I don’t think they could trade Walker without paying 10m of his contract and adding a good prospect. According on the prospect, I would do it in a heartbeat. I think having Paredes, Pena, Correa and more money for FA is preferable than marching out Walker, Pena, Correa, and floating Paredes all over the place and having less money for upgrading our pitching.
I will be surprised if Houston doesn’t trade an infielder. Whether that’s a salary dump of Walker or a Kyle Tucker-style trade of Paredes or Pena, I think they’ll do something. They are just feeling out the market.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/lets-scout-the-players-coming-over-from-asia/ This Oct post in fangraphs lists him as a bullpen arm option. It notes he has shaky command and stamina but could be a late inning option. “Weiss looked really nasty in late 2025 when he came out of the bullpen in the playoffs.”
His wife is very fond of NY. We will see what happens. Framber has done some dumb things. Then again Dylan Cease is a moron too… so IDK.
One thing sounds pretty locked and that Framber is going to get a larger payday somewhere else. I think the odds of the Astros re-signing him is less than 10%. He has a few mental breakups in some past years, but has been one of the most reliable starters in the league over the last five years. He is going to get a large bag of money.
I think this team needs both Walker and Paredes. Walker has had oblique injuries 2 seasons in a row. Paredes had(has) a massive hamstring injury last year Yordan missed over 100 games last year Tucker missed over 80 games in 2024 Altuve missed 70+ games in 2023 Brantley missed nearly 100 games in 2022 Alex missed 70 games in 2021 Yordan only played 2 games in 2020 There is always an unexpected injury and nobody plays 162 games anymore even if they aren't hurt. 1B: Walker 132 g / Paredes 30 g 3B: Correa 118 g / Paredes 44 g SS: Pena 140 g / Correa 22 g DH: Yordan 96 g / Paredes 66 g LF: Yordan 44 g And that's just starts. There are PH opportunities too Even if nobody gets hurt there is playing time over 162 games.
I don’t think he is coming back - it would take Crane deciding he really wants him or his market crashing and I just don’t see that happening.
They can find playing time - especially with the Astros planning to give Altuve, Yordan, Pena and Correa more off days. Having said that, if someone will take Walker and the Astros only have to eat 5 million this year and 5 million next- I would consider moving him. The Astros have options.
Framber has to get hurt soon… otherwise he’s a unicorn and worth probably more than what he’s going to get.
IMO Framber is gone due to the prospect of having to pay Brown and Peña in the next couple of seasons and the Astros not wanting to pay the luxury tax.
They aren’t paying Pena and they aren’t paying Brown. They will let them go. Both are going to command big dollars. The Astros go to is the older guy on a shorter deal.
Framber is gone because Crane doesn't give out 6 year contracts Hunter and Pena are as good as gone after 2028 and 2027 respectively. Both wanted extensions and Dana was unable to get either done. Now its too late.
It seems like a lot of people don’t understand the Astros MO and their limitations. Jim Crane isn’t going to consistently operate the Astros at a loss and he’s not going to continually incur the penalties for going over the CBT, regardless of his personal wealth or how much equity he has in the franchise. He will occasionally go over the CBT when he thinks it makes sense, but he’s instituted an arbitrary but reasonable maximum contract length of 6 years that he’s willing to offer. And he has (and will likely continue) run payrolls consistent with the Astros market size and TV deal and they have been consistently in the top 5-8 teams in baseball. The Astros are a 2nd tier franchise in terms of financial resources; they’ve operated that way and it’s not reasonable to expect them to do otherwise. Whatever shortcomings the Astros have, it’s not due to Crane’s greed or unwillingness to spend money. The reasons that the Astros did not field a playoff team last season include: -The natural competitive cycle for a 2nd tier team. The Astros achieved greatness by tanking and compiling a cheap young core of players and accumulating prospects they used to trade for additional good players. As their core became expensive and old and they had fewer resources (drafting later, losing draft picks, trading away prospects) to acquire new cheap stars, they have had to try and fill in the holes with lower tier free agents, crafty trades, and lesser prospects; up until 2025, that seemed to be working. -Bad contracts. The Astros have 5 contracts on their books that are underwater (Walker for $40M/2yrs, McCullers for $18M/1yr, Javier for $43M/2yrs, and Altuve for $95M/4yrs) that will cost them $93M in 2026. A 2nd tier franchise cannot afford to have near $100M spent on players who project to combine for ~6 fwar. -Bad luck with injuries and underperformance. 2025 just wasn’t the Astros’ year. The Astros aren’t going to be able to keep Pena or Brown when they reach free agency. Altuve, Alvarez, Hader, and Correa will be in age related decline when their current contracts run out. If they don’t have 3-4 guys currently in their organization who become star level players, they will almost certainly not be contenders after ~2028.
If there was ever a pitcher we should give a long-term contract to it’’s Brown. His throwing motion is identical to Verlander’s and will be very durable compared to other aces. We need several of our young position players to really perform so we can jettison enough money to sign Brown to big money. If you gave me a choice on who to hand out an 8 year contract to any pitcher in the league, Brown would be second only to Skenes.
