Houston Astros News

AL Notes: Astros, Kahnle, Abreu (mlbtraderumors.com)

How Astros’ center-field battle is shaping up (mlb.com)

Houston Astros get final tuneup before World Baseball Classic (houstonchronicle.com)

Houston Astros Star Primed for Bounce-Back, Monster Season (si.com)

Could Houston Astros beat Dominican Republic’s WBC team? Comparing the World Series Champions roster against star-studded WBC favorites (sportskeeda.com)

Non-Houston Astros AL West News

Las Vegas makes pitch to Athletics with ‘a better opportunity’ (ESPN.com)

A’s option Luis Medina, Cal Stevenson to Triple A, reassign 14 others to minor league camp (athleticsnation.com)

Julio Rodriguez, five other Mariners leave camp to start preparation for WBC (seattletimes.com)

MLB pitchers adjusting to quick pace of new pitch clock (sports.mynorthwest.com)

Angels roster projections 2.0: Who makes the Opening Day roster? (halohangout.com)

Angels’ Reid Detmers makes crucial change that will fire up Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout (clutchpoints.com)

The Maddux Brothers Want Their Pitchers to Laugh (nytimes.com)

Injured Niners QB Brock Purdy Turns to Rangers for Help (si.com)

Non-AL West MLB News

Old-school Bumgarner likes pitch timer, new rules (mlb.com)

Every MLB Team’s Worst Contract Heading into 2023 Season (bleacherreport.com)

30 prospects who have turned heads this spring (mlb.com)

White Sox’s Mike Clevinger avoids discipline as MLB closes probe into claims of domestic, child abuse (foxnews.com)

As MLB cracks down on balks, rule change ‘poster boy’ Kevin Gausman taps new delivery

Sunday Notes: Alejandro Kirk Comps to Luis Arraez & Matt Strahm Compliments Tek (fangraphs.com)

Astros Birthdays

Thirteen-year MLB veteran Clint Barmes (44) played shortstop in 123 games for the 2011 Houston Astros. He hit .244/.312/.386 with a dozen home runs and 39 RBI.

Erik Bedard (44) has his birthday listed as March 6 on thebaseballcube.com and as March 5 on baseball-reference.com. Since I link with BBREF, I’ll go with them. Eleven-season vet Bedard was a lefty pitcher out of Canada who was 4-12 with a 4.59 ERA for the remarkable 2013 Astros (51-111). leading the team with 138 strikeouts. That team had 23 pitchers finish with at least one decision, and only one escaped with a winning record, the 1-0 mark of David Martínez.