Sitting here on a rainy Friday night – there is a crowd outside our window, five stories down, as revelers gather for the lighting of the Sugar Land Town Center Christmas tree. Down below, I can see children in line to see Santa. Though what kids ask for has changed over the years, it is a rite that of itself continues almost unchanged.
And all you big kids out there who would love another shot at asking Santa for what your heart longs for, what would that be relative to your favorite baseball team?
Here is what your writing servant is wishing…..
- Asking for another championship is stretching it a bit and selfish. So that’s my first wish.
- Hoping for one or two of those Christmas song parodies from Mr. Bill and/or Astro Nut between now and the big day.
- An unbroken, healthy season for Lance McCullers Jr.
- A season with minimum (blogger and 30-year-old tweeters) complaints from the fandom for new manager Joe Espada.
- A return to his career averages for BA/OBP/OPS for Jose Abreu.
- Another no-no for future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander.
- A Zen yoga therapist who can get Framber Valdez to refocus in five-second sessions.
- Some good luck for Dana Brown in filling his wish list, this off-season.
- A power re-surge for Jeremy Pena, who has not hit a homer in 5 months and counting.
- A continued dip in the fountain of youth for Jose Altuve, who gave the fans another huge thrill in Game 5 of the ALCS.
- Two or three prospects doing well when they are called up. We don’t need rookies hitting .120 and the like.
- Good performances out of whoever ends up in the 3 through 5 (or 6) slots in the rotation.
- A couple solid arms to help out in the bullpen. If one is a lefty – all the better.
- The 2022 versions of Rafael Montero, Jeremy Pena, Cristian Javier, Ryan Pressly and Framber Valdez to reappear.
- Good health for as many Astros as possible and for all my loyal readers and commenters.
- Good health for as many Astros as possible and for all my loyal readers and commenters.
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
21 responses to “All Astros’ fans want for Christmas…”
I wish for the good health and continued service that this blog (Dan and member contributors ) provide to Astro fans like myself .
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Peace and good will! Dan, that’s unlikely, and so are the trade details I just offered a few minutes ago on your last post, should you want to move them for me! My thoughts might provoke the customers!
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Per DaveB’s request – here is his comment on the previous post brought forward.
daveb7 says:
December 2, 2023 at 12:58 pm
Gentlemen, I’m sitting here watching the Longhorns gouge the Cowboys.
I’m also pondering trades for the Astros, as unlikely as they might be. But I’m trying to keep the conversation going too.
I’m still convinced we should trade Framber. And for him, we’ll get our third baseman of the future, Noelvi Marte from the Reds, along with a well regarded, mature back up catcher in Luke Maile. Right now, the Reds need pitching much more than we need a third baseman, but this deal works for both teams, as long as Framber does not freak out on the Reds or win 23 for them.
And yes, then we’ll trade Alex Bregman to whatever organization is willing to give us quality pitching, at least one guy that can pick up most of Framber’s innings. (Admittedly, not many of those guys around). The other option would be to simply get the best possible prospects for Bregman, and use the money saved on Bregman and Framber to get a FA starter and hopefully a pen guy.
Sure it’s scary moving two anchors. And it might piss off a guy like Verlander. But we’re going to need to replace Bregman soon regardless and Framber is arguably worth more now than he will be at any point going forward.
The big question: Can we still go deep into the 2024 season without those two guys? If we pull it off, we’re better positioned in 2025 and beyond.
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A couple Astro related news items. One is a guy who is recovering from TJ surgery. Another is recovering from another season of not connecting with the ball.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/astros-sign-kervin-castro-to-minor-league-deal.html
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/mlb-free-agent-rumors-martin-maldonado-padres-marlins-white-sox-astros.html
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If MoldyNADA ends up in Chicago, it would be sweet poetic justice. Then he can find out what real gangstas look like.
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Heck, I’ll be content if I don’t hear one note from Mariah Carey between now and January……
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Good health and a new blending with the Astros for Forrest Whitley.
A full season of health for Altuve and Yordan.
For Verlander to pitch like he did in 2022.
For a really good young catcher to back up Diaz.
For several young Astros pitching prospects to bloom in the spring.
For Jose Abreu’s back to be 100% healthy for the year.
That one of the Astros LH hitting outfield prospects develop into a major league outfielder for us.
“I’m not askin’ for much”
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Doesn’t hurt to ask….ditto
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Christmas came early to H-town when Dusty retired.
A Christmas song parody for Dan? Ask and ye shall receive!
I’m dreaming of a World Series
Just like the ones in ’17 and ‘22
Where the trophies glisten
And children listen
To hear Yordan launch bombs to the moon
I’m dreaming of a World Series
With every Chipalatta blog Dan writes
May our hitters crush mistakes up high
And may all our pitchers throw strikes inside
I’m dreaming of a World Series
Just like the ones in ’17 and ‘22
Where the trophies glisten
And children listen
To hear Yordan launch bombs to the moon
I’m dreaming of a World Series
With every Chipalatta blog Dan writes
May our hitters crush mistakes up high
And may all our pitchers throw strikes inside
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Why are the Mariners dumping salary right now instead of trying to improve their team? Do they believe the Rangers are going to be dominant and/or the Astros will be on the track to 90+ wins again?
I want a top of the league bullpen for the 2024 season. Based on the cost of pitching WAR on the open market I don’t see us improving the team enough compared to what it would do to our luxury tax situation to make a splash there. The smart move that Brown will make is to save some budget and look for help in July if he sense we will need it down the stretch.
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Maybe they are making room for an expensive acquisition!
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Yeah, like they did for Robinson Cano. That worked out great.
Maybe they are going to fork out half a billion dollars this time for one guy.
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Latest rumors that I’m seeing out there :
Astros looking at All Star closer Emmanuel Clase (Cleveland)
Cardinals looking to sign Phil Maton
Bregman is putting up his Houston Penthouse up for sale at $3.325MM
Bregman link to trades with LA or NY and so on and so on.
Maybe old news but it’s still news “For what it’s worth” (with regards to the Buffalo Springfield.
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Have heard some rumblings of this – what do you think
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/astros-rangers-among-teams-interested-in-jordan-hicks.html
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Dana Brown said emphatically today that the Astros are not trading Alex Bregman.
Bregman has listed his penthouse for sale because they don’t allow racehorses. I believe he will raise them in Arizona, where he is planning to move because of the horse racing.
Brown said that Forrest Whitley was granted a fourth option year and they have decided to move him to a relief role.
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Good morning,
Yes 1oldpro, it sounds like my off season plans have been given the kibosh by our General Manager! And the son of a gun did not even call me.
Based on Dana Brown’s comments we’ll have a pretty darn good team in 2024, but alas a year older and moving into 2025 likely without Alex Bregman. We’re only going to get a catcher and some relief help. That is unless Dana is holding out on us. Keeping Bregman in 2024 and then not signing him to an extension or a new contract certainly is consistent with the way the Astros have dealt with their departing stars in the recent past.
Yes, I was looking for significant changes this winter. I’m convinced that fewer moves now will affect the club more drastically after next season. I’m all in though. But as we approach 2025 we’re going to have to get significant help from our much maligned farm system once again. Hopefully a couple of those guys will show up this coming year. And GM Brown is going to have to pull off a couple of helpful acquisitions.
I don’t mind the fiscal restraint by our owner. We’ve seen over and over again what big spending does not do for other organizations.
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Did he want racehorses up in the penthouse?
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Just curious as to why we’re not looking to resign Maton. he only made 2.55MM last year and I wouldn’t think he’d want a big number but maybe I’m wrong.
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Z, I read something from someone a couple of weeks ago that Oakland was looking to sign him for a couple of years at 8 million per. If that’s accurate, relief really is getting expensive!
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Yea I don’t get Seattle. The Suarez deal is troubling if you are a Mariners fan. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of a guy that hit .232 with 214 K’s even if he accounts for 90+ RBI (there are benefits to batting in the middle of the order 162 times). We understand that frustration, we watched Abreu do basically the same thing. But if you got nothing behind it, like the Astros and Abreu, you take the bad with the good. Kelenic just looks like to me a guy they just sold high on given his career track record in the minors and bigs, but then I pause on that hot take because he was acquired by the Braves, and they are not known for stupidity. They are known for deals like this where the player blossoms. I also don’t understand not offering Teoscar a QO, he seemed very unlikely to take it as he probably ends up with a 3/55 or 4/70 some where. I sit next to a Mariners fan all day at work – he just said to me “see this is why we can’t have nice things.”
I am not surprised the Astros have no interest in trading Bregman. That is not how they have operated since the threat of Springer becoming a FA. They work on winning now. They are fortunate that as people left they got Framber, Javier, Tucker, Alvarez, etc. If you think this team should be concerned with continuing to let people walk given the current state, you probably have a legitimate concern. But my mentality is the same as Crane’s, we’ll fix 2025 in 2024, not 2023. Load up, win another.
The Jordan Hicks smoke is getting thicker. That is probably the biggest addition coming. The back up catcher could be Salazar, or it could be a “clinger”, some veteran that just wants to stay in the bigs. An interesting option could be Eric Haase, because he gives some flexibility in that he has logged 355 innings in LF as well – and he won’t cost much as he is just know getting to arbitration. You would want to limit his at bats though as he is a strike out waiting to happen. He is a perfect matchup with Diaz – because there is no temptation to sit Yainer.
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Speaking of relievers, I am not pumping this guy up. I am wondering if the Astros scouting and development crew can maybe turn this guy’s talents in the right direction:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/12/astros-sign-brailyn-marquez-to-minor-league-deal.html#comments.
Here is where he was with the Cubs in 2021:
https://www.mlb.com/prospects/2021/cubs/
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