Thursday Morning Hot Links

Dallas Keuchel made his first start of the Spring and the Astros beat the Barves 9-5. Collin McHugh gets the start at 4:05pm Central against the Nationals on MLB Network.

*Dallas Keuchel: "I'm nobody right now. It's 2016. I'm just an Astros pitcher."

Also in that link: Gregerson feels good, Giles worked on his mechanics with a towel, and Lance McCullers will likely make his Spring debut on Sunday or Monday. (Chron)

*"We have a decision to make whether he's ready to be a full-time back-up or not, and we've got all spring to decide." - Jeff Luhnow, on Max Stassi and whether he's ready to catch 60-ish games this season in Houston. (Chron)

And what of Gattis? The possibility of Gattis heading back to the plate forces a tradeoff between Gattis' defensive flexibility and the likelihood of his old knee injuries flaring back up...

*Jason Castro's swing tinkering resulted in a homer yesterday against the Braves. (Astros.com)

*The only other Age-21 full-time #3 hitter (other than Carlos Correa)? Joe DiMaggio. Jayson Stark rains down chocolate sprinkles and unicorn mane on Correa. (ESPN)

*Carlos Correa's confidence comes in his preparation (video link).  (ESPN)

*George Springer is ready for a breakout season. (New Haven Register)

*This guest columnist from Josh Fields' hometown, an avid supporter of the college in which Fields attended, manages to compare Josh Fields to Hall of Famer Bob Feller. (Newnan Times Herald)

*Tony Sipp is the odd lefty reliever who is also good at getting out righties, but Neal Cotts is there to help get lefties out as well. (Astros.com)

*Can you name the 32 Astros with at least ten appearances in 2005? (Sporcle)

*Former Astro and last year's assistant hitting coach and now Padres' hitting coach Alan Zinter's road to the Majors was a long one. (Padres.com)

*The Astros are 4th on a ranking of teams who could topple the Royals. (Fox Sports)

*Prince Fielder has left Rangers Spring Training to figure out why he can't sleep. (Hint: it's because of the Astros). (St Louis Post-Dispatch)

*Phillies great Mark Appel was sent to minor-league camp this morning. (Todd Zolecki)

*The battle to bring back Olympic baseball matters more than you think. (Vice Sports)

*Adrian Beltre wants a three-year extension from the Rangers, through his Age-40 season. (MLBTR)

*Jered Weaver's fastball is sad and this story is sad. (LA Times)

*Before you go...

For four years, Astros owner Jim Crane's business was on file with the government as TEXAS RANGWERS. pic.twitter.com/BiszYiIvmk

— Jesse Spector (@jessespector) March 10, 2016

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

*It's funny how I'm way more in favor of players winning awards in part because of excellence on a playoff team when it's my favorite team who made the playoffs. That said, Carlos Correa is totally deserving of winning the AL Rookie of the Year award over Francisco Lindor (who, it must be said, makes excellent chocolates).

Here's the voting breakdown:
Correa: 17 1st Place votes, 13 2nd Place votes (124 points)
Lindor: 13 1st Place votes, 14 2nd Place votes (109 points)

Correa said that the metal plate in his leg - from breaking his ankle last season at Lancaster - caused him pain over the course of the season. I don't know if that's something that will get better, because I'm soft and rarely put myself in a position to break a bone, but it's still notable.

*Correa:
If you told me before the season started this was going to happen, I would not believe you. I started the year in Double-A. A few years back, in 2012, they drafted me with the first pick overall, and everybody was saying I was not supposed to be the first pick and was not the best player, but the hard work came through and I've been working hard all these years to be able to get to this level and be able to accomplish some things.

*Correa joins future Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell as the only Astros to win the Rookie of the Year award.

Bagwell's 1991 (156 games): .294/.387/.437, 26 doubles/15 home runs, 139 OPS+
Correa's 2015 (99 games):   .279/.345/.512, 22 doubles/22 home runs, 132 OPS+

*I'm always fascinated by how the voters vote based on geography, so...

Lindor swept N.Y., Correa swept Tampa Bay. They split the rest of AL East. Correa won by securing his West & stealing Minnesota from Lindor.

— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) November 17, 2015

*Jayson Stark noted that Correa is the 1st #1 overall pick in the American League to win the Rookie of the Year, while the NL has done it three times.

*Luhnow, on Correa (back in July):
It was so quick, the light bulb went off, realizing this kid was meant to be at the highest level. And if there's a higher level than this, he's probably meant to be there, because he rises to the occasion of the competition around him, and usually beyond it. It's really impressive. 

*Dallas Keuchel won the Warren Spahn Award as baseball's top lefty pitcher. Greg Spahn, Warren's son:
I am ecstatic that Dallas Keuchel, an Oklahoman, wins my father's award.

*Astros' Assistant hitting coach Alan Zinter is now the hitting coach for the Padres.

*The Rangers and Mariners made a trade yesterday, with Leonys Martin and former Astros great Anthony Bass headed to Seattle for fireballing reliever Tom Wilhelmsen joining the Rangers' bullpen.

*So you want Aroldis Chapman? Reds beat writer C. Trent Rosecrans - one of the best - said yesterday that it would take "Two Top 100 prospect guys, and another prospect" to get him.