Astros Crawfish Boil: March 10, 2023

It seems like Spring Training just started, but it’s already over halfway done.

Houston Astros News

Offseason In Review Chat Transcript: Houston Astros (mlbtraderumors.com)

Watch: Houston Astros Peña and Bregman React to Shocking MLB The Show 23 Player Ratings (si.com)

Houston Astros GM Brown Uncomfortable With Certain Contract Extensions (si.com)

Spotlighting This Season’s Most- and Least-Improved Rotations (fangraphs.com)
Houston ranks number 30 on this list, at an 8.2 WAR loss.

The Most Annoying Baseball Fans in 2023 (crestline.com)
So this website, from what I can tell a sales site, surveyed 999 people about what they thought concerning annoying team fanbases. We’re number three. Guess who is number one?

MLB free agency: Marlins, veteran first baseman Yuli Gurriel agree to contract, per report (cbssports.com)
For the final time, Yuli is featured in the Boil as “Astros News.”

Effectively Wild Episode 1979: Season Preview Series: Astros and Pirates (blogs.fangraphs.com)

Non-Houston Astros AL West News

Here’s the latest on A’s rotation battle (mlb.com)

Spring Training Recap: Dodgers Leave Bases Loaded In Shutout Loss To Oakland Athletics (dodgerblue.com)

Mariners Notebook: Checking in on Seattle’s bats; WBC updates (sports.mynorthwest.com)

Mariners come from behind in 8th inning to beat Team Canada (seattletimes.com)

How did Angels attack Trout? Pitch him ‘outside, way outside’ (mlb.com)

Los Angeles Angels’ Superstar Mike Trout Will Do Whatever He Can To Keep Shohei Ohtani Playing For The Angels (forbes.com)

Texas Rangers 2023 roster projection 2.0: Factoring in Robbie Grossman, Will Smith (theathletic.com)

Pirates acquire utility man Mark Mathias from Texas Rangers (post-gazette.com)

Non-AL West MLB News

Rodón (left forearm strain) to begin season on IL (mlb.com)

Harper hits camp: ‘I’ve got a long way to go’ (mlb.com)

Reds going Greene for Opening Day (mlb.com)

Mining the News (3/9/23) (fangraphs.com)

WBC Scores

Japan 8, China 1

Italy 6, Cuba 3

Czech Republic 8, China 5

Cuba 13, Panama 4

Houston Astros Birthdays

Outfielder John Cangelosi (60) hit .287/.413/.367 in 198 games for Houston between 1995 and 1996. In total, he played 13 seasons of major league ball, also appearing with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Florida Marlins, the Chicago White Sox, the New York Mets, the Texas Rangers, and the Colorado Rockies.

Left-handed backstop Bill Heath (84) played for the Astros in 1966 and 1967. In 64 games he hit .284/.351/.328 and threw out 46 percent of base stealing attempts.

Left-handed pitcher Ken MacKenzie (89) played for the 1965 Houston Astros, the final stop of his six-season major league career. In 37 innings, he put up a 1.405 WHIP and struck out 26 while walking only six.