I went to the game yesterday in Kissimmee vs the Yankees. Carter crushed a ball that cleared the bases in the 1st, but not much offense after that. Altuve made a nice play up the middle, as well as Lowrie. I thought Josh Fields was the best pitcher yesterday in his 1 inning of work. They ended up giving the game away in the 9th, allowing 6 Yankee runs.

All in all, good day at the park. I'm thinking of checking out some other non-Astros games down here in the next couple of weeks. Yesterday was their only Saturday home game of the spring.

Don't look now... But Robbie Grossman is tearing it up

Yea.... Against guys who will be bagging groceries in two weeks

Idk Bond, it's only a small sample but Bob is getting 2 hits and a walk every game mostly against major league pitchers.

Appel out with forearm tightness

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Appel out with forearm tightness

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Hopefully stuff like this doesn't continue.

Seeing Kris Bryant destroy the minor leagues especially sucks, since our pick still seems like a project.

per McTaggart

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Appel said on a scale from 1-10 as far as being concerned, he said its a 1.

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Appel said he would have pitched through it if it were regular season and says he pitched through worse.

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speaking of 1st picks, what is the projection on Moran? He got a hit while I was there on Saturday.

Is anyone else frustrated that no games are aired until later this month, and other teams have 5-6 games in that time. And every game on Root is also on MLB network. Do they not have the ability to air a game on their own yet?

No, not frustrated.

Saw this tidbit from mlbtraderumors and I haven't seen this discussed here.

Interesting...

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Ryan Vogelsong seemed to be on the verge of signing with the Astros before he eventually rejoined the Giants, and the righty hinted that there was something unusual about how negotiations broke down with Houston. According to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, the issue was that after agreeing to sign Vogelsong to a one-year, $4MM deal, the Astros wanted to pay Vogelsong less after viewing the results of his physical. Both Astros GM Jeff Luhnow and Vogelsong's agent Dave Meier declined to comment to Heyman about the situation.

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Seems like we're making this a common practice.

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Saw this tidbit from mlbtraderumors and I haven't seen this discussed here.

Interesting...

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Ryan Vogelsong seemed to be on the verge of signing with the Astros before he eventually rejoined the Giants, and the righty hinted that there was something unusual about how negotiations broke down with Houston. According to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, the issue was that after agreeing to sign Vogelsong to a one-year, $4MM deal, the Astros wanted to pay Vogelsong less after viewing the results of his physical. Both Astros GM Jeff Luhnow and Vogelsong's agent Dave Meier declined to comment to Heyman about the situation.

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Seems like we're making this a common practice.

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If this is the way we conduct business, then we will never have a significant free agent consider us. Just shady business practice

Good Appel news

@brianmctaggart: Mark Appel threw today and said he is ready to pitch in games. He said he has zero concern.

Tough to comment without knowing what the physical revealed. After signing Jesse Crain and Matt Albers last year and getting nothing from them, the Astros apparently are a little gun-shy when it comes to pitchers with ailments. If Vogelsong winds up injured this year and Brady Aiken experiences arm trouble in his career, these will look like good decisions, but they will still be met with criticism.

I'm sure it's going to turn away some free agents, but it shouldn't go unnoticed that we signed Neshek and Gregerson at over $6M per year with no issues. It'll just depend on the player and agent. Trades and free agent signings have fallen through before because of failed physicals. I think what makes these situations involving the Astros unique is that they're adding a value to perceived health, or lack thereof.

I'd love to hear more from the parties involved regarding Vogelsong, but I doubt we will.

Anyone know why there are no Astros spring training games MLB network?

Appel looks to be ok. Just precautionary.

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Anyone know why there are no Astros spring training games MLB network?

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Because the astros have been terrible and don't have a national following whatsoever. Do you really not understand this?

Villar to play CF in an upcoming game.

Is he that impressive at the plate that they are doing anything they can to find a place for him on the field? Or is our CF options just even worse than him?

It's a "B" game where only a part of the team travels. But that's still interesting.

Probably trying to raise his profile so he will be more attractive when we trade him in June.

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It's a "B" game where only a part of the team travels. But that's still interesting.

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Obviously, but don't ou think that means the forgot to send outfielders to the B game?? B games don't mean they send the scrubs, it means they have 2 games at the same time and have to send half the team each way.
But thanks for your profound input!!

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Probably trying to raise his profile so he will be more attractive when we trade him in June.

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While I definitely think this is the case, I still can't see us getting too much for him. Anything is better than nothing though when we are ready to move up Correa for good

It was actually a scrimmage against the Braves in Kissimmee. Dominguez played first. Seems like they just wanted a chance to try some things, so they set up this scrimmage.

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But thanks for your profound input!

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No problem. That's what I post here for.

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It was actually a scrimmage against the Braves in Kissimmee. Dominguez played first. Seems like they just wanted a chance to try some things, so they set up this scrimmage.

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Haha, I love Spring Practice "scrimmages"!!! Aren't they all scrimmages??!?!

Looks like Mendgen is on the roster for today's game. Too bad they spelled his name wrong

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Springer w/ 2 homers in two at bats today

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Came here to post this

Yaaawwwwn.

Did anything unexpected happen that was post worthy?

Looks like Villar's hard work paid off, he got a hit.

Couple nuggets I came across yesterday.

• Valbuena has been on a tear since ST started batting .526 (10/19), 1.366 OPS, 3 2bs, 1 HR, and 5 RBI

• Appel pitched yesterday for the first time since his soreness and gave up 2 hits and 1 run in 2 IP.
  

Astros on TV today!

@ROOTSPORTSSW: Join us for @astros vs @Pirates today first pitch is at 12:05 CT

Dallas Keuchel is named the opening day starter. We're getting close!

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2015/03/17/dallas-keuchel-gets-the-nod-for-opening-day-start/#4064101=0

Grossman leads off with a double, and we can't get him home