CTH Week in review

As July turned into August, Astros fans had a lot to keep their eyes on. Over the past week the trade deadline has come and gone and, as expected, Jeff Luhnow traded away a few veterans for a few more prospects.

The big league club has continued to take their lumps. But the minor league clubs are collectively on fire with less than 30 days remaining in their seasons.

In case you’ve been busy, here’s a one-stop article with links to the biggest stories of the week here at CTH.

I started the week by attending a couple of AA Corpus Christi Hooks games in San Antonio. The Hooks had a so-so week, going 3-3, but I was particularly impressed with Max Stassi, who is in the midst of a tremendous hot streak.

There is a lot to be excited about right now within the Astros minor league system. The AAA Oklahoma City Redhawks have won nine straight! The High-A Lancaster JetHawks have scored double-digit runs in six consecutive games! And the Low-A Quad Cities River Bandits have won seven in a row! Yoni always does a fantastic job keeping us up to date on what’s happening down on the farm. Earlier in the week he ran his Players of the Month post.

Veterans Jose Veras, Justin Maxwell, and Bud Norris were all sent packing at the trade deadline. Josh Zeid and Chia-Jen Lo were called up to take a couple of the vacated roster spots and outfielder L.J. Hoes went from the home clubhouse to the visitors side while the Astros were in Baltimore.

While the losing has continued at the big league level, we’ve all been quick to place blame on the Astros wretched bullpen. Without Veras, I wondered, who will emerge as the new closer?

John also suggests that some of the blame for our misery needs to be placed on the Astros porous defense.

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