Avoid driving in flooded areas. Getty Images
Michael Herzing, former president of the Texas Auto Writers Association, will be providing auomotive coverage for SportsMap. His first offering includes key tips for car owners.
Stay away from high water
Is it my imagination or does it seem that people in Texas lose all their common sense when it is raining? You’re driving along in a heavy rain and you see water over the curb ahead. And you drive right into it? Folks, don’t ever drive in high water. It can damage the brakes, transmission, differential, and the wheel bearings. And if the water gets inside, you can forget it.
Please use common sense during these fall storms. If an area usually floods, don’t drive there. If you drive through curb-deep water and make it through fine, stop by your shop in the next few days and have them check the brakes. The lubrication can be washed off of the brake hardware ,and it corrodes and causes premature brake wear and sometimes failure. Unless you want to spend huge money on brakes and differentials instead of clothes and food, get your car checked out ASAP.
And for heaven's sake, unless you are a mechanic or you are independently wealthy, don’t ever buy a car that has been flooded, even if it is cheap.
Check under the hood
While not as crucial as it used to be, checking under the hood occasionally can head off little problems before they become big ones. Of course, not many people do it — when was the last time you actually looked under your hood? Now that I have reminded you about it, it’s time to figure out how to do it. Check your owner’s manual. There will always be a section on under hood checks. Keep a pair of old gloves and a roll of paper towels in the trunk.
Read the safety warnings in your owner’s manual and any warning stickers that may be under the hood. Most everything under the hood will be hot, so be careful. Except for checking transmission fluid level, all checks should be done while the engine is turned off. If the engine is running, don’t put your hands near any belts or fans, unless you want to be called “Stubby.” If you are not comfortable with touching a hot or running engine, then just do the checks that can be done with the engine cold, and have someone else do the rest. The secret is to do it.
When is the best time to buy a car?
There are a lot of different answers to this question, but usually, the end of the year is the best time. It all depends on what factors you look at. Dealers hate to pay taxes on their inventory, and if a vehicle is on the lot January 1, taxes must be paid. Since the end of the year has people thinking about other things besides car sales, it is typically the low point of the year for auto sales. Something has to give, and it’s usually the dealer’s prices. If you have the money or the credit, you are in good shape.
If you are in the market for a convertible, buy during the rainy season. Most people buy convertibles as the weather gets nicer, so a convertible that's for sale at a dealership may have been on the lot for some time, and the dealership would want to move it. If you are buying a motorcycle, do it either during the bleakest part of winter or the hottest part of summer. If you are buying a kid's motorcycle, do it just after Christmas.
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The woeful state of the Astros' farm system has made it very expensive to continue maintaining a good team, prohibitively so (in part self-imposed) from having a great team. Even if they re-sign Alex Bregman, trading Framber Valdez and/or Kyle Tucker for prospects could snap the Astros' run of eight straight postseason appearances. But if they KNOW that no way do they intend to offer Framber five years 130 million dollars, Tucker 7/225 or whatever their free agent markets might be after next season, keeping them for 2025 but getting nothing but 2026 compensatory draft picks for them could do multi-year damage to the franchise.
Preliminary Kyle Tucker trade talks between the Astros and Cubs involve both Seiya Suzuki and Isaac Paredes, sources tell @Ken_Rosenthal and me - https://t.co/kIRATDQpEn
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) December 11, 2024
The time is here for the Astros to be aggressively shopping both. It doesn't make trading them obligatory, but even though many purported top prospects amount to little or nothing (look up what the Astros traded to Detroit for Justin Verlander, to Pittsburgh for Gerrit Cole, to Arizona for Zack Greinke) if strong packages are offered the Astros need to act if unwilling (reasonably or not) to pay Valdez/Tucker.
Last offseason the Milwaukee Brewers traded pitching ace Corbin Burnes one season ahead of his free agency and then again won the National League Central, the San Diego Padres dealt Juan Soto and wound up much improved and a playoff team after missing the 2023 postseason. But nailing the trades is critical. The Brewers got their everyday rookie third baseman Joey Ortiz and two other prospects. The Padres got quality starter Michael King, catcher Kyle Hagashioka, and three prospects.
Back to Bregman
Meanwhile, decision time approaches for Alex Bregman. He, via agent Scott Boras, wants 200-plus million dollars. Don't we all. If he can land that from somebody, congratulations. The Astros' six-year 156 million dollar contract offer is more than fair. That's 26 million dollars per season and would take Bregman within a few months of his 37th birthday. If rounding up to 160 mil gets it done, ok I guess. Going to 200 would be silly.
While Bregman hasn't been a superstar (or even an All-Star) since 2019, he's still a very good player. That includes his 2024 season which showed decline offensively. Not falling off a cliff decline other than his walk rate plunging about 45 percent, but decline. If Bregman remains the exact player he was this season, six-156 is pricey but not crazy in the current marketplace. But how likely is Bregman to not drop off further in his mid-30s? As noted before, the storyline is bogus that Bregman has been a postseason monster. Over seven League Championship Series and four World Series Bregman has a .196 batting average.
The Astros already should be sweating some over Jose Altuve having shown marked decline this season, before his five year 125 million dollar extension covering 2025-2029 even starts. Altuve was still very good offensively though well down from 2022 and 2023 (defensively his data are now awful), but as he approaches turning 35 years old in May some concern is warranted when locked into paying a guy until he's nearly 39 1/2.
Jim Crane is right in noting that long contracts paying guys huge money in their later years generally go poorly for the clubs.
Bang for your buck
Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez is heading into the second year of a five-year, $124 million extension. That's 24.8 million dollars per season. Jose Ramirez is a clearly better player than Alex Bregman. Ramirez has been the better player for five consecutive seasons, and only in 2023 was it even close. It should be noted that Ramirez signed his extension in April of 2022. He is about a year and a half older than Bregman so the Guardians are paying their superstar through his age 36 season.
Bregman benefits from playing his home games at soon-to be named Daikin Park. Bregman hit 26 home runs this year. Using ball-tracking data, if he had played all his games in Houston, Bregman would have hit 31 homers. Had all his swings been taken at Yankee Stadium, the "Breggy Bomb" count would have been 25. In Cleveland, just 18. Ramirez hit 41 dingers. If all his games were home games 40 would have cleared the fences, if all had been at Minute Maid Park 47 would have been gone.
Matt Chapman recently signed a six-year 151 million dollar deal to stay with the San Francisco Giants. That's 25.166 million per season. Chapman was clearly a better player than Bregman this year. But it's the only season of Chapman's career that is the case. Chapman is 11 months older than Bregman, so his lush deal with the Giants carries through his age 37 season.
The Giants having overpaid Chapman doesn't obligate the Astros to do the same with Bregman. So, if you're the Astros do you accept overpaying Bregman? They would almost certainly be worse without him in 2025, but what about beyond? Again, having not one elite prospect in their minor league system boxes them in. Still, until/unless the Seattle Mariners upgrade their offense, the Astros cling to American League West favorites status. On the other hand, WITH Bregman, Tucker, and Valdez the Astros are no postseason lock.
For Texans’ conversation, catch Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me on our Texans On Tap podcasts. Thursdays feature a preview of the upcoming game, and then we go live (then available on demand) after the final gun of the game: Texans on Tap - YouTube
The Astros are always in season for discussion. Our Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts drop Mondays: Click here to watch!