA's secret ballots matter? Writers who revealed their picks voted quite differently than voters who remained anonymous.

The Hall of Fame and the Myth of Exclusivity - Beyond the Box Score
There's this myth that the Hall of Fame is super exclusive and should be reserved for only the elite players in history. Only thing is, it's not. And it hasn't been in a long, long time.

Coming And Going

Dennis Liborio: loyal employee, clubhouse staple, one of a kind. " Alyson's Footnotes
By Alyson Footer

The Journey of Fernando Martinez - Minor League Ball
By John Sickels

Here are some links to hold you over while we wait with bated breath for the Hall of Fame voting results.

Hall of Fame

Next week’s Cooperstown election results today
By Chris Jaffe

Joe Posnanski » Posts The Future (and Past) of the HOF «
By Joe Posnanski. A good history lesson on the BBWAA voting process.

The Platoon Advantage: Update: Three More Suspected Plagiarists Slither Out From Under Their Rocks
By The Common Man

Denying Jeff Bagwell would be a travesty - SweetSpot Blog - ESPN
By David Schoenfield

Astros County: The Only Astros Blog That Matters: Dive into the inner workings of Phil Rogers' mind, won't you?
Miss Fire Joe Morgan? Can't wait until they take over Deadspin again? AC provides your fix.

Everything Else

BaseballAmerica.com: Prospects: Winter Baseball: Winter Wonders: Winter Wonders: Brian Bogusevic Gets Some Needed At Bats
Brian Bogusevic on his time in winter ball.

Golden anniversary: Astrodome groundbreaking
By Chris Jaffe

Offseason Notes: Houston Gets Its Nerd On | FanGraphs Baseball
Rate J.D. and Brownie.

Appy Astros: Quote: Sig Mejdal
A very nice find by Appy Astro.

Ultimate Astros » On behalf of Astros fans, see you in hell, 2011
By Zachary Levine

One of the great things about this site is that readers are given an opportunity to contribute content to this site and I gotta say a lot of it is absolutely fantastic. It seems like this year we've had more contributions than in previous years so unfortunately I can't highlight all the outstanding work, but I will link the most popular ones.

The Front Office

Ed Wade - The Trade Edition - The Crawfish Boxes
By conroestro - A look at the value of Ed Wades trades.

In Defense of Ed Wade - The Crawfish Boxes
By CRPerry13 - It's unpopular to defend Ed Wade, but that doesn't mean you can't make a solid argument.

Part 2: The Case AGAINST Ed Wade - The Crawfish Boxes
By CRPerry13 - And now the bashing of Ed Wade.

Springer pick - evaluating the Astros' BPPA strategy - The Crawfish Boxes
By Pacbellpilgrim - A look at the Astros selection of George Springer.

Change of Scenery

The Bud Selig hate. It burns. - The Crawfish Boxes
By StephS - Realignment was an emotional topic for Astro fans this year.

Bring Back Orbit - The Crawfish Boxes
By Byrontye - I don't know why everyone hates on Junction Jack.

Major League

Jordan Lyles scouting reports - The Crawfish Boxes
By AstroAndy - Everything you wanted to know about Jordan Lyles and more.

Conspiracy Theory: Jose Altuve - The Crawfish Boxes
By Ntn - Jose Altuve's call up was certainly an exciting time.

How Does Jordan Lyles Minor League Stats Compare? - The Crawfish Boxes
By Conroestro - Comparing the Minor League numbers of Lyles to other successful Major League pitchers.

Altuve's High Contact Rate Hurting his Overall Production - The Crawfish Boxes
By CRPerry13 - Jose Altuve and his ability to put bat on ball.

More links after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

A Happy New Year to all!. Like I did last year I'll be highlighting the best articles from the staff at TCB from this past year. Later today will be a post highlighting the best FanPosts of 2011.

January

Line Drive Batting Avg.: What Does It Tell Us About Carlos Lee? - The Crawfish Boxes
By Clack - Line drive batting average gives us some hope for Carlos Lee in 2011.

More Wandy Rodriguez Talk: Pitching Linear Weights - The Crawfish Boxes
By David Coleman - Did Wandy's curve get worse in 2010 or were there other factors affecting its linear weight.

February

TRL at TCB: Bud Norris And The 2010 Season - The Crawfish Boxes
By David Coleman. Taking a request from a reader, are there signs that Bud could become a decent starter?

The Astros and Fangraphs' Clutch Hitting Stat - The Crawfish Boxes
By Clack - According to the fangraphs clutch statistic, the Astros have been the best clutch team during the Ed Wade tenure.

March

The Astros Breakout Candidate - The Crawfish Boxes
By Timothy De Block - There's a prospect in camp who could wow people this season, and his name isn't Jordan Lyles.

What Does a New Owner Mean for the Houston Astros? - The Crawfish Boxes
By Native_Astro - Looking at the effects of changing owners for the Astros.

More links after the jump.

Continue reading this post »