Sunday Morning Hot Links

Yesterday was FanFest at Minute Maid Park in one of the checkpoints of the offseason. We're 23 days away from Pitchers & Catchers reporting. 

*26,000 people came to FanFest. Hinch, on expectations:

Our players understand our hopes and where we are. I want us to embrace that, I want us to take it seriously and have a good time. Winning an offseason or being active in adding all these guys doesn't mean anything. You have to go out and play the games. 

Click the link to read about how predictably excited everyone is.

*Jeff Luhnow said yesterday that he doesn't envision the Astros making any additions between now and the beginning of the season. Taking him at his word, this means the Astros won't be adding another starting pitcher, or a lefty reliever option beyond Tony Sipp. Or if you want to get really nuts he's trying to brainwash the White Sox into lowering the price on Jose Quintana, or the Rays with Chris Archer. Luhnow:

I feel good about the roster we have right now. The roster we have is probably the roster we're going to have to start the season. We're always open to considering ways to improve it, but right now I'd set the expectations low there's going to be any major changes. We've got a good roster of guys that I think can compete for the division title this year. 

*Brian McCann is ready to go.

*Preston Tucker says he feels good, but he hasn't yet taken any swings after surgery on his shoulder

*The Astros signed RHP Dayan Diaz to a minor-league deal with an invite to Spring Training. Diaz, 27, was in the Astros system until the end of the 2012 season. He has a 2.47 ERA in 113IP at Triple-A. 

*The Astros hosted a Prospect Development Pipeline event yesterday. 

*Jeff Bagwell's election to the HOF should be a source of Connecticut pride, writes this guy from Connecticut.

*FanGraphs: What would a post-expansion MLB look like? 

*Awful news out of the Dominican Republic as Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura died in a car accident. Separately, former MLB infielder Andy Marte died in a car accident. 

Notes & Numbers: G9 - Royals at Astros

Game 3 of a four-game set with the Royals, which features the biggest on-paper mismatch of the young season: Yordano Ventura vs. Scott Feldman.

The Astros are now 3-5, the same record they had after eight games in 2015. They have allowed 45 runs on the season - 21 of those coming in the first two innings. Astros runs allowed by inning:

1st: 14
2nd: 7
3rd: 5
4th: 3
5th: 3
6th: 2
7th: 6
8th: 5
9th: 0

The Astros have yet to win a game in which they did not score 5+ runs and have already lost three games in which they held the lead. They are 2-2 when allowing three or fewer runs.

Yordano Ventura pitched against the Astros three times last season - once in the regular season and twice in the postseason. His regular season start in Kansas City saw him throw 7IP, 6H/1ER, 5K:0BB. In two postseason starts, Ventura made it a total of 7IP, with 8H/6ER, 10K:4BB and 2HR allowed.

In Ventura's first start of the season, last Friday against the Twins, he held them to 2H/2ER despite walking six batters, something he only did once in 2015. The Royals are 1-0 in his starts in 2016 and were 16-12 in Ventura's 2015 starts.

Combined the Astros are hitting .303/.387/.515 off of Ventura. Carlos Correa is 4x5 with two doubles and a homer off of him; Jason Castro (!) is 4x11 with a double. George Springer is 1x4 with 2K:3BB.

Scott Feldman will try to join Collin McHugh (and, to an extent, Mike Fiers) in hoping that the first time around was just a bad start. Last Friday at Milwaukee Feldman allowed 5H/4ER, 5K:3BB in 4IP and was generally terrible.

He pitched against the Royals once in 2015, allowing 4H/1ER, 2K:1BB in 7.2IP. The Royals combined are hitting .243/.283/.297 off of Feldman in their careers.

Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain have done most of the damage: Gordon is 10x23 with a 1.065 OPS off of Feldman, and Cain is 7x13 with a 1.154 OPS. Alcides Escobar is 4x20, Eric Hosmer is 2x18, Kendrys Morales ix 3x19, Sal Perez and Mike Moustakas are each 3x17 against Scott Feldman.