It certainly looks like this will be Bregman's last year with the Astros. Composite image by Jack Brame.

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Bob Nightengale of USA Today, “the Nation’s Newspaper” mind you, dropped this nugget earlier this week:

“The Houston Astros have no interest in trading third baseman Alex Bregman, but have privately resigned to losing him in free agency in a year, realizing it may take $300 million to keep him.”

In addition to the $300 mil, it may take an eight or nine-year contract, both numbers that Astros owner Jim Crane doesn’t go near.

According to Nightengale, the Astros feel they can compete for a pennant in 2024 and they need Bregman to accomplish that. They’re willing to endure the long goodbye and lose Bregman after next season. If that’s how it plays out, the Astros will be left with nothing but a draft choice in return.

Are you buying Nightengale scenario for the Astros?

Here’s the thing about Nightengale. I once worked with him in Phoenix. Nightengale had a reputation for being an accurate, relentless digger. Today he has sources within the Astros – the very top of the organizational chart. You can’t get higher up than his whisperers. If he says the Astros have given up on negotiating a contract extension with Bregman, you pretty much can take it to the bank, where you may run into Bregman depositing large canvas sacks with dollar signs on them.

That’s about Bregman’s future prospectus, what does it mean for the 2024 season, which looks like it’ll be his last in an Astros uniform?

Bregman has been an Astros fans’ favorite the past eight years, his entire career in the majors. Will Astros fans, knowing Bregman is a short-timer in 2024, treat him differently? Sure, Bregman will tell the media that he’s fully committed to the Astros and he loves Houston and the fans. But it will be like your steady girlfriend saying, “Maybe it’s time we started seeing other people.” He may even pull the old, “It’s not you, it’s me.” (Invented by George Costanza, circa 1993.)

No one questions that Bregman is a baseball rat, it’s his obsession, his devotion. But he will spend 2024 under a microscope. What happens if he’s chasing a foul pop and pulls up before taking a header in a dugout? Will fans look suspiciously at him? Will they think to themselves, the old Alex Bregman would have done a Triple Lindy into the dugout? Is he avoiding injury on his agent’s orders so not to risk his big payday come free agency?

Will fans be less forgiving of a batting slump? Will his teammates look at him differently, like he’s not 100 percent in the foxhole with them? Will he choose to sit out games when nagging injuries happen – when he normally would play through them?

Last season, the Angels held onto Shohei Ohtani rather than trade him mid-season for a haul of useful talent. Many questioned that strategy, especially with crosstown rival Dodgers (among others) breaking their piggybank to land the MVP this offseason.

It’s understandable that the Astros are all in on 2024, with their World Series window possibly showing cracks. They’re apparently willing to bite the bullet and keep a lame duck Bregman.

But if Nightengale is right, and Bregman is headed out the door, wouldn’t the Astros be smarter to say goodbye now, with his trade value still high, and hope the return investment pays off? With baseball’s winter meetings in full swing, is it the right time for Astros general manager Dana Brown to approach other teams … “hey, you got a second to talk?”

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The Longhorns host Georgia on Saturday night. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

By any measure, from the official statistics to the informal eye test, top-ranked Texas' defense has been dominant.

The Longhorns rank No. 1 in total defense and scoring defense. They are top 10 in first downs allowed, tackles for loss and passing yards. Much of that is built against opponents starting former walk-on quarterbacks ( Michigan ) and freshmen ( Mississippi State and Oklahoma.)

But the level of quarterback play Texas will face, in both talent and experience, is about to get much better over the second half of the season.

Texas hosts No. 5 Georgia on Saturday night in the first matchup of top five teams in Austin since 2006, before playing the next week at Vanderbilt. Bulldogs senior Carson Beck was a preseason first team Associated Press All-America pick, and standout Vanderbilt transfer Diego Pavia has carried the Commodores to a surprising 4-2 start, including a historic win over then-No. 1 Alabama.

Quite simply, Texas hasn't defended this caliber of quarterback all season.

Beck is a player on the doorstep of the NFL, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said.

“There's nothing in the throw game (Beck) can't do,” Sarkisian said. “He's played enough football now, too. It's kind of hard to confuse guys when they've played that much football.”

Texas (6-0, 2-0 SEC) has allowed just one team to pass for more than 200 yards this season. Beck passed for 459 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions last week in a 41-31 win over Mississippi State. His 36 completions set a Georgia record.

Even when Beck struggled early in Georgia's loss to Alabama, he rallied the Bulldogs to a late fourth-quarter lead. He finished with 439 yards in the loss where Georgia's rally ended with an Alabama interception in the end zone in the final minute.

Sarkisian recruited Beck when the Texas coach was an assistant at Alabama. Beck had initially committed to the Crimson Tide before switching to Georgia.

Beck is 18-2 in his career as a starter, and 6-2 against top 20 opponents.

The Bulldogs (5-1, 3-1) will need another exceptional game from him Saturday. A second SEC loss could threaten any chance of playing for the SEC championship, and raise the alarms on the College Football Playoff as well.

Texas has all but overwhelmed opposing quarterbacks so far.

In last week's 34-3 thrashing of rival Oklahoma, the Longhorns sacked Sooners freshman quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. five times, and held him to 27 yards on 20 carries. Texas allowed just 225 total yards.

Hawkins was the first Sooners freshman to start at quarterback against the Longhorns in the 120-year history of the rivalry and was quickly swallowed up by a relentless pass rush.

By the numbers, the Longhorns program is on pace for a historic season. Sarkisian has said his favorite stat is points allowed, which is not many.

Texas has surrendered only three touchdowns all season. Opponents have snatched four turnovers inside Texas territory, but none have produced points.

That ability to snuff momentum can drain an opponent, Sarkisian said.

“We're so composed as a defense,” Texas safety Michael Taaffe said. “We're so confident, that no matter what happens, everything is going to be alright.”

The only time Texas has trailed this season was a 3-0 early deficit against Oklahoma. Several Longhorns starters were still on the field when the Sooners' final drive stalled at the Texas 6-yard-line as the game ended.

The stars emerging for the Longhorns have been second-year linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and freshman edge rusher Colin Simmons.

Hill leads the team in total tackles (42), sacks (4 1/2) and tackles for loss (8 1/2). His sideline-to-sideline speed and move this season from the edge to the middle of the Texas defense has drawn comparisons to former Longhorns All-American Derrick Johnson 20 years ago.

Simmons has four sacks and 7 1/2 tackles for losses, second on the team in both categories.

“Size, speed,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said in summing up the Texas defense.

“They’re the complete package on defense," Smart said. "The consistency you watch them play with, it reminds me of some of our best teams here.”By any measure, from the official statistics to the informal eye test, top-ranked Texas' defense has been dominant.