In the end, the Astros did almost everything they could have hoped to do this offseason. So what do you think, Jeff Luhnow? “This team is built to go the distance this year,” the Astros’ general manager said Thursday.

The Phillies announced Thursday they had hired Andy Galdi as director of baseball research and development. Galdi, 30, spent the past three years at Google in Mountain View, Calif., where he served as a quantitative analyst for YouTube. He will oversee baseball analytics, including data visualization and reporting, statistical research and data infrastructure. Galdi is the latest person Phillies general manager Matt Klentak has added to the analytics department since his hiring in October.

New general manager Jerry Dipoto didn’t waste any time restructuring the Mariners’ roster this offseason, engineering 11 trades and five Major League free-agent signings since replacing Jack Zduriencik last September.

Randy Johnson visited the sprawling campus of Peoria High School, where 25 students from teacher Matthew Glover’s advanced arts class honored him by painting a 16-foot-high mural of The Big Unit in the midst of his classic windup.

To paraphrase the late, great Yogi Berra, the new Mariners regime is making bold efforts to show its players that 90 percent of Seattle baseball is now mental, with the other half being physical.

Can’t wait to see Corey Dickerson bang away for a full season at Tropicana Field. He should be a godsend for a Rays team that was 14th in the American League in scoring last year.

In the latest Giants inbox, beat reporter Chris Haft answers fans’ questions about the bullpen, top prospects and more.

In Jake McGee and Jason Motte, the Rockies have added baseball’s most dedicated fastball pitchers to a park that generally sees pitchers throw more fastballs anyway. Will that finally be what helps the Rockies break the Coors Field curse?

White Sox manager Robin Ventura, his wife, Stephanie, veteran pitcher John Danks and his wife, country music artist Ashley Monroe, paid a visit to Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago on Thursday morning, visiting the hematology and oncology floor.

Over the past two weeks, MLBPipeline.com has rolled out lists for the Top 10 prospects at each position in anticipation of the unveiling of the 2016 Top 100 prospects list on Friday, including announcing the Top 50 on MLB.com and MLB Network at 9 p.m. ET.

Building a championship team is what every front office in every Major League organization spends the offseason — and the season — trying to do. It’s much easier said than done. That was the topic of a roundtable discussion in Boston on Thursday afternoon in a ballroom of a hotel just beyond Fenway Park’s right-field bleachers.

Nothing says you love somebody more.

If all five projected Cardinals starters stay healthy through spring, then what becomes of the rest of the team’s starting pitching depth, most notably the three young lefties Tim Cooney, Tyler Lyons and Marco Gonzales?

Avisail Garcia joined Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, Harold Baines and pitching coach Don Cooper in calling season ticket-holders Thursday to thank them for their continued patronage. If you were thinking he got an earful, you’d be wrong – the calls were positive and upbeat.

Fitting tributes to a living, working legend may seem impossible. Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully, however, is about to receive a proper salute. Fans will be motoring to Dodger Stadium this season on Vin Scully Avenue.

The Astros bolstered their rotation on Thursday by adding free-agent right-hander Doug Fister on a one-year deal that will pay him a reported $7 million plus potential performances bonuses.

Fifteen players not on the Mariners’ 40-man roster have been extended invitations to Spring Training, the club announced Thursday, including former first-round Draft pick Danny Hultzen.