Lance Berkman will get a call from Houston Astros, Jeff Luhnow, for 2013

It's one of those odd occurrences that just misses being consequential enough to be an odd coincidence: The man responsible for bringing Lance Berkman and the Houston Astros back together for an American League reunion is general manager Jeff Luhnow, lately of his current employers the St. Louis Cardinals. Berkman sounded close to retirement over the summer, as his bad knees obliterated his second go-round with the Cardinals, but he's backed off the existential talk since the season ended.

The Houston Chronicle suggests talks are in the early stages--they might not even be talks yet--but the move certainly makes a lot of sense, and not just as a final go-round for a beloved team figure. In 97 plate appearances last year, with his knees rapidly failing him, he still hit .259/.381/.444, a line that would be well above-average for a platoon DH. And in 2011 he was one of the very best hitters in baseball.

Berkman can clearly still hit, and he's clearly still a fan-favorite everywhere he's ever been. If he can clearly walk come March, the Astros would be remiss if they didn't pursue something like this, much as I'd love to see Berkman slide in, say, to the Cardinals' TV color analyst chair...