Define contending. Assuming good health, the Astros should win between 85-95 games this season. Walker is the first-base version of Bregman. He’s had an .800 or better OPS the last three years and led MLB first baseman in defensive runs saved over that time period. Tucker to Paredes is an obvious offensive downgrade. That’s why they need to add another bat to make up for his loss. Pressly was not good last year. He blew many games early in the year and had a 1.34 WHIP. Verlander was mediocre before the neck injury and bad after he returned. Losing Kikuchi for the two months he was here hurts, but the top of rotation is still the same in Valdez, Brown and Blanco, and Arrighetti made big strides in the second half of the season. If they suffer poor injury luck, they could finish below .500. That’s the first time I’ve considered that to be a possibility in awhile.
Was anyone talking about Altuve playing outfield before he made what seemed like a highly unlikely suggestion to switch positions simply to keep his friend and longtime teammate from leaving? It's like when you make a wild, almost preposterous promise to your girlfriend or wife and she calls your bluff and you end up having to do things you really regret.
Altuve said someone from the team approached him with the idea shortly after the season ended. Regardless of who does play 2b, putting Altuve in the position where he touches the ball as few times as possible is a good strategy.
I think my exact words were when this started being reported was "Of all the things that will never happen, this will never happen the most." So, yeah. Never saw it coming.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/pirates-to-sign-andrew-heaney.html Heaney to the Pirates for $5.25M/1yr. In my opinion that is an absolute steal and could be the best free agent signing of the offseason unless there’s an unreported medical issue. Houston should have been all over that.
I am just glad to have baseball back, we could be really good, or we could be .500..............BUT, I am excited just to be able to watch. From a fans perspective this time of the year sucks so I am just glad to have baseball back on TV. Last year we didn't seem to have lady luck on our side many times, I hope this year she is a tad more generous.
Nobody should ever listen to Bagwell or Biggio or Reggie or Roger or Nolan or whoever. No analytics = don't know how to play ball It's all good!
My wife is a trooper. Although she is a sports fan, I know she is dreading watching about 150 games on TV. I watch her home improvement shows and project runway in the off season, so I suspect all things are equal. Question. Do your wives watch Astros games with you?
No. Either I watch after she goes to bed or before she gets up in the morning. I also watch on my Ipad a lot while we watch "our shows" on TV.
Playoffs only. But she gets legit excited about it at that time and is tolerant of me spending so much time on the Astros so I consider myself lucky.
When there's good pitchers pitching, she or I will cook dinner and watch the game. There's some games where we say "neh" and watch a movie or whatever instead.
Smarter move. On my best days, I can handle about 2/3 of one wife ... perhaps a bit delusional on my part
