Is the Astros’ Golden Era over? Three reasons for and against

I do thank Chip Bailey for his continued assistance in keeping the blog going while I’m recovering from hand surgery.

I was passing through Chron.com (Spit!!!) looking for some local news from the other side of the aisle and came across the following essay.

The Astros golden era might be over. What now?

It is interesting that the link does not exactly match the Title over the by-line –

Essay: The Astros dynasty is probably over—and that’s okay

The Houston Astros run of dominance might be over. Here’s why it might be time to temper expectations.

Reading the article written by someone who joined the bandwagon after the 2022 Championship (no comment), part of the thrust is that the Astros dynasty did not die when they lost to the Rangers in the 2023 ALCS, but in losing to the Tigers in the 2024 Wild Card. The crux of the post may be best summarized in the following:

“A once mighty and untouchable juggernaut now looks like an evil empire in decline. The people who cannot stand seeing Houston in the playoffs year after year are no doubt elated. The fans conditioned to expect October baseball may soon be in for a rude awakening.”

Where is your loyal writer (Dan P), who jumped on the bandwagon when his family moved to Houston in 1966, on this subject? Let’s make a For and Against list here.

Reasons For the Golden Era being over….

  • The Astros have allowed or facilitated too many stars leaving this team – this year alone that includes Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander, Ryan Pressly and Yusei Kikuchi.
  • Too many injuries have devastated the pitching staff – Lance McCullers Jr., Cristian Javier, J.P. France, Luis Garcia and Jose Urquidy (who has moved on to the Tigers) have all suffered significant injuries that have cost or are still costing the team.
  • Years of drafting in a lower spot, losing high draft choices to the “IT” scandal and trading prospects for short term boosts to the roster have left the team with a low ranked set of prospects.
  • The Astros “Lost Weekend” period when they did not have a GM but instead allowed decisions to be made by a troika of old heroes reading the back of baseball cards led to some very poor signings of Jose Abreu and Rafael Montero that left the team with large useless contracts weighing down their payroll.
  • The brain trust that built the golden age (Jeff Luhnow, Mike Elias, Sig Mejdal, David Stearns and others) are gone and it is not clear if the new front office is up to sustaining the success.

Reasons Against the Golden Age being over….

  • The Astros are in the AL West and until someone else steps up as dominant in the division, they have a good chance of winning the division and once in the playoffs anything can happen.
  • Even though it was a two-game short appearance in the 2024 playoffs, it was still an appearance and continues a playoff run of 8 seasons and 9 out of 10 going back to 2015.
  • A team that can sport Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Yainer Diaz and Christian Walker in the lineup supplemented by Jeremy Pena, Isaac Paredes, Chas McCormick and others can still make some noise. And if prospects like Zach Dezenzo, Brice Matthews and potentially Cam Smith can add into the fun, something special could be coming around the corner.
  • Even with all the pitching injuries, the coaching staff has been able to take a base of Framber Valdez, Josh Hader and Bryan Abreu and develop new comers Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco, Spencer Arrighetti, Tayler Scott, Kaleb Ort, Bryan King and others. Add suddenly relevant Forrest Whitley and some or all of injured McCullers, Garcia, France, and Javier back into the mix and you have a solid pitching staff. Then If Ryan Gusto or others are ready from the farm….
  • Based on this off-season, GM Dana Brown has shown that he can pull off a major trade of a short-term star for longer term assets as Kyle Tucker has turned into INF Isaac Paredes, Swing pitcher Hayden Wesneski and potential stud-in-the-making Cam Smith.

I’m normally an optimistic person. I lean towards the “Against” list here. The Astros may droop a little here, but I think that good things are coming again.

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19 responses to “Is the Astros’ Golden Era over? Three reasons for and against”

  1. Good morning. I’m not ready to pack it in. First, I think we’ve got a solid rotation. With good health, those guys will keep us competitive. A guy like Gusto is a potential 6th starter today providing depth not everyone has. Speaking again of Forrest Whitley, he could be a big lift in the pen if he even approaches the expectations baseball experts have had for him over the past decade. I certainly did not mean to denigrate, but this is his last shot with the Astros. I sure hope he settles in and contributes. Abreu and Hader are two backend guys that could be as good as anyone in the league.

    We’ve got several young athletic guys running around and raising eyebrows. 2025 might be a real battle reaching the post season. But guys like Smith and Matthews and Dezenzo, and Whitcomb too, even if not playing a big role early, might well be heard from before the season is over.

    We’ve got all the bats you’ve mentioned Dan, veteran guys that can get hot and help carry a club.

    And couple of unexpected guys will step up. Who? That sure makes it interesting.

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  2. Good morning. I’m not ready to pack it in. First, I think we’ve got a solid rotation. With good health, those guys will keep us competitive. A guy like Gusto is a potential 6th starter today providing depth not everyone has. Speaking again of Forrest Whitley, he could be a big lift in the pen if he even approaches the expectations baseball experts have had for him over the past decade. I certainly did not mean to denigrate, but this is his last shot with the Astros. I sure hope he settles in and contributes. Abreu and Hader are two backend guys that could be as good as anyone in the league.

    We’ve got several young athletic guys running around and raising eyebrows. 2025 might be a real battle reaching the post season. But guys like Smith and Matthews and Dezenzo, and Whitcomb too, even if not playing a big role early, might well be heard from before the season is over.

    We’ve got all the bats you’ve mentioned Dan, veteran guys that can get hot and help carry a club.

    And couple of unexpected guys will step up. Who? That sure makes it interesting.

    Like

    Reply

  3. Good morning. I’m not ready to pack it in. First, I think we’ve got a solid rotation. With good health, those guys will keep us competitive. A guy like Gusto is a potential 6th starter today providing depth not everyone has. Speaking again of Forrest Whitley, he could be a big lift in the pen if he even approaches the expectations baseball experts have had for him over the past decade. I certainly did not mean to denigrate, but this is his last shot with the Astros. I sure hope he settles in and contributes. Abreu and Hader are two backend guys that could be as good as anyone in the league.

    We’ve got several young athletic guys running around and raising eyebrows. 2025 might be a real battle reaching the post season. But guys like Smith and Matthews and Dezenzo, and Whitcomb too, even if not playing a big role early, might well be heard from before the season is over.

    We’ve got all the bats you’ve mentioned Dan, veteran guys that can get hot and help carry a club.

    And couple of unexpected guys will step up. Who? That sure makes it interesting.

    Like

    Reply

  6. I can’t find this on-line, but on the radio this morning they were saying that Dana Brown and Joe Espada said they were going to let Cam Smith compete for the RF spot the rest of this spring.

    It makes some sense as the outfield is the weak link. Being a 3B he probably has a better arm than all the noodle arms the Astros have and hopefully he can learn to cover the ground. What do we have to lose?

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    • If that’s accurate, then I’m guessing they don’t think he’s ready to play third, but might be advanced enough at the plate and are hoping they can find him a home in right.

      Wonder what that does to Zach Dezenzo? Dezenzo has not looked overmatched at the plate. Or Jon Singleton. He’s still not a guy that I think there is room for, but most folks seem to think we need to keep his lefty bat around.

      At the end of the day though, if Smith can play, then we’ve got his bat and Altuve in the outfield most days, which sure looks a whole lot better than the outfield did a month ago, at least offensively. Once again, Jake might benefit from this arrangement with more playing time than his bat justifies. He covers the most ground.

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    • If that’s accurate, then I’m guessing they don’t think he’s ready to play third, but might be advanced enough at the plate and are hoping they can find him a home in right.

      Wonder what that does to Zach Dezenzo? Dezenzo has not looked overmatched at the plate. Or Jon Singleton. He’s still not a guy that I think there is room for, but most folks seem to think we need to keep his lefty bat around.

      At the end of the day though, if Smith can play, then we’ve got his bat and Altuve in the outfield most days, which sure looks a whole lot better than the outfield did a month ago, at least offensively. Once again, Jake might benefit from this arrangement with more playing time than his bat justifies. He covers the most ground.

      Like

      Reply

    • If that’s accurate, then I’m guessing they don’t think he’s ready to play third, but might be advanced enough at the plate and are hoping they can find him a home in right.

      Wonder what that does to Zach Dezenzo? Dezenzo has not looked overmatched at the plate. Or Jon Singleton. He’s still not a guy that I think there is room for, but most folks seem to think we need to keep his lefty bat around.

      At the end of the day though, if Smith can play, then we’ve got his bat and Altuve in the outfield most days, which sure looks a whole lot better than the outfield did a month ago, at least offensively. Once again, Jake might benefit from this arrangement with more playing time than his bat justifies. He covers the most ground.

      Like

      Reply

    • If that’s accurate, then I’m guessing they don’t think he’s ready to play third, but might be advanced enough at the plate and are hoping they can find him a home in right.

      Wonder what that does to Zach Dezenzo? Dezenzo has not looked overmatched at the plate. Or Jon Singleton. He’s still not a guy that I think there is room for, but most folks seem to think we need to keep his lefty bat around.

      At the end of the day though, if Smith can play, then we’ve got his bat and Altuve in the outfield most days, which sure looks a whole lot better than the outfield did a month ago, at least offensively. Once again, Jake might benefit from this arrangement with more playing time than his bat justifies. He covers the most ground.

      Like

      Reply

  7. whether the Astros have reached the end of the golden era or not, They are my team that I keep up with and pull for. As a sports fan, as a youngster, my teams were the Celtics: not because of Russell, then Havlicek, but Red Aurobach who was the coach and management which established their dynasty. I like them now because of their wise management. It was never Larry Bird, etc, as players come and go. I was once a Cowboys because of Gil Brandt, Tex Schramm and Landry When Jones let Johnson go because of his ego, the fan hood slowly disappeared. I have stuck with the Astros as a fan since their birth and suffered many losing seasons because of their braindead management. When Crane purchased this team and hired Luhnow, we had the worst team in baseball for a few seasons, but he offered a light out of the darkness. Therefore the golden era. If Crane can look back at this professional management and let his current team of Brown and associates dictate direction and keep the look at the back of his baseball card people out of his office, we’ll go forward and not backwards .

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  9. Like mining for gold I don’t believe the mine has played out. There are still some choice nuggets to be found. We may even find some silver there also. In other words I still think we are still at a point where we can win the division or make the playoffs. We should not necessarily be focused on what the other teams are doing but how we are going to take care of business. Of course our guys have to play to their potential and then some. We have some new players who we hope will become the next big stars on our roster. Baseball is one of those games that their is a turnover of talent every 5 – 10 years so for most teams a dynasty doesn’t last in perpetuity. Having said all of that I believe that we have just a good chance of continuing our winning ways as in previous years. I look forward to another year of Astros baseball.

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  10. Working from Home today as I had to have a follow up with my hand surgeon (looking good – 4 more weeks of healing). Watching some Astros this afternoon….

    • Maybe I’ve been too many bigger people between football and basketball – but I swear Altuve is down a few pounds this spring – maybe slimming down for his new position
    • Hunter Brown looking like a stud today – 4 innings – 2 hits – 0 walks – 6 Ks
    • A lot of fun as the Astros entered the 7th inning losing 4-0. They were interviewing Jeremy Pena as the team rallied for a 5-4 lead. Loved his turning from the interview and cheering every time somebody got a big hit. He talked about the difference with his keystone buddy Altuve now behind him – has to talk to him to keep him from being bored.
    • ‘Tuve with a big 2 run double and new second baseman Brendan Rodgers with another.

    It does not mean anything but is a lot more fun than just speculating about baseball.

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    • I tuned in late but just in time to see Scott explode and give up a grand slam. He couldn’t find the plate and that’s a recipe for disaster. But then the bottom of the 7th came along and the 5 run rally was fun to watch as well as another 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th. Pitching was good save for the T Scott hiccup. Coming back in the later innings after being down was something we didn’t see to much off last season. Hope that is a good sign for us.

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