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Astros Acquire Nick Robertson

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The Blue Jays announced that they have traded right-hander Nick Robertson, who was designated for assignment last week, to the Astros. In exchange, minor league righty Edinson Batista heads to the Jays. To open a 40-man spot for Robertson, the Astros transferred Cristian Javier to the 60-day injured list, per Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Rome adds that Robertson will report to Triple-A Sugar Land.

Robertson, 26, has a fairly limited major league track record. Over the past two years, he has thrown 35 2/3 innings for the Dodgers, Red Sox, Cardinals and Blue Jays. He has a 5.30 earned run average in that sample but his 24.8% strikeout rate and 6.8% walk rate are both a bit better than average, while his 42.2% ground ball rate is right around par.

His minor league work wasn’t great last year but was quite strong before that. From 2021 to 2023, he tossed 168 1/3 innings on the farm with a 3.80 ERA, 29.1% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate. But last year, he posted a 6.87 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate and 13.7% walk rate in 36 2/3 Triple-A innings.

His profile has been enough to garner interest from several clubs. He was flipped from Los Angeles to Boston in the July 2023 trade that sent Enrique Hernández to the Dodgers, then the Sox sent him to the Cards in the December 2023 deal that sent Tyler O’Neill to Fenway. St. Louis put him on waivers in September, with the Jays putting in a claim and holding him through the offseason. But they needed to open some 40-man spots as they set their Opening Day roster and bumped Robertson off.

Robertson still has an option season remaining, so the Astros can keep him in Sugar Land to see if he can put 2024 behind him. They had some 40-man roster spots to burn due to several injuries. Javier had Tommy John surgery in June of last year and won’t be an option until the second half of the season even in a best-case scenario.

Presumably, several clubs were interested in adding Robertson as some optionable depth, so the Astros had to part with a minor leaguer in order to jump the waiver queue. Batista, 23 in May, was an international signing out of the Dominican Republic. He hasn’t yet risen higher than the High-A level, showing some ability to get strikeouts and ground balls but also with control issues. Since the start of 2021, he has 277 1/3 innings pitched across various minor league levels with a 4.87 ERA, 23.9% strikeout rate and 11.4% walk rate. He has worked both out of the rotation and the bullpen.

In June of 2024, Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice of FanGraphs gave Batista an honorable mention on their list of the top prospects in the Astros’ system, describing him as “an advanced, athletic, undersized depth starter type.”

Photo courtesy of Jonathan Dyer, Imagn Images

Verlander: Astros Were Not “In A Place To Make An Offer” This Offseason

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Justin Verlander reportedly drew interest from several suitors over the offseason, but the Astros, his former team, were the only club known to have spoken with the three-time Cy Young winner before he signed a one-year, $15MM contract with the Giants. Yet, a new story from The Athletic’s Chandler Rome suggests a reunion between Verlander and Houston was never even close to a reality. Although the two sides kept in touch over the winter – Verlander told Rome he spoke with owner Jim Crane “a lot” and that they had “mutual interest” in a deal – the Astros did not make the veteran an offer.

According to Verlander, he continued his talks with Crane after the Giants made it clear they were interested in his services. At that point, however, Verlander says Crane told him that the Astros were not “even in a place to make an offer.” To some, this might not come as much of a surprise. After all, one could argue that the writing was on the wall for Verlander in Houston as soon as the Astros left him off their postseason roster last October. On the other hand, Verlander himself did not see it that way. He told Rome that he did not truly consider, at that time, the possibility that his final start with the Astros last season might be his final ever outing with the club.

The Astros paid the luxury tax for the first time in 2024. While Crane told reporters (including Rome) in November that the team had “the wherewithal” to continue spending at the same level in 2025, Houston ultimately ended up cutting payroll significantly. According to the estimates from RosterResource, the club’s payroll is $25MM lower right now than it was at the end of last season, while their luxury tax payroll is about $3.5MM below the first tax threshold. It’s not as if GM Dana Brown had no money to spend this past offseason; he signed Christian Walker to a three-year, $60MM deal. However, the Astros also let Alex Bregman walk and shaved payroll by trading Kyle Tucker. Meanwhile, Brown’s only notable addition to a starting rotation that certainly could have used some help was Hayden Wesneski, acquired in the Tucker trade. The 27-year-old right-hander comes with promise and former top prospect upside, but he has never started more than 11 games in a season. He is scheduled to make his Astros debut this evening against the Giants.

All that to say, it sure seems like the luxury tax was the primary obstacle that got in the way of a reunion between Verlander and the Astros. Rome’s reporting suggests the same. While neither Crane nor Brown ever explicitly stated that the team needed to get back below the first luxury tax threshold, Rome reports that the club operated as if that were the case.

So, was last season the end of the line for Verlander and the Astros? Not necessarily. There is clearly a strong relationship between the two. Crane’s Astros have traded for Verlander twice, extended him once, and re-signed him in free agency once. Meanwhile, Verlander told Rome he would “always entertain the idea of coming back” to Houston. With that said, he is now 42 years old, and it’s not far-fetched to wonder if this season could be his last. Then again, Verlander hasn’t given any indication that he’s thinking about retirement. Last fall, he told reporters (including Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle) that he felt like he still had “a lot more to give pitching-wise.” He showed as much in his first start of the 2025 season, giving the Giants five innings of two-run ball, striking out five, and walking just one. If Verlander is looking for a team again next winter, and the Astros are willing to spend a bit more cash, it would hardly be surprising to see the two linked once again.

Poll: Who Will Win The AL West?

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Opening Day has finally arrived, and teams all around the league are gearing up for another pennant chase in hopes of being crowned this year’s World Series champion. Of course, there’s still another seven months to go before someone raises the Commissioner’s Trophy. Until the playoffs begin, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. We’ll be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. That series has already covered the National League, with the Dodgers, Cubs, and Phillies each coming out on top in their respective divisions. Now, the series moved on to the American League with a look at the AL West. Teams are listed in order of their 2024 record.

Houston Astros (88-73)

The only club to make the playoffs from the AL West last year, the Astros enter the 2025 season on the heels of a postseason that snapped their nearly decade-long run of trips to the ALCS. After a winter where the team parted ways with longtime franchise stalwarts such as Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, Justin Verlander, and Ryan Pressly, the team is looking very different than it has in previous years. There’s some clear signs of weakness, most notably the fact that the club’s outfield depth is thin enough that their starters in the outfield corners are two infielders: longtime second baseman Jose Altuve has moved to left, while top third base prospect Cam Smith is patrolling right field with just five games of experience outside of A-ball.

Flawed as the club’s roster may be, there’s still plenty to like about the Astros in 2025. Christian Walker is an upgrade at first base and Isaac Paredes is an All-Star caliber hitter who should benefit greatly from the Crawford Boxes as he steps into the third base job vacated by Bregman. Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown have a chance to form a strong front-of-the-rotation duo, while few teams boast a pair of arms better than Josh Hader and Bryan Abreu at the back of their bullpen. Whether that will be enough to maintain a stranglehold over the AL West in 2025 even after this winter’s departures remains to be seen, however.

Seattle Mariners (85-77)

2025 ended in soul-crushing fashion for Mariners fans as they missed the playoffs by just one game for the second consecutive season. The club’s offseason was similarly disappointing as well; despite rumors of trades that would’ve sent players like Triston Casas, Nico Hoerner, and Alec Bohm to the Pacific Northwest making their way through the rumor mill this winter, the club was content to simply re-sign Jorge Polanco and bring in veteran infielder Donovan Solano to augment a lineup that was in the bottom ten for runs scored last year.

Fortunately, there’s still some reason for optimism headed into 2025. The club’s elite rotation remains in place, and a quintet of Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryan Woo, Bryce Miller, and Luis Castillo should still give them an excellent chance to win on any given day, particularly with a strong bullpen that features fireballers like Andres Munoz and Matt Brash on the back end. A big year from Julio Rodriguez would go a long way to correcting last season’s offensive woes, but even if Rodriguez starts out slowly again in 2025 he’ll have support from a full season of deadline addition Randy Arozarena, who posted strong numbers down the stretch after being acquired from the Rays last summer. Will that be enough to get the club their first division title since 2001?

Texas Rangers (78-84)

When looking at clubs that finished below .500 in 2024, there’s arguably no team with more helium entering the 2025 campaign than the Rangers. The 2023 champs didn’t have the most explosive offseason, but nonetheless enter the season with an overhauled bullpen highlighted by Chris Martin and Robert Garcia as well as a pair of solid additions to the lineup in Joc Pederson and Jake Burger. The upside a healthy season from Jacob deGrom could offer the rotation is impossible to overstate, and the middle infield tandem of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien once again figures to be among the best in the sport.

If there’s a flaw in the club’s present construction, it’s a heavy reliance on youth. The club’s vaunted Vanderbilt duo of Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker are supremely talented and were always expected to be a big part of the team in 2025, but leaning on both youngsters as members of the Opening Day rotation is a tall ask given the pair’s inconsistency and inexperience at the major league level and highlights the lack of reliability in the club’s rotation outside of Nathan Eovaldi. In the lineup, meanwhile, Wyatt Langford appears to be as good as bet as any sophomore player can be to have a big year, but both he and Evan Carter struggled to stay healthy in 2024. Will those youngsters be able to carry the Rangers back to the playoffs?

Athletics (69-93)

West Sacramento’s temporary baseball team showed signs of life for the first time in a while during their final months in Oakland, even ending the season with a solid 32-32 record after the All-Star break. After departing Oakland, the club aggressively attempted to improve this winter. They signed right-hander Luis Severino and traded for southpaw Jeffrey Springs to bolster the rotation while adding Gio Urshela to the lineup and Jose Leclerc to the bullpen. That group of additions join a solid core featuring Lawrence Butler, Brent Rooker, Mason Miller, and Shea Langeliers.

As solid as that collection of talent is, however, the A’s will need a lot more to go right in order to compete this year. Steps forward from homegrown arms like JP Sears and Joey Estes would go a long way, as would former and current top prospects in the lineup like Tyler Soderstrom, Max Muncy, and Jacob Wilson breaking out and playing up to their ceilings. It’s certainly not impossible to imagine most of that happening. And if it did, the team surprising and making it back to the postseason for the first time since they tore down their core from the late 2010s should be on the table.

Los Angeles Angels (63-99)

Anaheim’s first year post-Shohei Ohtani could hardly have gone worse. Franchise face Mike Trout played just 29 games last year, and very few things went right for the club as they narrowly avoided a 100-loss season. That didn’t stop them from making an effort to improve this offseason, however. The club added Jorge Soler to the lineup for a stable source of power, with Yoan Moncada, Travis d’Arnaud, and Tim Anderson filling out the bench. Meanwhile, Yusei Kikuchi, Kyle Hendricks, and Kenley Jansen were added to the pitching staff to deepen the rotation and bring a proper closer into the bullpen.

Kikuchi, Soler, and Jansen are all solid pieces, but the club will need more than those ancillary additions to bounce back from a dreadful 2024 campaign. Trout putting together his first fully healthy season in half a decade would go a long way, and the club’s decision to shift him to right field could help in that goal. Outside of that, the club will need its young position players like Nolan Schanuel, Zach Neto, and Logan O’Hoppe to step up and put together big seasons if it has any hope of catching up to the top dogs in the AL West.

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Just two seasons after the top three AL West clubs finished within a game of each other in 2023, that same trio appear set to jockey for the top spot in the division once again. After years of being the prohibitive favorite on paper, the Astros look more vulnerable than ever. Will their offseason additions be enough to keep them on top, or will the Mariners’ impressive rotation or the Rangers’ infusion of young talent be enough to finally overtake Houston? Or, perhaps, you think the Athletics or Angels will surprise with their respective collections of offseason additions and talented youngsters. Have your say in the poll below:

Astros Notes: Bregman, McCullers, Garcia, Walker

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Astros owner Jim Crane spoke to reporters (including The Athletic’s Chandler Rome) about a handful of topics today, most notably the club’s pursuit of a reunion with longtime third baseman Alex Bregman this winter. Bregman received a widely-reported offer of $156MM of six years from the Astros early in the winter, and Crane indicates that original offer was not altered at any point during Bregman’s free agency. Bregman, of course, went on to sign a three-year deal with the Red Sox that guarantees him $120MM and affords him the opportunity to opt out after the 2025 and ’26 seasons, though deferred money in that contract brings the net present value down to the $90MM range.

Crane’s comments notably conflict with a report back in February that indicated Houston had upped its offer to Bregman from that initial 6/156 figure. As Spring Training approached with Bregman still on the market, there were signals that the sides had resumed discussions as the club toyed with the idea of moving Jose Altuve to left field and Isaac Paredes to second base in order to bring Bregman back into the fold. While Altuve has moved to left field, Paredes remains entrenched at third in the aftermath of Bregman moving on to the Red Sox. After Bregman landed in Boston, the Astros pivoted towards Brendan Rodgers, who will share time with Mauricio Dubon at the keystone this year, to round out their infield mix.

More from Houston…

  • Rome also reports that right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. will make a start for Triple-A Sugar Land on Sunday. It’s a big milestone for the 31-year-old, as he hasn’t thrown in an official game at the major or minor league level since the 2022 World Series after undergoing flexor surgery back in 2023. That layoff of more than two years could come to an end fairly soon if the righty can avoid additional setbacks, as he’s tentatively expected to return in about a month and has to this point been kept off of the 60-day injured list.
  • News regarding the club’s other injured starter, Luis Garcia, is less positive but still at least somewhat encouraging. Manager Joe Espada told reporters (including MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart) that the first opinion Garcia received on his right elbow was “decent news,” though that hasn’t stopped Garcia and the Astros from seeking a second opinion on the matter before deciding on a course of action. The right-hander was shut down last week after he began feeling discomfort in his elbow again while nearing the end of his rehab following Tommy John surgery back in 2023. While it’s unclear how much longer the 28-year-old figures to be out of action, that Espada showed any signs of encouragement would at least suggest that the righty has not yet been recommended for Tommy John surgery, which would wipe out his 2025 season and likely much of the 2026 campaign as well.
  • Rounding out the news with a positive update, first baseman Christian Walker is reportedly “full go” to start the season after dealing with some oblique soreness in the final weeks of Spring Training. As Walker himself told Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle and other reporters, Walker’s oblique issue “wasn’t too aggressive to begin with” and that he’s facing zero limitations as the season begins. Walker was the biggest acquisition of the club’s offseason, signed to a three-year, $60MM deal to replace the lackluster combination of Jose Abreu and Jon Singleton at first base this year for Houston.

Astros Designate Cooper Hummel For Assignment

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The Astros have designated catcher/infielder/outfielder Cooper Hummel for assignment and placed righty J.P. France on the 60-day injured list as he recovers from last summer’s shoulder surgery. That pair of moves opens two additional spots on a 40-man roster that already had two vacancies. The four openings will go to righty Rafael Montero, lefty Steven Okert, second baseman Brendan Rodgers and top prospect Cam Smith, all of whom have been selected to the 40-man roster and are on the Opening Day club.

Houston also placed outfielders Pedro Leon and Taylor Trammell on the 10-day injured list due to a knee strain and calf strain, respectively. Right-handers Shawn Dubin, Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, Lance McCullers Jr., Kaleb Ort and Forrest Whitley have all been placed on the 15-day IL.

The Astros had telegraphed all these moves. They’d already announced that Montero, Okert, Smith and Rodgers were making the team. Houston had previously informed Hummel that he would not break camp. Since he’s out of options, that made a DFA or waiver placement inevitable. France, who’ll be out into at least July rehabbing last year’s shoulder procedure, was an obvious 60-day IL candidate to open the final roster spot.

Houston claimed Hummel off waivers from the Giants last spring. They outrighted him off the 40-man roster a couple weeks later but reselected his contract in June when they released José Abreu. He spent most of the season in Triple-A, exhausting his final option season in the process. Hummel went 0-8 with a pair of strikeouts in his big league work. He had a solid year in Triple-A, hitting .277/.419/.454 with a massive 17.9% walk rate through 442 plate appearances.

The Astros will have five days to trade Hummel or place him on waivers. He’s not viewed as a regular behind the plate, but he can catch on occasion while playing first base or the corner outfield. His patient plate approach has translated to a .285/.419/.480 career slash in Triple-A. He owns just a .159/.255/.275 line with a 31.9% strikeout rate over 82 major league games.

Trammell, Whitley, Ort and Dubin are all out of options themselves. Their Spring Training injuries delay the Astros’ need to make a decision on any of them, as they’ll begin the year on the major league IL. Ort has the best chance of holding a roster spot once he returns after pitching to a 2.55 ERA with a 28% strikeout rate last season.

Astros’ Luis Garcia Going For Second Opinion On Elbow

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The Astros shut down Luis Garcia last week after the righty experienced renewed soreness in his elbow. The team hasn’t provided much in the way of specifics since then, but manager Joe Espada told the beat on Tuesday that Garcia was going for a second opinion (relayed by Matt Kawahara of The Houston Chronicle).

Garcia underwent Tommy John surgery in May 2023. He hasn’t pitched in a major league game since then. Garcia was targeting a second-half return last season, which would have aligned with the standard TJS rehab timetable. They pulled back after he experienced elbow soreness. That theoretically allowed them to slow-play his recovery as he targeted a 2025 return.

The 28-year-old was going to begin this season on the injured list, but he’d been on a throwing program this spring. They shut that down last week after the latest bout of elbow discomfort. Espada didn’t say whether surgery was again a possibility. Any mention of a second opinion tends to be alarming, though it doesn’t guarantee Garcia sustained a significant injury. In any case, he’s unlikely to pitch anytime soon, since the Astros will presumably exercise caution given his recent history.

Houston will open the season with a starting five of Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Spencer Arrighetti, Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski. Garcia joins Lance McCullers Jr., Cristian Javier and J.P. France on the injured list. McCullers could return within the first few weeks, but he hasn’t pitched in an MLB game since the 2022 World Series because of repeated setbacks of his own.

Ryan Gusto and Colton Gordon, neither of whom have pitched in the majors, project as the top depth arms on the 40-man roster. Gordon is beginning the season with Triple-A Sugar Land. The 26-year-old Gusto will break camp and work in long relief, the Astros announced earlier this week. He’ll be in line for his major league debut after working 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball this spring (albeit with seven walks).

Gusto actually received his first MLB call last September. The Astros tabbed him to start their final regular season game after clinching the AL West. They didn’t want to burn one of their playoff starters for what was a meaningless game, and they would’ve needed to add Gusto to the 40-man roster that offseason to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. Unfortunately for Gusto, the game was canceled by rain, delaying his big league debut by a few months.

Astros To Select Brendan Rodgers

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March 26: Rodgers’ contract contains a $2MM base salary plus another $300K of incentives tied to plate appearances, Ari Alexander of KPRC-2 reports. Rodgers would receive $50K bonuses for reaching each of 200, 250, 300, 350, 400 and 450 plate appearances.

March 25: The Astros will select Brendan Rodgers onto the major league roster, manager Joe Espada told reporters (including Matt Kawahara of The Houston Chronicle). The former Rockies second baseman breaks camp after signing a minor league deal last month.

Rodgers didn’t exactly force his way into the picture with a huge Spring Training. He hit .233 without a home run over 44 plate appearances. Still, it was surprising that he needed to settle for a minor league deal in the first place. Rodgers is a former third overall pick who spent four seasons as Colorado’s primary second baseman. He has never lived up to the top prospect billing, but he’s been a better than replacement level performer.

The 28-year-old hit .267/.314/.407 with 13 homers across 539 plate appearances last season. Like many Colorado hitters, he had extreme home/road splits. Rodgers hit .328/.396/.502 at Coors Field and .214/.247/.323 away from Denver. The thin air in Colorado can flatten pitchers’ breaking stuff, which causes trouble for a lot of Rockies hitters as they try to adjust to sharper stuff when on the road. The Astros will hope for some positive regression in Rodgers’ road production to compensate for the expected drop-off in his numbers at home.

Rodgers won a Gold Glove at second base in 2022. Public metrics have painted that as an outlier season; he has graded as a middling defender by Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast in every other year. Rodgers hasn’t played anywhere other than the keystone since 2021. That’ll limit his versatility as a bench piece.

Houston will use Jose Altuve primarily in left field. While Mauricio Dubón is technically the starting second baseman, he’s capable of playing essentially anywhere. Rodgers could draw into the lineup at second on days when Espada wants to move Dubón around to rest someone else. As a player with more than five years of service, Rodgers cannot be sent to the minors without his consent.

The Astros have two openings on their 40-man roster at the moment. They’ll add Rodgers, Cam Smith, Rafael Montero and Steven Okert by Opening Day. They’ve already informed the out-of-options Cooper Hummel that he won’t make the team. He’ll be designated for assignment or waived. They can easily open the final spot by transferring an injured pitcher (e.g. J.P. France, Cristian Javier) to the 60-day injured list.

Cam Smith To Make Astros’ Roster

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Prospect Cam Smith is going to make the Astros’ Opening Day roster as their right fielder, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The youngster isn’t yet on the 40-man roster and they will need a spot for him, as well as Rafael Montero and Steven Okert. They have two openings already and several candidates for the 60-day injured list, meaning they shouldn’t have trouble finding room for all those guys.

It’s been an incredible whirlwind for Smith, who was a student at Florida State a year ago. In July, the Cubs selected him with the 14th overall pick in the draft and signed him to a $5,070,700 bonus. The Cubs put the young third baseman to work right away, getting him into 15 Single-A games, 12 at High-A and five at Double-A. He walked in 11.2% of his plate appearances and was only struck out at a 17.9% clip. He launched seven home runs in 134 plate appearances and had a combined .313/.396/.609 batting line.

That made him one of the top prospects in baseball going into 2025. The Cubs went into the winter with a loaded farm system but a big league roster that had struggled to push beyond the mushy middle, finishing at 83-79 in each of the past two years. They were looking for a big splash and the Astros were reportedly open to moving Kyle Tucker. He’s a tremendous player but was slated for free agency after 2025, with Houston seemingly having no hope of getting an extension done. The Astros also had a preference to avoid the competitive balance tax this year.

The Cubs, as mentioned, had a very strong farm system. That included a couple of infield guys who were viewed as ahead of Smith. Matt Shaw and Owen Caissie are both on many top 100 prospect lists and each of them reached the Triple-A level in 2024.

All those stars aligned to make the trade happen. The Astros sent Tucker to Wrigley in exchange for third baseman Isaac Paredes, pitcher Hayden Wesneski and Smith. From the Cubs’ perspective, they were giving up a lot in the long term in order to make a big upgrade in 2025. Smith, as a prospect, was obviously a long play. Paredes still had three years of club control and would be an affordable replacement for Bregman at third base. Wesneski, with five years of club control, gave the club some affordable rotation depth.

Arguably, the Astros were making themselves worse in the short term, in order to save some money and come out ahead in the long run. Bregman and Tucker were two big losses. Parades could make up for some of Bregman’s production but likely not all. The outfield looked clearly worse on paper when compared to last year, especially with Yordan Alvarez slated to spend more time as the designated hitter. But beyond 2025, they weren’t going to have Tucker anyway. Now they would have Paredes, Wesneski and Smith’s contributions.

The short-term picture has changed a lot since camp opened. Smith put up a massive line of .342/.419/.711 in Grapefruit League action. As he started building those impressive numbers, there were whispers that the club wanted to get him work in right field, with Paredes blocking Smith’s natural third base position. It seems he has impressed the decision-makers enough to get the Opening Day nod, despite his very limited professional track record of just 32 professional games, none at the Triple-A level.

The outfield picture also changed in another way. Jose Altuve, who has been Houston’s second baseman for over a decade, is now going to be the left fielder. His glovework at the keystone was never great but has declined significantly as he has pushed into his mid-30s.

Overall, it’s a fascinating gambit for the Astros. Moving Alvarez out of left field makes sense, given all the health scares he has had over the years. Trading Tucker was also risky in its own way. Now they seem likely to feature a regular outfield mix of Jake Meyers in center, flanked by Altuve and Smith. Meyers hasn’t hit much in his career but is a strong defender. That glovework figures to be important, as he’ll be flanked by two converted infielders with no real experience on the grass.

The Altuve/Smith combo seems to have a good chance of outhitting a corner mix of Ben Gamel and Chas McCormick, which seemed like a possible Opening Day alignment as recently as a few weeks ago. Then again, even the best prospects often struggle when first promoted to the majors, so there are no guarantees Smith will immediately flourish. Still, it’s understandable bet on a higher ceiling.

If Smith does thrive, that would obviously help the club in 2025 but it could also benefit the Astros in another way. The current collective bargaining agreement added measures to discourage service time manipulation. One of those prospect promotion incentives is that clubs can receive an extra draft pick just after the first round under certain conditions. If a player is on two of the three top 100 lists from Baseball America, ESPN or MLB.com, they are PPI eligible if their club promotes them early enough in the season to earn a full service year. If such a player wins Rookie of the Year or finish top three in MVP or Cy Young voting in their pre-arbitration years, the club earns an extra pick. Smith is ranked 55th overall at BA, 73rd at ESPN and 59th at MLB.com and is therefore eligible.

Turning to a few other roster decisions for the Astros, Zach Dezenzo will get a bench spot but Cooper Hummel will not, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. Hummel is out of options, so he should be designated for assignment or traded in the coming days.

Hummel has an awful .159/.255/.275 batting line in the majors but has been much better in the minors and has interesting defensive versatility. He has a .285/.419/.480 line over the past four minor league seasons and hit .316/.435/.447 in camp this year. Defensively, he’s an option at all four corner spots. He didn’t play behind the plate in 2024 but did in previous seasons. That could make him attractive to other clubs but he cleared waivers in April of 2024 when he still had an option remaining.

One final bench spot will come down to Brendan Rodgers or Zack Short, manager Joe Espada tells Rome. Both players were signed to minor league deals, so that will be another 40-man spot the team will need to open. But as mentioned, they have lots of 60-day IL candidates and should be fine there.

Images courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

Astros Release Jon Singleton

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First baseman Jon Singleton has cleared waivers and will be released by the Astros, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. He has actually already been officially released, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. It had been reported yesterday that Singleton would not be making the club’s Opening Day roster. Since he’s out of options, that meant his removal from the roster was inevitable.

Singleton served as the Astros’ primary first baseman in 2024 after the team released Jose Abreu. He delivered roughly league-average offense, by measure of wRC+, batting .234/.321/.386 with 13 homers. His defense and baserunning both drew negative grades, however, and he followed with a tepid .171/.239/.195 performance in 46 plate appearances this spring.

Houston signed Christian Walker to a three-year, $60MM contract this offseason, installing him as the new everyday first baseman. With Yordan Alvarez locked into the Astros’ DH spot, Singleton’s only real path to a roster spot was as a left-handed bench bat. He’s been outperformed at the plate by Cooper Hummel, however, a switch-hitter with far more defensive utility. Hummel has experience at first base, behind the plate and in the outfield corners. It’s not a lock that Hummel will make the roster, but he’s out of minor league options, which could give him an edge.

Now that Singleton has been released, he’ll be free to explore opportunities with other clubs. He might need to take a minor league deal, but a club seeking a lefty bat and/or depth at first base could take a look in the days ahead.

Montero, Okert Will Make Astros’ Roster; Singleton Will Not

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Veteran right-hander Rafael Montero has made the Astros’ Opening Day roster, reports Ari Alexander of Houston’s KPRC-2. Lefty Steven Okert has also made the cut, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. Righty Luis Contreras has also made the club, per Alexander. Lefty Bryan King will also break camp, while non-roster righty Logan VanWey will head to Triple-A. McTaggart adds that first baseman Jon Singleton has been informed that he will not make the team. Both Montero and Okert were non-roster invitees in camp, meaning both will need to be selected to the 40-man roster.

Yesterday’s release of Ben Gamel opened one vacancy on the 40-man for the Astros, and it seems another will be created by designating Singleton for assignment, trading him or releasing him. Singleton is on the 40-man roster but out of minor league options, so one way or another he’ll be coming off between now and Opening Day. If he goes unclaimed on waivers, he could potentially remain with the organization by accepting an outright assignment — but he’d also have the right to reject that assignment in favor of free agency.

Montero, 34, is in the final season of an ill-fated three-year, $34.5MM deal signed when the Astros were operating without a general manager in place. Owner Jim Crane and advisor Jeff Bagwell were reported to be running baseball operations at the time, having parted ways with James Click following the 2022 season. That period produced regrettable agreements with both Montero and the since-released Jose Abreu, to whom the ’Stros still owe $19.5MM this season.

Montero’s deal quickly blew up in similar fashion to that of Abreu. He pitched to a 5.08 ERA in 2023, allowing an average of 1.47 homers per nine frames along the way, and was tagged for a 4.70 mark in 38 1/3 innings in 2024, proving even more homer-prone that season. Houston passed Montero through waivers last summer, and he opted to accept a minor league assignment despite the fact that he could’ve elected free agency and retained his entire salary.

The hard-throwing Montero will now return to Houston’s bullpen, at least for the start of the season. He allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits and seven walks with 10 strikeouts in 8 2/3 spring innings. Statistically speaking, Montero didn’t have the best spring of Astros NRIs (particularly with regard to that 18.4% walk rate), but the Astros are paying him $11.5MM regardless, so they’ll try to recoup some value and hope he can trend closer to his outstanding 2022 form.

Okert, 33, is another story entirely. He signed a minor league deal back in November and promptly gave the ’Stros no choice but to carry him on the roster. In 11 spring frames, Okert held opponents scoreless. The veteran southpaw allowed only four baserunners — two hits, two walks — and fanned 17 of the 36 batters he faced (47.2%). His minor league deal carries a $1.2MM base salary.

Okert was a productive reliever with the Marlins in 2022-23 but struggled through 35 1/3 innings with the Twins in 2024. His lone season in Minnesota resulted in a 5.09 ERA with a 20.6% strikeout rate (second-lowest of his career) and 10% walk rate. On top of a diminished strikeout rate and shaky command, Okert yielded a career-high 1.53 HR/9.

The 28-year-old Contreras, like Okert, made it hard for the Astros to leave him off the roster. He’s already on the 40-man and could’ve been optioned, but he rattled off 9 2/3 shutout frames during camp, fanning 32.5% of his opponents. His 10% walk rate could stand to come down, but if Contreras can continue to miss bats at that level, he could get by with a higher-than average rate of dishing out free passes. He made his big league debut for Houston last year but was tagged for six runs in six innings. His strong spring will earn him another look, though.

As for Singleton, this wave of decisions will cost him his 40-man roster spot. The former top prospect returned to the Astros in 2023 after a brief appearance with the Brewers. That MLB comeback came on the heels of an eight-year absence. He wound up serving as Houston’s primary first baseman in 2024, after the club cut Abreu. Singleton hit .234/.321/.386 and popped 13 home runs but struggled with the glove and on the basepaths. He hit just .171/.239/.195 in 46 spring plate appearances. Those struggles, plus the offseason signing of Christian Walker to play first base, left Singleton with a tough path to the roster and a limited role if he’d made it.

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