Houston Astros: Winter Meetings Preview

One of the most exciting weeks in the baseball calendar happens during the offseason. When your team plays it’s fun and the playoffs are exhilirating, but there may not be a more exciting week on the calendar for us bloggers than the winter meetings.

Today, December 7th, all the way until Thursday, December 10th will be filled with rumors. Fake rumors, real rumors and rumors that may never substantiate until a few weeks later will be floated.

How do you differentiate between what’s real and what’s fake? Simple. Just

check if the reporter’s Twitter profile has a blue check mark and thousands of followers

stay here at houseofhouston.com as we break down each rumor or move.

With all that said, the Astros have actually already made a few important moves to gear up for the big week.

More from House of Houston

Veterans Jed Lowrie, Chris Carter and Hank Conger were all shown the door over the last few weeks. Lowrie cost too much and the Astros had plenty of options at shortstop and third base. Carter and Conger were both non-tender candidates and the Astros opted to make Carter a free agent and send Conger to the Rays. Both moves saved the Astros money and opened up spots for younger players, free agents or new trade acquisitions to take over.

Now that those moves are done, this week is all about one thing: relievers.

We know the Astros are on top of any relief pitcher that has good numbers. Aroldis Chapman tops that list, but GM Jeff Luhnow may prefer relievers with more years of control. If not Chapman, expect the Astros to go after Jake McGee and Brad Boxberger of the Rays as well as Drew Storen of the Nationals.

Though there’s been little talk about him, Tony Sipp is one of the best relievers available on the market. I suspect his name will become quite popular this week. There’s mutual interest between the Astros and Sipp on a potential return, but it will be up to the Astros to give him the money he wants. He was an underrated part of the Astros bullpen last season and it would be wise for the Astros to pony up for his services.

I can’t imagine the Astros doing much of anything else other than exploring some trades for some starting pitching. The Rays are floating around starting pitching as are the Red Sox. There are also a few mystery pitchers always available. It wouldn’t shock me to see a surprise trade involving a name we hadn’t heard of before.