Welcome to the Launch Briefing, a daily feature, where you will find a roundup of news and interesting stories from the Astros clubhouse and from around the league.
Discuss and share in the comments!
It’s the Tuesday Launch!
Houston Astros News
Velázquez signs a deal with Houston (YS)
How Abreu has stepped into his new role (NYT)
Astros DFA Shay Whitcome (NBC)
Burrows makes rehab start on Friday (CBS)
AL West News
Eovaldi placed on IL by Rangers
Sauer signs minor-league deal with A’s (CBS)
Kingham claimed by the Mariners (SNW)
Ornelas DFA’ed by Athletics (NBC)
Peralta selected by the Angels (FP)
MLB News
Anderson announces retirement (ESPN)
Mets place Williams on IL (SNY)
Phillies place Kilian on the injured list
D-backs DFA Seawald for assignment (SNW)
Dodgers add a couple of arms for the pen (YS)
Houston Astros birthdays
OF Colby Rasmus (40)
RHP Nolan DeVos (26, Double-A)
Feature photo from Astros on X, Source Link
Nelson Velazquez? Dana Brown knows something nobody else knows.
If the Astros have room for Velazquez, what does it say of the Astros?
Mainly they hope he’s an upgrade from Shay Whitcomb
He has a +.700 ops against lefties. Thats what he saw. So he can run into some pop there. Does Shay Whitcomb not run into some power too though?? Guess it breaks down to what difference???? I’m not sure..
Do we need pop against lefties? I thought we were looking for a LHB outfielder like Varsho. Velazquez has 30.1% K too (MLB average around 22%)
They did want lefty help too with varsho but also specifically Varsho for CF because Trammell rates better as a corner OF than center fielder
But also a righty bat to platoon with Trammell, who’s been great against RHP (.799 OPS) but isn’t usable against LHP (.399 OPS in a small sample size in 2026, but that’s believable because his career OPS against LHP is .439)
mhatter may have it exactly right
Let me change my question. If Velazquez (whatever his attributes) is better than what we have, what does it say about the Astros? And why did we wait until August? If you guys were trying to help DB, you buried him.
I get you. It doesn’t say anything good. Which is what my preview piece today on how terrible the outfield has been this season is about
There is something very wrong with the Astros organization.
Colby Rasmus was a productive left fielder but I’ve not heard anything about him since he left the team
Funny you should mention him today (well not that funny, since it’s his birthday and it was at the end of the briefing)
Colby’s niece is featured in the Houston Chronicle today. She’s killing it in Alabama little league I guess. That’s what happens when you’re the niece of the guy with the highest postseason OPS in MLB history.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/colby-rasmus-kinley-little-league-alabama-family-22383461.php
Good Chandler Rome article on Bryan Abreu’s resurgence.
If there was an opening in the bullpen, it would be interesting to pick up Sewald who was DFA’d by Arizona. But, unless you know that you can fix him quickly, it would be hard to justify making room for him in the bullpen. Sewald was a good closer for the first three months of the season. But he has fallen off a cliff, in terms of allowing runs, since then (though he continued to rack up some saves for the D-Backs). He is getting beat up by LHBs during the downfall.