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Let the games begin: What matters, what doesn’t
Let the games begin. The Astros have a month until opening day and many decisions on the horizon. Some of those decisions are already obvious. Others will take only days to manifest and Jeff Luhnow and Bo Porter will need the full month to reach other conclusions. But, as the Astros begin the first weekend…
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Astros’ non-roster invitees: The catchers
by Brian Todd When 2013’s calendar turned to spring, the Astros invited four non-roster catchers to Kissimmee, mainly to handle all the pitchers the team planned to audition. Chris Wallace, Carlos Perez, Jason Jaramillo and Rene Garcia: Considering the 27 games Carlos Corporan had put together in 2012, each one must have known that it…
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Astros’ non roster invitees: The pitchers
By Brian Todd Like every team, the Astros have extended spring training invitations to a multitude of players not on the 40-man roster. Sure, if you’re not on the 40-man roster, you’ve got a bigger uphill battle for making the team on April 1 against the Yankees (spit). But it seems that every season there’s…
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Weekend thoughts: Cruz, Morales, payrolls and late 2015
Some weekend thoughts as the Astros prepare for their first spring game in less than a week. Yes, Jeff Luhnow may be wishing he’d spent the $8 million to add Nelson Cruz to the middle of his order. No, it wouldn’t be a long-term move, but the one-year incentive for Cruz is to prove his…
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Coach-speak translation: What Bo really meant
OK – truth be told, Bo Porter is the manager of the Astros, not a coach, but he definitely uses that not so foreign language called coach-speak. Luckily I am here to tell you what he really means….. (Oh and in giving credit where credit is due – I picked the direct quotes out of Evan…
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Astros’ roster: Diamonds in the rough, hidden gems
As every year springs eternal for teams with a 0-0 record, so, too, it is the fertile soil for dreams yet unmet and the rekindling of fires that once burned bright. The Astros have a few of those hidden gems on their roster this season, lurking in the wings and hoping to get a shot…
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Put The Pedal to The Metal: Why Carlos Correa’s Spring Matters
So, I was prepping to write a story about everyone’s favorite future shortstop when I checked in over at The Crawfish Boxes (yes, Chip, I read other blogs) to see a story on the four storylines that don’t matter this spring. (Link) Story No. 3: How Carlos Correa Performs. Yep, in the fine tradition of…
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How far can revamped bullpen lead the Astros?
Writing about the Astros’ terrible bullpen of 2013 in a previous post inspired me to do a little research on how historically bad the pen was. Before long this morphed into this post based on a couple of recent examples, about how far back can an improved Astros’ bullpen lead this young team? A quicky review –…
