Justin Maxwell: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

1)      The future is coming: While the young group of studs that should have the Astros’ fanbase truly excited won’t be all here just yet, they are coming. Jonathan Singleton and Jarred Cosart may be the first of the next generation of Astros’ stars to arrive.  Also guys like Ross Seaton and maybe even Jonathan Villar could be here also. Overall, the Stros big-time youth should begin to arrive and even a cameo by George Springer might be in the Cards for 2013.

2)      New beginning: The club is an expansion team, let’s be real about it. They have rebooted the franchise and we might as well accept the fact everything about the club will be fresh. With that reboot in mind, new opponents will invade Minute Maid Park after the move to the AL. I doubt most fans will be thrilled with seeing some of the lesser clubs but plenty of interest should come from seeing the Yanks, Red Sox and Angels. One problem will be opposing teams’ fans invading MMP but at least someone will be there.

3)      New uniforms and new colors: With the expansion theme comes the expansion look. We’ve all seen the new colors and uniforms and for the most part we like them. It will be fun to see the orange and blue back in Houston. I’m assuming the ballpark will look very different as well which is another plus. The uniform and color change was something the fans had been wanting for a long time so it should be fun to see the boys in action with their new threads.

4)      New faces in Astros gear: While the Astros haven’t made widely exciting moves, Jeff Luhnow has made a number of interesting deals and signings. Alex White, John Ely, Philip Humber, Jose Veras, Jake Elmore and Carlos Pena will all be new faces of the rebuilding plan. Throw  Bo Porter into the mix and that is a lot of new faces. Now, this list could continue to grow as the offseason is far from done. Fans will get to see which of these players will turn into jackpots and which disappear.

5)      What’s next for Jeff Luhnow: While Jeff has done quite a bit to reshape the current squad, his job is far from done. It should be fun to see what he does with guys like Bud Norris and Jed Lowrie. He wants this club to be young and exciting so he will continue to look for those type of players that can grow with the current group of Astros. It will be interesting to see who Jeff brings in as we get closer to opening day and eventually the trade deadline.

So while it will most likely be a tough year to see on field wins, there is still plenty to look forward to. I’ve given my thoughts on a few things but I’m sure those aren’t the only ones to focus on. I wish everyone a happy new year and here is to an exciting 2013.

 Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Last year, at this point, I was pretty depressed as I came to the realization that the BBWAA were the moral police of baseball. They shouldn’t be or have the right to act as one but they are and will continue to be. Because of that cold hard fact, Jeff Bagwell wasn’t going to make the Hall of Fame and the only thing Astros’ fans, and probably Jeff himself, had to look forward to was an increase in his voting percentage. Have at least enough people changed their minds about not voting for Jeff on pure gossip and barely speculative evidence that it will set him up for a possible induction in 2013 or 2014? Well, Jeff’s percentage did rise to the mid-50s and that gave fans enough hope that Jeff could see the Hall in 2013 or more likely 2014.

As the Hall of Fame season began this time around for the 2013 ceremony, I kept hearing more of the same moral police philosophy being spewed by the same guilty parties. I won’t name them but most fans know who those gentlemen might be. Then some like Ken Rosenthal who feels the need to leave off 1^st timers simply because it’s the right thing to do, created more certainty in my mind that the moral police was in full force. To be fair, Rosenthal did vote for Bagwell and made the case we, Astros’ fans, had been screaming and yelling about for a few years now. The issue wasn’t Bagwell; it was the obligation many writers felt they were entitled to take upon themselves because of their lack of vision during the steroid era. However, something seems different in Bagwell’s case. Something has changed, more and more ballots I’ve noticed have Bagwell’s name on them and have given me hope. Hope that the lack of vision that effected a lot of the writers who now punish the likes of Bagwell for simply assuming he was a big guy so he must have been on the juice, have simply gotten over it.

I’m fairly confident enough people lack any serious doubt about Craig Biggio to keep him from getting in this upcoming year but will Jeff join him? I still believe Jeff is on course to be inducted in Cooperstown. I do hope we are all surprised and see Jeff make it this year with Biggio but even with more support, I think he will just miss out. So while Bagwell’s position is still up in the air, unlike last year’s frustration, I feel somewhat content with the philosophy being put on display by the BBWAA and how this chapter will eventually conclude.

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