2012 Winter signing Rick Ankiel hit 5 HRs in his first 40 AB with the Astros to start last year – including a huge Opening Day long bomb, but he could not buy a hit after that. The Astros released him soon after that. Ankiel was one of the acquisitions from last winter, so we can at least see the club is going after more astute players.

By Lee White (Astros Correspondent)  Follow @Lee_White73

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The Houston Astros haven’t been all that busy the past few years in the offseason. They’ve signed older veterans to get them through the year.

Last year’s offseason acquisitions included Jose Veras, Carlos Pena, and Rick Ankiel. However, this year, they’re actually spending real money.

They’ve traded for Dexter Fowler, and they’ve signed Scott Feldman to a three year, 30 million dollar contract.

They also brought in a former Astro Chad Qualls at two years 6 million dollars with an option for a third year at 3.5 million dollars.

Those acquisitions could just be the tip of the iceberg for the Astros as the head into the Winter Meetings.

Chad Qualls Fist Pump – Followed By A Tumble

According to Brian McTaggart, the Astros are still in the market to add another reliever, as well as a middle of the order bat. Whether the Astros would trade for those guys is beyond me. I don’t think the organization will end up spending millions of dollars, but they’re suggesting that they’re staying on track to raise the payroll up to 60 million dollars this year, and they’re not there yet.

Out of the relievers that are available in free agency, I would love for the Astros to take a look into Andrew Bailey, though he may be out of their price range.

Another guy I would love for the team to sign would be Jose Veras. He was a big piece of the Astros bullpen last year, seeing as how they blew 10 saves in the month of August after he was traded, and 29 as a whole throughout the season.

Where things get a little weird is Houston acquiring a “middle of the order” bat. There aren’t many on the free agent market unless you include Corey Hart, who would potentially hit 5th or 6th.

However, the Phillies just made Domonic Brown available. If you remember correctly, the club tried to acquire Brown last season, and they may pick talks back up, but I’m not sure how big a possibility that is.

Nothing is imminent involving Houston, but one can only imagine that they’ll be active in the market during the Winter Meetings. We’ll see where this leads, and as always, we’ll keep you updated if anything happens.

The Astros finished the 2013 campaign with an unfathomable 15 Game losing streak – to end the year with a 51 – 111 record. Jim Crane, Reid Ryan and Jeff Luhnow have been decisively acting different since the commencement of the winter starting. There are many rumblings the team could spend a lot more money to bolster their franchise in going forward. They will also draft 1st overall again in the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft as well. Maybe things are finally starting to turn around the corner.

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com or their partners ***

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A big thank-you goes out to Our ‘Astros Correspondent’ Lee White for preparing today’s featured article. Lee is currently a writer at strosbros.wordpress.com.

He has been an Astros fan his whole life and has a deep knowledge about the team as a whole. Lee currently goes to college about an hour away from Houston.  Lee has attended countless games at Minute Maid Park. 

Feel Free to follow Lee on Twitter  Follow @Lee_White73

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