The Astros have arrived at a pivotal moment. While the tipping point obviously occurred months or even years ago, general manager Jeff Luhnow now faces decisions he’s never faced as the leader of the Astros’ baseball operations. And, it’s not as simple as buy, sell or stand pat. As the Astros prepare to complete a…

It was almost 4 years ago that I wrote my first guest blog for Chip Bailey over at chron.com (spit !). Note – I give all credit to Brian T for (spit!) which he uses when mentioning the Yankees (spit!). Anyways that blog post stirred up a bunch of conversation by linking the thoughts behind Malcolm Gladwell’s best…

It hasn’t been long since the Astros were en route to another 110-loss season. Bungled plays, base running miscues, no clutch hitting and a team generally playing with no passion. You remember your frustration. That was back in April, and it seems like another time and another place. Far away. Since finishing April 9-19, the…

By Brian Todd “Jeff, we’re on the clock.” “We’ve been on the clock, Mike. We’ve been on it since, oh, mid-September.” “Right, but this time there’s an actual clock.” “Oh, crap, is the windbag with the bad haircut standing at the podium?” “Yep. Selig’s ready for his 15 seconds of fame. You know, shaking a…

Whether or not Jon Singleton becomes a major league star, both the Astros and the player have made history and laid the framework to avoid that 2019-2020 bottleneck. Did the Astros hold the promotion over his head to get him to sign the potential eight-year, $35 million deal? Who knows? Who cares? We’ll find out if…