Let’s face it. Even in the most active times, the baseball off-season is pretty patchy as a source for new writing material.
Does Hector Neris complete the Astros’ bullpen?
The Astros signed free agent reliever Hector Neris to theoretically take the place of Kendall Graveman in the back of their bullpen. The former Philly fireman was a bit shaky as a closer in the first part of 2021 but excellent as the set-up man in the second half of the season. With the Astros losing relievers Graveman, Yimi Garcia and Brooks Raley, it may sound foolish to say the Astros will not further bolster the bullpen, but let’s talk about that a bit.
The big baseball deadline Q&A
Throughout the major league baseball off-season, there are all sorts of deadlines and critical dates, whether it is the deadlines for offering or turning down qualifying offers, the deadline for setting the 40 man rosters, the date for the Rule 5 draft, the date for exchanging arbitration figures and on and on. But this off-season, there is another critical date that occurs this week. On Wednesday, December 1st at midnight, the collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the players union expires, and all indications are that it will expire before a new deal.
Astros’ recent award recognition
Today’s post springs from curiosity on this writer’s part after noting that the Astros had multiple players and their manager receiving votes for the four major league awards in 2021, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young and MVP. I was wondering about whether the team had done this before in the recent past (they have multiple times) and then it became a bit of a fun research project, that I decided to take all the way back to the year after their first World Series appearance, 2006.
Astros’ off-season: What’s next?
The Astros off-season has been pretty much what was expected, except for one little signing. OK, the Justin Verlander signing was big, but it will be called little until it becomes official.
JV returns: The ultimate double down
Of course, the focus today is on Justin Verlander and his decision to forego the rest of the baseball world and return to the Houston Astros for the 2022 and possibly the 2023 seasons. But the person who draws this writer’s interest is the Astros’ owner, Jim Crane.
What We Need Now Is A Big Helping Of Moneyball
This whole Carlos Correa situation makes me fall back on one of my favorite baseball philosophy movies “Moneyball”. Here’s a short scene with Brad Pitt playing the Oakland A’s GM, Billy Beane and Jonah Hill playing the super nerd, Peter Brand, he brings in to help him work through the loss of Johnny Damon, Jason Isringhausen and Jason Giambi.
What will (And what should) the Astros do about Carlos Correa?
Maybe all that needs to be said about Carlos Correa was said here.
CHIPALATTA 