Reed removed from first-base competition
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Astros optioned A.J. Reed on Monday, narrowing the club’s possibilities at first base while Yuli Gurriel rehabilitates his hand injury and serves his five-game suspension once activated during the regular season.
Manager A.J. Hinch met with Reed, who was not given a September call-up last year despite a torrid end to his season with Class AAA Fresno, at the outset of camp to reassure him he had every opportunity to attain Gurriel’s vacated position.
“I don’t think Reed’s been given an opportunity to show what he can do,” Hinch said earlier this spring. “We’re a really tough team to crack. The at-bats are tough to come by. I told him that, but I told him he’s going to have a chance to make our team because of the situation we’re in.”
Arriving at camp 25 pounds lighter following an offseason diet, Reed slashed .298/.365/.511 in 52 Grapefruit League plate appearances and exits major league camp with an .876 OPS.
Reed’s departure leaves utility man Marwin Gonzalez, J.D. Davis and Tyler White as the team’s primary options at first base. White and Gonzalez have started the last two Grapefruit League games at first.
Thirty-two players remain in major league camp.
Verlander sharp in win over Mets
Justin Verlander treated Monday’s Grapefruit League game against the Mets “more like a real game.” Now he’s ready for those to come.
The Astros’ opening-day starter threw seven scoreless innings against a New York lineup that included Todd Frazier, Yoenis Cespedes and Jay Bruce. He permitted five hits and struck out three in the Astros’ 2-0 victory. Sixty-four of his 88 pitches were strikes.
“Typical Verlander outing,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “where he’s very focused trying to do one particular thing or two particular things and had a good day.”
Unsure of the plan for his final week in spring training, Verlander said he treated Monday’s start against the Mets as if it was his final “prep day.” Hinch said after the game the club will “back off ” such a pitch count in Verlander’s final spring training appearance.
“I don’t think my off-speed stuff probably was as sharp as it’s been all spring today,” Verlander said. “Still, I was able to make some good pitches, quality pitches when I needed to. If anything, I may have been around the zone too much. But overall, a good day. It’s time to kind of start turning the switch on and preparing to pitch in real, meaningful games.”
In elemental terms, he’d be Altuveum
Agents and players forge relationships unlike most others in sports.
No different with Jose Altuve and Scott Boras.
Effusive in his praise for his 5-6 Astros client, for whom he negotiated a franchise-record $151 million deal, Boras unleashed a plethora of analogies and comparisons for the reigning American League Most Valuaable Player, a man he first called “atomic.”
“When I say he’s atomic, he’s on the unknowns of the element,” Boras said. “He’s the 116th element, the AA of chemical elements. He’s just a very different man. His antenna is so filled with correctness and honoring his teammates, handling the fans, handling the organization.”
Boras acknowledged that many onlookers fixate upon Altuve’s stature when they first see him take the field. When they leave, Boras assumes they still talk about size: “You know he has the biggest heart of anyone in professional sports,” Boras said.
“He’s like Christmas. You go and you look at the tree, and you see the small box,” added the agent. “That small little present turns out to be the most valued gift. He’s the Hope Diamond of baseball. Everything about him is so correct for what you hope a player is.”
Coke bottles up a commemoration
As the clock ticks toward opening day for 2018, Astros fans have yet another outlet for stocking up on items commemorating the team’s 2017 World Series run.
Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages said Monday it has produced an eight-ounce Coca-Cola bottle bearing the Astros logo and 2017 World Series logo. Sixbottle cardboard cartons also bear the same logos.
Commemorative bottles are now available at local Kroger stores, and after two weeks, they will be sold through other outlets.
Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages markets and distributes Coca-Cola in Texas and parts of New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas.