Astros have No. 1 pick locked up, but race for the bottom is crowded after that

By Aaron GleemanAug 31, 2012, 12:46 PM EDT
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Houston has the worst record in baseball locked up for the second straight season, so the Astros can start deciding what to do with the No. 1 overall pick in next June’s draft.

Right now the Cubs own the second-worst record, but the race for the No. 2 pick is pretty crowded:

              W      L       GB
Astros       40     91     ----
Cubs         50     80     10.5
Twins        53     78     13.0
Rockies      53     76     14.0
Indians      55     76     15.0

Minnesota picked second this season and the Twins trail the Cubs by just 2.5 games for the right to do that again next year. However, the Indians are coming on pretty strong. In fact, since the All-Star break Houston (7-38) and Cleveland (11-35) are the only two teams with fewer than 15 wins or more than 30 losses.

Unfortunately for the Astros and everyone else listed above next year’s draft, much like this year’s draft, is considered a weak class in terms of elite-level talent and most early projections have Stanford right-hander Mark Appel as the top prospect available. Houston passed on Appel with the No. 1 pick in June and he tumbled all the way to Pittsburgh at No. 8 before turning down $3.8 million and going back to school.

Trea Turner undergoes surgery on right index finger

Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images
By Bill BaerNov 17, 2019, 4:05 PM EST
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Nationals shortstop Trea Turner underwent surgery on his right index finger, MLB.com’s Manny Randhawa reports. Turner suffered a non-displaced fracture when he was hit by a pitch attempting to bunt in early April.

Turner missed six weeks of action and played through the injury for the remainder of the season. He was quite successful, batting .298/.353/.497 with 19 home runs, 57 RBI, 96 runs scored, and 35 stolen bases across 569 plate appearances. Turner’s performance, especially late in the regular season, helped the Nationals claim the first NL Wild Card. They, of course, would go on to win the World Series.

Turner, who is expected to be healed up by the start of spring training, will be entering his second of four years of arbitration eligibility. He will likely get a sizable raise on his $3.725 million 2019 salary.