One week from tonight we will watch the Defending Champion Houston Astros play a game that counts.
*Collin McHugh is getting used to the idea of being EveryPitcher:
I think for A.J., it will be kind of his new responsibility to figure out the best way to use me, the most effective and best way to keep me sharp, but also fit me into an already talented bullpen and rotation.
*James Hoyt is dealing with a strained oblique and, while he's "not completely shutdown," not pitching in the final week of Spring Training could be the opening the immortal (and not necessarily in a good way) Tony Sipp needs to make the Opening Day roster.
*Chandler Rome writes that the Astros have a tough choice between J.D. Davis and Tyler White. Hinch:
It's 1A and 1B, it's not like one is separating themselves from the other. Eventually, we'll have to make a decision.
Won't we all, A.J., won't we all...
*Yuli Gurriel may not open the season on the Disabled List.
*Carlos Correa is FanGraphs' top shortstop. FanGraphs:
This is a special, special player, and on a Houston squad already at the top of its game and with no immediately discernible weaknesses, he continues to stand out as one of the league's brightest stars.
*Ben Lindbergh writes in The Ringer that tanking hasn't killed baseball's hope and faith:
When baseball has a period of atypical parity, some commentators complain that there are no great teams. When the great teams return, other pundits worry that there are too many terrible ones. The purported crisis varies, but baseball abides.
*SI: How Charley Pride went from Negro League player to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
