So yeah, I guess we're back, here. Pro-tip as freezing rain and other cold precipitation whatnots come into the majority of Texas: pull your windshield wipers away from your car, and they won't freeze to your windshield.
*FanGraphs posted their first 2021 Playoff Odds of the season! In there we see:
Houston, at 89-73, favored to win the AL West by about five games, 70.9% to make the postseason, 60.6% to win the division, 15.6% to win the AL Pennant, 7.1% to win the World Series.
*Here's a good MLB.com roundtable on who will win the AL West in 2021.
*MLB.com breaks down the AL West's corner infielders.
*Brian McTaggart has a good interview with reliever Joe Smith, who opted out of the 2020 season to be with his mother, who passed away in August.
*The Astros rank 8th on ESPN's Way-Too-Early Starting Rotation rankings.
*It's Farm System ranking time! Keith Law has the Astros at 25th, Baseball America has it at 26th. Law:
Some big player development successes and aggressive moves on the international free agent from give the Astros some long-term potential, and their 2020 draft leaned back toward upside and away from low-ceiling performers.
To be sure, this is not a late-2000s farm system, once you consider the mainstays on the roster include Alex Bregman (26 years old), Lance McCullers (26), Carlos Correa (25), Jose Urquidy (25), Cristian Javier (23), Yordan Alvarez (23), Kyle Tucker (23), and the Ghost of Forrest Whitley (22).
*Former Astros/A's/Astros/A's Great Jed Lowrie has signed a deal with the A's.
*Here's Former Astros Great Kevin Goldstein with a write-up on the clown show that is Arbitration.
*Fair warning: I am appropriating almost all of this.
*A Musical Selection:This is the funniest and best explanation of baseball, ever. I’m dying. pic.twitter.com/XY4IxM54gB
— Maury Brown (@BizballMaury) February 10, 2021