THE PALLILOG
Looks like Astros GM just received some important trade market clarity
Jul 6, 2023, 5:33 pm
The Astros could use a left-handed bat. Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images.
Astros young guns making a statement with superstar players on the mend
The Astros are in a very good place heading toward the All-Star break, with the two huge caveats being the health of Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez. Altuve down again with a second oblique injury (that makes one on each side) is a downer. If Alvarez actually is progressing well now from his oblique injury he should return (grab piece of wood and knock on it) in time for the Astros-Rangers series that starts July 24. Out of the break the Astros have a nine game road trip against no good teams (three at the injury-ravaged Angels, two at the lousy Rockies, four at the atrocious A’s) while the Rangers have a nine game home stand of three games apiece versus the Guardians, Rays, and Dodgers. Beware Texas Rangers: objects in mirror are closer than they appear. And the Astros appear close already.
Trade deadline shopping list
With Michael Brantley shut down again and quite possibly done as a viable big leaguer, General Manager Dana Brown has clarity on what to seek in trade before the August 1 deadline in addition to a starting pitcher. Chas McCormick, Jake Meyers, and Corey Julks all bat right-handed. Replacing one with a quality left-handed hitter is the play. But replace which of them? From June 1 forward McCormick has hit .325 with a .948 OPS. Since Julks stopped swinging at everything he has made marked improvement. After drawing a woeful four walks over his first 166 plate appearances, Julks has drawn 12 walks in his last 80 plate appearances, batting .324 with a tremendous .425 on-base percentage. Meyers is nine for his last 55, a sad .164 average, and obviously has the least power of the three. So easy call right? Meyers would seem the obvious odd man out, but if the Astros still evaluate him as their best defensive center fielder, that is a factor. None of them are young (Chas is 28, Corey and Jake 27).
This flew under the radar
There was a moment at Minute Maid Park Wednesday that happily drew no reaction since hardly anyone in the crowd was aware of the backstory. The Rockies brought in relief pitcher Daniel Bard with two out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. Bard retired Jose Abreu on a pop-up to first base then worked a one-two-three eighth inning. Minutiae in the Astros 6-4 win.
Daniel Bard is the pitcher who broke Jose Altuve’s right thumb with an errant pitch during the World Baseball Classic. Had Altuve not been sidelined by his second oblique muscle issue of the season, it certainly would have been attention getting had he faced Bard Wednesday. From an Astro fan tunnel-visioned perspective, many who made the connection would have booed Bard like he was Joe Kelly. Understandable purely from a venting standpoint, but knowing Bard’s story is worthwhile, albeit no consolation for his having completely unintentionally sidelined Altuve for the first seven weeks of the season. Bard wound up starting the season on the Injured List because of anxiety brought on by his injuring Altuve. Bard’s bigger career story is darn near unbelievable.
Bard’s Major League career got off to a good start. Over his first three seasons with the Red Sox as a relief pitcher Bard’s record was just 5-13 but his earned run average was a very good 2.88. He walked more batters than ideal, 76 in 197 innings, but nothing ridiculous. The Red Sox made him a starter in 2012, and whatever went wrong went way wrong as Bard came down with what many call “Steve Blass Disease,” essentially a professional nervous breakdown through which a pitcher basically loses control over where he throws the baseball. In 59 1/3 innings pitched for the Sox in 2012 Bard walked 43 batters. He was demoted to the minors for three months. In 2013 he pitched one inning over two April games and at 27 years old was sent back to the minors where his real disaster began. Bard’s next big league pitch would not come until more than seven years later.
Across three minor league stops in 2013 Bard pitched 15 1/3 innings and walked 27 batters. He made “Nuke” LaLoosh from the all-time classic baseball movie Bull Durham look like Greg Maddux. The Red Sox waived him, the Cubs claimed him then let him become a free agent. Somehow Bard hadn’t yet bottomed out. He signed to play in the Puerto Rican Winter League. Bard made three appearances, recorded exactly one out, walking nine, and hitting three batters, with four wild pitches mixed in. Somehow, the Texas Rangers signed Bard for 2014.
He was sent to their single-A affiliate and made four appearances. There over two-thirds of an inning he recorded all of two outs, walking nine, and hitting SEVEN. The Rangers released him in June 2014. Bard next threw a minor league pitch two years later. In 2016 again in “A” ball, Bard pitched three innings over eight appearances, walking 13, hitting five, with six wild pitches. In 2017, two minor league stops, nine and a third innings pitched, 24 walks, “only” four hit batters, seven wild pitches. The gruesome combined stats from winter ball 2013-14 through 2017: 13 1/3 innings pitched, 55 walks, 19 hit batters, 17wild pitches. ERA: 28.35. Bard retired after 2017.
In 2020 Bard decided to try a comeback. The Rockies signed him, called him up to the big leagues in July, and he has pitched for them since, and fabulously over the last season and a half. Despite pitching his home games in the by far worst pitchers’ park in MLB, Bard last season posted a 1.79 ERA and at 37 years old signed a two year 19 million dollar contract extension. His ERA this season is 1.82. Bard still walks too many batters (24 in 29 2/3 innings this year) but obviously not in a career-killing fashion.
Incidentally, Daniel Bard was born in Houston.
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Astros take series as Peña homers and Alvarez delivers clutch double
Mar 29, 2025, 10:03 pm
Houston spent time this week practicing an inbound play that coach Kelvin Sampson thought his team might need against Purdue.
Milos Uzan, the third option, ran it to perfection.
He tossed the ball to Joseph Tugler, who threw a bounce pass right back to Uzan, and the 6-foot-4 guard soared to the rim for an uncontested layup with 0.9 seconds left, giving the top-seeded Cougars a 62-60 victory — and a matchup with second-seeded Tennessee in Sunday's Elite Eight.
“Great execution at a time we needed that,” said Sampson, who is a win away from making his third Final Four and his second with Houston in five years. “You never know when you’re going to need it.”
The Cougars (33-4) made only one other basket over the final eight minutes, wasted a 10-point lead and then missed two more shots in the final 5 seconds. A replay review with 2.2 seconds left confirmed Houston would keep the ball when it rolled out of bounds after the second miss.
Uzan took over from there.
“I was trying to hit (L.J. Cryer) and then JoJo just made a great read,” Uzan said. “He was able to draw two (defenders) and he just made a great play to hit me back.”
Houston advanced to the Elite Eight for the third time in five years after falling in the Sweet 16 as a top seed in the previous two editions of March Madness. It will take the nation's longest winning streak, 16 games, into Sunday’s Midwest Region final.
The Cougars joined the other three No. 1 seeds in this year's Elite Eight and did it at Lucas Oil Stadium, where their 2021 tourney run ended with a loss in the Final Four to eventual national champion Baylor.
They haven't lost since Feb. 1.
Uzan scored 22 points and Emanuel Sharp had 17 as Houston survived an off night from leading scorer Cryer, who finished with five points on 2-of-13 shooting.
Houston still had to sweat out a half-court heave at the buzzer, but Braden Smith's shot was well off the mark.
Fletcher Loyer scored 16 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 14 and Smith, the Big Ten player of the year, added seven points and 15 assists for fourth-seeded Purdue (24-12). Smith assisted on all 11 second-half baskets for last year’s national runner-up, which played in front of a friendly crowd about an hour’s drive from its campus in West Lafayette.
“I thought we fought really hard and we dug down defensively to get those stops to come back,” Smith said. “We did everything we could and we just had a little miscommunication at the end and they converted. Props to them.”
Houston appeared on the verge of disaster when Kaufman-Renn scored on a dunk and then blocked Cryer’s shot with 1:17 to go, leading to Camden Heide’s 3 that tied the score at 60 with 35 seconds left.
Sampson called timeout to set up the final play, but Uzan missed a turnaround jumper and Tugler’s tip-in rolled off the rim and out of bounds. The Cougars got one more chance after the replay review.
Sharp's scoring flurry early in the second half finally gave Houston some separation after a back-and-forth first half. His 3-pointer at the 16:14 mark made it 40-32. After Purdue trimmed the deficit to four, Uzan made two 3s to give Houston a 10-point lead in a tough, physical game that set up a rare dramatic finish in this year's tourney.
“Smith was guarding the inbounder, so he had to take JoJo,” Sampson said. “That means there was no one there to take Milos. That's why you work on that stuff day after day.”
Takeaways
Purdue: Coach Matt Painter's Boilermakers stumbled into March Madness with six losses in their final nine games but proved themselves a worthy competitor by fighting their way into the Sweet 16 and nearly taking down a No. 1 seed.
Houston: The Cougars lead the nation in 3-point percentage and scoring defense, an enviable combination.
Scary fall
Houston guard Mylik Wilson gave the Cougars a brief scare with 13:23 left in the game. He leapt high into the air to grab a rebound and drew a foul on Kaufman-Renn.
As the play continued, Wilson was undercut and his body twisted around before he landed on his head. Wilson stayed down momentarily, rubbing his head, but eventually got up and remained in the game.