Astros' offseason moves proved Jim Crane's payroll comments to be an outright lie

Houston Astros owner Jim Crane wants you to believe that the luxury tax, a mark the team has been reticent to cross in the recent past, had no impact on the decisions they made this past offseason.

His statement, per Chandler Rome of the Athletic, claiming that the team wasn't focused on the tax line and instead just wanted to put the best collection of players on the field, is the equivalent of a shady real estate broker trying to sell you a great deal on ocean-front property in Nebraska.

Per Spotrac, the Astros currently sit $1,933,086 below the first tax threshold. A move like bringing back Justin Verlander for what likely will be his career curtain call, as referenced in Rome's piece, simply wasn't on the table despite the warm and fuzzy feeling it would give fans in addition to providing the rotation with some much-needed depth.

Other moves, such as the wacky decision to move Jose Altuve to left field in favor of Brendan Rodgers, who inexplicably believes that leaving the best hitting environment in the league will somehow make his subpar bat more potent, show exactly where the line in the sand was drawn for general manager Dana Brown.

Perhaps most glaring, the decision not to retain home-grown star Alex Bregman, even after the Kyle Tucker trade, shows that, despite what Crane says, this team was never going to do anything that would bring them above the luxury tax no matter how much it would have improved their chances at contending for another World Series title.

If Jim Crane chose honesty with Astros fans, he'd instead point out how well-positioned this team is to succeed in 2025

While you can gripe about some of the moves, like letting Bregman walk and trading away setup man Ryan Pressley for just a 20-year-old lottery ticket in Juan Bello, when looked at as a whole, a case can be made that this is a stronger unit than last season's group.

Losing Kyle Tucker hurts, but the trio of Cam Smith, Isaac Paredes, and Hayden Wesneski has a more-than-decent shot to replace and exceed Tucker's production in the short term while also providing greater long-term value.

Christian Walker is a massive upgrade, both offensively and defensively, over the collection of uninspiring first basemen the Astros ran out there throughout 2024.

Winning and exceeding the luxury tax aren't mutually exclusive, and a compelling argument can be made that the team is still in a prime position to make a run in 2025, while also better positioned to keep their window of contention open for a bit longer.

However, when Jim Crane says that the luxury tax wasn't a factor, just know that couldn't be further from the truth.

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