Bleacher Report’s crazy Astros free agency prediction couldn’t be more wrong

With the actually As the offseason approaches, there’s no shortage of talk about the Houston Astros about what they do and don’t do. Alex Bregman, among other Astros, is on the verge of becoming a free agent, and Houston has some pretty big decisions to make about how they want to build this 2025 roster given a difficult salary situation.

This last part is important because if money were no object, Houston would like to get Juan Soto’s player and/or bring back one or both of Bregman and Yusei Kikuchi.

However, there is a large chunk of dead (or near-dead) money on the Astros’ 2025 payroll, meaning there will be a lot of moving parts when it comes to acquiring a big name given how close they are to hitting the luxury tax.

However, reality doesn’t get in the way of squad speculation this time of year. According to Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter, Houston is the best landing spot not only for Alex Bregman, but also for Gerrit Cole if he makes a successful exit.

Bleacher Report’s flawed internal logic leads to misguided optimism for the Astros offseason

Let’s get one thing straight: If the Astros have both Gerrit Cole and Alex Bregman this offseason, induct general manager Dana Brown into the Astros Hall of Fame immediately. No waiting time. No press release announcing a ceremony at a later date. Once that happens, fans should demand a bronze casting at Minute Maid Park on opening day and not ask too many questions about owner Jim Crane’s whereabouts, since he’s probably tied to a chair and has lost his credit card.

The problem is not optimism, because if you look at each man individually and don’t care about money or realism, both options would be very attractive. However, some parts of this article seem to suggest that teams are not a good fit for players based on their salary situation, while seemingly portraying the Astros as a franchise that hands out megadeals when this hasn’t been the case in the past.

Cole is the biggest culprit here. There’s a world in which the Astros make money for Bregman, even if it’s painful, at least in the short term. Not only will the Yankees essentially never let Cole go (even if they presumably pursue Soto), since extending his contract for another year would invalidate the opt-out, but also the idea that Houston would be willing to let Cole go paying what he would command on the free market is pure fantasy.

In many ways, this is actually the most entertaining part of the offseason because technically anything is possible. This time of year is for dreaming about what could be. Unfortunately, Astros fans may want to pump the brakes if they think this offseason will bring anything close to what B/R is hoping for here.

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