AGRI Biz

There are a few things to like about Aroldis Chapman, the pitcher who defected from Cuba and is looking for an MLB team to pitch for. First, he thumbed his nose at Fidel Castro and all those whiny, Castro-loving celebrities like Jack Nicholson and Oliver Stone by defecting. (Granted, his reason for defecting may stem from the prospect of millions of American dollars rather than a thirst for political freedom). Second, at ...

LaTroy Hawkins is gone, having left the Houston Astros for the Milwaukee Brewers. Jose Valverde's all but gone; any day now, I expect to hear of some other team signing him. He won't be back in Houston, simply because the Astros feel he's too expensive and too much of an investment. So to replace these two pitchers, the Astros have acquired to new pitchers. The first is right-hander Matt Lindstrom, who came ...

I think I'd have a much easier time trying to correctly interpret David Lynch's film Eraserhead than I would trying to understand what the Houston Astros front office is up to these days. For those not up on cinematic issues, Lynch has never publicly commented on the interpretation of his 1977 horror/fantasy/sci-fi/drama, only to say that of all the guesses fans have made, nobody's ever come close to its true ...

I must admit: When it snowed last week in Houston, I thought something had happened. You know, hell had frozen over because the Houston Astros of the Drayton McLane Era were finally on the road to making great baseball decisions and building a team that will be taking champagne showers in a few years. Gone would be the heartaches of 1980, of Bob Knepper running out of gas in Game Six of ...

Let me preface this piece by saying that Bobby Meacham, the new Houston Astros first-base coach, is described as a very classy guy and a respected coach.áThey say that those who can, do and those who can't, teach. Baseball's filled with successful managers who were mediocre players (Tommy Lasorada had a lifetime pitching record of 0-4 while Earl Weaver never even made it to the big leagues). That being said, when ...

If you're a veteran catcher, have your agent give the Houston Astros a phone call. The 'Stros just might need your services. That's because 36-year-old Chris Coste, acquired by Houston earlier this year after the Philadelphia Phillies had placed him on waivers, has rejected the team's outright assignment to Triple-A Round Rock and is now a free agent. Some believeáthe stat sheets define a player in strictly black-and-white terms, and they'd no ...

Looking at the press conference photo of Brad Mills being named the new manager of the Houston Astros and watching Ed Wade and Drayton McLane look like they're playing tug-of-war with Wade's jersey, I see something very fitting. The Terry Francona disciple and former Boston Red Sox bench coach will wear jersey no. 2 with the Astros. You know: 2, as in second choice. Mills was named manager after the 'Stros first choice, ...

Saying he wasn't satisfied with any of the candidates the Houston Astros interviewed, owner Drayton McLane will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. CST Wednesday to announce he's hiring himself as the team's manager. The team reportedly had tried to hire Manny Acta as manager, only for Acta to bolt the 'Stros for the Indians. Fans had also called on McLane to hire Astro greats Craig Biggio or Jeff Bagwell ...

We're learning that Manny Acta and Terry Francona's bench coach Brad Mills are among the finalists for the new Houston Astros managerial job. One has to think that unless these men already live in Houston or would absolutely love to live in Houston despite the extreme heat and humidity along with cockroaches and waterbugs (similar to cockroaches, but bigger and uglier) bigger than the ego of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, ...

You know: in the 1960s and 1970s there was The Carol Burnett Show and in an ongoing skit they'd do a spoof of the soap opera As The World Turns with As The Stomach Turns. If the show were on now, they'd do a skit called As The Houston Astros' Fans' Stomachs Turn. Phil Garner, the former Astro who managed Houston to its first and only World Series appearance, was fired and ...