The weather was warm, the gloves were popping and the bats were cracking as the defending champions took the field today in West Palm Beach for the first full squad workout of 2023. In a camp not filled with a lot of drama, there were a few things that stood out from the first full day of work. The biggest news of the day of course being that Yordan Alvarez said his hand issue from last year flared up this winter and he is not currently swinging a bat, but does expect to do just that in the next few days. Dusty Baker did not seem too worried when we spoke to him and made sure to point out that we are six weeks away from the regular season and that the club is going to take it slow.
Yordan noted that the injury is to the left hand and it is just something that he and the team will have to monitor. Dusty Baker did confirm that doctors told Yordan this winter that surgery was not necessary, something that has to make the Astros breathe easy, but there of course will always be concern for his hand. Expect daily updates on how he is doing until we see him out on the field working.
Dusty Baker did not have much of an update today on Lance McCullers Jr. other than to say that he is in good spirits. McCullers has not been made available for the media to this point, I did but into him on his way out today and Dusty's description of him being in good spirits was accurate.
Framber Valdez spoke with the media for the first time this spring and hit on plenty of important topics, the biggest of which being the possibility of getting an extension done. As you would expect, Framber is very open to the idea of getting something done, but will leave that to his agent to handle.
Outside of all of that, it was business as usual today at camp as the quest for back-to-back titles begins for the Astros. Keep it with us all week on SportsTalk 790 as we have all of your Astros coverage brought to you by Karbach Brewing and the best beer for Astros baseball, the Crawford Bock.