After last month’s Kyle Tucker trade, the outfield is the biggest question for the Astros. Jake Meyers and Chas McCormick are lined up to start in center and right field, respectively. Meyers is a defensive stalwart without much offensive upside. McCormick has been a very good hitter in the past, but he’s coming off the worst season of his career.
Left field is completely open. While Yordan Alvarez could get a few starts there, the Astros want to use him mostly as a designated hitter. Former top prospect Taylor Trammell, who started one major league game last season, is Houston’s projected left fielder at RosterResource. Trammell is coming off a strong season in Triple-A, but he’s 27 years old and has a .167/.270/.368 batting line over 359 MLB plate appearances. If not Trammell, utility player Mauricio Dubón would probably get the majority of the playing time. Houston still expects to compete for an AL West title. They’ll need to add at least one outfielder before Opening Day.
General manager Dana Brown has acknowledged as much. Houston is looking for a left-handed hitter, in particular, potentially allowing them to spell McCormick or Meyers. The Astros project narrowly above the competitive balance tax threshold and don’t seem likely to make a play for Anthony Santander. If they’re dealing with a tighter budget, where could they look?
Free Agency
Jurickson Profar: Profar might be out of their financial comfort zone as well. As of last month, the switch-hitting left fielder was looking for a deal of at least three years. He’s the best non-Santander outfielder available in free agency. Profar has had an up-and-down career but is coming off by far his best season. He hit .280/.380/.459 with 24 homers behind massively improved exit velocities. He’ll turn 32 in February, but the Astros have made three-year free agent commitments to much older hitters (i.e. José Abreu and Christian Walker). Profar is an ideal fit on paper, but the money could be an issue.
Alex Verdugo: For most of his Red Sox tenure, Verdugo was a capable if mercurial everyday player. He hit .281/.338/.424 across four seasons in Boston. The Sox traded him to the Yankees, who stuck with him as their regular left fielder amidst the worst season of his career. Verdugo finished the year with a .233/.291/.356 slash across 621 plate appearances. Almost all the positives came in the first month of the season. Verdugo carried a .267/.358/.446 line into May. He hit .225/.275/.336 over his final 501 plate appearances. Verdugo doesn’t turn 29 until May, so he’s a plausible rebound candidate, but that’d be less risky for a fringe contender than it is for a true win-now team like Houston. He’s likely looking at a one-year pillow deal, probably for less than the $10MM that Max Kepler received from Philadelphia.
Jesse Winker: Outside of Profar, Winker probably has the best offensive profile of this group. He hit .258/.366/.422 with 13 homers in 404 plate appearances against righty pitching last season. He’s a career .276/.379/.462 hitter with the platoon advantage. Winker isn’t a huge threat against lefties, but he can hit right-handers. The big drawback is the defensive profile. He’s a poor defender in left field who should primarily be a designated hitter. The Astros would either need to have him divide left field work with Alvarez or play Winker there regularly if they want to keep their superstar DH off his feet. Maybe they feel the Crawford Boxes and limited left field to cover in Houston makes that worthwhile. Winker might be able to get two years but shouldn’t be all that expensive.
Jason Heyward: Heyward finished the 2024 season in Houston after being released by the Dodgers. He hit four homers in 24 regular season contests and started one of their Division Series games against the Tigers. While it was a fairly strong finish, Heyward had hit .208/.289/.393 across 197 plate appearances with Los Angeles. He’s at best a strong-side platoon option and might be a better fit for a bench role going into his age-35 season. He’d be available for one year and a base salary of a few million dollars.
David Peralta: Peralta has a similar profile to Heyward. He’s a former above-average regular who has settled into a platoon role in his late 30s. He’s coming off a nice season for the Padres, hitting .267/.335/.415 across 260 plate appearances. The Astros would probably prefer to bring Heyward back if they’re going this route, but Peralta had better numbers in 2024.
Trade Candidates
Jesús Sánchez: Outside of Sandy Alcántara and the dead money owed to released outfielder Avisaíl García, Sánchez projects as the highest-paid player on the Marlins. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $3.2MM salary in his second of four trips through arbitration. That’s hardly exorbitant, but Miami has shown a willingness to move virtually anyone amidst their full rebuild. Sánchez is a former top prospect who has settled in as a low-end regular in the big leagues. He’s coming off a .252/.313/.417 showing with 18 homers and 16 stolen bases — his second straight league average offensive performance. He’s a roughly average defender in either corner. The 27-year-old may not have the upside that many prospect evaluators had hoped, but he’d be an upgrade over Trammell.
Mike Yastrzemski: The Giants seemed likely to deal one of their arbitration-eligible players at the start of the offseason. Yastrzemski, who agreed to a $9.25MM salary in his final year of club control, seemed the most logical candidate. San Francisco has been quiet since pulling off the Willy Adames deal, however, so they might not be looking to shed payroll to open additional free agent pursuits. Yastrzmeski is coming off a .231/.302/.437 showing with 18 homers through 474 trips to the plate.
Willi Castro: Castro is a switch-hitting utility player who has more than 800 innings of left field experience. He has had a solid two-year run in Minnesota, hitting .251/.334/.395 in 1044 plate appearances. Castro was a nice find for the Twins’ front office, who inked him to a minor league deal after he’d been non-tendered by the Tigers. He’s in his final winter of arbitration and projected for a $6.2MM salary. Minnesota highly values his versatility and clubhouse presence, so they’re probably not keen on moving him. Yet the Twins are working with an extremely tight budget and have done nothing in free agency. Trading Castro would be one way to open a bit of payroll space.
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There are a few other trade candidates if Houston wanted to take a bigger swing. Players like Wilyer Abreu, Jake McCarthy and Alec Burleson could be available. They’d require a stronger prospect return than any of Sánchez, Yastrzmeski or Castro, however. That seems unlikely considering the Astros dealt Tucker because they wanted to add talent to a very thin farm system without giving up on the upcoming season.
Alex Verdugo
Seems like the logical choice but $10m? Maybe less with incentives?
Benintendi finished strong last season as a mainly cash considerations trade scenario, and Hou has had previous interest. 3yrs/49.3 left on deal.
Taking on 30mil (10aav) for age 30-32yo seasons and parting with token long shot prospect would do it. Low 8 figures doesn’t go far these days.
I don’t think anyone signs Verdugo. He’s proven to be a liability in LF and without the green monster turning flyball outs into a flurry of base hits he’s what..? a .230 hitter? If Bennintendi is available and can get his bat back up to the .260/.270 mark he’d be worth the risk because his fielding is decent. But he also left the Sox and couldn’t hit anymore.
Winker?
Verdugo’s a bum. No.
Dana Brown believes the answer – or at least one answer – is Jacob Melton.
I don’t know the one they traded was pretty darn good. Just saying
They knew they couldn’t resign him and got a nice return.
I don’t get why people don’t seem to get that. Getting a quality, proven MLB 3rd baseman and a high ceiling top prospect for a rental is a great deal.
Absolutely.
Keeping homegrown stars is even better. No reason they couldn’t resign him and I suppose they still could but the Astros should be in win-now mode with Yordan and Altuve I think. If I were an Astros fan I’d rather keep him and compete, the AL is wide open.
The AL is so wide open they can trade Tucker and compete at the same time
There is a reason they couldn’t re-sign him. He’s going for the bag and that’s not how they do business. If he gets HALF of what Soto got, it would be twice the largest contract the Astros have ever offered and more years. And Tucker is worth more than half of Soto.
If not being able to re-sign him was such a problem they wouldn’t have gotten any return at all.
That’s not a reason to trade for him. It’s a reason against trading for him. The Cubs could sign him in a year without trading for him first. Then they would have Tucker AND Paredes, Wesneski and Smith.
@Stone Cold If the Cubs are gonna have such an easy time signing Tucker why did they give up Smith, Paredes and Wesneski for him? If you are 100% certain you can sign a guy you wait out his free agency and keep your prospects/good controllable young players.
Carlos Beltran.
JJ Bleday
Maybe contact the cubs about tucker?
Mullins for Pressly?
That’s a pretty good trade though I doubt either team really wants to trade a final year player for another final year player. And the O’s outfield isn’t as deep as it was before they traded away Hays, Norby and Stowers. I doubt the O’s are yet comfortable with Cowser at CF full time.
The fact they are both final year is what makes it make sense, no?
But then the Orioles would need to go out and find another outfielder. They do not have an outfield logjam anymore like others are saying. I think it’s more likely they sign someone like Tanner Scott or trade minor leaguers for a power reliever with more than a year left than trade Mullins — unless they make a trade for or sign another strong outfielder.
Jeff McNeil for Pressly?
Presley seems to be worth more than either Mullins or McNeil so a prospect or two in my view should be added.
The Astros would need to add a prospect.
Given Pressly’s salary, the Astros would either have to add some cash or include a prospect in these proposed deals.
I was thinking mainly of McNeil whose $12.5M salary basically matches Pressly’s $14m. McNeil is so underwater based on his last two seasons whereas Pressly if meds show he’s ok is only a bit underwater given the value of pitching.
Pressley has a bad contract and is a bit more expensive than Mullins. Astros would be the ones who need to add a prospect if they aren’t going to eat any money.
I’ve contemplated this same deal. Orioles need leverage relievers, and they have a logjam in the outfield and Mullins looks like the odd man out. Astros may have to kick in a prospect to make up the salary difference but I think it would help both teams.
The Orioles definitely do not have a logjam in the outfield with Santander probably not coming back and Hays, Norby and Stowers gone. If they trade Mullins they only have Cowser, Kjerstad and O’Neill as possible fulltime outfielders — and all of them arguably platoon type players. Daz Cameron and Nick Gordon are just veteran minor league depth, and none of the young minor league outfielders (other than Kjerstad) are ready. They could platoon infielder Jorge Mateo with Cowser in CF, but Mateo is coming back from a bad injury. No telling how he’ll respond. They could try something radical like move Jackson Holliday to CF or Coby Mayo as a corner outfielder, but both would be brand new to the outfield. Even if they don’t trade Mullins they will probably need another OF as depth or a platoon option.
With the real logjam in the IF, (both Ryans at 1B, Jackson Holliday, Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, plus Ramón Urías and Emmanuel Rivera, I think Jorge Mateo is slated to be more of an OF this year. You hit the nail on the head there.
Either way, it doesn’t make sense to pay Mullins $9MM (projected) to be a part time player.
That’s the thing though – Mullins makes a pretty expensive 4th outfielder, especially for being the wrong end of the platoon advantage vs. Kjerstad and Cowser, not to mention Ryan O’Hearn. Plus there’s a decent selection of short-side-platoon 4th OF types available in free agency who would cost a good bit less than Mullins.
Mullins is not a 4th outfielder at all. He’s the starting CF, at least against righties. Cowser stays in LF unless the O’s trade Mullins. The only way Mullins is a 4th outfielder is if his hitting declines precipitously. The O’s do not want O’Hearn and Kjerstad starting in the same outfield. One of them will DH or play 1B against righties. Ideally, O’Hearn is never in the OF. Even against lefties Mullins might be the starting CF but that remains to be seen. Keep in mind also that one or more of O’Hearn/Mountcastle/Kjerstad/Mayo could be a trade chip for a starter.
Maybe but Mateo’s injury was horrendous. We’ll have to wait and see how well he has recovered and if he can transition to the outfield well.
Are you forgetting about O’Neill? I think the OF should be Kjerstad, Cowser, O’Neill. Heston needs to play every day at this point. Give him that shot. Cowser earned it. O’Neill obviously is every day. Mullins has more value to another team that has an everyday spot.
Well I certainly don’t think they signed O’Neil to be a short-side platoon guy. Him and Cowser will both be everyday starters. O’Hearn would start at DH against RHPs, that leaves Kjierstad or Mullins for the last spot, both of whom likely need a short-side platoon partner. To me, trading Mullins and replacing him by signing one of the many affordable veteran right handed free agent outfielders makes a lot more sense than keeping the current configuration.
Now if I’m the Astros front office and I don’t think we have a chance at extending Framber Valdez, that’s another trade we could definitely align on.
I doubt O’Neill plays every day. His splits against righties are weak. He’ll hit some righties but he’ll get pulled against others.
The didn’t give him a $50M deal not to be an everyday starter.
How high are you guys on Kjierstad? Orioles seem like a natural suitor for Framber Valdez if the Astros did shop him, and a package built around Kjierstad seems like the likely deal to me. I feel like it solves both our needs.
I’m not “high” on Kjerstad. I’m not low on him either. But I think it’s time for him to play every day. At least against RHP.
As far as using him as a trade chip… after 2025, Mullins (last season) and O’Neill (opt out) could both be gone. I think it makes sense to keep Kjerstad so that you know you have him and Cowser beyond this year.
I think the best trade chip the O’s have is Mayo. He’s blocked at 3B by Westburg. He’s blocked at 1B this year and maybe next by Mountcastle, and even then I don’t want Mayo just playing against LHP.
I think Mayo has the most value long term at the hot corner. Let’s trade him to a team that needs one and will value him in a trade.
Abreu is a solid enough player and with five years of team control remaining. Could be a good fit, more certain than a minor leaguer and with more control than most established players.
I would think the Red Sox would want pitching if they trade Abreu.
The Red Sox pitching is pretty well set at this point. They could use another ace reliever (who couldn’t?!?) but Buehler finished the rotation. They might need to go with a six man rotation if everybody is healthy.
I’m not sure what they would want for Abreu? The system is short on corner infielders, but they have a lot of middle infield and outfield depth. They could definitely use a catcher. And minor league starting pitchers are always useful.
The Astros acquired Cam Smith who projects as a 3B and drafted a catcher in the first round last year. The sox should be calling the astros about both of those players in a Abreu trade
Cam Smith might have more upside than Abreu, but he could also grow out of 3B, and hitting in AA doesn’t always translate to hitting in the majors. I’m thinking Smith is a bit more valuable, but there is some risk there as well.
Definitely believe the Red Sox could use Smith, perhaps even if he ends up at 1B.
The wild thing is they had Abreu. They traded him in 2022 along with Enmaneul Valdez for Christian Vazquez.
Sox want CONTROLABLE pitching
Was it the use of capitals that prompted the misspelling of controllable? 🙂
No, but John Henry refuses to go longer than 11 letters on a free agent over 30. That forces some compromises.
@Stone Cold so if the Royals offer Bobby Witt Jr. for Smith you are saying the Astros should say “No, we can’t do that! He was just the centerpiece of the deal trading away Kyle Tucker!” ????
Sox have controllable pitching especially if they lock up Crochet.
Stone cold: Teams flip prospects all the time that they acquire to help the major league roster is why. The Padres literally did the same thing with Drew Thorpe last year. What you should do is take your own advice before embarrassing yourself and typing in all caps.
you’ve had enough Stevewisers Stone Cold.
Ridiculous. The RS aren’t trading Abreu for Smith. Abreu just had a 3.4 bWAR rookie year.
I never said they would make that trade strait up Joe. I said it could be part of a larger package of players. I’m n0t in a rush to move Abreu either but the OF is crowded. I’d happily move Duran for a better return.
Lol what a coward Stone Cold is.
@acell10 You pretty much nailed it. The Astros will 100% trade Cam Smith if someone makes an offer for him that they feel is worth taking, even if he was “just the centerpiece of their deal trading away Kyle Tucker.” I do think it’s more likely they end up keeping Smith tho.
Duran needs a tennis racket.
Might be a difficult issue for a FO to overcome, knowing they traded Wilyer in a package for the ’22 Vazquez rental and would need to reacquire him at much higher cost.
Oh, good point. I didn’t even think of that aspect.
I was thinking the same thing. It’s a good fit, and Houston obviously liked Abreu at some point. But you have to eat a lot of crow to pay a big price for someone you kind of gave away.
The Astros won a World Series with Vazquez playing a role, so I think that crow would taste just fine.
Rings > Regrets.
Exactly. Vasquez absolutely earned his ring. (Just like Mancini did with his pick of Schwarber’s screamer to end the 8th in Gm5.) He caught the No Hitter in Gm4, and had some big RBI. I’ll take that deal 100% of the time.
screamer2244
The Astros won a World Series with Vazquez playing a role
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Vazquez had a – 0.1 bWAR in the regular season, and had 4 singles in 17 ABs in the playoffs. I think they’d have won without him.
Can’t know for sure. What we do know for sure is that they won with him, he caught the first ever World Series no hitter and had a huge RBI in the clincher.
I think the Rockies should think about swapping Nolan Jones. He had a sophomore slump year, but a lot of that could be attributed to an injury. Colorado has a LOT of outfielders on the way up and need to thin the herd. I don’t think it would require any type of major prospect, maybe just one of the Astros starting pitchers like Arrighetti.
They shouldnt trade arriggetti and jones hasnt peeformed at the majors at a level to warrant a big prospect.
Jones is a decent idea, but we’d probably have to stick an asterisk next to any Rockies player with a note that the front office doesn’t act nearly predictably enough to make trade projections worth the time
McCarthy is a beast…
Somehow McCarthy and Monty for one decent prospect?
The Astros only have one real prospect now.
Sterling marte for pressly
McNeil for Pressly?
Do you think Pressly would waive his 10/5 rights for NYM?
Dylan Carlson.
Yes on Jesus Sanchez and Winker. I would call Arizona about Alek Thomas too.
I like a trade for j sanchez. Has some upside and i think would be more successful outside of the marlins organization. Also like take taking a flyer on carlson, just dont know if he has the desired platoon split or not. While finding a lefty hitter is preferred, the outfield is weak enough that they shouldnt be closed off to righty bats either.
Call up the Bellevue boy Brantley and see if he wants to come out of retirement
Wilyer Abreu for Bryan Abreu.
Doesn’t matter. As long as it’s someone who can hear the trash can bangs.
What a cool comment. Thanks for the contribution.
Someone needs to replace Bregman’s production, bruh has a real talent drumming a can!
@screamer2244
I’m glad you enjoyed it. You can join my fan club along with Lindor’s Bodyguard.
Happy to join. The rent free tears are delicious.
Muted. Guilty of being repetitive and childish. Good riddance. One less idiot.
@Lindor’s Bodyguard
You won’t be missed.
I think they’ll bring back Heyward and see what Melton or another prospect can do
This is the most likely scenario imo. Dezenzo has reverse splits, .814 OPS against RH pitching w/ Houston and .893 at AAA. Melton will probably be called up at some point.
I’d like to see the Astros sign Verdugo to something in the vicinity of 6 years/$156M. Seems reasonable. Just give Verdugo the money they were willing to commit to Bregman.
It’s a really really good deal.
The fact that it’s an absolutely insane overpay on dollars and years and would create financial flexibility issues for the Astros, whom I have no respect for, but Verdugo, whom I like as a player, would get *PAID*, has absolutely no bearing on this deal proposal.
I don’t think its going to be a trade. Astros are short on prospects other than Cam Smith. Profar or Verdugo are much likelier suspects.
Adolis Garcia for Pressly, but hold it Adolis owns the Astros .
James Outman for Roki pool money
Great idea!
They should trade for Kyle Tucker. He would fit perfectly.
I got here too late lol, I came to say the same thing
Is he available? Asking for a friend
Melton has not shown he’s ready. I doubt that they will trade any of their top prospects for any of those players mentioned in the article.
Profar might be a fit but finding a trade partner to offload Pressly’s $14mil is the likely hold up. Of course they could try to tread water and see where they are at the trade deadline.
A Kyle Tucker’s a Kyle Tucker. But the mystery box could be anything. It could even be a Kyle Tucker. You know how much we’ve wanted one of those!
Or a boat!
Problem for the Astros is that none of those guys is worth the CBT draft and international signing pool penalties. Only Heyward might fit without unloading Pressley or Valdez. And really they need both a full time corner guy AND a strong side platoon guy. I’d be focused on trading Valdez for a high-end, MLB ready or established OF prospect, then using the savings to add one of the guys listed here plus re-signing Justin Verlander on a one year incentive based deal.
I would probably go with Peralta over Verdugo.
Maybe do a bad contract swap with the White Sox, say Pressly and cash in ’26-27 for Benintendi
Guessing Dumpster diving is not in the Astros DNA
Jon Singleton.
The Cardinals have other LH controllable OF beyond Burleson that wouldn’t cost the Astros a lot of talent. Siani & Scott II are the same player – light hitting platoon OF with elite speed and defense, Cards don’t need both of them.
Siani for Luis Baez maybe, gives Houston a 4OF/5OF and gives Cards another RH OF in the system?
Burleson should be put on 1B and left alone.
Profar wants three years but will be lucky to get two years. Last year was an outlier and he will not repeat that again…my guess is that he will end up with a 2 yr and 16-18 million total. Once the music stops and there are very few chairs left he will sign that and anything more is an overpay unless he is willing to defer some cash that pays him after his playing days are over.
Demand is greater than supply. Reds/Angels/Blue Jays and Astros are minimum 4 teams looking for OF help when there’s not much quality outside of resorting to trades. Profar is inconsistent, but he will benefit like other FAs doing quite well this offseason.
Call Boston they have a ton of lefthanded bats im sure there’s a trade that could work and Duran and Abreu value will probably never be as high as it is now they can’t keep them all with 2 top prospects on the way this yr or next
Houston should be in a win it all mode because the future looks bleak.
I mean players are not resigning with the team and the farm system will take three or more years to rebuild. Also, the owner generally is cheap and will only spend when they think there is a good chance to compete.
Houston is not like the Yankees where they try to win every year. I remember one season that you could get into the stadium with an empty can of Minute Maid to exchange for a ticket. That’s how bad it was.
Those days are going to come back. They made bad decisions on extending players and overpaying for players and with the owner Crane he will just buy time until the money falls off. Bad times are coming for this franchise.
Assume the contract and the Red Sox might give them Yoshida for a AA infielder.
Jurickson is the best of the bunch.
You can roll Meyers and McCormick together and still won’t get Profar. That’s how weak and pathetic our outfield is right now. JP is the answer.
Josh Red Dick?
Hit up the O’s for Cedric Mullins, Cade Povich, Jud Fabian, Max Wagner for Valdez & Pressly. Fair value trade?
All of Montgomery contract, Alek Thomas, Tommy Troy, and another prospect for Framber?