Astros Farm Report: 1/15

Catching you up on the latest Astros MiLB offseason news ...

WISHING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO

Yoanys Quiala - August 2017

Photo by Jayne Hansen

1-15: RHP Yoanys Quiala (24)
1-17: OF Kyle Tucker (21)
1-18: SS Osvaldo Duarte (22)

ROSTER MOVES/TRANSACTIONS

I certainly don't need to inform my readers about the big weekend trade with Pittsburgh to obtain RHP Garrit Cole in exchange for RHP Joe Musgrove, RHP Michael Feliz, 3B Colin Moran and OF Jason Martin. Baseball America has a very good post on what the Astros gained and what they lost from a talent perspective. And J.J. Cooper of BA weighs in with some additional thoughts on Moran. MLB Pipeline has updated their 2017 postseason prospect rankings to remove Moran (#5) and Martin (#15). RHP Jairo Solis has been slotted in at #21 and OF Ronnie Dawson has been added at #30.

19-year old Joe Musgrove - August 2012

Photo by Jayne Hansen

What these various pundits don't weigh in on is what else the Astros fans are losing. If you are on twitter, you might have seen many tweets of praise for Joe Musgrove ...

Hey, @pirates, in Joe Musgrove you’re getting one of the all-time good dudes. Here’s a column I wrote on him last season. https://t.co/ClcQV03G4g

— Richard Justice (@richardjustice) January 14, 2018

Was with Joe Musgrove in Corpus Christi on caravan all day Thursday. One of my favorite guys in my time with the #Astros; great pitcher & great person. Wish him nothing but the best in Pittsburgh.

— Robert Ford (@raford3) January 14, 2018

Best of luck to @musgrove23Stros, pictured here with @ABREG_1 toward the end of FanFest yesterday. Joe is a talented pitcher and a heck of a human. Hope he has great success with the Pirates. pic.twitter.com/r9CEs3cv7e

— Alyson Footer (@alysonfooter) January 14, 2018

@musgrove23Stros UR one of the best people to play for @astros. Thank u for doing everything asked and more. I will always root for you. Best wishes to @DianeMusgrove

— Bill Brown (@BrownieTw) January 14, 2018

Thank you @musgrove23Stros for all you did for Kingwood after the flood.

— Mike Fast (@fastballs) January 14, 2018

Pennsylvania gained a good one. Bring a little San Diego to the great state, @musgrove23Stros 🤙

— Derek Fisher (@defish21) January 14, 2018

Any fan who has ever had the opportunity to interact with Joe from the low minors all the way up to Houston will know what a special person he is, generous with his time and his heart. I first interviewed Joe when he was only 19 and I immediately fell in love with him. He was sweet and charming ... a gentle giant like my father. Every time I spoke with him from that point forward just cemented my impression of him as a really special person. He and his wonderful family will be missed. Best of luck to Joe, Michael, Colin and Jason as they continue their baseball journeys!

Thanks for the memories H-Town. Waddup Steel City! pic.twitter.com/upXWFVTuUJ

— Joe Musgrove (@ItsbuccnJoe59) January 14, 2018

One additional note ... as of 1/14, the Astros 40-man roster stands at 38 with the addition of Cole and the subtraction of Musgrove, Feliz and Moran. I do not think it was a coincidence that Astros General Manager Luhnow's trade allows him much more flexibility to identify and patch holes where the team sees them as the season approaches. Had he given up top prospects not on the 40-man roster, Luhnow would still have had his hands tied with a full roster and much less room to maneuver.

The cumulative Astros offseason transaction list can be found here.

FALL AND WINTER LEAGUE UPDATES

Since most of the Astros minor leaguers are finished with winter ball, I'll only be including the active players here. For the final stats for players having participated in the Arizona Fall League, Venezuelan Winter League, Mexican Pacific Winter League and the Dominican Winter League, please visit my Farm Report from 1/1.

AUSTRALIAN BASEBALL LEAGUE (ABL)

MiLB.com is currently down for maintenance. Therefore, I cannot currently access the specifics of Ayarza's last four games, but it appears that he continues to have a good amount of success with the Bite. The ABL regular season will conclude on January 27th.

Adelaide Bite
Rodrigo Ayarza - 32G .295/.331/.508 8-2B 6HR 13RBI 7BB:27SO 5SB:2CS

PUERTO RICAN WINTER LEAGUE (LBPRC)

Again, I can't access the boxscores for detailed information at this time, but Sierra lowered his ERA over three points in one appearance and Castro had his first and only at-bat (so far) of his winter campaign resulting in an RBI double.

Cangrejeros de Santurce
RHP Carlos Sierra - 3G 2.1IP 7.71 ERA 3.429 WHIP 1SO:5BB
C Ruben Castro - 1G 1.000/1.000/2.000 1-2B 1RBI

NEWS AND LINKS

Baseball America gave us an early look at the Top 10 Astros prospect list as the Gerrit Cole trade loomed. Colin Moran's #9 ranking and (according to J.J. Cooper) Jason Martin's #19 ranking look to be in the upcoming BA Prospect Handbook as their press deadline came and went last week. Also according to Cooper, an Astros prospect will be gracing the cover. I will assume that player to be Forrest Whitley since they have him ranked as the top Astros prospect.

In case you missed it, I started a "Beyond the Top 30" series, looking at both those Astros players who are considered Top 30 prospects and others at each position who may not be top talents (or may grow to be), but will be interesting to watch nonetheless. So far we've looked at ...

Shortstops
Second Basemen
First Basemen - coming this week