Bold Prediction Sees Astros Locking Up Their Star Rookie With Monster Extension

The Houston Astros haven't been the best at getting ahead when it comes to locking up their young stars to long-term deals.

While Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman come to mind when thinking back upon who was extended a deal, the likes of Kyle Tucker, George Springer, Carlos Correa and Gerrit Cole were all allowed to explore the open market instead of working out something that would have kept them there before they hit free agency.

Finances played a part in that, and it's hard to fault the Astros when it comes to how they've handled any of this since they have created a machine that has dominated the American League for coming up on a decade no matter who has been on the roster. But one could only wonder what they might have looked like if the front office got ahead of things and secured their stars to long-term commitments.

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Houston is looking to right that wrong with some of their current stars.

Before Jeremy Pena hired superagent Scott Boras to represent him, the organization was reportedly pushing for an extension to get done. Same with their budding ace Hunter Brown.

But even in those cases, the Astros were too late to the party, with those two putting together breakout campaigns that is only going to make it more difficult to keep them around.

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However, Mike Axisa of CBS Sports is predicting Houston won't make that mistake with their star rookie Cam Smith, projecting they will sign him to a lucrative deal.

"For this bold prediction, I have the Astros locking Smith up to a long-term extension. In-season extensions are uncommon, especially in the second half, but Smith is a special player and I don't think Houston will wait to act. How does eight years and $80 million sound? That's a bit more than the Braves gave Michael Harris II (eight years and $72 million) in the middle of his first big-league season three years ago," he wrote.

If the Astros do go down this route, they have to hope Smith turns out much better than Michael Harris has for the Atlanta Braves, with him turning into one of the worst offensive outfielders in the league.

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All signs are pointing to that not being the case for Smith, with his hit tool being much further advanced than Harris' was.

There has been no indication that Houston is looking to get their rising star locked up to an extension, but if he keeps performing the way he has thus far, then it might be wise for them to start thinking about it.

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