Astros manager A.J. Hinch told reporters Saturday that he has somewhat of an idea who his closer will be this season, but declined to reveal any names, per the Houston Chronicle. Hinch noted that it "will take a while" before he names his closer.
"I think you got to let it play out," Hinch said. "I don't want to get too far in trying to make that happen in your own mind. But I do have an idea of how I think it's going to play out, but I'm not rushing to judgment, or, I'm not against changing my mind about half a dozen to 10 times between now and April. It's very, very premature.
"There's less need to sort of try out. Competing for it is sort of a hard way to describe it when you've got guys that have some credentials. So I'll stop calling it a competition, but it's more of an alignment of how we're going to use them."
Luke Gregerson signed a three-year, $18.5 million contract with the Astros, and is the highest-paid reliever on the roster. Chad Qualls was the ninth-inning man last season, and Pat Neshek, Tony Sipp and Josh Fields are all viable candidates for the gig.