The biggest news of the day was that nobody announced that they had signed George Springer to a contract.
*The 2nd biggest news of the day is that the Occult Yakult Swallows of the Japanese League are on the verge of acquiring Former Astros Great Cy Sneed. Sneed was the Brewers' 3rd Round pick in the 2014 Draft and was acquired by the Astros in November 2015 for Former Astros Great Jonathan Villar. Villar put up 4.5 bWAR for Milwaukee before they traded him and two other dudes for Jonathan Schoop. Sneed threw 38.2IP for the Astros across 2019-2020 with a 5.59 ERA (4.78 FIP) / 1.63 WHIP.
Of Sneed's 26 games pitched for the Astros, he came into a game in which the Astros were leading when he entered in just nine times. 14 of his 26 appearances came in which the Astros were losing by fewer than four runs.
That said, good for Sneed, who is likely going to get more opportunities, and a raise, and also gets to pitch closer to home. (Tokyo is 3,409 miles from Kenai, Alaska. Houston is 4,291 miles from Kenai, Alaska).
The Astros' 40-Man Roster will be at 38 Men.
*Check your podcast feed because I uploaded a new interview with WFAA producer (and all-around Houston Sports fan) Taylor Williamson. Got a real banger of an episode coming on Monday morning.
*The Athletic: Bonds, Heaters, and Crying on Cue: The Lost F***ing Stories of Jim Leyland. You can get a 1yr subscription to The Athletic for $1/month.
*Wired: The absolute best online Black Friday deals.
*Outside: Five highlights from the Banff Film Festival you can stream online.
*Vice: Everything you already forgot that happened in 2020.
*The Fall of Ahmad Ahmad: African Soccer's most powerful man.
*Leeds United plays Everton at 11:30am Central on Saturday morning.
*A Musical Selection from Elbow, whose album "The Seldom Seen Kid" is very easily in my Top Ten of All-Time. It's one of those albums you can hit Play on, and just sit there and listen to it start-to-finish. The following is part of a concert in which Elbow played the album in its entirety with the BBC Concert Orchestra live at Abbey Road, and it's phenomenal. Click the link to find the other videos.