Houston Astros: Four things that need to sit atop the offseason priority list
By T.A. Mock
Unfortunately, the Houston Astros are already fully embedded into the offseason. Here are the top five things that need to be on top of the priority list.
This isn’t how the Houston Astros planned it. This isn’t how the fans planned it. This team was supposed to breeze through the playoffs en route to back-to-back championships, the first since the Yankees did it from 1998-2000.
Instead, the Astros are sitting at home watching the Red Sox and the Dodgers duke it out to see who becomes the next champions. Instead, Astros fans are actually getting a quality amount of sleep instead of staying up late to watch their team do work. It was supposed to go down like this.
But, it did. The Astros are not fighting for another championship and are instead already a week into their 2018-19 offseason. Jeff Luhnow and the crew are neck deep in preparation for all of the offseason activities, including free agency.
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Fortunately, this Astros team is closer to the ultimate goal, the 2019 World Series, than a lot of other teams. That is exactly what the Astros need to be focused on this offseason, making sure they represent the American League in the World Series.
There are a lot of things Luhnow and company need to figure out this offseason. They need to figure out which players will be kept, which ones will be attempted to be kept, and which ones will be let go.
Players also have a lot on their plate as their off time begins. They should absolutely kick back and relax but that also isn’t how teams get better. A lot these Houston Astros have a hunger and drive to get better and after falling short this year there is no doubt these guys are going to bust it this offseason to reach their goals.
In order to return to the World Series next year, the team needs to improve, which is hard to fathom. Sure, there were lots of aspects that led to the Astros losing the ALCS in five games. So, in order to reach this goal, these four things need to sit atop the team’s offseason priority list.