Welcome to the “Hot Stove” season, when the main baseball action focuses on free agency and trades. For the Houston Astros, this figures to be one of the more critical off-seasons in recent memory. The status of players like Bregman, Tucker, Valdez, Kikuchi and others figure to dominate the headlines. Yet, the biggest overall baseball story surrounds the recent free agent outfielder Juan Soto.
Already a World Champion and coming off one of the greatest contract seasons in recent history with the New York Yankees, Soto seems primed to cash-in bigly. A stellar hitter without too many major injury concerns and only 26 (yes Houston, he actually aged from 21), the market for this hitter figures to be among the hottest since…Ohtani last season.