At last week’s Trade Deadline, the Astros remained very quiet, the large acquisition that would push them over the edge never really came. Moreover, their chief division rival added Jonathan Lucroy, Carlos Beltran, a proven closer to add to its stable of late inning relief options, and two assets from the Braves that appear to fill their 25-man active roster with marginally more talent.
I’m sure Astros fans were left monitoring the rumor mill at 4:15 on Monday, August 1st wondering exactly how their team would push into the playoffs with the same roster that had managed only to sit in second place so far. Never fear Houston fans – this is exactly what the Astros should have done, and it proves that they’re already learning.
Houston endured a few absolutely terrible years, generally managing their way to the bottom of the league and collecting draft picks like they were Pokemon. Fans came to this very blog and blasted us for making fun of them. The passion was obvious; Astros fans desperately wanted a winner. They had proven that they liked baseball and that they could support a baseball team unlike most other cities. Houston has been waiting for this year – waiting for the year when they’re not the surprise contender, but the actual contender with the roster that’s full of talent and fun not just because it’s came out of nowhere.
But it’s incredible how quickly we forget that Houston had to go through all that pain because of the promise on the other side. That promise was one of continued success with a solid core that – with any luck – would result in runs at the World Series many times over. The Astros set out at the start of all this “rebuilding” with the goal that they would build something sustainable, something admirable.
In order to achieve that continued model of success, continued patience is necessary. Astros management and fans can’t lose sight of the goal just because of unanticipated early success and a slightly accelerated timeline. No – the Astros’ rebuild has always been about sustained success.
The ‘Stros could have improved their Major League roster this year. They could have added another pitcher to headline their rotation now that Dallas Kuechel isn’t the dominant force that he appeared to be just a year ago. They could have added a veteran without flaws to man one of their positions currently showing its warts (third Base, even with not quite ready Alex Bregman, or catcher/DH). But adding such a player would fly in the face of everything that the Astros have endured to get where they are.
It’s not that the team hasn’t already dabbled; they’ve fancied themselves one piece away from it. They’ve sat at the contender table and outbid “others” for a win-now player. I’m sure that the exercise of pretending they were ready to sit at the capital-C Contender table was cathartic; that it felt good after years on the other side of the table. But the Ken Giles move threatened to derail all the momentum that had been built by years of bottom dwelling. While Giles is undoubtedly good, the pieces the team gave up to get him would have made the Astros stronger contenders down the road than they are now.
The large picture is why the Astros standing pat was the right move. They’re still building that ultimate contender. The vision was always to build a team capable of dominating the league and running away with a Championship. And then doing it again the next year. And then the year after that. They can’t afford to lose sight of that now.
Luckily, management recognized that the roster they had assembled was plenty good enough to compete and possibly reach the playoffs. They didn’t mortgage the future for a player, or two, who wasn’t guaranteed to bring them over the top.
I guess more than anything what I’m saying is that the Astros didn’t force anything and they’ll be better off in the long run because of it. They didn’t make a move just to make a move. That’s a good thing. They made their big move this past offseason to go get Ken Giles, now they can sit back and hope that their team is good enough. If it’s not good enough this year? Well, next year is still looking really good in Houston.
This window of contention isn’t closing anytime soon. The Astros are right to be patient and wait for the right series of moves to come along.
-Sean Morash
