https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/03/02/astros-redefine-success-jose-altuve/ I guess since they share a Spring Training complex, WaPo did an Astros story that's better than the Chronicle... WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — On a late February morning too inconsequential for cameras, on a back field too quiet to draw eyes of curious fans, Jose Altuve hustled around left field, learning when to let go. Line drives meant to test him sunk in front of him as first base coach Dave Clark yelled things such as, “Get there, Hosie!” Every now and then, he held back too much, allowing catchable balls to drop. Every now and then, he charged too hard, still figuring out just how much ground a 34-year-old career second baseman can actually be expected to cover out there. [...] Then Bregman, another Astros lifer, signed with the Red Sox, seemingly a sign both that the Astros did not think spending big to cling to nostalgia was worth it and that Bregman thought Boston offered a better chance to win. The best years were over. The old Astros were gone. Time to let the ball drop for a year or two, to hold the hitter to a single instead of letting it roll to the wall. But owner Jim Crane is not one to play any season on a hop. So Astros General Manager Dana Brown signed first baseman Christian Walker to a three-year contract worth $60 million, hardly the kind of deal doled out by a team ready to surrender. The Astros also pursued a trade for St. Louis Cardinals star third baseman Nolan Arenado, which fell through only when Arenado exercised his no-trade clause. Their payroll will still be around $200 million this year. Instead of trading free-agent-to-be starter Framber Valdez for what would almost certainly be an elite prospect return, they will hold him and let him anchor an always sturdy rotation again. If the Astros are a team in transition, they are not yet transitioning out of trying. But like Altuve, they are working within new realities. Altuve’s range diminished in recent years, and the Astros have better defensive options at second. So they will try him in left field. Instead of a picture of Bregman or Correa or one of the other stars of recent years, an image of Walker sits outside the entrance to Houston’s spring training clubhouse, an acknowledgment that new must mix with old to keep familiar expectations within reach. [...] McCullers, the only other holdover from that 2017 World Series team, threw to hitters Saturday on one of those back fields Altuve manned. Thanks to a variety of arm injuries, the veteran had not done that since October 2022. Even with Verlander and Yusei Kikuchi gone in free agency, the Astros’ rotation still has many of the key pieces who helped them find a way again and again in recent years. Valdez is a Cy Young candidate when his mind is right. Luis Garcia and Cristian Javier will return from injury at some point this year. Young starters such as Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti helped the Astros recover from an abysmal start to make the postseason again in 2024. If McCullers can return to form, looking like the right-hander with the great curveball and the 3.48 career ERA, he could help down the stretch. But after two lost seasons, the Astros know better than to count on him.
