Didn’t say it had to end, keep Producing awesome minor league talent that become major league all stars and it will go on forever.
No. Not But the end COULD be coming into view. There really was no Alvarez, Correa, or Bregman in the system before the draft. Maybe Gilbert, Melton, Clifford, etc end up as 4+ WAR players but it's too early to tell. Lee, Leon, Diaz, etc project to be MLB regulars at best. I hope they are better but am not expecting it. The current young pitching along with the guys controlled for the next 3 years means the end isn't close. But as of now, 2026 looks like it could be an average team competing for a WC bid. Abreu, Altuve, Bregman, Tucker, Framber, Javier, Montero, Pressly, Neris, Maldy, Urquidy, Stanek, Maton will all be FA ( as if now) Lots of time left though.
I also seem to require that, during one of our tough spells with the offense not producing much, which I think was midsummer but before the All-Star game, Urquidy stepped his game up and was tough as hell.
These things are fairly predictable. If you expect to lose your short stop by a date certain you plan for it get your prospects lined up. You make sure that you are not forced into the free agent market. If you are forced to go that route you calculate the date when you can promote internally and you limit your foray into the free agent market to that time. Do not deviate from this operating method and there is no such thing as a closed window.
Jesus you'd think we didn't sign someone to fill our biggest hole at 1b and kept our literal record setting playoff bullpen together for the last 30 pages. The only deals I feel may have been a good fit for us were the Vasquez and Gallo deals. Everything is has been a huge overpay and would delay our young talent from getting playing time and seeing if they are ready.
Also make sure the talent coming out of minors is at an all star level and you won’t have to worry a window closing. High caliber all star level is key. If a string of average minor leaguers emerges over next 5 years and Astros will be the Rangers in short fashion.
Tell that to the 2016 Kansas City Royals. 81-81 record and no playoffs after back to back WS appearances. And no .500 season since.
Still a lot of time, but I’d say there are *green shoots* of potential. Yordan locked in for 6 more years. Peña locked in for 5 more. McCormick for 4 more. Hensley for 6 more. Brown for 6 more. Bryan Abreu for 4 more. Garcia for 4 more. Seth Martinez for 5 more. Enoli Paredes for 5-6 more. There’s work to do…no doubt. We need some legit bats to emerge, and we don’t have top 10 picks to do it this time. The next 2 years of drafts, international signings and development are extremely important to bridge us over the years we lost draft picks.
I forgot who posted it, but free agency by design is typically going to be an objective internal overcorrection by nature more often than not, so it makes sense to limit that exposure as much as possible. Plus, I honestly can’t think of any free agent signings, in baseball, who directly correlated to winning a championship. Maybe the 09 Yankees or 03 Marlins…but you can’t just buy a championship in baseball like you can in other sports (e.g. Heat, Lakers, Rams to a certain extent). More often than not, a lot of these contracts hinder teams more than it helps them. Obviously, there are examples of good signings, but the Astros aren’t going to win or lose the next few World Series because of the past two months. If anything, our FO exodus and GM hole have me more concerned than us not signing or trading for players. We are returning an elite pitching staff and offensive and defensive roster sans a few non-major concerns. I trust Crane to maximize our team’s championship aspirations thru 2025-26 while trying to maintain playoff hopes thereafter/mitigate the eventual rebuild as much as possible. I’m content with our spending to date, let’s just fill in the FO holes and keep the train moving. Btw we are champs.
You realize that out of every player you just listed who will still be here, only Yordan has proven to be all star level? Pena and Garcia are solid starters and everyone else is unproven or less than every day starter. You just proved my point. Again though - lots of time.
Profar would be a Dubon replacement. For sure. Brantley will be back. I think the Astros won't get Conforto. But again trade for a OFer. Alek Thomas or even trying to swing Reynolds or Mullens away .
I said “green shoots*. How many teams can ever project out to be good 4+ years from now? None. All I was saying is that there’s reason for optimism.
