Bleacher Report's insane Astros free agency prediction couldn't be more off the mark

With the actual offseason coming up fast, there is no shortage of chatter surrounding the Houston Astros as to what they will or won't do. Alex Bregman is about to be a free agent, among other Astros, and Houston has some pretty important decisions to make regarding how they are going to build out this 2025 roster with a challenging payroll situation.

That last part is important because if money was no object, Houston would love to be players for Juan Soto and/or bring back one or both of Bregman and Yusei Kikuchi.

However, the Astros' 2025 payroll has a big chunk of dead (or close to it) money on it, which means there are going to be a lot of moving parts to getting a big name acquisition done, given how close they are to the luxury tax.

Reality doesn't get in the way of roster speculation this time of the year, however. According to Bleacher Report's Joel Reuter, Houston is not only the best landing spot for Alex Bregman, but also Gerrit Cole, assuming he successfully opts out.

Bleacher Report's flawed internal logic leads to misguided Astros offseason optimism

Let's get one thing straight: if the Astros end up with both Gerrit Cole and Alex Bregman this offseason, put general manager Dana Brown in the Astros' Hall of Fame immediately. No waiting period. No press release announcing a ceremony at a later date. The instant that happens, fans should demand a bronze casting at Minute Maid Park on Opening Day and shouldn't ask too many questions about owner Jim Crane's whereabouts, as he is likely tied to a chair and missing his credit card.

The issue isn't with the optimism, because looking at each guy separately and not caring about money or realism would make both very attractive options. However, some parts of this piece seem to identify teams as bad fits for players because of their payroll situation, while the Astros are seemingly made out to be a franchise that hands out megadeals when there is no history of that being the case.

Cole is the biggest offender here. There is a world where the Astros clear money for Bregman, even if it is painful in the short-term at least. Not only are the Yankees basically never going to let Cole walk (even with their expected pursuit of Soto), given that tacking another year onto his deal will invalidate the opt-out, but the idea that Houston would be willing to pay Cole what he would command on the open market is pure pie-in-the-sky thinking.

In a lot of ways, this is actual the most fun part of the offseason because anything is technically possible. This time of year is for dreaming on what could be. Unfortunately, Astros fans may want to pump the brakes if they think this offseason would yield anything close to what B/R is hoping for here.

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