Greetings, citizens! As you may have noticed, it's been a busy few days at Astros County, and we're just now catching up. Here's what we found interesting...
*Asher Wojciechowski's lat strain apparently flared up last week when he tried to play catch, so the Astros are (predictably) going to move slowly with him. Also, Lucas Harrell will start the Grapefruit League's opening game on Friday, followed by Scott Feldman, and then Jarred Cosart.
*Bo Porter, for one, is "encouraged" by Lucas Harrell's off-season adjustments and improvements.
*J.D. Martinez, who is not on the 40-man roster, "blew up" his swing this winter:
I changed everything. Everything. From my hands to my feet, my leg kick, my stride, my load - just everything.
So watch out for J.D. Martinez's new load this spring!
*Jesse Crain's calf is feeling better. Had this occurred when Crain was, you know, able to throw a baseball and stuff, it would have set his Spring Training back. As it is, he's still on pace for an April season debut.
*The Astros bought two season tickets to NC State's baseball program, to make it cheaper/easier to watch Carlos Rodon.
*Courtesy of the Crawfish Boxes, we find out that the Astros have hired the excellent Amanda Rykoff as their Social Media Manager. Click the link to read how excited Important People are about the new hire, and congratulations to the Astros and Rykoff.
*The Blue Jays are out of the Palm Beach Gardens Spring Training Sweepstakes. Instead, the Astros and Nationals are now looking at sharing a complex in Lake Worth (also Palm Beach County), and Astros' general counsel Giles Kibbe says that, if the county is on board, then the Astros are "all in favor."
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
