Certain Astros will play baseball today, beginning a journey that ideally ends sometime around the beginning of November.
*The Astros/Phillies Spring Training game will be on MLB Network today at 12:05pm Central. George Springer, Jon Singleton, Tyler White, A.J. Reed, Preston Tucker, and Alex Bregman will all be playing.
*Altuve and Correa will make their Spring debut either Friday or Saturday.
*Luke Gregerson threw off a mound yesterday.
*Evan Gattis - three weeks removed from hernia surgery - is hitting off a tee.
*Jose Altuve and the Astros apparently haven't discussed an extension beyond his current deal that has him signed through 2019, pending team options.
*Altuve is the Astros' "spark plug."
*Joe Musgrove knows we're all talking about his walks.
*Tyler White has been working on hitting the high fastball.
*FanGraphs on the similarities between Domingo Santana and George Springer.
*Aroldis Chapman's 30-game suspension was not random.
*The sheetrock accident that turned Craig Kimbrel into a dominant closer.
*Brett Phillips' laugh - and his five tools - have turned him into baseball's darling prospect. (Side note: trading Brett Phillips has haunted me since July, and I don't think that's going away any time soon)
*MLB has filed a proposal with the Treasury Department to allow Cuban players to sign directly with teams.
*There were only 15 known Ty Cobb T-206s, then a family decided to flip through a paper bag and found seven more.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
