Saturday, December 29, 2018

Saturday Morning Hot Links

It's almost the end of 2018 and you'll never be able to rationally explain to me how the Astros didn't win the World Series again. Onward!

*Stop me if you've heard this before: Nelson Cruz was down to the Astros, Rays, and Twins before deciding to accept the Twins' offer of $14m for 2019 with a $12m club option for 2020 or a $300,000 buyout. That is ridiculously low for a guy who hit .278/.347/.529 (134 OPS+) from 2008-2018, with 37+ HR in each of the last five years. And I'm extremely curious about the Astros' offer and why the Twins' offer was the best. Houston's last player with 37 Home Runs in a season was Former Astros Great Chris Carter (who carried the Astros to a playoff spot in 2015), when he hit exactly 37 in 2014. 

*The Astros lead the way for Jim Callis' Most-Improved Farm Systems.

*Baseball America named Astros Legend Brent Strom as their MLB Coach of the Year

*Josh James made SI writer Jon Tayler's list of 2019 Breakout Stars.

*Kyle Tucker was named to MLB.com's All-MiLB team. Josh James and Myles Straw were honorably mentioned.

*Philadelphia is interested in Dallas Keuchel, but not for Keuchel's (or Boras') asking price of five years minimum.

*God.

*Yasmani Grandal declined what was apparently a 4yr/$60m deal from the Mets, for some reason.

*This 88-year old's reaction to getting to go to Spring Training is pretty great.

*James Crane is ready to help out with $13.5m + $1m in annual fees to renovate Memorial Park Golf Course in what I *think* is an effort to bring the Houston Open back within the city limits. I don't know, I'm not a Golfer.

*Thrillist: The myth of Mom & Pop restaurants.

*A Musical Selection:



You can follow the Hot Links Music playlist on Spotify, if you're so inclined but it's whatever.