Outside the Confines: Winter is here

It’s now the offseason, so it’s the time of the men in suits rather than uniforms. But first, we have some fallout from the Astros World Series title.

• Hannah Keyser asks and tries to answer “What is the secret to the Astros’ enduring success?”
• Ben Lindbergh writes that even though the Astros have become baseball’s arch-villains, you’ve got to hand it to the Astros as deserving World Series champions.
• Zach Kram disagrees with his The Ringer colleague and thinks this World Series title will be overshadowed by the 2017 cheating scandal.
• The one person that almost everyone does seem to be happy for is Astros manager Dusty Baker. Bob Nightengale tells of how Baker’s many friends in the game share in his joy.
• One person close to him also shared in his joy. Twenty years after he was almost killed in the World Series, Darren Baker was on hand in Houston to share the moment with his father. And no, Darren Baker does not remember being pulled out of the way by J.T. Snow in the 2002 World Series.
• Jay Jaffe looks back at Baker’s long career now that induction into Cooperstown is now all-but-guaranteed.
• The Astros have called a press conference today to announce that Dusty Baker will return as manager for 2023.
• Astros general manager James Click has not signed a deal to remain in his job but he says he’s “optimistic” that a deal will get done. Most observers expected owner Jim Crane to fire Click before the team won the World Series.
• Stephanie Apstein thinks that Crane might as well wear his World Series ring on his middle finger for the way he’s treating Baker and Click in contract extension talks. Baker accepted the low-ball one-year offer anyway. Click is still negotiating.
• After all that, Will Leitch lists the eight teams that most need to win a World Series title soon.
• Christmas comes in the winter, so that means it’s time for good little general managers to make their free agent holiday lists. Ben Clemens has his Top 50 free agents.
• R.J. Anderson has his list of the Top 50 free agents.
• Zach Crizer ranks his top free agents.
• Anthony Castrovince has nine teams that will define the offseason. The Cubs are on the list.
• Usually the General Manager Meetings, which started on Monday, feature a lot of talk and very little action. Mark Feinsand looks at what they might be talking about.
• Evan Drellich discussed how the rules changes for 2023 might affect the offseason deals. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Angels GM Perry Minasian said that the team will not trade Shohei Ohtani this winter. Which he’ll say until someone blows him away with an offer.
• R.J. Anderson has four reasons why the Angels won’t trade Ohtani.
• The Mets re-signed closer Edwin Díaz to a five-year. $102 million deal, a record for a closer. Dan Szymborski analyzes the deal and thinks Díaz should stay good for the duration of the contract.
• Keith Law, on the other hand, thinks it was a terrible deal for the Mets, just like almost every long-term deal for a closer has been. (The Athletic sub. req.) Mariano Rivera is the exception here.
• While Díaz re-signed with the Mets, free agents Jacob deGrom and Brandon Nimmo intend to test the free agent market. The Mets want to re-sign both of them.
• Grant Brisbee weighs the pros and cons of the Giants signing free agent Aaron Judge. (The Athletic sub. req.) He ends up in the “pro” camp.
• Japanese batting champion Masataka Yoshida is expected to be posted by the Orix Buffalo. He hit .335 with 21 home runs and a .447 on-base percentage for the Japan Series Champions this past season.
• Athletics catcher Sean Murphy is going to be the topic of a lot of trade talk this winter, writes Martín Gallegos.
• Jim Callis ranks this year’s rookie class by their expected future value.
• Esteban Rivera ranks the five catchers with the strongest arms.
• David Schoenfield goes back and grades his “bold” predictions from the pre-season. (ESPN+ sub. req.) On his prediction that Nick Madrigal would hit .336 with zero home runs, he says at least he got the zero home runs right.
• The first draft lottery will be held on December 6.
• Sean Keeley asks six sports journalists “What happens to sports media if Twitter dies?” This is a question I’ve been asking myself lately.
• And finally, agents make videos to market their free agents to teams all the time. But CAA outdid themselves with this video. Not only did they release the video to the public, they hired actor, fictional ad-man and real-life Cardinals fan Jon Hamm to narrate the video promoting free agent shortstop Trea Turner.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.