4 X-factors that will make or break the Astros' offseason plans

The Houston Astros are about to enter a critically important transitional phase as an organization this offseason. Over the last several years, Houston has been one of the absolute best teams in all of baseball and they are going to enter the 2024 season as favorites to do so again unless the offseason is an absolute catastrophe.

However, whether or not the Astros can sustain this run of success after the 2024 season is very much up in the air. Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve are free agents after 2024, Framber Valdez and Kyle Tucker still don't have contract extensions, and Houston has some players whose futures beyond next season are decidedly unclear. On top of all of that, the Astros have some wild cards going into this offseason that make game-planning extremely difficult to parse.

Here are 4 X-factors that will make or break the Astros' offseason plans

It was already well established that Houston is going to have some tough choices to make after next season, so we won't be focusing much on those decisions just yet. Those long-term considerations do matter, though, when looking at the context of this coming season and how urgently some of Houston's short-term problems/questions need to be addressed. There are a lot of moving parts right now and how well Dana Brown navigate these treacherous waters could easily make or break Houston for years to come.

Let's take a look at some of the x-factors that will determine how the Astros approach the upcoming offseason.