MLB.com Astros beat reporter Brian McTaggart took questions from fans in an r/Astros AMA. The full conversation can be viewed here, but below is a sampling of the best questions and answers, lightly edited for clarity.
I have noticed recently you have been tweeting more frequently about Zach Cole. Do you expect him to be "the prospect" similar to Cam [Smith] last year for this upcoming season? And is this based off just your intuition, or have [GM] Dana [Brown} and the team said things about Cole that leads you to this conclusion?
You're right, I have mentioned Cole a few times recently. I think the team liked what it saw from him last year in his short stint in the big leagues, both offensively and defensively. He plays with a ton of passion and has some serious power, but he's going to have to cut down on the strikeouts. I think he has a bright future, like Cam.
Are players usually aware that they are on the trade block, or do they find out by seeing tweets from reporters like the fans do?
Great question. I think most players are pretty aware of how they fit in an organization and whether they're going to be part of its future. At the Trade Deadline in 2011, Hunter Pence asked me outside the clubhouse in Wrigley Field if I thought he was going to be traded. I said yes. He was traded a few days later. The players certainly are aware of what's going on in social media, and their agents usually keep them informed of what they're hearing, too. It's hard to ignore it these days.
With limited FA money this offseason, do you still expect the team to pursue a [Victor] Caratini reunion? Is there a possibility if Caratini is re-signed that [Yainer] Diaz could be traded?
I'm not sure the Astros will bring back Caratini, with money being part of it. Don't be surprised if they take a shot at a catcher in the Rule 5 Draft, but don't forget that prospect Walker Janek is on the come, as well. A Diaz trade wouldn't surprise me, but I'd bank on him being the starting catcher in 2026.
Speaking broadly, it seems like the Astros are on the downswing from the "glory days" of the last 10 years or so. This happens in baseball, and it's hard to find sustained success without having an unlimited budget.
Is this sentiment perceived within the organization? That is, is there an acknowledgement that we're likely entering a rebuild phase as we lose the core pieces that built us to what we were?
Secondly, what are, in your mind, the most pressing holes that need to be filled?
I do get the sense they're on the back end of this great run of success they've had in the past decade, and how they navigate the next phase will be interesting. They’re still a contender, when healthy. Astros owner Jim Crane has said the window of contention is always open, so he's not going to be willing to go through another rebuilding phase. Winning at a high level and trying to improve your farm system at the same time is difficult, but the Astros are navigating challenges with payroll and prospects that they've had at the same time in recent years.
What was the hardest thing about developing a working relationship with the team when you were starting out as a beat writer?
The first day I walked into the clubhouse at Spring Training in 2004, I saw Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Lance Berkman and Jeff Kent and thought, "What the heck am I doing here?" A few days later Biggio put me at ease when he called me by name and gave me a hard time for a story I did on a player who was released the day after I wrote about him. "I'm not going to be talking to you," he joked. I realized these are normal guys and they should be approached as such. It can be intimidating at first, but I think the biggest thing is to be yourself and treat them as humans.