Tuesday Morning Hot Links

It's the first day of school, and I've basically been up since about 4:15am because I'm stoked. That said, in the last week I've managed to drop my wife's full-ass Yeti Cup on my toe, breaking it, and then in an unrelated incident, I have a grade 2 strain of my left hamstring. A.J. Hinch described it as "hamstring discomfort" and I'm really nervous about that. Good luck to all you teachers (and students, I guess, though you should know we do absolutely everything we can to make sure you pass. You either have to not show up or be a complete jackass in order to fail.) Oh, and the Astros lost to the Mariners. Idiots.

*The Astros and A's currently have a 75-50 record, thanks to the Rangers completely soiling the bed after eating a gas station burrito on the way to the brick-oven ballpark in which they play. The Astros have scored 17 more runs than the A's, and have allowed 104 fewer runs. Yet here we are. FanGraphs still projects the Astros to win the AL West by four games but the fact that I even needed to look this morning fills me with rage.

*The Astros have lost five straight games to the Mariners, and they're 5-16 against AL West opponents since July 4. Hinch:
They outhit us and put a lot of pressure on us from the very beginning of the game. We had one baserunner after the third inning. They did enough to win the game, obviously, with some big at-bats.

*Robinson Cano had three hits - all for extra-bases, including a three-run home run off of Collin McHugh that turned a 4-4 game into a 7-4 game. It was the first home run McHugh had allowed since July 25, and the first home run he had allowed with a runner(s) on base since September 8, 2017. It was poorly-timed.

The last four home runs that Seattle has hit off of Collin McHugh:
August 20, 2018: Robinson Cano
September 26, 2016: Robinson Cano
May 8, 2016: Robinson Cano
April 27, 2016: Robinson Cano

McHugh:
We just have to play consistent baseball through the end of the season, and I think we're pretty confident if we do that we're going to win this division. That's where our minds are at. That's where we're headed. We have some work to do.

Man, if that’s a blowpen, then what do you call the
...
(starts counting)
...
(keeps counting)
...
(counts some more)
...
29 teams that came into today with worse bullpen ERAs? https://t.co/eCyolL47aJ

— Zachary Levine (@zacharylevine) August 21, 2018

*Mitch G.D. Haniger was 2x4 with a walk. Against the Astros this season he's hitting .315/.339/.463 with five doubles, a home run, 16K:2BB.

*The Astros managed five hits last night. It's the 31st time this season they've recorded five or fewer hits, out of 125 games. 

*4-9 in Houston's lineup combined to go 0x20 with 7K:2BB. 

*Felix Hernandez recorded a Game Score of 50, his highest Game Score since putting up a 53 against  [squints] Baltimore on June 25. Last night was the first game the Mariners had won with Felix on the mound since June 30. Felix struck out six of the 25 Astros he faced. He had struck out six of the previous 76 batters he had faced over three starts. So way to go, defending World Champs.

*Mariners relievers Adam Warren, Alex Colome, and Edwin Diaz needed 36 pitches to no-hit the Astros over the last three innings. Adam Warren started each of the three batters he faced with a ball and still only needed nine pitches to retire the side.

*Jose Altuve is set to return after having been out of the lineup since July 27. The Astros will finish up his first career DL stint with an 8-13 record. They've lost eight of their last ten, nine of their last 13 games. Since the 2-1 win over the Giants on August 7, Houston has lost 5.5 games in the standings to Oakland. Kyle Tucker was sent back to Fresno after a relaxing few days in Seattle with the Astros.

*Add "quad soreness" to the list of things ailing George Springer. Also, McCann and Devenski will head to Corpus to complete their rehab stints. McCann will be in Corpus' lineup on Wednesday. Today is a bullpen day as it's McCullers' turn in the rotation. Brad Peacock will start, and will be just the 6th person to start a game for the Astros this season. After tonight, Friday's game against Anaheim will be the last 9pm start of the regular season.

*Eno Sarris in The Athletic: Why do the Astros struggle at Minute Maid Park?

*Jeff Sullivan: The Mariners still look like an all-time anomaly.

*Notable: Rian Watt on the unlikely ascent of Oakland's bullpen.

*FanGraphs' Sheryl Ring: How an agent who represents multiple players avoids conflicts of interest.

Friday Morning Hot Links

Astros' off-day reading last night: Four Days in November by Vincent Bugliosi. I'm about 40% of the way through this 700-page minute-by-minute retelling of the JFK assassination which, as a reminder, did not take place in Houston. Bugliosi is best-remembered as Charles Manson's prosecuting attorney and this is basically how a prosecutor would pin JFK's assassination on Lee Harvey Oswald. So far it's convincing, though I still believe Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. had a lot to do with it. Four Days in November is riveting. I wanted to watch Back to the Future again last night, but couldn't put this book down. Looka what I'm doing: I'm entertaining a theory that does not align with my own theory, and I'M GOING TO LET THE GUY FINISH HIS POINT. What a concept. Also, Jack Ruby was the weirdest of cats.

*Deadspin: The Astros can pitch now, and look invincible. Shawn Cooke:
Peak Verlander is Peak Verlander, but the Astros' rotation also does this sort of thing on a weekly basis by now. There's something greedy about a great team improving upon its only shortcomings immediately after winning a championship, especially given that they might well have entered the season as the default favorite to win it all over again even without going to all that trouble.

*SI's Jon Tayler: The Reinvigorated and Brilliant Justin Verlander

*Verlander's trophy case is filling up so much he might get himself a calligrapher.

*From the legendary Paul Hoynes, where do the Indians stand as they come to Houston? It depends on what you're looking at. Hoynes:
Just how one views the Indians depends on their line of sight. From outside the walls that every team builds around itself when things aren't going well this is an under-performing team playing in a weak division with one of the worst bullpens in the big leagues.

Yeah, I cherry-picked that. Click the link for the other side of that opinion.

Cleveland is 21-21 and leading the AL Central, a division in which there's not a team above .500. They're 5-10 in 1-run games. They're 0-4 in extra innings. They're 5-8 against the AL West.

*Check Lance McCullers' appearance on SportsRadio 610 yesterday. McCullers:
The game is not as clean as people think.

*MLB.com's Jane Lee: Analyzing the AL West, 1/4 of the way through the season.

*Here's an interesting piece from Joe Lemire about the modern baseball coach's job description: Knowing SQL.

*God. Jon Heyman's Inside Baseball column is absolutely useless for Astros fans. To recap, in layman's terms:
a) Wow Charlie Morton is good! Here's something we wrote a few weeks ago about free agency!
b) A scout, the group to whom Heyman exclusively speaks, has a fun nickname for the rotation
c) Verlander is a Hall of Famer
d) Wow haha Derek Fisher is struggling
e) Houston hopes Marisnick figures something out

Good column, bro.

*Scott Miller: Baseball headliners debate pine-tar.

*Around the AL West: Angels lost, Mariners lost, A's won, Rangers lost.

Off-Day Playoff Odds Check:
FanGraphs (101-61): 94.9% to win AL West, 35.5% to win AL Pennant, 26.1% to win the World Series
FiveThirtyEight (100-62): 77% to win AL West, 18% to win the World Series
Baseball Prospectus (96-66): 89.7% to win AL West, 17.3% to win the World Series (updated Thursday morning)

*The plan to make J.D. Davis feel so slighted that, when he eventually gets called up, he literally destroys a baseball seems to be working. On the night after Tony Kemp got his first MLB hit of 2018, J.D. Davis (wink) hit for the cycle in a 9-7 at El Paso, going 4x4 with 5RBI and a walk. Jake Marisnick made his Triple-A debut and went 0x4 with 2Ks. But he did draw a walk!

*Corpus Christi Caller-Times: Myles Straw is just showing off at this point. Hinch apparently told Straw in Spring Training that they almost called him up for the playoffs to run the bases. I love Myles Straw, and A.J. Hinch. 30 more steals and Straw breaks Arlington's Delino DeShields' Corpus record.  Straw, the Astros' 2015 12th Round pick, wants to steal 100 bases this season. Go get it, kid.

Straw went 2x4 with two more stolen bases last night in a 4-0 Corpus win, giving him 25 on the season through 40 games. Josh Rojas was 3x4 with 2SB. Ryan Hartman (9th Round, 2016) threw 6.1IP, 4H/0ER, 11K:1BB. In 35.1IP this season, Hartman has allowed 31H/6ER, 42K:6BB.

Yordan Alvarez (hand) hasn't played since May 6.

*ESPN: Mike Trout is on pace for the best season in MLB history.

*Angels closer Keynan Middleton will have Tommy John surgery.

*FanGraphs' Rian Watt has a very fun read on the rarest sight in baseball: a pitcher swinging on a 3-0 count.

*This is bullcrap, and I hate college baseball:

Can confirm @Heininsports' report that Temple College will be the @NJCAARegion5 representative in the JUCO World Series. Here's video of the incident that led to a double forfeiture between MCC & Cisco. pic.twitter.com/HdD1cNSqzL

— Tyler Bouldin (@tylerbouldin) May 15, 2018

*Yeah alright:

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

Pretty great to go to bed an hour and a half earlier than you normally do only to wake up two hours earlier than you normally do. So I missed virtually all of the Astros game in order to catch up on sleep and I'm going to need to mainline caffeine all day. Maybe that's the key to unlocking the Astros' offense.

*Yesterday was A.J. Hinch's 44th birthday. Teams he's managed are now 4-2 on his birthday.

*Our season-long nightmare is finally over. Through 43 games the Astros had 26 wins, nine of them were comeback wins. However, the largest "comeback" the Astros had staged was a deficit of one run. Last night, though, not once but twice! the Astros overcame a 2-run deficit (2-0, 3-1).

*Cole: 5IP, 5H/3ER, 7K:2BB. It was his shortest outing of the season. The Astros are 8-1 in games Cole starts, the one loss coming in the 2-0 loss to Anaheim on April 23. Seven of Cole's nine starts have come against divisional opponents.

*Gerrit Cole gave up all three runs on home runs. The five home runs he's allowed in 2018 have led to six total runs (last night's two-run shot by freakin Justin Upton was the first non-solo homer he'd allowed this year). Six runs out of twelve allowed, well that's 50% of the runs he's allowed coming off of a home run.

In 2017 Cole allowed 98 runs (96 earned runs) and 31 home runs. 48 of those runs came off home runs - 49%.

But let's keep in mind that, while Cole has allowed six home runs this season through nine starts, at the same point (nine starts) in 2017 he had already allowed [checks notes] seven home runs.

*Collin McHugh threw 2IP, 2H/0ER, 2K:0BB, lowering his ERA to 0.54. He hasn't allowed a run in eleven straight appearances. Since allowing the one run he has allowed all season (16.2IP): 14.1IP, 9H/0ER, 21K:3BB.

*Ken Giles since April 7: 10.1IP, 7H/4ER, 9K:0BB. Of course, 4H/4ER came against the Yankees on May 1. If you want to play the game where you take out one bad appearance, Giles has thrown 13IP, 8H/2ER, 10K:0BB all season (except for that Yankees outing).

*I'm still having a hard time believing Jaime Barria, a 21-year old rookie making his 5th career start held Houston to four singles and five baserunners. God bless the Angels' bullpen. But, Gosh, it's almost like Scioscia using his best reliever (Jose Alvarez) in 16 games in the first month of the season - tied for 2nd-most appearances in MLB - is starting to backfire. Scioscia said that Alvarez hadn't pitched since Thursday because of early-season fatigue. That's what you want in a game on May 15. Alvarez:
Just a bad game. I'll take the loss. We'll take the loss. I feel bad about it. But tomorrow's another day.

*Were it not for a nice Mike Trout grab as he hit the center-field wall, Altuve would have been 3x4 with 4RBI. As it is, he was 2x3 with 3RBI - the go-ahead bases-clearing double in the 8th off of Alvarez. Altuve:
I didn't hit it very hard, but I put it in the right spot. It feels good. 

For some reason, Altuve tried to score from 2nd on Correa's grounder to second base.

Reddick:
I think in Altuve's mind, he's been struggling. He's still hitting .310. I'd like to be on that train.

Angels catcher Rene Rivera:
Altuve can hit everything. That's a great player. He's the MVP because of everything he can do up there. That pitch was down in the zone and off the plate. Sometimes you gotta tip your hat.

This is the pitch that Altuve just doubled on to clear the bases... pic.twitter.com/tRH622i0z7

— Daren Willman (@darenw) May 16, 2018

*Josh Reddick was 1x4 but saved at least one run with two outfield assists (getting Trout at 3rd and Kinsler at home). His six outfield assists this season tie him with the bastard Kole Calhoun.

*Marwin Gonzalez stole a base - his 2nd SB in his last five games - but his 0x4, 3K night extended his hitless streak to six games (0x21).

*With his 1x3, BB (two runs scored) night, Alex Bregman has 21 strikeouts and 28 walks on the year, 7th-highest walk total in MLB.

*FanGraphs: The Angels' six-man rotation is actually working.

*Astros' run distribution, by inning, 2018:
1st-3rd innings: 25% (52 of 208 runs)
4th-6th innings: 38% (79 of 208 runs)
7th-end innings: 37% (77 of 208 runs)

Starting pitchers are taking care of the Astros, early.

Let's run it back for 2017 and see:
1st-3rd innings: 33.7% (302 of 896 runs)
4th-6th innings: 33.9% (304 of 896 runs)
7th-end innings: 32.4% (290 of 896 runs)

*The big Other News of the day was the Astros sending Jake Marisnick to Fresno, presumably yesterday given the Astros' proximity to Fresno. A call-up is on his way, but has not yet been announced. Hinch:
We want it to be a short stay in the Minor Leagues. He needs to get some at-bats. He hasn't really been right for most of the year. The swing and miss has been a struggle for him. He's a really good player that hasn't quite gotten on track. I think it's been piling up on him in the last few weeks.

Marisnick:
In the sport we play, you don't perform and you get sent down. It's an opportunity to go down and get at-bats and get it right. It's no secret I've been struggling.

More Marisnick, on his goals for this minor-league stint:
Just stop thinking so much, just go out and play the game. Get a chance to play every day, forget about it, have fun and put some complete at-bats together. Obviously, cut down on the strikeouts, that's the big thing. A big part of it is mental. Go out, clear the mind and have fun.

The obvious answers are Tony Kemp, J.D. Davis, or Tyler White. Given that Marisnick is out and Fisher is struggling to a .181 average, I'm guessing the Astros want an answer in the outfield, which is why I'm picking Tony Kemp, who has made ten starts in the outfield (14 at Second Base). That said, Davis has played six games in Left Field this season.

Jake Kaplan: The strikeouts were just too much to ignore.

*Verlander and McCullers side-eyed Robinson Cano and his 80-game suspension, on Twitter. Cano was suspended for testing positive for furosemide, a banned diuretic that is apparently most helpful as a masking agent for diluting other banned substances in the urine. Cano is eligible to return on August 14, meaning he'll miss nine of the 15 remaining games against the Astros during his suspension.

Jay Jaffe: Did Cano just cost himself a spot in Cooperstown?

*Future Astros pitcher LHP Cionel Perez hit 97mph last night. In his last six outings: 24.1IP, 20H/1ER, 28K:8BB.

*This dude's Astros man-cave probably cost more than my house.

*The Indians have a bullpen problem.

*Jordan Lyles - THAT Jordan Lyles - took a perfect game into the 8th inning.

*For the past three years, the Yankees' front office has been sending flowers to the families of slain law enforcement officers.

Wednesday Morning Hot Links

Another starting pitcher rolls, but the Astros actually come through with a few runs (though not as many as they should have), win the game, and we learn how to love again. Astros win 4-1. They're 11-7.

*McCullers' line: 7IP, 1H/1ER, 11K:1BB. 69 of his 102 pitches were for strikes. After allowing a 2-out home run to Cano, McCullers retired 19 of the next 20 batters he faced.

His career vs. Seattle: 55.2IP, 39H/17ER, 70K:21BB - a 2.75 ERA / 1.09 WHIP. McCullers:
Those guys can really bang. They've got a great hitting team and a great team in general. They have a lot veteran leadership over there, a lot of of guys who are the greats of our generation, especially Robby and obviously Ichiro. When you face those guys, you've got to be on top of your game. Maybe they bring the best out in me.

*Chandler Rome notes that McCullers threw 17 changeups in his first three starts of the season, and 16 changeups last night.

*Robinson Cano, on McCullers:
I don't think he changed anyone's approach because we all know how he goes to his pitch, his breaking ball. He's not a guy who's trying to beat you with his fastball. He's confident in what he's got and puts it where he wants. You have to give the guy credit. He knows how to pitch.

*Chris Peixoto notes that the Astros have seven double-digit strikeout games from their starters this year, the most in MLB history through 18 games.

*Lin-Ariel Miranda had not thrown a pitch in the Majors this season. The full and complete list of pitchers who allowed more home runs than Miranda in MLB in 2017: Rick Porcello. The Astros loaded the bases twice, and were 2x9 w/RISP. Josh Reddick was 0x3 w/RISP.

*Jake Marisnick: 0x4, 4 strikeouts. That's 24 strikeouts (and no walks) in 45 plate appearances. He got his 24th strikeout through 61 PAs last season, but also had a .914 OPS to go with it.

*Brian McCann was 1x1 with two walks and hit his first home run of the season last night, a 2-run blast that let the Astros breathe a little bit.

*Tony Sipp will be activated from the DL today, so James Hoyt is heading back to Fresno.

*Fresno got eight runs in the first inning and have won seven straight games. Fresno is also donating leftover food from home games to the homeless, and that's very cool.

*Shohei Ohtani left his start against Boston after 2IP, 3ER, and a blister on his finger.

*The Hardball Times: 10 interesting facts about Tommy John Surgery.

Tuesday Morning Hot Links

That should pretty much do it. Not that it was even somewhat likely the Astros would make the one-game playoff before last night, but losing 4-3 to Robinson Cano the Mariners is the final nail in the coffin. Starting out 1-4 on a must-win seven-game home stand has been just brutal.

Cano hit his 2nd homer of the game in the top of the 11th (and his career-high 35th homer of the season - eight of which came against the Astros) with two outs and two strikes. It wasn't a bad pitch from Gregerson. Altuve:
(Cano's) a great player. Everybody knows that. I think Luke made a really good pitch and I don't know how Robbie hit that ball. 

We won't spend too much time mentioning James Hoyt's bone-headed error in the top of the 9th that allowed the game hit 3-1 Mariners, resulting in an Astros tie in the bottom of the 9th, but a walk-off. Also the Mariners were 1x15 w/RISP and struck out 16 times. And won. So open up that window and make sure you jump out head-first.

*McHugh:
There's no doubt that we need help. We need some other teams to beat some other teams and we need to win the rest of them. 

*FanGraphs: 1.3%.

*Alex Bregman, for some reason, might play in a game this weekend. Luhnow:
He's chomping at the bit. I think if we asked him to play today, he would play, but we have to be careful because we really need to protect him in the long term, but there's no doubt he wants to be out there. Hopefully it's not too far in the future he can be out there and help us. 

*Bregman and pitcher Brady Rodgers were named Astros minor-league player and pitcher of the year, respectively.

*You know who won't play in a game this weekend? Or in any other Astros game? Ever? Colby Rasmus. He's now in Philadelphia getting an opinion on a rather vague hip/groin issue. Hinch:
This season has been a physical grind for him, so he's going to go and get the opinion that he needs. I'm not expecting him to be back with us for the remainder of the regular season.

And since the playoffs aren't in the cards, that'll do it for Rasmus. I'm working on a Rasmus retrospective - a Rasmospective, if you will - and, man, what a roller coaster experience for Rasmus in an Astros uniform.

*So let's run down the Astros who have lost significant time to injuries this season: Luis Valbuena, Colby Rasmus, Lance McCullers, Dallas Keuchel, Luke Gregerson, Alex Bregman, Preston Tucker.

*Preston Tucker is glad 2016 is behind him and his jacked up shoulder:
It wasn't one thing that did it. It was slowly falling apart, but I'm excited that I'm going to feel better than I did this year and obviously, my shoulder is going to be stronger than ever next year, which is a plus for me. That's something I get to look forward to.

*Tony Kemp is taking advantage of regular playing time, something I hope comes his way more regularly in 2017. Kemp:
I'm just a small part on a big team and anyway I can help, I'll do that whether it be start, come off the bench or give water to the guys. No matter what it is, I'll do whatever it takes to get wins.

*Yulieski Gurriel hung a Jose Fernandez jersey in the Astros' dugout.

*Jeff Passan: The tragic final night of Jose Fernandez.

*A bag of Jose Fernandez-signed baseballs washed on shore in Miami.

*Inside the wall at Fenway.

*Mid-sized European soccer clubs are missing out on the US Soccer Gold Mine

Sunday Morning Hot Links

The Astros lost to the Mariners 1-0. They are now 64-7 when allowing one run since 2012. This game was dumb and shows what a faithless whore Base Ball can be.

*McCullers was sharp, but for one pitch to Robinson Cano. McCullers:
I threw the fastball by him. I've been throwing him a lot of curveballs the last couple of games and I felt good throwing a fastball right there. Got the groundball I wanted - just a little bit too far to Carlos' right. 

*McCullers:
(Cano) is getting paid $30 million a year to do that. Sometimes, you make a good pitch and the hitter finds a way.

*Altuve fu messed up, and he knew it, by trying to bunt in the 9th. With Marwin leading off with a double, Altuve bunted for no good reason:
I forgot I was hitting third in that situation. I was thinking about, 'We need that run.'

*For the first time at Triple-A, Alex Bregman went hitless.

*But don't worry! One of John Perrotto's Astros' sources says the Astros aren't trading Bregman. Said source:
We're not trading him. We look at him as a big part of our future.

One NL scout told Perrotto, on Gurriel:
He's not as good as he was when he was in the prime of his career but he can still be an above-average player. I think he'll help the Astros.

*Read about my thoughts on the Astros signing Yulieski Gurriel. Or don't. It's okay either way.

*Luhnow says Gurriel's signing won't prevent the Astros from trying to better the team.

*The Astros are excited about Gurriel's impending arrival. Correa:
A lot of Latin guys on this team and I think he'll get along pretty well with us. Obviously he brings a lot to the table so I'm really excited to have him here and contribute to the team.

*The Ramgers are trolling the Rays for a starter and a reliever. By God if they get Archer or Moore and Boxberger then we'll [redacted].

*Gerry Fraley: The Rangers look like a good team going bad.

Before you go:

#Astros all-time SP K/9 leaders
McCullers 10.01
Ryan 9.05
Clemens 8.43

HOU all-time SP K% leaders
McCullers 26.2%
Ryan 24.2%
Clemens 23.3%

— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) July 16, 2016Rang

Monday Morning Hot Links

The Masked Marvel has the recap of a Mother's Day win over Seattle.

FanGraphs' playoff odds: 22.6% to win the division, 32.6% to make the playoffs.
FiveThirtyEight odds: 11% to win the division, 20% to make the playoffs.
Baseball Prospectus odds: 14.7% to win the division, 25.6% to make the playoffs.

*Save for a(nother) Robinson Cano home run, Collin McHugh was in complete control of the G31 win yesterday. Hinch:
Collin was as in control of this game as any of our starting pitchers have been this entire season. Landing breaking balls, making big pitches, using his changeup...just a complete effort out of him...

*It's looking more likely that Lance McCullers could make his Astros season debut this weekend at Boston. Hinch:
If he responds well and favorably, his arm feels good, his bullpen goes well, it's very possible that he could make a start in Boston.

*The Astros activated Max Stassi from the DL and optioned him to Fresno. Well, he was already in Fresno, going 2x11 in his rehab appearances. With Gattis getting sent to Corpus to work on his catching, and Stassi's extended stay in Fresno, the Astros are rolling with Castro and Kratz...just the way they drew it up at the Winter Meetings.

*Gattis was nervous but excited about catching Saturday night for Corpus.

*Gattis' Corpus stint opens up more opportunities for Preston Tucker.

*Jerome Solomon says that Keuchel was good on Saturday, but not good enough, and that's a perfect metaphor for the 2016 Astros right now. Keuchel, after Saturday's 3-2 loss:
I feel like some conspiracy's out against us...and I know that's not the case, but the guys are grinding and we're quality major league players and sometimes it feels like we're all rookies. That's just debilitating because we're going up there grinding. Valbuena hits a rocket to tie the game up in the ninth inning and then all of a sudden...we're getting strike calls at the ankles.

*Shout out to Astros promotions coordinator Nasser Kyobe for stopping a little boy from running into a Collin McHugh warm-up pitch.

*Gaze upon the Braves and despair.

Monday Morning Hot Links

*A.J. Hinch won't decide on an Opening Day roster until Thursday or Friday, still weighing taking 13 pitchers/12 position players or vice versa to New York. Hinch:
We're just trying to take the best team to Houston that we can to break camp, and obviously things can change in the month of April. We're hoping to get healthier. Performance always matters. We're likely to use 35-40 players. 

That number - 35 to 40 - seems, uh, high.

*Hinch is planning on giving the Astros the day off on Tuesday, throwing Keuchel on Wednesday to line him up for his Opening Day start on Monday. Dan Straily and Wandy Rodriguez are fighting over the final bullpen spot.

*Despite "splitting" the Mexico City Series with the Padres (the Astros lost 21-6 after Brady Rodgers gave up eight runs in the 1st and relief pitcher Cy Sneed fell down and hurt himself during his warmups), Astros players bought in to the trip.

*Judging from the reaction, Mexico is ready for its next wave of MLB talent.

*Correa and Altuve, unsurprisingly, were the stars of the Mexico City trip.

*Luke Gregerson struck out three Tigers on nine pitches in Grapefruit League action. His goal for 2016? Get guys out.

*Vice Sports: The Astros Have Turned Data Into Winning Baseball

*Gerry Fraley: One good season can be a fluke, a repeat performance can prove something. Or this one by Fraley about the Ramgers/Astros rivalry

*Robinson Cano might be a monster this year.

*Struggling in his first Major League Spring Training, the Orioles might be trying to send Hyun Soo Kim back to Korea.

*Straight Out of Tokyo: Tony Barnette's Long Road to the Majors.