H-Town Run Tourist

New Year. Volunteer with Hermann Park!

New Year. Volunteer with Hermann Park!
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Jovan Abernathy is an international marathoner and owner of Houston Tourism Gym. To claim your free tour, contact her at info@tourismgymhtx.com. Follow her on Twitter @jovanabernathy. Instagram @TourismGymHtx. Facebook @TourismGymHtx

The beginning of the year is the time that everyone is more open to trying new experiences and doing the right thing. As the H-Town Run Tourist, I am always on the look out for these opportunities. Recently, I ran into one that you may want to add to your goal list. When I was researching for my article for Hermann Park, I learned that Hermann Park has many ways that you can volunteer. Which one will you try first?

If you have not been to Hermann Park recently, I suggest you take a stroll through the Japanese Gardens and the McGovern Centennial Gardens. Enjoy the beautiful foliage and take lots of pictures. Do you ever wonder how those gardens are kept up? By the wonderful volunteers that offer their helping hands to keep the park clean. Hermann Park needs you to assist the resident gardeners with weeding, trimming, planting, harvesting, trail maintenance, and dead-heading roses bushes. What a sneaky way to learn how to garden. Volunteer days are from 9am-12pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

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Annual Kite Festival

On March 29 2020, people will flock to the hill at Miller Outdoor Theatre with the same goal in mind. Let's go fly a kite. During this outdoor event that is free for all ages, inner loopers, tourists, and people from all parts of Houston and surrounding areas bring their best looking kites. This event draws thousands of people. As you can tell, it needs your help to set up tents and tables for the vendors, help people find their way around the park. assist in the many activities, help people actually fly their kites, be a stage hand, and of course cleanup and breakdown.

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Hermann Park Run

Every year, Hermann Park hosts the Park Run which is a 10K, 5K, and 1K Kid's Run throughout the park. This year's run will be held in October. Hermann Park needs you to help with setup, booths, and give directions to runners and their family and friends. There will be lots of new runners that need extra cheering and kids that need to see funny signs and be handed gummy bears.

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Park to Port Bike Ride

Ride. Party. Ride. This annual 20 mile bike ride gives riders a unique view of Houston. It starts in the early morning from Bayou Parkland, goes along Brays Bayou Greenway Trail to the Port of Houston. Once there, its party-party with music snacks, and drinks before the ride back. This event is for all ages and skill levels. This event will be happening in November 2020. Hermann Park needs you to help setup the event, booths and hand out water and of course, cheer riders.

Don't be suprised if you see me there or hopefully, we can volunteer together this year. If you want to do your own shift or organize your own group, please contact the Program and Events Coordinator, Emily Chambers at EChambers@HermannPark.org. If you can not volunteer, I'm sure they accept yo' dolla dolla bills ya'll!

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Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman are hot names at the Winter Meetings. Composite Getty Image.

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.

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!

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