The Astros’ front office has done the unexpected many times under GM and President of Baseball Operations Jeff Luhnow. Who saw them signing Yuli Gurriel (who had never played in the minor leagues much less the majors) for $47.5 million? Or Charlie Morton with a 47-71 career record and coming off a season where he threw only 17 innings was given a 2 year, $14 million contract? Or taking pitcher Collin McHugh who had a 48-28 record as a starting pitcher for the Astros and sticking him in the bullpen for the 2018 season?

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This happens every year. After running hard for six months of the regular season and if your team is lucky, another month of the postseason it all grinds to a halt. There are some decisions made about the roster, qualifying offers and 40-man shuffling, but what all fans want to know is slowly revealed like a vaudevillian strip show.

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There was a little discussion about the 2019 salaries in the previous blog, which just happened to coincide with something that your faithful servant was researching at the time. Back in July, we visited the subject in a three-part series looking at the roster construction from 2019 to 2021.

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It’s taken a little time and distance to be able to judge this previous season and hand out awards to our Astros for a season that came up short.  As always, this is one person’s opinion and all other voices are welcome.

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The Astros entered the last off-season as the World Champions facing minimal turnover and very few personnel decisions. That was then and this is now as the Astros come off a very good season with a lot more question marks and personnel decisions on their plate. So, to check the pulse of the fanatics, today we will play a little game of “Would You Rather”.

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Does it seem possible that SS Carlos Correa has been in the Astros organization for parts of seven seasons? The word “parts” may be the most significant word in that particular sentence. Obviously, he only played a part of the 2012 season after being drafted overall in early June of 2012. He was only 17 at the time and played okay in 50 games at rookie ball.

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Our good buddy on the blog Old Pro came up with a challenge for this writer to discuss what he called the “Core Four”: The four players the Astros would build around after the 2015 season through the 2018 season.

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