Over the past decade, there hasn’t been a franchise in baseball more successful than the Houston Astros. And while baseball fans will groan when they hear that because of Houston’s 2017 cheating scandal, the reality is that even after the scandal, Houston has continued to be highly successful.
From 2017 to 2023, the Astros reached the ALCS seven consecutive times, including three trips to the World Series and two championships before their streak was snapped with this year’s wild-card defeat to the Tigers.
When a team is as successful as Houston has been, there inevitably comes a time when the franchise takes a step back. Case in point: Teams such as the Nationals, Red Sox, Cubs and Giants have been looking to get back to sustained success after a stretch of winning titles, and now the Astros are looking to avoid a retooling phase.
When a team is all-in every season, signing players and trading prospect capital to acquire veterans in trades, at some point, the bill on those moves becomes due as a team’s minor-league system becomes depleted. Houston has stated that it wants to remain competitive and one of the American League’s best teams, but when turning a roster over and getting younger is imperative to the long-term health of the franchise, can they do it?
“To keep that window open, we’re going to have to continue to replenish the system,” Astros general manager Dana Brown told Yahoo Sports at the GM Meetings last week in San Antonio. “Continue to get draft picks that can develop. … It’s not always the high-round guy, you know.
“Sometimes it’s the guy that you take in the fifth, seventh or in the ninth [round]. Sometimes it’s the Latin player that was signed for $20,000. Those are good things that are happening in this organization, and we have to continue to keep bringing players out.”
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Astros’ development of rotation gives them options
The Astros have had their fair share of great players over the past decade. And even as stars such as Carlos Correa, Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander went on to sign long-term deals elsewhere, being able to develop young players such as Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez into All-Stars while keeping franchise cornerstones such as Jose Altuve in Houston has been crucial.
This winter, the Astros have another decision to make about the future of their roster, with long-time third baseman Alex Bregman currently a free agent. Brown, as well as Altuve, has expressed the desire to keep Bregman in H-Town for the remainder of his career. But free agency always opens the door to change. And if Bregman decides to find greener pastures, Houston will have to pivot.
What might be the biggest key for the Astros as they look to continue their success is their starting rotation. In their trips to the LCS and World Series, power arms such as Cole, Verlander and Lance McCullers Jr. were mainstays. Now, they’re hoping that the growth from young arms such as Hunter Brown and Ronel Blanco, who both made a huge leap in 2024, as well as Spencer Arrighetti will become the team’s rotation of the future. Southpaw Framber Valdez has also shown that he has the ability to be the staff’s ace and continues to be one of the AL’s best starters.
“You have to have pitching to win,” Brown said. “And I think we have really good pitching coaches, Josh Miller and Bill Murphy. Those two guys do such a good job of taking guys that we signed for low dollars or guys like Arrighetti and Brown who weren’t high picks, and they continue to turn out really good pitchers.
“Once you have a lot of pitching, it gives you a chance to get to the postseason. It gives you a chance to go deep in the postseason, and it also gives you that chance every year to feel good about the club. Now you have to hit as well, but when you pitch and are in every game, we got a chance to win.”
This offseason looms large for Houston, particularly its decision on Bregman, a key member of the organization’s success. If Astros owner Jim Crane has shown anything — especially over the past several years as he has taken on a bigger role in baseball operations — it’s that he wants to win. And when one door closes, he’s going to make sure that his franchise can open another.
