There's another one of those inter-squad games this evening. Bench Coach Joe Espada will play right field. For real.
*Somehow Roberto Osuna hasn't thrown off a mound yet and given that it's [squints] seven days until this Sprint Season starts, that seems...not good.
*Tuesday's exhibition game against the Royals (2015 ALDS GAME 6) will be on MLB Network. Monday's will be on MLBTV.
*Chandler Rome: The bullpen is a whole bag of question marks.
Consider who the Astros won't have from the 2019 bullpen:
Collin McHugh: 74.2IP, 0.5 fWAR
Hector Rondon: 60.2IP, -0.2 fWAR
Will Harris: 60IP, 1.1 fWAR
Joe Smith: 25IP, 0.4 fWAR
That's a total of 219.2IP, and 1.8 fWAR, and that's over a 162-game season. This is obviously a 60-game season, so they don't need to replace all those innings like they would in a normal season. These four relievers pitched 1.36 innings (if I'm doing the math right, and I'm not sure, dividing 219.6667 by 162). Again with the math, in a 60-game season the Astros need to fill 81.36 innings. Not unreasonable, but probably not all that ideal, especially in a season with way fewer off-days.
*Related, a couple of interesting reliever names to keep an eye on: Bryan Shaw and Jake McGee. Both were released from the Rockies today. Shaw will be in his Age 32 season in 2020 and had a 3.13 pre-Rockies ERA / 1.23 pre-Rockies WHIP. McGee has been with the Rockies since 2016, but had a 2.77 ERA / 1.02 WHIP in parts of five seasons with the Rays before going to Colorado.
*FanGraphs has released a slew of positional power rankings: The Astros rank #1 at DH, #1 at 3B, #2 at SS, #2 at 2B, #3 at CF, #4 at LF, #10 at RF, #17 at C, #18 at 1B. Check the SP rankings, as well.
*Also check out this FanGraphs analysis of the Astros' prospect pool.
*If you're into this sort of thing, you can take a look inside Altuve's Memorial house.
*Here's a really good piece from Former Astros Great Preston Wilson on how Baseball has lost Black America.
*Former Astros Great Joe Musgrove will be the Pirates' Opening Day starter.
*Jay Jaffe: Former Astros Great Tyler White heads to South Korea, where he'll buck a trend.
*I got my H-Town Vs. Everyone mask from Apollo today and, buddy, it's good.
*Alex Trebek once ate five pot brownies and woke up at a friend's house three days later.
*I put this at the bottom because I know a buncha y'all think English Soccer is basically Commie Shit, but with West Brom's unlikely 2-1 loss to Huddersfield (less than 20 miles from Leeds) today, Leeds United are headed to the Premier League for the first time since 2004 and I cried, sir. Here are Ten moments that mattered under Marcelo Bielsa, whose managerial skills I put right up there with A.J. Hinch. Honestly, I put today up there with November 1, 2017, sports-wise. It's the happiest I've been as a Leeds fan since (certified Leeds United fan since 1992, so shut up)...I don't know, actually. This is for Don Revie, Norman Hunter, Jack Charlton, Trevor Cherry, Billy Bremner, Gary Speed, David O'Leary, Tony Yeboah, Mark Viduka, Harry Kewell, Jonathan Woodgate, James Milner, Rio Ferdinand, Dominic Matteo, Olivier Dacourt, Robbie Fowler, Robbie Keane, Jermaine Beckford, Garry Monk (twat), but mostly for Luke Ayling, Kalvin Phillips, Pablo Hernandez, Mateusz Klich, Helder Costa, Illan Meslier, Stuart Dallas, Liam Cooper, Ben White, Gianni Alioski, Gaetano Berardi, Jack Harrison, Patrick Bamford (Bamford is good, Bamford is handsome, if I order some apps, Bamford can have some). And God bless you, Marcelo Bielsa; and God bless you, Andrea Radrizzani. Can't wait to wear out you Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, United, and City fans next year.
*A Musical Selection:
Another Musical Selection:
Each day is better than the next (but today is pretty good).
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
