HOUSTON — The Houston Astros prefer parades to post-mortems, but here they sat on Oct. 3, dissecting their earliest end to a season in seven years. Manager Joe Espada reflected on his first season in charge, commended the resiliency of his club and claimed he is “excited” for spring training.
Who will join him in West Palm Beach next February is a far bigger question. On Thursday, general manager Dana Brown came armed with few definitive answers, but used one cliche as a crutch throughout a wide-ranging, 36-minute news conference. Advertisement “We’re not taking anything off the table in terms of what we would do, whether it’s making trades or signing a free agent,” Brown said.
“We’re not taking anything off the table. The main focus will be to get back to the postseason again and go as deep as we can go and get back to the World Series.” As Brown begins to examine everything on that table, here are the three storylines that will define the Astros’ offseason.
Will they make a serious effort to re-sign Alex Bregman ? Bregman is going to receive an offer from the Astros. It’s the bare minimum that this franchise can do for one of its cornerstones. Whether one is extended as a public relations ploy or an actual piece of good-faith negotiating is another matter.
Three years ago, Houston attempted the former in its futile attempt to retain shortstop Carlos Correa . Offering Correa a five-year, $160 million contract the entire sport knew he’d reject — an.