Friday's Three Astros Things

Some things to talk about as MLB At Bat 13 is released...

1) Singleton talks about suspension

Top prospect Jonathan Singleton won't be showing up in the majors for at least 50 games this season because of a suspension for a drug of abuse while he was in the minors. On Friday, SIngleton met with the media in Florida to talk about it.

He said all the right things and the GM had some nice things to say about him too. But, two things stuck out to me, including this quote from Tags:

Singleton said the suspension was a walk-up call.

"I guess it was, in a way, but I’m accepting my consequences and moving forward," he said.

I imagine the exchange went something like, Tags or Brian T. asking him if the suspension were a wake-up call and Singleton saying it was. That's an important distinction, because it absolutely should NOT have been a wakeup call. That should have happened when he was first popped for a positive test with no suspension. The fact that he needed a second test and suspension to get a wakeup call doesn't reflect too well on him.

However, if it was a reporter asking the question and he answered the way he did, I have to believe he didn't mean it like that.

The other thing I wonder is how supportive Bo Porter will be when Singleton is his charge. I can imagine our favorite football coach turned baseball manager won't take kindly to his charges doing stupid things and getting suspended. Don't you get that impression, too?

2) A's moving to San Jose, finally?

Not Astros related, but since they're in the same division now, this note on the A's is worth discussing. Seems the A's progress towards relocating to San Jose got a teensy-weensy bit closer to happening.

Thanks to MLB Daily Dish, we get this story from the LA Times about the relocation committee:

The commissioner's office has provided the Oakland Athletics with tentative guidelines for a potential move to San Jose, according to three people familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it.

The existence of the guidelines does not necessarily mean the A's will move to San Jose soon, or at all. However, if the A's can satisfy the concerns of the league office, CommissionerBud Selig could let club owners decide whether to approve the move.

Basically, this relocation committee that's been around for four years finally did something, but it's not entirely clear what it will accomplish. The relocation guidelines they provided are only tentative and there's been no vote taken from other owners yet.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the situation, the A's are looking to move a short distance away from Oakland to San Jose, but because of the intense territorial rights around San Francisco, the Giants are trying to block the move, as they consider San Jose part of "their" territory.

It's pretty silly when you consider the distance between Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco in the first place and how the entire state of Texas is essentially the territory of both the Astros and Rangers. But, hey, geography!

Maybe in four more years, this thing will get worked out.

3) Pitching machine fun

In case you missed it, go check out all the fun the reporters and players had with the intrasquad game on Thursday. Sounds like it was a blast!

"Doug went out there to talk to the machine. I don’t know what kind of advice he had for it," said Astros manager Bo Porter, who presided over the proceedings. "It was one of those things where sometimes you’ve just got to get it done yourself."

An Adam Everett-coached team ripped open a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, with Brett Wallace and Jose Altuve staggering the double-wheeled machine.

"Early in the game with our machine starter, he was really leaving the ball up," Ensberg said. "And if you leave the ball up, good hitters are going to take great swings and they’re going to hurt you. … That’s a function of our guy, our pitcher, not throwing to his spots."