How a closer look at Alex Bregman's free agency could work in Houston Astros' favor
HOT STOVe
04 November 2024
HOT STOVe
With MLB free agency upon us, the Astros have some big decisions to make as they try to put the best possible roster together for the 2025 season.
We all know Alex Bregman's future is the big topic of conversation for Astros fans this offseason, but some other notable players are also free agents. That list includes Justin Verlander, Yusei Kikuchi, Kendall Graveman, Jason Heyward, Hector Neris, Ben Gammel, and Caleb Ferguson. (Houston also released Jose Urquidy on Monday, and he has already cleared waivers).
Full list of Astros moves:
Acquired Taylor Trammell for cash
Outrighted Oliver Ortega and José Urquidy, both of whom cleared waivers and are free agents
Lost Trey Cabbage (Pirates), Seth Martinez (DBacks), Penn Murfee (White Sox) on waivers.
The 40-man roster is full
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) November 4, 2024
And while it's hard to have confidence that the Astros will be willing to pay what Bregman will command on the open market (around 6-years, $150 million to 7-years, $185 million), one thing could be working in Houston's favor.
Demand for a top dollar third baseman may not be as high as Bregman and his agent Scott Boris were hoping for. SportsMap's Charlie Pallilo goes through all the team's with a need for a player like Bregman and only sees a few matches that make sense.
Especially if the Yankees spend big on Juan Soto. With them out of the picture, it could be tough for Breggy to find the type of contract he's looking for as a third baseman.
There are some teams that could definitely use his services, like the Seattle Mariners or Toronto Blue Jays for example. But the Mariners have been reluctant to commit that type of money to offense, and if winning is important, would Breggy go to Toronto?
Now, if Bregman is willing to move to second base, that could open up some more possibilities. We'll dive into that more in the video below.
Silver Slugger finalists
Could the Silver Slugger finalists influence owner Jim Crane's approach in free agency? Here's why we bring this up. The World Champion LA Dodgers have 5 finalists this year. The Astros have 4 (Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez, Bregman, Yainer Diaz), and likely would have had 5 if not for the injury to Kyle Tucker.
Even if the Astros were to move on from Bregman, that would still leave them with 4 possible finalists once again in 2025. Considering how much money the Dodgers spend each year, the fact that the Astros roster is still comparable to the Dodgers might add to Crane's belief that this team doesn't need another splashy move to win a World Series.
They may just need to get a little better on the margins to get this team back in serious contention for a title.
This is one video you don't want to miss as we examine all the possible landing spots for Bregman, how that impacts Houston's chances at bringing him back, and what overall strategy we should expect from Dana Brown and the Astros this offseason.
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo discuss varied Astros topics. The post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon. Find all via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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The easiest way to win in the American League next to an opponent forfeiting the game is getting to play the Chicago White Sox. The Astros are in the “Windy City” this weekend for three games against the woebegone White Sox, most notably featuring Lance McCullers hoping to make some sweet mound music as he pitches in a game that counts for the first time since 2022. In 1979 the White Sox actually didforfeit a game, thanks to Disco Demolition Night. In a marketing idea gone very wrong, the White Sox blew up a big bin of disco records on the field in between games of the scheduled doubleheader. After the explosion, thousands of fans stormed the field, ripping up grass, lighting fires, with several fights inevitably breaking out. The lunacy left the field unplayable, the Detroit Tigers got a free win. The Astros will have to actually play the Chisox to get wins. Sweeping the three isn’t mandatory, but only taking two out of three would actually seem mildly disappointing.
Speaking of disappointing, Yordan Alvarez has to be hoping the calendar turn to May gives him a figurative fresh start. Counting the three games of March with April, Yordan just finished the second-worst calendar month of his career. His anemic .670 OPS through 30 games tops only his August of 2022 (.638). Last season Alvarez never had a month with an OPS lower than .776. In 2023 in what could fairly be described as awesome, Yordan’s OPS was at least .900 every month of the season. Last year, May was his worst month with a .776 OPS. The big man then went off the rest of the way with a .331 batting average and 1.069 OPS.
It’s still fits and starts for Christian Walker, with the downside still winning overall. An almost everyday cleanup hitter still hasn’t reached double digit runs batted in 30 games into the season (Walker has 9). Batting .143 with runners in scoring position tells that tale. It was Walker’s crush job of a home run Monday that jumpstarted an Astros’ comeback win over the Tigers. He followed with a two-hit game Tuesday. Then Wednesday it was five hitless at bats and not once getting the ball out of the infield. Walker enters the weekend batting .196 with a .632 OPS. Jose Abreu’s miserable tenure with the Astros ended with a .217 average and .625 OPS. Too many Walker at bats continue to have him fall in a hole that he will rarely climb out of successfully. He has a whopping 36 plate appearances that have seen the count go to oh and two. That’s 33 percent more than any other Astro (Jeremy Pena has 27). In his at bats that have gotten to the 0-2 count, Walker is three for 32. To be fair, no one makes a good living hitting after the count gets to 0-2. Entering play Thursday the Major League Baseball average in such at bats was .163. Walker is at .094. The great Tony Gwynn posted a .338 career average. In his 706 plate appearances that saw the count get to 0-2, Gwynn hit .268. Jose Altuve is .249 career after facing an 0-2 count.
It’s been an outstanding start for Jeremy Pena in his move to the leadoff spot with Altuve dropping to the two slot. Pena successfully reached base eight times in the three games of the Detroit series. His season on-base percentage is up to .355. If sustainable that would be a substantial improvement over Pena’s weak career .307 OBP mark coming into this season. Pena is faster and a clearly better base runner than Altuve. If the OBP stays up, Pena should have a new long-term home in the batting order.
Garner’s grit endures
In closing, a paragraph in salute to Phil Garner, and also to the Astros for inviting him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch Wednesday, on his 76th birthday. Obviously the magnificence of the past eight seasons trumps all before them in Astros’ history, but it should always be remembered that Garner skippered the Astros to their first ever pennant in 2005. Having gotten to know Phil a little bit through regular radio conversations in his time managing the Astros, a tip of the cap to one of the most engaging people I have met in sports, and a guy who is pretty much unsurpassed as a storyteller. If you missed it, this week brought public disclosure that “Scrap Iron” has been battling pancreatic cancer for over a year now. It’s a tough battle, but everyone who has ever known Phil is aware there was zero chance that he would back down from the battle. It was great seeing him Wednesday in great spirits. In 2029 the Pittsburgh Pirates will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their World Series winning team that was known for “We Are Family,” the Sister Sledge hit song of that time. Amusingly if not ironically, the hit that became Pittsburgh’s theme song came from a group that hailed from Philadelphia. Anyway, in the ‘79 postseason Garner batted a cool .472, .500 in the World Series on 12 for 24 as the Pirates rallied from down three games to one to beat the Baltimore Orioles.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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