SHAKEUP: Astros Roster CHANGES Ignite Offseason, Will Justin Verlander REJOIN Houston?

SHAKEUP: Astros Roster CHANGES Ignite Offseason, Will Justin Verlander REJOIN Houston?

Hey everybody, this is Aan Wilhouse and we’ve got some offseason chatter to talk about. Is Justin Verlander going to be returning to Houston? Will the Astros sign Dylan cease? Qualifying offers being made, players turning them down. Let’s talk about what this means for the Astros this offseason on this edition of Locked on Astros. Jel Diaz, this is locked on Astros. Hello and welcome to Locked on Astros, your daily Astros podcast. Here are your hosts, Eric the Man Heisman and Brett Htown Wheelhouse Chansy. We are Locked on Houston Astros and we hope that you join us for a daily lock on Astros podcast. My name is Eric Heisman. He is Brett Chansy and we are part of the number one podcast network out there. You heard that right. Locked on is the number one podcast network out there. So we are happy to be part of the Locked On podcast network. So go and make us your first listen. Apple, Odyssey, Spotify, wherever you listen your podcast, go ahead and check us out. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. If you want to go to the Rockets, Texans, whatever the game is, uh download the Game Time app, create an account, and use the code lockdown MLB for $20 off your first purchase. So, on today’s episode, we’re going to talk about the the roster moves that were finalized that we talked about last week. Qualifying offers across the MLB, what’s their impact on the Houston Astros? Verlander, could he possibly be coming back to Houston Astros? And what’s going on with Emanuel uh Class A and Luis Ortiz? Um, what’s going on with their gambling issues? We’ll talk about this and more on tonight’s Locked on Astros podcast. So Brett, uh, the moves were finalized. Chaz McCormick and the rest of the game, Pedro Leon was claimed on waiverss by the, uh, Orioles. That means that he’s, um, no longer, uh, he’s probably become a star because he’s playing for the Orioles. It seems like all those young players always do. But, um, what do you think about all these guys? Chaz McCormick, Kennedy Crona, Pedro Leon, John John Rooney, and Luis Garcia officially being outrighted off the Astros roster. They’re no longer a part of the organization. I can’t hear you. Sorry. Okay. I think the writing was on the wall for the Houston Astros, for all of these players, Chaz McCormack and so many others. Um, you hate to see Luis Garcia go, but at the same time, I mean, it is what it is. I mean, you move on. Like I said last time when we talked about this, you cut bait, you move forward. It’s it’s official. And let’s get going with the changing of the guard. Let’s get some new blood in here. Let’s see if we can’t get back to the playoffs. Exactly. So, I know that um Luis Garcia was a big part of the what the Astros did for several years. So is Chaz McCormick, but none of these guys were impact stars that are going to help you in 2026. And like uh Brett mentioned the other day, the Astros still got to get to like 37, maybe 35 roster spots to actually be able to add some additional players, but they’re probably going to do that as they go. They still have a chance to possibly trade other players. I know Jesus Sanchez is a prime trade candidate before the non-tender deadline. So, there’s still some players that could be non-tendered. So, uh this is not the end of the roster move. So, going stay tuned to us all off seasonason. We’re going to try to explain what the Astros are doing, but it was made official. The uh quality the qualifying offer was um issued to Braber Valdez this year. It was based on the average salary of a Major League Baseball player. Um it was $22 million. So let’s sorry 22.025 million. Let me get it. Um let me go and get it exact. So where they get this number from Brett is it’s the average salary of 125 highest paid salaries of the players in the league. So uh they have uh they will either accept it or decline it. So, uh, if you’re looking at will, um, will Far Fromer Valdez accept it, uh, in the since 2012, since this was, um, implemented, only, um, 150 players have been offered the qualifying offer. Only 14 have accepted. 13 players received the qualifying offer last year and only one of them, Nick Martinez, accepted. So, it’s very rare that somebody actually accepts it. it that means that they think that their market value is less than that 22 million or they think they can get more long term, right? And you know, for the club, it’s an advantage if they if they make well, if they make the offer and it’s I’m sorry, it’s not an advantage for the club if they make the offer and turn it down because when they go elsewhere um actually the club that makes that offer um does get that pick, but like if the Astros go out and get one of these guys that got a qualifying offer, they they lose a draft pick. And so naturally when you’re looking at the different guys out there, the Zack Gallons, the Trent Gishams, um Imanaga, Michael King, Schwerber, Suarez, Torres, I mean just go down the list. Um Woodruff, who who I like. Um you would get them, but you would lose a pick. And I don’t think there’s any names on here that I think are realistic in going after. I don’t think Ranger Suarez is a guy that we go after because I think right now his market value is right at 26.2 2 million. Um, and I think it’s going to be over that. I think it’s going to be 30 plus. Um, just because of what the market is. Um, teams are in win mode now. Um, because of the prospect of 27. Although, I’m hopeful that 27 doesn’t end in a work stoppage or 27 doesn’t start with a work stoppage. But there are a lot of clubs and a lot of players that want to get their money in their contracts now and not wait another year. So, this is the ultimate year to go in that qualifying offer and go in and test the market because if you wait till next year, you may not have it next year where it’s going to be delayed and that just has a snowball effect. I know that um I think it was Ken Ken Rosenthal, he was asked, well, do you think that uh teams are be a little hesitant to kind of sign players because of the possible work stoppage? He said that they’re they’re going to pro possibly just go into it like there’s going to be season next year. If there’s no season next year, then they’ll adapt to it at that time, but they’re not going to really adjust what they’re doing. So, uh yeah, this um these players right now, I know you talked about a few of them, but Dylan Cease is one guy that we’ve heard a lot on and um he didn’t have a great season. this. He would be a a prime candidate to possibly accept another qualifying offer because he may not get his u value right now because he’s coming off a um bad season, but he still has high strikeout rates. So, I think some teams are going to give him exactly what he wants. So, I think the Houston Astros could possibly go out there, but they’ve always been hesitant to give up that draft pick to go out there and get that. they’re already short-handed in the farm system. So, if you go get somebody like Dylency, let’s say you sign him for a five-year deal, that means you’re going to have to give up a uh draft pick and uh you have to hope that maybe last year was just a fluke with the ERA and uh just the poor numbers. Maybe it’s just playing over at Petco or whatever they call their ballpark over there. But uh it just was a situation where he’s also represented by Scott Boris and a lot of Scott Boris clients, they don’t accept the qualifying offer. So I just don’t see that happening. So I’m pretty sure he’s going to have a draft pick attached. And I know that part of the what the players organization want is they want to remove this because they don’t like that this hampers the negotiation process when you’re talking about free agency because um player a team like all these teams might be going after somebody like Dylan Edwin Diaz or Boette and all these guys but because they have that draft pick attached it kind of makes them well it might be nice to have this guy, but what if? And so that’s a situation. Yeah, but I think clubs that are seriously looking at Bob Bashette, Kyle Tucker, they could care less about the draft pick. I I mean, you’re not you’re not you’re not concerned about that. Oh, yeah. Those guys. Yeah. Fences. Yeah. I’m just saying you’re not if you’re if you’re swinging for the fences for the top free agents, you you’re like, “Okay, that’s a draft pick.” Draft picks don’t do anything until they do something. And hey, while we’re talking, while I’m wearing my fire orange, my burnt orange um Texans hat, the Texans just took the lead with 30 seconds left, 30-29. Um so yeah, I I was like, the Texans are cooked. Um like crap earlier. I stopped watching. Yeah, I was like, well, here comes the number five overall draft pick. Uh you know, so season’s not over, kids. So good job there. But man, um, you know, going back into baseball, you would like the Astros to entertain something like a Dylan CE. And look, I’ve I’ve talked about Justin Verlander being a part, and we’ll get to that next segment, but if they can bring in a couple other arms, Verlander is not going to be your number one or number two starter. And like I said, we’ll get into that after we have our first break. All right, guys. So, thank you for making Lock on Astros podcast your first listen every day. Of course, one name like Brett mentions every off season that stirs the pot is Justin Verlander. Will you be coming back to Houston? We’ll see. We’ll talk about that next on the Astros podcast. Oh, hey there Will House here with Locked on Astros and I bringing you Game Time. Game Time is the place to go, the place where you buy tickets. And unlike any other website up there, you can um make your first purchase and you get $20 off your first purchase with a code locked on MLB. I’ve used it. It’s amazing. You can pull up Game Time in just a couple of clicks. You’ll see amazing deals talking about your favorite NFL games as low as $100. The NFL season is here. And the Texans may have found a lifeline while we’re live on air. So, you know what? There’s life in football. The CPR worked. The AED helped. And now the Texans have reinvigorated life. And you can too with your ticket purchase. If you love the zone deals like I do, you pick the section. Game time. picks the seats and you can save big. Honestly, it’s faster, cheaper, and less stressful than any other way that I’ve bought tickets and it will be for you. So download the game timeout today. Create an account, use the code lock for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code L O C K D O N MLB for $20 off. Swipe tap ticket. Go download Game Time today. Hey guys, thank you for making Locked on Astros podcast your first listen every day. Whether it’s on YouTube, go and subscribe to us. Go and make first listen. Apple, Odyssey, Spotify, wherever you listen your podcast, go and check us out. I know that Justin Birdlander has been a big part of the Astros success over the years. Last year he went to play with the the Giants and a few years ago he went to go play with the Mets. But um after the Mets, he came back to play with the Astros. Could he be doing the same thing after spending a season with the Giants? Um, I know that there’s always a chance with the fact that the that Justin Verlander and Jim Crane are so close and the fact that uh Justin Verlander before he signed last year with the Giants, he said he he asked Jim Crane, Dana Brown, somebody, “Hey, um, can y’all I’m about to sign with the Giants for this. Can y’all match this?” and they they weren’t able to do that. So, he wants to be here. So, I think that there’s a chance and I know I was watching Chandler Rome’s podcast and he said that he thinks there’s probably a 50% chance that Justin Verlander comes back and so I don’t know what you feel like Brett and like you mentioned it, you’re not looking for him to come back at this point in in his career and be the ace. You’re looking for him to be a guy that can give you 150 innings and just be a reliable starter, which the Astros had a hard time finding last year. Well, yeah. I mean, you know, obviously he’s 43, so he’s not coming back as your ace. Someone in here mentioned him he should be an opener. That will never happen in Justin Verlander’s career, no matter how long in the tooth he is. the the Astros would bring him back knowing that they have others um available, knowing that they have guys like, you know, Eric Getty, you got Brown, you got Alexander. Um also, there are other targets out there. I I think I think Brandon Woodruff is a very realistic target for the Astros. Um his AAV estimated is about 10 to$15 million less than Ranger Suarez. I don’t think Ranger Suarez is realistic. If we’re not going to pay Fber Valdez, we’re definitely not going to play Rangers. You know, we’re definitely not gonna pay Ranger Suarez. Now, Ranger Suarez has an excellent postseason record, so that’s definitely something that you want to think about. Can we go out there and get a Dylan CE? I don’t know if we can go out there and get a Dylan CE. Um, he might be a he might be a bit pricey. Remember, he didn’t want to come back. But Justin Verlander to me makes sense. And I know everybody wants young, fresh arms. Everybody doesn’t want JB because he’s old. But he’s not coming in to be the top guy. You You make him your fourth or your fifth. If you get enough pitching in, heck, you got a six-man rotation. He has plenty of rest. And you know what? I’m sorry, but we know the Dodgers put some of their guys on Phantom Isles. I’m not convinced that they were all hurt during the season. But what happened? They were fresh during the playoffs. And what happened? They freaking won the World Series, and they’re going to be going for a third straight World Series. Hasn’t been done since the Yankees did it in the late 90s and um into 2000. So, with that being said, the Astros know how to work a roster. The Astros know how to work pitchers. And Trevor Lawrence was just sacked and threw an interception and the Texans scored a touchdown as time expired. Go Texans. Good job. See, I wore the hat. It was good luck. And the Texans win a big victory. Sheldon Rankings with the touchdown. Sorry I had to say that live. That was awesome. That was great. Um, so you know, Yeah. So anyways, but you know, Justin Verlander, um I I think he comes back for about $10 million. If he comes back, it’s it’s it’s not going to be that much. Um he’ll he’ll have, you know, maybe some incentives. And I I’m pretty sure he would be motivated. He had a good second half. His first half was terrible, but he came back second half and I think he proved that he’s still a viable option as a four or five starter. I know that the Giants celebrated his 20 years, but technically he only has 19 years of service time. Uh, but he’s looking I don’t I know somebody mentioned earlier in the comments, is he going for a Nolan Ryan career? No, he’s just trying to add to his resume. And um it’s not about just getting into the Hall of Fame. It’s just about showing that um he’s probably not gonna he’s probably the last of a dying breed. A lot of these pitchers aren’t going to go uh this deep, but he probably doesn’t like the fact that he had a losing record last year. Four and 11. He did have a good second half where his numbers were a lot better, but he had a 3.85 erra overall, 137 strikeouts, and 152 innings. Yes, the strikeouts were down a little bit, but um I think that coming back to Houston, being a little bit kind of being in the familiar area, he’s familiar with this with uh the team. I think that this will be a good move for Houston Astros. And like we saw last year, you can never have too many starting pitchers. If you have too many, then put them on long relief or something. But, um, if you’re not going to go out there and retain Palmer Valdez, first of all, or you’re not going to go out there and get the big Dylan Ceases or Brandon Woodruffs, you got to get somebody. You can’t just go in with the status quo. And I think that’s what happened last year is Dana Brown, it was like, hey, you know what? We got all these guys coming back from injury. They’re gonna be perfect. everything’s gonna be just fine. And see, Eric, that’s why I think the Astros are going to make a splash in free agency with a starter. I just don’t. But then again, someone did someone did counter me online and they said, “Well, if that’s the case, then wouldn’t Ranger Suarez still be on the table or Dylan C still be on the table?” And that makes sense because I mean you saw what happened last year and you’re definitely not going to depend on the guys coming off the IIL this year because you tried that last year and it ended up resulting in the first missed playoff in nine seasons. So Crane’s going to want to get back and I know everybody’s like Crane’s cheap and Crane’s Jerry Jones and neither one of those is right. Ne those are both opinions that can be proven with facts or disproven with facts. Um, look, uh, he’s been hesitant and you know what, you know, it’s probably partly because of what we’ve dealt with with one LMJ and Christian Javier. I I mean, we are a victim of our own circumstance. Now, a lot of other players have, you know, Otani signed his big deal and what did he do the first year? He didn’t even pitch because he had TJ. I I I mean, so nobody’s immune to this, right? But I think because of that, it gives license to say, “Okay, let’s go over on one guy.” If you can get a JV and a C’s, if you can get a JV and a Suarez, look, I’m all for it. I’m just trying to think more realistic options. And so, and yes, JV does want to be here and he is a leader. All right, real quick before we get off this JV topic. In the first half last year, he was 0 and7 in 15 games with um and 66 strikeouts in 76 and two/3 innings pitched. His whip was 1.422. That’s terrible for Justin Verlander. But in second half, he figured things out. He was uh 4 and4 with a 2.99 erra. He had 70 strikeouts and 75.1 innings pitch with a 1.3 um whip. So overall, his numbers were a lot better in the second half, he looked more like the Justin Verlander. We know even in his last season season with the Astros, he was not as dominant. So I don’t think that he’s going to come in, like we said, to be the ace. But he’s also a guy to just come in to help. You need as many pieces if you want to be a championship team. Look at last year. You had um the Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw, even in his farewell whale tour, he pitched. Max Sher, even though that he he doesn’t know if he’s going to pitch, I think that he said he was a good pitch, but he wasn’t at full strength, but he still went out there and pitched. So, these guys can still go out there and get the job done. And I think the same thing can be said about um uh Justin Verlander. But Brett, um, about the Guardians, I don’t know if they really have a closer that they can rely on. And, um, Emanuel Class A is in some really big trouble. We talk about that next on the Locktown Astros podcast. What’s up, Astros fans? This is Htown Wilhouse. I want to tell you about FanDuel. They are here as the number one sports betting partner of the NBA. There’s no better place to get in the action than with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or you want to ride a hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to the fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. So, right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com and sign up and play your game today with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Hey guys, thank you for making Lockdown Astros podcast your first listen every day. Whether it’s on YouTube, go and subscribe to us. Uh whether it’s um any place you get your podcast, go and make us your first listen. Go and listen to us on your ride to work, at work, on your way home from work, wherever it is, just go and check us out. Uh we’ve been doing this for about a combined 18 years between Brett and I, and we will be here all off season talking about this mass chaos. We are your team every day. So, we will be talking right now about some chaos that’s been going on in baseball. And I know that a lot of people are talking about the fact that Pete Rose is going to be allowed to um be um considered for the Hall of Fame uh despite all the the gambling issues that happened um as he was a manager. So um betting has been a bit of a sore topic for the MLB for many years. And so they have meetings. I know somebody that works for the Astros and they say they can’t even do fantasy baseball because uh of this they can do fantasy football, they could do fantasy basketball, just not fantasy baseball. Baseball takes it very seriously because they don’t want anything even if you work in accounting, finance, it does not matter. If you have if you do something for an organization, you cannot uh bet on the base on baseball basically. So, um, if you’re a pitcher like Emanuel Class A and Luis Ortiz, you definitely cannot pitch a bet on baseball, especially if it’s you’re accepting money, you’re accepting bribes to on this as well. So, let’s go ahead and talk about this right now. This is crazy. I don’t know if you want to talk about it, but Yeah, I’ll get Yeah. Yeah, I’ll jump in here. Um, basically they were both indicted by prosecutors in Brooklyn um, on charges involving sports betting. Okay. Ortiz was arrested earlier today. Um, and Class A is not currently in custody. This is as of today on the 9th. So if you’re listening on Monday, it happened yesterday. The allegations on prosecutors in the indictment include a specific indictment on June 15th when Ortiz was paid $5,000 for throwing an intentional ball and Class A received 5,000 for facilitating it. Co-conspirators won at least $400,000 on fraudulent wages relating to Class A and at least 60,000 on fraudulent wages relating to Ortiz. Prosecutors allege in the indictment that Class and Ortiz face up to 65 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Unreal. So, hey Brett, you’ve seen those videos where they’re like, “This is the moment they realize that they messed up.” I have to use another word, but Well, it’s insane though. Like, okay, here’s guys that make millions of dollars losing their life for $5,000. It makes no sense. I mean, it is I’m sorry. You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. And I don’t feel any sympathy for either one of these guys. I don’t. They knew exactly what they were doing. They knew it was wrong. You play with fire, you’re gonna get burned. Okay? You run with dogs, you’re gonna get fleas. It’s just how it works. And you know, I’m just going to say this. I find it really hard to believe that Otani didn’t know that all that money was leaving his account on all those sports betting binges. I’m just saying. But these guys absolutely did not get the Otani treatment. They got nailed to the freaking wall. Now, before this happened, Eric Class was actually suing a Dominican summer league because they weren’t allowing him to play because of this because he said it was all allegations. Well, now I guess his lawsuit’s going to fail because busted. You got caught red-handed like the old song used to say. And I mean, this is bad. I I mean, they’ve got specific dollar amounts on on two pitches. two pitches. Equals 65 years in prison. Mind blown. I mean, a lot of people are saying, “Well, that’s bribe. That’s not betting.” Well, the reason why this is happening is because somebody was making a prop bet or something, some situation. And it’s just weird that uh and you’re like, “Well, why do you need two people involved if if the one guy’s pitching?” Well, somebody needs to kind of signal this is the time to do this uh pitch. And it’s just crazy that you’re just doing this and you I think class A was making $12 million and uh Ortiz was making about 700,000. Granted, um that’s not a lot for a baseball player, but still 700,000 is a lot more than Brett and I make in a year. A lot more. So it’s it’s Bro, Hold on, man. Hold on. Why you why you why you telling people my business? Maybe they think I do make that much. Why you downplaying my salary, bro? Come on. Yeah, but um okay, we can go with that. But uh definitely a situation where you got to think before you do do stuff and especially after what happened to Otani. I know that like you said, uh they nothing happened with it. And I guess maybe they’re like, “Oh, well, they didn’t go after Otani. Nothing happened there, so maybe they won’t figure it out.” But also, they probably figured it was just two pitches. Nobody will ever know. It happened behind closed doors. But somebody, as we as the Astros found out with Mikey, somebody will always tell. But it and it says here, co-conspirators won at least $400,000 in fraudulent waiverss. That’s insane. These dudes, they’re they didn’t go out in a blaze of glory. That’s for darn sure. And I’m pretty sure they got some a little bit more money than just what was reported here. They probably got some side money. Hey, let’s go out to lunch and here’s a sandwich or something. What? I’ve seen a lot of those gangster movies. Come on. It’s all the money’s wrapped up in there. Oh god, Eric, you watch stupid movies. It’s like, hey, what is you open it up? No, man. It’s cash, bro. Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of those movies. But um while while we’re kind of off topic, I want to thank Brett. I’m gonna be switching the night shifts um starting tonight. So, I’m going to be working till like 2:00 a.m. U for the next four nights. I’m going to be trying to make some of the these podcasts work. If not, I’m not going anywhere. Uh so, thank you, Brett, for covering for me. I’ll try to uh do what I can, but I’m gonna be um probably working when you’re trying to do this the show. But um that’s kind of I’m I’m just trying to do this for this one week. But um thank you once again. But this is a crazy off season with everything that’s happening. Kyle Tucker, a lot of people are scared about him. He’s the number one free agent out there, but there’s so many worries, injury concerns. And Alex Bregman, he’s out there again and a lot of people are thinking, hey, he’s not coming back to Boston because they’re not going to give him more than what he wanted and he already had. But I don’t think, Brett, that he wants more per year. I think he wants a longer term deal. So, we’ll see what happens. Five years. Yeah, he wants like five years, 160, something like that. Hey, David Barry said he’d pay us a million dollars. Um, I will send you my address if you want to do that. Um, I’ll split it with Eric. Um, so yeah, Zil, we’ll send our Zil. We’ll we’ll go Zel and we’ll do that. But hey, um, here’s the deal. What’s crazy, I’m talking about to wrap this up, talking about Bregman and Tucker. Imagine a world, Eric, where Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman are both Los Angeles Dodgers. No, don’t do that to me. Don’t put that ego on me, Ricky Bobby. No. Hey, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the top target for um or the top target. Kyle Tucker. Yeah, but not Bregman. Come on. Got everybody else. And please don’t have Alex Bregman go to the Mariners. That would be the worst possible. The Dodgers. I know. I’m just saying. Don’t have Breman go to the Mariners. That would be terrible. Yeah. Well, they would have to take back all their booze. I could see Breman in New York, though. With the Yankees or the Mets? The Yankees. I think I think I hate to say this, I think the Mariners are becoming that team that are the Astros’s biggest rivals at this point. Not I mean I mean obviously they are. They won the division. It’s it’s never the Rangers. Um, but you know, okay, let me close out with this. Clayton Kershaw did mention 2017 has an asterisk by it still. That it just seems little brother energy to me. So, um, they’ll they’ll still be a team that has not beat us in the postseason. So, until we challenge that, we’re still better than them. But hey, for myself, for Eric and everybody here at Locked On Astros and from the number one podcast network on the planet in the world, in the country, that’s Locked On Sports. Thank y’all for helping us to become the number one Astros podcast on the number one podcast network. Remember, we’re your team every single day. And go Stros. We’ll see you tomorrow. We out. Go Texans. Play a game.

Join Eric Huysman and Brett Chancey for the Locked On Astros podcast as they discuss the Astros offering a qualifying offer to Framber Valdez. Will he accept? Which other players were offered them as well, and how could it affect the Astros’ offseason plans? Is there a chance that Justin Verlander comes back to Houston? What’s going on with Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz? WoW!!!

Houston Astros finalize major roster moves as Chas McCormick and Luis Garcia officially depart, while Justin Verlander’s potential return to Houston becomes increasingly realistic. Could the 43-year-old veteran anchor a revamped rotation alongside new free agent targets?

Eric Huysman and Brett Chancey break down the Astros’ offseason strategy, analyzing how MLB qualifying offers impact potential signings like Dylan Cease and Brandon Woodruff. The discussion covers Framber Valdez’s $22 million qualifying offer, the shocking gambling scandal involving Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz facing 65 years in prison, and the looming free agency decisions surrounding Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman.

Key topics include why Verlander’s second-half resurgence makes him a viable rotation piece, how the Astros’ depleted farm system affects their draft pick strategy, and whether Houston can compete with the Los Angeles Dodgers for their star players.

0:00 Intro and Astros Offseason Overview

2:34 Roster Moves Finalized: McCormick, Garcia, and Others

5:08 Qualifying Offers Explained and Impact on Astros

10:14 Justin Verlander’s Potential Return to Houston

20:47 Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz Gambling Scandal

29:40 Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman Free Agency Concerns

Tune in for insider analysis on how the Astros plan to return to playoff contention after missing October for the first time in nine seasons.

Locked On Astros is your daily Houston Astros podcast, hosted by Eric Huysman and Brett Chancey. As part of the Locked On Podcast Network, we bring you the latest Astros news, in-depth game analysis, player updates, and exclusive insights — every single weekday.
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