Something New, A Shin-Soo Choo Rumor

Shin-Soo Choo (Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports)

It has been a few days since we mentioned Shin-Soo Choo here. Honestly, I’m not sure of another situation where this much time was spent discussing a player who was not a Houston Astro.

Jeff Luhnow is pursuing Choo. Well, pursuing might not be the correct word, but he is certainly on Houston’s radar. It does almost seem odd in a sense that the Astros are even slightly connected to a big name free agent.

This is true on multiple levels. Astros’ fans still have to get used to their team spending money and actually looking to improve. Plus, after last season, it really seemed like Houston was a few years from contending. But with a few improvements this season from outside the organization and an infusion of young talent, there is the possibility that 2015 could be interesting for the Astros.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports is reporting that the Astros have an “active offer” out to Choo. This is not something that surprises me, nor is it something that I would read into.

I don’t blame Luhnow for having an offer out there to Choo. That is what he should be doing. There would be something wrong if there wasn’t an offer out to Choo.

Under most circumstances, I would not advocate for the Astros signing Choo, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a very good player that I would want to man the outfield with Dexter Fowler and George Springer.

It is very likely that Luhnow is just doing his diligence here and has an offer out there to show his credibility to Scott Boras, but also more importantly, to maintain the lines of communication should the market fail to materialize for Choo.

But maybe my biggest takeaway from this article, was that the Passan presented the Astros in a positive light.

"The size of Houston’s ante is unclear. The Astros do not like the idea of giving up a draft pick, especially in a year in which another Boras client, Carlos Rodon, is almost a lock to go No. 1 overall and likely to command an excessive portion of Houston’s signing bonus pool. Still, an Astros outfield of Choo, Dexter Fowler and rising prospect George Springer – a Mike Cameron-floor, All-Star-ceiling center fielder – is the start of a team that with Jason Castro, Jose Altuve, Scott Feldman and a bevy of coming talent (Rodon, fellow No. 1 overall picks Carlos Correa and Mark Appel, hard throwers Jarred Cosart and Mike Foltynewicz) could be ready by 2015 to escape from the doldrums of a lost decade."