My thoughts may become more clear on this as the day goes by--and you are of course free to add yours--but the official site is reporting that the Astros plan to file that insurance claim on Bagwell by the January 31st deadline date.
It appears that all of us who'd hoped for a graceful end to the standoff are going to be disappointed.
Speaking of damaged first basemen, The Chronicle is reporting that Lance Berkman will have arthroscopic surgery Thursday.
The procedure, instigated to remove scar tissue that had developed since his November 2004 surgery to repair his blown-out anterior cruciate, should sideline Berkman 4 - 6 weeks.
Berkman has thus joined Barry Bonds in removing himself from the USA's World Baseball Classic team.
Six weeks might extend into the start of Spring Training, although the Chronicle story says that Berkman hopes to be ready for the first full workout February 24th.
Without sounding like too much of a pessimist, I will note that Berkman hoped to be ready for Opening Day in 2005, for all the good it did him.
Without placing blame at anyone's feet, I wonder at the timing here.