What you knead to no:
*Brian McTaggart got a raven from Weiland Island before last night's blues implosion. Scott Feldman is expected to rejoin the rotation this weekend as his DL time expires on Saturday; Alex White's velocity is back to where it was before his injury and could go on a rehab assignment soon; Asher Wojciechowski threw a live BP session; Jesse Crain threw off flat ground; and Delino DeShields is taking live BP and rehabbing while Corpus is on a road trip.
*OKC is moving out of the tandem pitching system and into a six-man rotation due to fatigue, the trade of Lucas Harrell, and the promotion of Collin McHugh. The Astros did this last year at OKC, when everyone sucked or got injured, and they had to abandon the piggyback. Luhnow did say that, as soon as they get eight starting pitchers at OKC, they'll go back to it. That said, it also shows me that McHugh may be staying up in Houston for a while (not like he hasn't earned it).
*Two draft pieces to read over: Jim Callis thinks the Astros may be leaning toward Brady Aiken or Tyler Kolek with the 1-1 pick though the Astros have narrowed their choices down to seven players (the others seem to include Carlos Rodon, Jeff Hoffman, Alex Jackson, and Aaron Nola). Jonathan Mayo says that Rodon has started to "right the ship" (striking out 15 Georgia Tech hitters will do that), while Hoffman is in a "holding pattern" after being shutdown with shoulder soreness. Mayo polled nine scouting directors on who they would take with the 1-1 pick, and only one picked Rodon - Aiken and Kolek each got four votes; Aiken because he's apparently smart ("mound intelligence" as Mayo puts it, which is a little too NSFW if you ask me) and Kolek because he's a Texas boy. We'll have a The Case For... series next month.
*Quinton McCracken says that Jon Singleton has the chance to be a "perennial All-Star" in the Majors. "The bottom line is, when he shows the organization he's ready to play consistently at the next level, and the opportunity presents itself, he will get his opportunity."
*Straight Outta 2006: Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee were back in court.
*Anthony Rendon's return to Houston was nice.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
