*In his weekly notes column for FanGraphs, David Laurilia talks to Orioles GM about the possibility of replicating the Astros' success with pitchers in Baltimore. Also, had absolutely no idea that Chris Holt is the assistant pitching coordinator for the Astros.
*Brian T. Smith says free agency in baseball is broken.
*For the first time in three years, Alex Bregman is pain-free.
Since the beginning of 2017 Alex Bregman has hit .285/.374/.509 for a 141 OPS+. His OPS+ in 2018 was 156. If he did that through any semblance of pain, this year could be, uh, something else.
*How far apart are the Astros with Correa, Cole, and Devenski?
Correa asked for $5m. The Astros offered $4.25m.
Cole asked for $13.1m. The Astros offered $11.425m.
Devenski asked for $1.65m. The Astros offered $1.4m.
The total difference between Ask and Offer is $2,675,000.
*SI's Emma Baccellieri says that Yasmani Grandal's one-year deal is more bad news for the MLBPA.
*New Yorker: What it felt like when 'Cat Person' went viral.
*The day a deadly wave of molasses tore through Boston.
*I stayed up until 2:15 this morning finishing Charles Soule's "The Oracle Year." I enjoyed it immensely.
Not sure if I'll be able to keep up the book-a-week pace, but here's a running list of the books I've read in 2019:
1) The Bookseller of Kabul - Asne Seierstad
2) The Oracle Year - Charles Soule
*A musical selection:
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
