Astros weekend links

Happy Holidays everyone. I hope you enjoy our final edition of Weekend Links of 2013. The New Year is almost here and, before you know it, Spring Training time will come. Today’s serving features an interview with top draft pick Mark Appel — and more.

Fangraphs

"My mindset is, What can I do today to help the team win? That involves giving up as few runs as possible. Looking at it from a very simple view, that’s the name of the game. If I can do that, we have a chance to win. That’s what my focus is. If I pitch well, I trust my statistics will be there."

Jason Collette

"Over 54.1 innings of work, he struck out 54 batters and limited batters to a .287 wOBA and his 3.64 ERA was a far cry from the first half of the season. The gap between his results against lefties and righties still existed, but it was much less drastic. With the slider in his repertoire, Peacock limited righties to a .223 wOBA and lefties to a .330 wOBA."

NBCSports.com

"Oh well, it’s Chass and he’s a full-blown kook, so who knows. What the BBWAA’s excuse is for letting him and people like him continue to vote for baseball’s highest honor, however, is probably a legitimate question."

Ultimate Astros

"The Yankees are poised to make a run. What are the chances the Astros would actually be able to outspend them? What are the chances that Tanaka would rather live in Houston and pitch for a rebuilding team when he could live in New York and pitch for the game’s most famous franchise, even in the unlikelihood the Astros made the highest bid?"