There's no doubt the Houston Astros are still in the midst of their dynasty, despite getting eliminated by the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series last year.
That shouldn't diminish anything they've done for just under a decade.
With two World Series titles and an American League-record seven consecutive ALCS appearances, they have had one of the best stretches in the history of baseball.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about this time period for the Astros is they've done it with different players on their roster.
They won a championship after letting superstars Gerrit Cole, George Springer and Carlos Correa leave in free agency, while developing their own homegrown talent to replace them.
But to keep this dynasty going, they might have to start spending massive amounts of money, something that owner Jim Crane has been hesitant to do.
In fact, he's only gone over the first threshold of the luxury tax one time before this season.
With Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker and Framber Valdez all scheduled to hit free agency over the next two years, it could become expensive to keep this core together.
Houston's general manager Dana Brown said they're going to offer extensions to Bregman and Tucker at some point, but there's been no indication of what those contracts might look like.
Tim Britton of The Athletic put together a projection of what Tucker might get in his next deal after he fits the profile of three other outfielders who landed megadeals of their own.
"This trio pegs Tucker's open-market value right around $29 million per season. Let's buy out six free-agent years at that price (through his age-34 season) and add on about $30 million for the next two seasons in arbitration," he writes.
That would bring his contract extension to something in the eight years and $204 million range.
It's no wonder why trade rumors are starting to circulate.
Combine Tucker's potential deal with what Valdez is expected to get, and the Astros will certainly have one of the highest payrolls in the league when factoring in Bregman's potential return, Josh Hader's contract and Jose Altuve's extension.
Maybe the superstar right fielder takes a hometown discount to stay with Houston.
That would definitely help the front office and owner.
But, it's looking more and more likely that some of the core group of players during this dynasty will be playing for other teams once again.
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