Starting to see similarities in the post 2005 Astros WS team and what they are dealing with now; An aging core group and no top tier prospects coming up through the system. That 2008 team finished 86-75 with Berkman (6.9 WAR!)(age 32), Lee (2.8)(32), Tejada (1.9)(34), Oswalt (.3)(30), Wiggington (2.2)(30) and many others in their 30s. The only younger meaningful players were Pence(2.3)(25) and Bourn(-.6)(25).

The current team does have a few more guys in their 20s (Diaz (2.7)(26), Pena(5.6)(27) Paredes (2.3)(26), Smith (1.9)(22), Alvarez (.7)(28), and Brown (6.1 WAR)(26), Spaghetti(25), Wesneski (27), Javier(28) and others.

Obviously there is more youth here, and you can justifiably blame injuries as well. But some of these guys are just injury prone and it probably isn't realistic to count on full seasons from a few.

I wonder what Luhnow would do with this current team? It probably would be constructed differently if he were still in charge when they signed Abreu, Montero, Walker, etc. My guess is that you hope for a much healthier 2026 team, find a couple of starting pitchers, fix the infield situation and make one or two more runs at the WS. But the fork in the road is coming soon if not already here. Pena and Brown won't come cheap. It would have been interesting to see how Luhnow would have tried to balance and sustain success.

Starting to see similarities in the post 2005 Astros WS team and what they are dealing with now; An aging core group and no top tier prospects coming up through the system. That 2008 team finished 86-75 with Berkman (6.9 WAR!)(age 32), Lee (2.8)(32), Tejada (1.9)(34), Oswalt (.3)(30), Wiggington (2.2)(30) and many others in their 30s. The only younger meaningful players were Pence(2.3)(25) and Bourn(-.6)(25).

The current team does have a few more guys in their 20s (Diaz (2.7)(26), Pena(5.6)(27) Paredes (2.3)(26), Smith (1.9)(22), Alvarez (.7)(28), and Brown (6.1 WAR)(26), Spaghetti(25), Wesneski (27), Javier(28) and others.

Obviously there is more youth here, and you can justifiably blame injuries as well. But some of these guys are just injury prone and it probably isn't realistic to count on full seasons from a few.

I wonder what Luhnow would do with this current team? It probably would be constructed differently if he were still in charge when they signed Abreu, Montero, Walker, etc. My guess is that you hope for a much healthier 2026 team, find a couple of starting pitchers, fix the infield situation and make one or two more runs at the WS. But the fork in the road is coming soon if not already here. Pena and Brown won't come cheap. It would have been interesting to see how Luhnow would have tried to balance and sustain success.