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Untouchable: Which Astros are like Eliot Ness?
Over the last few seasons, the Astros’ front office under the reign of GM Jeff Luhnow has been very active and fairly unpredictable in their actions. Many of the trades they made seemed to come out of left field with very few whispers ahead of time (the Ken Giles trade being an exception). The players…
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Brian T: What will I be watching this spring?
So, we’re about three and a half weeks from Spring Training games. Welcome back to the Grapefruit League, folks! Well, in 24 days. But you get my point. So, what will I be watching for this spring? Honestly, this could be a boring spring in many ways. We don’t have six position battles and three…
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Astros 2016: Ranking the 25-man roster
It is always a bit touchy to rank pitchers and everyday players together. Is a player who pitches every 5th day worth as much as a player who is on the field everyday? (Try removing Dallas Keuchel from the team last year and see if they make the playoffs or not). But this is for…
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Astros 2016: Bring back the nicknames
The recent passing of Walt “No Neck” Williams harkened back to a time when nicknames were fun and often descriptive of the players. Whether it was the “Toy Cannon” Jimmy Wynn or the “Red Rooster” Doug Rader or “Le Grand Orange” Rusty Staub, nicknames were plentiful and known by all. In this more corporate baseball…
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Astros 2016: Five challenges for spring training
The Houston Astros are just over 2 weeks away from the pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training and 3 weeks away from having all hands in camp. For the first time in a decade the team that heads to camp will do so off of a playoff appearance. The Astros appear to be in much better…
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If you had only one question to ask…
It is a relatively quiet time for the Astros and their fans, despite the fact they added depth to their starting rotation with the signing of tall righty Doug Fister on Thursday. Today – you are given a hypothetical challenge. If you were given a chance to ask one and only one question of Astro…
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Astros 2016: Reading between the lines
Actions often speak louder than words, except when you are watching some WWE actor/wrestler screaming at you on the TV. So, there have been a number of actions made by the front office that are meant to send a message this off-season. Potentially going to arbitration with Jason Castro over a $250,000 difference Teams usually…
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The $250,000 message to Jason Castro
So, as readers here are aware, the Astros exchanged arbitration numbers with catcher Jason Castro recently. Castro and his agent, Relativity Baseball, have asked for $5,250,000. The Astros countered with an even $5 million. In the grand scheme of baseball salaries, a lousy quarter million dollars is chump change. And in the end, it doesn’t…
