TCB's BBQ Links: What I read today on the Astros and baseball

Tim does a great job on his Sunday link post, but I found myself with a plethora of good things I read on Monday. Too many to fit into a Three Things and still be timely, so I created this post to quickly summarize the best of what I read.

This won't be a daily feature, but may pop up from time to time when I hit a situation like today. At any rate, enjoy some of the best baseball writing from around the interwebs.

Biz of Baseball on Biogenesis scandal

Worth reading Maury Brown's take on all this, especially since Houston could be tied into any suspensions as long as Fernando Martinez plays for Oklahoma City.

Baseball Beginnings: Video of Andrew Thurman

John Klima takes a look at the Astros second round pick with some brief, but good, things to say about the Anteater.

Altuve and the double play

Steve over at Appy Astros takes a good look at why Houston's prolific second baseman is on pace to turn more double plays this season. It's a quick read that's worth a few minutes to put this club's defense into perspective.

An inside look at the Padres draft war room

Neat look at a place where we only rarely get glimpses of. I'd love to see something like this on the Astros war room.

Rob Neyer on the Angels/Dodgers struggles

Lots of goodness in here, including a look at why our predictions for those two LA-adjacent teams were so glowing and why the season has gone so poorly. I also double-checked that it's Rob this time and not Grant. Not going to make that mistake a fifth time.

THT on ticket fees

Over at The Hardball Times, Chris Jaffe breaks down what each team charges over and above the listed ticket price. Surprisingly, he finds that the Astros are middle-of-the-road when compared to all other teams in terms of convenience fees and the like.

Jonah Keri on Chris Davis

Why is this of interest to you, dear Astros fan? Because it's so cool and possibly the future of baseball writing on the internet. I mean, that future is now, as many writers use gifs, charts and words to describe trends. But, it's still worth noting that all of those things turn a good piece into a very informative one.

'Cats Corner looks back at the draft

Sort of appropriate that someone named "Matt Appel" is breaking down this year's draft, no? I wonder if it's actually Mark's penname, though I'd expect something more original from a Stanford man.

What happens after the draft?

Matt Garrioch over at Minor League Ball breaks down the players worth following who didn't get tabbed in the 40 rounds of the draft last weekend. With 10 fewer rounds, there are more unsigned players who probably deserve to be playing in a system somewhere. Also worth noting that one of Houston's better prospects, Ruben Alaniz, was an undrafted free agent signee.