Non-tender candidates Houston might be interested in: C: Garrett Stubbs Reese McGuire OF: Gavin Lux Pavin Smith JJ Bleday Jake McCarthy Jack Suwinski Jake Fraley Trevor Larnach Nolan Jones MJ Melendez Sam Haggerty SP: Bailey Falter JP Sears Ken Waldichuk RP: Jason Adam Camilo Doval
Let's get McGuire and set up Big Dumper v Big Wanker for the division. https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-video-from-public-masturbation-case-released
Do you think we would take a shot at any of these guys? Or the Dodgers/Yankees as usual going to offer the world to them and defer it out 20 years?
Any of these two player combos are going to take the Astros from a 87 win team to a 95 win team? Of the pitchers, Michael King may be the one to get a large $$$ multiyear deal. King was primarily a starter the last two years, missing half of 2025 due to injuries. He posted a 4 WAR in 2024 which may be enough to get that big $$$ contract. If he gets multiple serious bidders, I do not see the Astros landing him. Hard to get excited about any of the other listed above FAs, especially the OFs. The Astros have Melton, Cole, Smith and Dezenzo, all of who should see time in the OF next season. One can hope that one of the four will breakout next season ... but none will if they spend the entire season in AAA or the Astros bench.
Hard truth is that the Astros don’t have enough money to buy what they really need to make the jump from 2nd tier team to 1st tier team, they just have enough money to go from a lesser 2nd tier team to a better 2nd tier team. I do think there’s quite a bit of upside to the current roster, especially offensively, between potential rebounds from their established players and potential breakouts from their younger players. The front office might agree, and that may be why their strategy is to clear as much payroll as possible and spend it all on pitching, while hoping that their offense improves internally. My hope is that the Urias/Dubon moves are a vote of confidence in Altuve and Brice Matthews, and a trade of Meyers and Sanchez would be a vote of confidence in Smith/Cole/Melton/Dezenzo. Either way I think they will bring in some form of lefthanded bat, if for nothing else just as a cheap veteran presence to raise the floor. The wild card in all this is a potential trade of Jeremy Pena. That is the one move they could make that if executed properly would fix both their short term and long term problems. But it would take a combination of another team stepping up with the right offer and Houston’s front office making the right evaluation.
Projected 2026 fwar vs career high fwar for each projected starting position player: Alvarez 5.0 / 6.4 (2022) Pena 3.8 / 5.7 (2025) Correa 3.6 / 6.3 (2021) Altuve 2.8 / 7.7 (2017) Diaz 2.5 / 3.0 (2024) Paredes 1.9 / 4.2 (2023) Walker 1.6 / 3.9 (2022, 2023) Meyers 1.3 / 2.3 (2025) Sanchez 1.2 / 1.6 (2024)
I don’t understand the Peña trade discussion. I honestly don’t get it and might be missing something. Who plays short? Correa isn’t a ss anymore. A game here and there. Sure. Peña just might be one of the most undervalued ss in the game. I might be wrong, but there’s no one in the system that makes sense. Having question marks at 2nd and SS. Yikes.
1. Pena is the most valuable trade asset the Astros have other than Hunter Brown. 2. Astros have many holes on the roster that they won't be able to fill in free agency because Crane won't spend beyond the luxury tax 3. You would need to get a SS back in a Pena trade. Examples would be Gimenez with the Blue Jays or Volpe with the Yankees.
The "Peña trade discussion" is about whether he would be willing to sign a *reasonable* 5-7 year deal with the Astros, or if he wants excessive years and/or money. I truly believe the Astros will make a fair market offer, but not an excessive one, and not one over seven years. If Jeremy and Scotty B. have already decided they want/need one of those options *and* are willing to gamble the CBA does not change, then it is in the Astros best interest to "pull a Tucker."
They aren't very confident in the Astros roster. Good news : their team projection has gone from 39.0 to 39.4 in the past 48 hrs. Bad news: that is 7th in the AL when they were 6th so someone ( Orioles) improved even more.
I know it's pie in the sky but I'd rather get Luhnow back and burn it all down, again. This plan has the hallmarks of languishing in mediocrity for a good while.
