Game Preview: New York Yankees @ Houston Astros 7/25

The New York Yankees and the Houston Astros will begin a three game series inside Minute Maid Park tonight as both teams inch ever so close to the August 1st trading deadline. It seems like the Yankees and the Astros are going in different directions at this deadline as all signs point to the Yankees possibly selling off a few pieces while Houston may add a key piece here or there in an attempt to catch the Texas Rangers in the AL West Division. In this contest the Yankees will send Michael Pineda to the mound to face off with an old and familiar foe for New York in Astros ace Dallas Keuchel.


Pineda has thrown exactly one scoreless start this season and that start came last time out. Pineda has exactly one start against the Houston Astros this season as well on the second game of the season where Houston tagged Pineda for six runs and eight hits in five innings of work. Believe it or not New York won that game thanks to the offense.


Keuchel has made exactly four career starts against the New York Yankees and he has completely owned them in those four starts. In those four starts that spanned 31 innings Keuchel has 31 strikeouts and has posted an anemic 1.45 ERA. This is going to be a long night for the Bombers.



The game will be played at 8:10 pm ET inside Minute Maid Park and can be seen live on WPIX Channel 11 and MLB TV. The Yankees need a victory, or not depending on what you want the team to do before the trading deadline, but I can't feel confident against a guy like Keuchel. He has absolutely owned the Yankees throughout his short MLB career, but that doesn't mean I'm still not rooting for my team. Go Yankees!

Fantasy Baseball: Who are the Houston Astros

The Houston Astros have been a major league franchise for 50 seasons now and unfortunately for many of those seasons the team has not been in contention. The team finally turned things around in 2015 as they won the American League’s second Wild Card and went on to beat the New York Yankees in the AL Wild Card Round. While Houston couldn’t manage to get past the American League Division Series the team’s season was still considered a success by many leading the ownership to add pieces and payroll as they fine-tuned the 2016 version of the club for another run at the postseason. Houston is here to stay in the American League West Division race but can their players help you sit atop your fantasy league this coming season? With a little help, sure they can.

You know the big names that will help any team win their fantasy leagues, names like Carlos Correa, Dallas Keuchel and Jose Altuve, but anyone who is serious about fantasy sports knows the league winners tend to win the later rounds as well. Anyone can do their homework and pick through the first 10 rounds or so when the names are recognizable and the talent is plentiful but it’s the later picks and the sleeper picks that tend to make all the difference. Names like Ken Giles, Mike Fiers and first base prospect A.J. Reed.

Ken Giles is the new Houston closer and with a dominant starting staff and an offense that lacks explosive power he should get acclimated to pitching in save situations inside Minute Maid Park early and often in 2016. Giles took over midway through the 2015 season as the closer in Philadelphia and dazzled with 15 saves and 87 strikeouts in 70 innings. Giles, assuming health, seems like a shoe-in for 30-40 saves and 90 or so strikeouts in 2016.

Mike Fiers is an underrated and under-appreciated part of the Houston Astros pitching staff. Sure many were wondering if and how he could replicate his 2.13 ERA from the 2014 season, and spoiler alert he did not as he took a step back down closer to Earth in 2015, but despite a bump in ERA his strikeout numbers remained steady. Fiers is one of those pitchers that you won’t hear anything about and before you know it he’s got seven or eight wins before the All Star break. Fiers is definitely a late-round sleeper pick but one you should definitely look into if you need pure wins and strikeouts, he won’t help much elsewhere in my opinion.

Finally you have the Astros top first base prospect A.J. Reed. Reed was the home run king of the minor leagues in 2015 and will get a serious look in spring training this season. Houston does not seem terribly enamored with current first baseman Jon Singleton and could plug Reed into the everyday lineup with a strong and powerful, pun intended, spring training camp. He may be worth the pick with one of your last picks just in case he makes the team. He has legitimate 20-30 home run power in the majors and will easily reach those goals in my opinion if he makes the team out of camp. If he doesn’t he can easily be stashed away on your roster or cut for another player of need without blinking an eye.

That’s it, those are your Houston Astros. Of course you take Altuve and Keuchel if you can and you probably take Correa as well despite his troubling signs at the plate from last season but these three men may help you in the later rounds of your draft. I hope this bit of information helps you dominate your draft lobbies!

Imaging if Chasen Shreve Remembers How to Pitch in 2016

The New York Yankees bullpen has undergone a bit of a makeover from the 2015 season to the 2016 season and here it is only mid-January. A lot can change between now and April just like a lot has changed from today since the Wild Card game against the Houston Astros. Adam Warren is gone and so is Justin Wilson while Aroldis Chapman is in and so is a laundry list of prospects headed by Jacob Lindgren, Nick Goody, Nick Rumbelow and James Pazos looking to fill the void. We keep hearing the names of the big three at the back end of the bullpen and the names of Bryan Mitchell and Ivan Nova essentially replacing Warren and his role but what about Chasen Shreve? What if Shreve actually remembers how to pitch well in 2016?

Shreve was an absolute monster for the Yankees in the first half of 2015 before falling off drastically in the second half. Looking at things in a simplistic view and on paper alone you would think that fatigue would not be a factor. Shreve was a starter in the minor leagues for the Atlanta Braves before the trade and had thrown 70.0 innings in 2011 before throwing just 58.1 innings in 2015. This innings count means little when you actually watch what Shreve was doing out there though as all signs of his downfall pointed to fatigue. His arm angle changed a bit when it never used to and so did his release point. Shreve was seen overthrowing the ball at one point and under-throwing the ball at another. That’s not mechanical, that’s fatigue.

So if Shreve can remember to pitch like he did in the first half of the 2015 season the Yankees will add a fourth dominant relief pitcher to their stable of bullpen arms. Instead of turning these games into a five or six inning game for the starters, remember Dellin Betances can easily go multiple innings three or four times a week, the Yankees may be able to turn it into a four or five inning game. Anything else is gravy.

So while everyone is up in arms about the Yankees having three guys capable of 100 strikeouts in a single season I’m over here wondering about “The Forgotten One” Jacob Lindgren and the “All of a sudden underrated one” Chasen Shreve.