Astros Rumors & News

TSN "Like last year, it could be another winter of waiting when it comes to this year's top free agents.  Andy Martino of SNY reports that free agent starter Gerrit Cole is unlikely to sign anywhere before January according to indications given by his agent, Scott..." November 12

Yardbarker "General manager Billy Eppler and the Los Angeles Angels know that they must add some starting pitching if they want to end a five-year playoff drought. Speaking at the GM meetings in Arizona on Monday, Eppler said that Los Angeles has the ability to be aggressive..." November 12

The Score "The GM meetings are only just getting underway, but the Houston Astros aren't wasting any time. Representatives from the AL pennant-winning club have already met with members of Jet Sports, the agency representing Zack Wheeler, according to Jon Heyman of MLB..." November 12

Toronto Star "The Blue Jays appear ready to dip their toes into the free-agent pool. The problem is they’re starting from the wrong end. By most accounts, Toronto is going to be an aggressive buyer this winter and the Jays should have more financial flexibility than just about any..." November 12

Empire Sports Media "The New York Yankees were immediately linked to star pitcher Gerrit Cole after their elimination from the postseason in the ALCS. Bolstering the starting pitching rotation seemed to be a priority going into the offense. Still, comments made by owner Hal Steinbrenner and general..." November 12

MLB Trade Rumors "We’ve already looked at what pick(s) each of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball would need to surrender in order to sign one of the 10 free agents who rejected a qualifying offer last week. On the other side of the coin is what type of compensation each of the eight teams that issued a..." November 12

ESPN "Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez capped a meteoric rise by becoming the franchise's third Rookie of the Year winner and second since the club moved to the American League. Alvarez was a unanimous selection of the award's 30 voters. Baltimore Orioles..." November 11

NBC Sports "Earlier this year, Marc Carig of The Athletic published a report on a belt, awarded as a prize at the GM meetings every year to the team that did the most to “achieve the goals set by the industry.” That’s code for salary suppression in arbitration. MLBPA..." November 11

CBS Sports "We've just dipped our toes into the MLB offseason of 2019-20, which means pretty much all the action has yet to transpire. That said, rumors regarding free agent player and team pairings and potential trades are already circulating, and we're here to get you up to speed on all the..." November 11

MLB.com "On Thursday, we will find out the MVPs in the National League and the American League. When you win an MVP, you instantly go down in your team’s history. (Sorry D-backs, Rays and Mets: You still haven’t had an MVP.) It’s something both you and your franchise will have..." November 11

Real GM Baseball "The Philadelphia Phillies are heading into the General Manager meetings, which begin on Monday, with a plan to improve their pitching staff. They could look to add multiple starters, but Gerrit Cole is currently atop their wish list. Cole is tied to draft pick compensation..." November 11

The Score "It seems unthinkable that the Chicago Cubs would consider trading All-Star catcher Willson Contreras, but a move is possible and even likely. It's hard to come by a catcher of his caliber, and especially one with his offensive talents. Since the..." November 11

Yardbarker "With new GM Scott Harris officially brought into the fold, the Giants could also be close to naming a successor to Bruce Bochy as manager. Even though the wide-ranging hiring search has seen San Francisco consider as many as 10 candidates, “people familiar” with the..." November 11

ESPN "So much happens during the World Series -- and there's always another game to look ahead to until the final one -- that a lot of small, important plays get lost in the big-picture takes. Two plays, quickly forgotten in aftermath of Stephen Strasburg's mastery and Anthony..." November 09

USA Today "Remember that terrible 'Turn Ahead the Clock' promotion from 1999? Unfortunately, we all do. At least none of those uniforms accurately predicted the future. Case in point: the Pittsburgh Pirates ... Arizona Diamondbacks have a short and questionable history with sartorial..." November 09

Sportsnaut "We’re not 100% sure what happened behind the scenes as it relates to Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan and the Houston Astros. What we do know is that Ryan has announced he will not return to his role as executive assistant to owner Jim Crane. " November 08

ESPN "It was Oct. 2, and fall had already settled over Chicago. The temperatures were in the 60s, the leaves had started to turn and crowds basked in the sidewalk cafés around the Loop, enjoying their last bit of al fresco dining before the coming freeze. Me? I headed for the airport with a..." November 08

Sportsnaut "The 2019 MLB season is over and with it comes the start of the 2020 offseason. There is no rest for MLB teams as the coming weeks and months will play a defining role in shaping rosters and ultimately the entire 2020 season. There will be plenty of All-Star level talent available for..." November 08

CBS Sports "On Thursday, the Houston Astros announced some changes to their leadership structure and front office. Normally, these go unnoted unless they involve a change at general manager. Yet in this particular instance, those involved have some familiar, noteworthy names.  To..." November 07

SB Nation "There are two years remaining in Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement with its players, but a growing rift between the two sides suggests negotiations are going to be bumpy. The latest conflict stemmed from a conference call between reporters..." November 07

TMZ "Giancarlo Stanton is ready for two more superstar teammates ... the Yankees outfielder tells TMZ Sports he wants NYY to sign BOTH Gerrit Cole AND Stephen Strasburg!! "You can never go wrong with Cole and Strasburg!" Stanton says. The..." November 07

12 Up "With only two years left on his contract, Francisco Lindor may not be in a Cleveland Indians uniform much longer (as the team's owners have clearly stated, enjoy him!). As he enters his prime and becomes less affordable, the Indians may prepare to trade him before things get too..." November 07

Yahoo! Sports "On Tuesday, the winners of the 2019 Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Awards were announced on MLB Network. Gold Gloves were handed out on Sunday, but Wilson has their own line of defensive awards. The differences between the two are that the Wilson awards are not as widely hailed and..." November 07

The Score "CC Sabathia is done on the mound, but he's apparently still pitching for the New York Yankees in free agency. On the most recent edition of his "R2C2 is Uninterrupted" podcast, the retired southpaw said he's already spoken with Gerrit Cole, the..." November 06

Hardball Talk "MLB Trade Rumors reports that the Super Two cutoff has been set at two years and 115 days of service time. It’s the lowest the threshold has been set in a decade. Super Two eligibility is a salary arbitration concept. All players who have zero to two years of service time..." November 05

CBS Sports "The Los Angeles Angels haven't reached the playoffs since 2014, and haven't won a postseason game in a decade. What the Angels have done well in the past few years is change managers. The Angels recently installed Joe Maddon as their new skipper. Maddon is the club's third..." November 05

Sporting News "Minor League Baseball will implement an automated strike zone in some stadiums for the 2020 season, the latest evolution on the path to so-called robot umps, according to a report from The Athletic. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told MLB Network recently that the technology for a..." November 05

KHOU.com "Has Gerrit Cole pitched his last game for the Astros? Not if owner Jim Crane has anything to say about it. Crane told reporters on Monday that the Astros were “going to make a run at it” when asked about the possibility of re-signing the ace pitcher. Cole is set..." November 05

12 Up "It's largely expected that Gerrit Cole will not be returning to Houston in 2020, but the Astros are going to do everything in their power to get as much as they possibly can in return for the superstar right-hander. On the first official day..." November 05

ABC 13 "The Houston Astros have made the first official move in their dealings with Gerrit Cole. On the first Monday since the start of MLB free agency, the free agent pitcher was tendered a qualifying offer of a one-year, $17.8 million contract. Under MLB rules, the offer is..." November 05

CBS Sports "Major League Baseball revealed the  finalists for each of the four major Baseball Writers' Association of America Awards for the 2019 regular season. Those four awards: MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year. There are three finalists for each award in both..." November 04

The Score "The National Baseball Hall of Fame revealed this year's Modern Baseball Era committee ballot Monday, with 10 candidates seeking induction as part of the Class of 2020. Nine former players - Dwight Evans, Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Don Mattingly, Thurman Munson, Dale..." November 04

MLB.com "It seems like a virtual lock at this point that Cole's next contract will set a record for pitchers, surpassing David Price's $217 million deal with the Red Sox. What's more uncertain is just how much he'll make. " November 04

TMZ "Carlos Correa is holding out hope Gerrit Cole resigns with the Houston Astros ... telling TMZ Sports having the stud pitcher back in 2020 "would be great." Of course, that might be wishful thinking at this point ... Cole's behavior after the..." November 04

The Score "Days after being named World Series MVP, Stephen Strasburg opted out of his contract with the Washington Nationals and will test free agency for the first time. By opting out, Strasburg leaves $100 million on the table and will roll the dice on the open market in the hope of..." November 04

MLB.com "The best fielders in baseball took home hardware on Sunday night, as the winners of the 2019 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards were announced. First-time winners such as Cleveland's Roberto Pérez and Milwaukee's Lorenzo Cain joined multiple honorees like seven-time winners..." November 04

The Big Lead "Gerrit Cole is a free agent this winter. He will not be returning to Houston based on the fact that he discarded his Astros gear like it was on fire as soon as the World Series ended. So which teams are most likely to give him a lot of money? 1. New York Yankees Notice..." November 02

CBS Sports "Congratulations to the entire 2014 Detroit Tigers starting rotation on their World Series rings, none of which were actually won with the Detroit Tigers.  With Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez as part of the Washington Nationals team that..." November 02

MLB.com "If it feels like last year’s free agency just ended, that’s because it did. The “winter” technically stretched into early June, when Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel finally signed with the Braves and Cubs, respectively. But it won’t..." November 02

NBC Sports "Rogers Hornsby’s most famous quote goes like this: “People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” Rogers Hornsby, of course, died in 1963 and back then they didn’t..." November 02

MLB Trade Rumors "The 2019 season came to a sad end Wednesday for the Astros, who watched their 2-0 lead over the Nationals in Game 7 of the World Series evaporate during the latter stages of the contest. The club may now be on the verge of losing one of its best players, free-agent right-hander Gerrit..." November 01

The Big Lead "Gerrit Cole was unbelievable in two years with the Houston Astros, going 35-10 in regular seasons and 6-2 in the playoffs. He transformed himself into one of, if not the best pitcher in the game and certainly did enough to lead the team to a World Series. But Houston didn't win..." November 01

Sporting News "Is Gerrit Cole the greatest free-agent pitcher of all time? It's not hard to fathom. It wasn't long ago that Max Scherzer was a hot-ticket free agent and signed for mega bucks, but Scherzer was two years older than Cole is now, and had worse career numbers than Cole does..." November 01

CBS Sports "On Wednesday, the Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, thereby securing the franchise's first championship. For the Nationals, that meant it was time to party; for everyone else, it meant that the offseason was near...." November 01

NBC Sports "This is some must-click link material. It’s from Sam Miller at ESPN who, along with a healthy amount of research help from Baseball Prospectus, broke down a single game of the 2019 World Series to determine why World Series games take so dang long. The game in question:..." November 01

The Score "By every meaningful objective metric and sober subjective accounting, the Houston Astros were baseball's best team this year. That guarantees nothing, of course - glory is never so linear in this crazy, beautiful, dumb sport - but these Astros, a beefed-up, more mature version of..." November 01

Yahoo! Sports "The Athletic’s Evan Drellich reports that Major League Baseball made a proposal to the MLB Players Association, suggesting a deadline for multi-year contracts for free agents. The deadline would have been set for the end of the Winter Meetings, which this year will take place..." October 31

Total Pro Sports "Julia Rose certainly knows how to get people talking about her. Just after the Houston Astros lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Washington Nationals — the Instagram model saw an opportunity to flash Gerrit Cole, so she removed her top and did it again. " October 31

Awful Announcing "Wednesday’s Game 7 of the World Series between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros produced great TV numbers for Fox by the standard of the series to date, but disappointing ones by the standard of previous Game 7s. The final numbers for Tuesday’s Game..." October 31

The Score "Major League Baseball free agency is nearly upon us, and the players' association announced the list of 131 players who officially became available following the conclusion of the World Series, qualifying as Article XX(B) free agents. Not all players qualify as Article..." October 31