Hot Links will continue throughout the off-season. Maybe not *every* day, but most days, and will be filled with things I find interesting about the Astros, about baseball and about not-baseball. The Hot Links won't get political.
*Dallas Keuchel apparently dealt with a lot of nagging injuries this season and wants to be more open with the medical staff:
Sometimes I've got to put my stubbornness away and kind of have an open dialogue with them.
And he's getting tired of his beard.
*Palm Beach County is under a Hurricane Watch, and the Astros/Nationals are securing their in-progress Spring Training facility.
*David Barron tracked the changes in Houston sports radio.
*The Tigers will exercise Brad Ausmus' option for 2017.
*Watch the trailer for the 30 For 30 on UH's Phi Slama Jama
*How do you lose a playoff game on a walk-off in extra innings without the best reliever in the AL - perhaps in baseball - ever throwing a pitch? FanGraphs' Jeff Sullivan tries to answer.
*Jays fans: throwing beer cans :: Draymond Green: Punching penises.
*Rob Manfred sat down with the press before the Blue Jays/Orioles game and talked about a variety of baseball things.
*Hardball Times: The physics of October baseball at Wrigley.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
