Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

A side story to start your day: I started running about eight months ago as a way to look and feel more sexy like Carlos Gomez and less like Pablo Sandoval. A couple of months ago I pulled both my quads, and the demands of my job have prevented those from healing as quickly as I would have liked. I started listening to podcasts instead of Rage Against The Machine while I "run," as a way to occupy my mind a little bit more - and it's a gentler way to get going at 5:00am. One of the podcasts I've enjoyed is the Black Tapes podcast, which is creepy af. This morning while running and listening to the latest episode, I turned the corner and two people were standing in the middle of the road staring at me. It was awful and horrible and almost died. Apparently my labored breathing had alarmed the two morning walkers, who were curious as to whom - or what - was coming behind them. It's a shame I had to murder them in the time-old Fight or Flight decision. On to the links...

*Baseball America plays Best-Case/Worst-Case with the American League.

*A.J. Hinch is giving the Astros today off.

I asked our guys to stay away. They're not going to get extra credit points for showing up and working out. When I give them rest and recovery time I want them to use it.
-A.J. Hinch

*Not-Closer Luke Gregerson is recovering from his oblique soreness and has started to look more like a baseball player.

*Carlos Gomez got on the scale naked to show that he's just like us.

*USA Today's Ted Berg wrote about Carlos Correa on the brink of superstardom.

*Your first six starting pitchers for Grapefruit League play:
Thursday vs. Phillies: Doug Fister
Friday vs. Cardinals: Wandy Rodriguez
Saturday vs. Mets: Collin McHugh
Sunday vs. Blue Jays: Scott Feldman
Sunday vs. Pirates: Brad Peacock
Monday vs. Yankees: Mike F. Fiers

*A.J. Hinch doesn't know much about 2015 Texas League Pitcher of the Year Chris Devenski, but Devenski made a good first impression.

*File this under: I swear I've seen this story at least twice before, but Marwin's versatility is what makes him valuable to the Astros.

*Colby Rasmus and Carlos Gomez have emerged as the Welcoming Veterans Who Buy Suits For Young Guys and Offer An Encouraging Word committee.

*Updated FanGraphs projections have the Astros at 88-74. You can vote on the accuracy of the projections (as you can with every other MLB team's projections). At writing (5:58am), just 4% of the voters believe that number is too high by at least four wins. Sources indicate that the 4% is Rangers beat writer Evan Grant.

*MLBPA chief Tony Clark talked about tanking without saying the word "tanking."

*Perusing Bovada's MLB futures odds (I'm a non-practicing gambler) the Astros are +160 to win the AL West (Ramgers are 2nd at +210); +700 to win the AL Pennant; +1600 to win the World Series; Over/Under is set at 87.5 wins.

Which locations are the best fit for expansion? Montreal, Austin, Vancouver, Mexico City.

Before you go:

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