Justin Verlander gets a loud ovation and tips his cap after striking out Luis Robert Jr. on a 96.5-mph fastball on his 78th pitch of the game. He gave up 3 hits and struck out 6 in five shutout innings vs. the White Sox, looking like the Verlander of old.

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 17, 2025

Jim is already drawing up trade proposals

First home run for Yuli Gurriel in Spring Training with the San Diego Padres.

He remains in a good position to make the Opening Day roster.pic.twitter.com/n8oXgVuH0i

— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) March 17, 2025

The ageless wonder

EastCoastAgNc said:

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First home run for Yuli Gurriel in Spring Training with the San Diego Padres.

He remains in a good position to make the Opening Day roster.pic.twitter.com/n8oXgVuH0i

— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) March 17, 2025

The ageless wonder

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One of my all time favorite swings

Mr.Bond said:

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EastCoastAgNc said:

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First home run for Yuli Gurriel in Spring Training with the San Diego Padres.

He remains in a good position to make the Opening Day roster.pic.twitter.com/n8oXgVuH0i

— Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) March 17, 2025

The ageless wonder

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One of my all time favorite swings

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GURRIEL! Has…tied it.pic.twitter.com/Zcri4tn97Q

— MLB Metrics (@MLBMetrics) August 15, 2022

PoppaB05 said:

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Gurriel is right behind Altuve and Alvarez in my "He's definitely coming through" confidence level late in games.

Also, that 2017 team was so much fun.

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Correa was mine once the calendar flipped to October. I always felt like he'd come through

The Marlins are no longer hiring a practice squad of non-pro players, after MLB approached the organization with concerns.

The advertisements have been removed.

Here's a story on those concerns and what happened, with @ByMcCullough: https://t.co/Ksi10BIuN8 https://t.co/mqawaCule6

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) March 18, 2025

EastCoastAgNc said:

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The Marlins are no longer hiring a practice squad of non-pro players, after MLB approached the organization with concerns.

The advertisements have been removed.

Here's a story on those concerns and what happened, with @ByMcCullough: https://t.co/Ksi10BIuN8 https://t.co/mqawaCule6

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) March 18, 2025

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What about their practice of hiring non-pro players to play for the Marlins?

The Original Houston 1836 said:

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EastCoastAgNc said:

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The Marlins are no longer hiring a practice squad of non-pro players, after MLB approached the organization with concerns.

The advertisements have been removed.

Here's a story on those concerns and what happened, with @ByMcCullough: https://t.co/Ksi10BIuN8 https://t.co/mqawaCule6

— Sam Blum (@SamBlum3) March 18, 2025

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What about their practice of hiring non-pro players to play for the Marlins?

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Baseball started and the cubs suck

It has been 868 days since Lance McCullers played in a game. Today, he's back*





























*Spring Training doesn't really count as back

Kyle Tucker goes 0 for 4 in his Cubs' debut
Cubs only got 3 hits.

I know it's a promo, but just a slap in the face to Cub and Dodger fans to have their season opener in the middle of the night.

gambochaman said:

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Baseball started and the cubs suck

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PoppaB05 said:

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Gurriel is right behind Altuve and Alvarez in my "He's definitely coming through" confidence level late in games.

Also, that 2017 team was so much fun.

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I remember his last season here struggling at the plate, at least by Yuli standards, and he basically flipped a switch in the postseason on the way to winning the World Series.

Then we thought we had a better albeit much more expensive replacement just a year after Yuli won a Gold Glove and the batting title in '21.

I hope that lesson isn't forgotten anytime soon and that Christian has a great 3 years in Houston.

Source: Ex-Yankees outfielder Alex Verdugo hasn’t received a formal big-league contract offer since the end of last season. https://t.co/iZvkawo15t

— Brendan Kuty 🧟‍♂️ (@BrendanKutyNJ) March 18, 2025

He overplayed his hand. I'd offer him a 1 M deal with incentives for being on the roster certain dates and/or hitting plate appearance milestones. At this point, with no ST, I don't have any faith he'll be better than Gamel.

There are still some interesting names out there.

SP
Kyle Gibson
Lance Lynn
Spencer Turnbull
Patrick Corbin
Alex Wood
Anthony DeSclafani

RP
David Robertson
Joe Kelly
Craig Kimbrel
Drew Smyly
Brooks Raley
Will Smith

C
Yasmani Grandal
Yan Gomes

IF
Whit Merrifield
Anthony Rizzo
Miguel Sano

OF
Alex Verdugo
David Peralta
Adam Duvall
Robbie Grossman

DH
JD Martinez
Matt Carpenter

Lance Lynn signed with the Cubs a couple of days ago.

Quote:

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JD Martinez

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Bring it full circle. Begin as a Stro, retire as a Stro

GigEmMortis said:

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Quote:

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JD Martinez

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Bring it full circle. Begin as a Stro, retire as a Stro

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We already have too many guys who should be full time DH

Yeah it was mostly a joke. But I definitely wouldn't be opposed to taking a flyer on Verdugo, if the terms were right. I liked what Farmer threw out there

I don't get why we haven't taken a flyer on Verdugo either

A lot of character concerns and he refuses to sign a contract for less than two years.

That one time when Jose Lima came out (in his batting practice jersey that had his name on the back) to Alief to play in a softball game with us. He told us he was a "big tine" athlete when he got to the park.

The trash talk between Lima and the other team was tremendous. pic.twitter.com/8fQTDuekWp

— Lance Zierlein (@LanceZierlein) March 18, 2025

Could Merrifield give us something? He was good a few years ago (all star in 2023)

Lima legend. Also, is that Tom from Myspace on the left?

I think he's washed. His legs were a big part of what made him good and he doesn't have the same wheels

Robertson but he's likely to be expensive.

Brooks Raley, come on down!

Sign Joe Kelly and keep him on the injured list. Make him carry the luggage, keep score, wash the clothes, clean toilets and buy all the meals.

Also make him stand in the box during "live BP" before games when fans come in with Abreu and Hader practicing going up and in

texasaggie2015 said:

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I think he's washed. His legs were a big part of what made him good and he doesn't have the same wheels

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Screw that guy anyway. He was one that was big mad about "orange team bad" post scandal. Even though none of those guys will ever admit that half the league was participating. I forever hold grudges against several of guys like him.

"I'm going to consider myself an All-Star (for that year) with all this stuff that's come out," Merrifield said in an interview with Clubhouse Conversation. "Because MLB player: Astros cheating kept me from being All Star that game. We'll put an asterisk by 2018. And on top of it, we'll go ahead and throw in a silver slugger for good measure."

The majority of them are guys who were once interesting but are now washed up.

However, there are SEVERAL RP options there and I just wish we would snag one. We feel short on the back end as I don't think Tayler Scott is the guy that he was in the first half of the last year or the one they are counting on him to be.

Of the OF remaining, Peralta is the one that is mildly surprising. Defense is subpar, but he still has a competent LH bat.

Grossman is now useless against RHP, and Duvall is washed up although he seems to wake back up every time he plays at Minute Maid...errr...Daikin Park.

Quote:

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Why the season hinges on Yordan lvarez: Now that Kyle Tucker is gone, and with Jose Altuve turning 35 in May, lvarez is the sun around which the Astros orbit. When he is healthy, lvarez is one of the five best hitters in baseball, a force who punishes bad pitches and manages others with aplomb. For a guy with four consecutive 30-homer-plus seasons, lvarez rarely strikes out -- he had the third-lowest K rate of anyone with 30-plus last year -- and rarely chases bad pitches.

lvarez played a career-high 147 games last season, and if Houston returns to form amid an overhaul from its two World Series-winning seasons, it will be with lvarez hitting the massive sorts of home runs like he did in the 2022 World Series-clinching Game 6.

How to win your fantasy league: Grab third baseman Isaac Paredes and fall in love with Daikin Park's left-field Crawford Boxes. No player and stadium marry quite as well as Paredes and Houston's home park thanks to his extreme-pull approach, with 1,786 career plate appearances and every one of his 72 home runs to left. It didn't work in Chicago, where Paredes hit three homers in 52 games. But with the foul pole in left only 315 feet away, it should in Houston.

The best thing I heard all spring: The ocean of praise lavished on Cam Smith is rare for a player with 134 professional plate appearances, though since entering organized baseball, Smith has done nothing but hit. Chosen 14th overall by the Cubs last summer, Smith looked like their third baseman of the future. He came to the Astros in the Kyle Tucker deal, carried an OPS of nearly 2.000 through his first spring, and is now readying to transition to right field, the truest sign yet that the team wants him in Houston full time as soon as possible.

Something you might not know: From May 11 on, right-hander Hunter Brown posted the third-best ERA in baseball behind Paul Skenes (who's arguably the best pitcher in the game) and Chris Sale (who won the National League Cy Young Award). In each of his 24 outings, he went at least five innings, and 19 times it was six or more. With a six-pitch mix, including a nasty changeup he debuted last season, Brown won't start Opening Day. But by the end of the season, he's primed to be the clear ace of Houston's future.

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Passan's MLB Preview

Not sure how credible Dykstra is, but if this is true holy moly!! We should've been investing in a PI team to follow Umps around instead of buzzers!

MLB casuals: “The @astros defiled the game by using trashcans!!!!”

Lenny Dykstra: 😳pic.twitter.com/8VX86kkdE7

— JTyler (@TX2WI) March 18, 2025