How Astros are approaching winter meetings: A short-term focus to win now
Astros owner Jim Crane is not expected to attend the winter meetings but is certainly having an influence over team's offseason decisions.To Jim Crane’s left sat the slugger that will lengthen his lineup, make it deeper than any in the American League and address the most obvious offseason need for the defending World Series champions. José Abreu arrived a week before baseball’s winter bonanza, but he won’t preclude Crane from craving more.
Crane is not expected to attend the meetings. It’s unclear if his three assistant general managers will have any autonomy or authority to finalize transactions on site. Bill Firkus and Charles Cook have held their new titles for less than a month. Andrew Ball, the longest-tenured of the assistant general manager trio, has only been an Astros employee since January.
“The main thing we want to do here is, I don’t want to hear windows,” Bagwell said. “I want to hear every single year we have a chance to win. That’s how we have to base our decisions: short-term, but the long-term in the back of our minds. Like how are we going to be in three years, five years, 7-10 .”
Verlander is not a necessity, although ruling out a reunion is impossible, especially given his close relationship with Crane. Last month, Crane told MLB.com that Verlander is seeking a contract similar to Max Scherzer’s three-year, $130 million pact with the New York Mets. Verlander turns 40 in February. Scherzer signed that deal before his age-37 season.
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