A few things upon which to catch up!
*The Astros took what I'm assuming is a good step towards extending Carlos Correa by settling with him on a contract for 2021 worth $11.7m (a little more than $500K over the midway point of their pre-arbitration gap), thus avoiding a Grisham-esque courtroom showdown involving the Astros telling their impending free agent superstar shortstop that he is not worth as much money as he thinks he is. Correa:
I'm happy that we were able to come to an agreement and avoid arbitration. Arbitration is not a good process. I want to thank James Click, Jim Crane and my agent, Jon Rosen, for getting the deal done. I'm ready to play and represent the Houston Astros.
And we are ready for Correa to play and represent the Houston Astros. Chandler Rome notes that Click and Correa have had talks regarding an extension, but wanted to get this year's deal out of the way first.
The Astros have about $13m of room before they hit the salary cap luxury tax.
*McTaggart says the Astros are clear 2021 AL West favorites. I read it, and I can't disagree.
*In case you missed it, Alex Bregman is jacked now.
*Jeff Luhnow's lawsuit against the Astros has been settled for an undisclosed amount, bringing to an end the tenure of the most successful GM in franchise history.
*The Coward Mike Fiers is back with Oakland for 2021 on a 1yr/$3.5m deal. Anyhow, Oakland opens the 2021 season with four home games against the Astros from April 1-4, then three games against the Dodgers from April 5-7, then three games in Houston from April 8-10. If the A's open with Fiers as SP5, he'd miss the opening series but then catch them on Saturday, April 10 in Houston. If I'm...whoever the manager of the A's is now then I'm throwing him in Oakland and letting Fiers avoid having to pitch in Houston. Because it would just be preposterous for one of your five starters to miss the first ten games of the season, especially when they occur within ten days.
If we're talking Oakland, it's worth mentioning that Arlington and Oakland swung a trade exchanging Elvis Andrus (who committed two errors in the 7th Inning of Game 5 of the 2015 ALDS) and Khris Davis.
*Very Random: George Springer hit 174 home runs for the Astros. Now that he's gone, Jose Altuve needs 56 home runs, Correa needs 68, Bregman needs 70 to pass him. Just making sure that you saw Richard Justice's piece on George Springer in Texas Monthly.
*New minor-league OF Steven Dinesh D' Souza is a Tyler Bauer apologist who GOES ALL IN on the replies. Never go all in on the replies.
*Houston Chronicle: The sons of Former Astros Greats Roger Clemens and Mike Capel - Kacy Clemens and Conner Capel - were cleared of wrongdoing and awarded $3.24m in damages related to a bar fight at Concrete Cowboy over two years ago.
*It's almost a week old by now but it took me two separate attempts to get through the gut-wrenching Jeff Passan story on Drew Robinson.
*Former Astros Great Mike Foltynewicz has signed a deal with the North Waxahachie Rangers.
*Another Baseball Bro resigned for treating women horribly.
*I got a couple of birthday books: The Hike, by Drew Magary; and The Revisionaries, by A.R. Moxon and I am very excited to start them both.
*A new theory on the Dyatlov Pass Incident.
*A Musical Selection: