Carlos Beltran signs with the Houston Astros (one-year, $16M)

The Houston Astros didn’t wait until the winter meetings tomorrow to make a move, signing Carlos Beltran to a one-year, $16 million dollar contract on Saturday while everyone was watching NCAA football conference championships.

It’s becoming kind of obvious the Astros will have a team a lot like their 2016 iteration – competitive with some upside youth – but ultimately flawed and not a threat for the whole shebang. Beltran is a nice signing from a standpoint of he’s a productive veteran who will offer leadership to the clubhouse and many of the latin youngsters the Astros feature. He’ll teach them how to be better pros. But it’s not Edwin Encarnacion, unless they’re still going to get Edwin Encarnacion.

Beltran played in 151 games last season in parts with the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers, and he was productive. He was about a 2.0 WAR player while featuring an OPS of .850 and 29 home runs.