*But before that, the Astros' brass will attend a groundbreaking event with Rob Manfred for the new shared Spring Training facility with the Nationals, which is being built on a landfill.
*Interesting news out of Korea with 29-year old 1B Byung-Ho Park. Friday it was announced that the winning bid for Park was accepted at $12.85m and that a team has 30 days to negotiate a deal. News has slowly been trickling out about who didn't win the bid, and you can click the MLBTR link for a timeline. Basically the Astros are one of eight teams whose status regarding Park has not been addressed. We'll keep an eye out.
Park has hit 105 homers in the last two seasons in the KBO, with OPS' over 1.000 in each of the last three seasons.
UPDATE: Pirates are apparently out, leaving the Astros as one of seven teams whose status is unknown. But Buster Olney is hearing that Oakland won the bidding.
UPDATE: Pirates are apparently out, leaving the Astros as one of seven teams whose status is unknown. But Buster Olney is hearing that Oakland won the bidding.
*It's apparently that time of the off-season when it's cool for writers to post where they think free agents will end up. Free agency is like a Waffle House: it's never the place you consciously decided to go to, but it's always a place where you end up. So here are a couple more links
Heyman: (1) Thinks Rasmus signs a 4yr/$50m extension with the Astros; (2) Thinks Kazmir signs a 3yr/$39m extension; (3)
MLBTR: Has the Astros involved with a number of players, but doesn't see Houston landing any of the Top 50.
*Here's a profile in Spanish of Carlos Correa's brother.
*The Fort Worth Star-Telegram offers up this anecdote about how the Rangers new pitching coach - Doug Brocail - started a fight with a fan in the stands in Oakland in 2004.
