The playoffs start tonight.
*Five years into the Jeff Luhnow Era, Brian T. Smith writes that it's time for the Astros to start thinking bigger.
*A.J. Hinch ain't happy with 84-78. Hinch:
I'm not handling it very well at all, to be honest. I hate losing. I don't like being here and having this meeting when I know there's a game being played tomorrow, but I'm proud of the fact that 84 wins isn't good enough. I'm proud of the fact where the standards have been raised in two years since I've been here to have those emotions.
*Brian McTaggart has a good breakdown of what happened in 2016.
*The Astros announced that they'll retain their entire coaching staff for 2017. Yes, the hitting coach, too.
*Jeff Luhnow said yesterday that he would have approached the trade deadline differently had he known they'd lose Keuchel and McCullers. Luhnow:
I can't control what happened after the deadline. But we're certainly going to continue to look at every opportunity going forward to give ourselves maybe a little more breathing room so if we do lose a player or we have some underperformance, that we've got more of a margin to still have a successful campaign.
*Luhnow doesn't agree with the conventional wisdom that this year's free agent class is weak. Luhnow:
We're going to explore all avenues, and I think there's more quality free agents in this class than it's being given credit for at this time. There's going to be some really good signings, so we want to make sure we participate in those.
*Luhnow is looking for a "Corey Kluber-type" rebound from Dallas Keuchel in 2017. And that he's not sure "if or how" Colby Rasmus fits into the Astros' 2017 plans (he doesn't).
*The Lancaster JetHawks have formally announced a Player Development Contract with the Colorado Rockies, meaning the Astros need to find themselves a High-A team - most likely in the Carolina League.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
