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22 Players Elect Free Agency

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Now that the season is over, we’ll start seeing several players choose to become minor league free agents.  Major League free agents (i.e. players with six-plus years of big league service time) will hit the open market five days after the end of the World Series, but eligible minor leaguers can already start electing free agency.

To qualify, these players must have been all outrighted off their team’s 40-man rosters during the 2025 season without being added back.  These players also must have multiple career outrights on their resume, and/or at least three years of Major League service time.

We’ll offer periodic updates over the coming weeks about many other players hitting the market in this fashion.  These free agent decisions are all listed on the official MLB.com or MILB.com transactions pages, for further reference.

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Infielders

Outfielders

Utility Players

Pitchers

Astros Notes: Brown, Espada, Rotation, Caratini, Hader

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The Astros’ streak of consecutive postseason appearances ended in 2025. A poor second half, highlighted by a late sweep at the hands of the eventual division-champion Mariners (in Houston, no less), left the ’Stros on the outside looking in for the first time since 2016. Despite a disappointing finish to the season, it doesn’t seem like major changes are coming to the organization’s leadership. Speaking to reporters at a season-end press conference, general manager Dana Brown suggested both he and manager Joe Espada would return in 2026.

Brown declined to definitively comment on his own status, stating only: “I’m the GM of the Astros, and that’s what I would expect to be tomorrow, the next day and the next day” (audio link to the full 27-minute press conference, courtesy of SportsTalk 790). On Espada, he provided a clearer answer, stating: “Joe is the manager. Joe is under contract [for 2026].”

Any change up top would be at least somewhat surprising. Brown was hired as general manager in Jan. 2023 and has only had three full seasons and two full offseasons at his current post. Espada was elevated to the manager post for the 2024 season, following Dusty Baker’s retirement. While we’ve seen occasional instances of executives and managers having leashes that short, most are provided a lengthier runway after coming aboard with a new organization.

It’s possible there’ll be some changes further down the ladder. Brown vowed Sunday to conduct a “full assessment” and to “think about the entire operation.” Changes in the coaching staff and/or on the player development front haven’t decisively been ruled out. “The season ended 48 hours ago,” said Espada. “We are trying to have conversations and see how we’re going to move forward. That’s where we’re at right now.”

With regard to the roster itself, there’ll be clear turnover. Framber Valdez and Victor Caratini are free agents. Houston has a massive class of 14 arbitration-eligible players. Mauricio Dubon, Bryan Abreu, Ramon Urias, Luis Garcia, Steven Okert and Isaac Paredes are all eligible for the third time this winter (Paredes as a Super Two player who’ll be eligible once more after the ’26 season). Jesus Sanchez, Jeremy Pena, Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers are all eligible for the second time. Hunter Brown, Yainer Diaz, Bennett Sousa and Hayden Wesneski are eligible for the first time.

Not everyone from that group will return, of course. Garcia suffered another significant elbow injury late in the 2025 season. Urias and Sanchez struggled badly after being acquired at the trade deadline. McCormick tallied just 116 plate appearances and turned in his second consecutive poor year at the plate.

Possible non-tender/trade candidates aside, the most consequential departure will be Valdez — a rock in the Houston rotation since 2020. The Astros won’t outright close the door on a reunion, but Valdez figures to command the type of long-term contract that the Astros have reserved for position players only under Jim Crane’s ownership. Houston hasn’t gone beyond $95MM guaranteed to any pitcher under Crane, and that was to reliever Josh Hader. Lance McCullers Jr.’s ill-fated five-year, $85MM extension is the largest pact Crane has given to a starting pitcher.

“I think it’s going to be headed up with [Hunter] Brown,” the GM said when asked about his rotation. “We’re going to have some conversations, like we’ve had in the past, with Valdez. We’ve got some young guys. We’re going to see what they can do, and we’re going to have some other guys coming back off the IL.”

Both Brown and Espada praised the work Cristian Javier did in his return from Tommy John surgery and spoke of him as an important piece of the 2026 rotation. Righty AJ Blubaugh was also mentioned as a potential factor on next year’s staff. McCullers drew praise for making it back to the field after an arduous rehab process spanning more than two years, but Brown suggested only that McCullers will compete for a job in camp next year. The GM also suggested he’ll be on the hunt for additional starting pitching: “We’re going to probably be in the market to trade for an arm.”

Again, nothing within Brown’s comments expressly rules out the return of Valdez, but specifically calling out the possibility of addressing the rotation via trade is notable. Houston already has a bit more than $159MM on the 2026 books, per RosterResource, and that’s before accounting for any of the arbitration class. Their 2025 payroll finished at just under $225MM.

In addition to the rotation, catching help will be a priority. Brown noted that the Astros “definitely” have interest in bringing Caratini back after a successful run in Houston. The switch-hitting 32-year-old signed a two-year, $12MM deal prior to the 2024 season and wound up appearing in 201 games over his two seasons, slashing .263/.329/.406 in 660 turns at the plate.

“If you don’t bring him back, you definitely need a backup catcher,” said Brown. ” He’s been one of the best backup catchers in the league. … He’s going to be a free agent, so if he decides to go somewhere else, we have to be in the market for a backup — but we definitely have interest in talking to him.”

It’s a thin class of catchers in free agency this winter, with Caratini, 35-year-old J.T. Realmuto and Danny Jansen standing as the most notable names on the free agent market. The Astros don’t need a starter behind the plate. Yainer Diaz, 27, was terrific in 2023-24, hitting .293/.318/.478 with 39 homers in 996 plate appearances. He slipped in ’25, batting “only” .256/.284/.417 with 20 homers, but that’s plenty productive for a catcher. He figures to see a significant portion of the workload behind the plate again in 2026, regardless of who stands as the other half of the catching tandem.

Given the thin supply of backstops and Caratini’s success with the Astros, it’s possible catching-needy clubs could offer Caratini more playing time than Houston. That’d leave Brown and his staff searching for help behind the plate, as he alluded to; Cesar Salazar, who’ll turn 30 next March, is the only other catcher on Houston’s 40-man roster and turned in a tepid .213/.353/.353 batting line in Triple-A this season.

One other notable storyline for Astros fans to track this winter will be the progress of Hader, whose season ended in mid-August due to a capsule injury in his shoulder. Brown revealed that the team has “consistently” had imaging performed on Hader’s shoulder and that the closer is feeling better and appears to be “moving in the right direction.” Hader, however, has yet to resume throwing, and the Astros won’t have a clear picture on his timetable for a return until he takes that step and they can gauge how his shoulder responds. It’s not yet clear when Hader might pick up a ball.

GM Dana Brown: Astros To Take “Full Assessment” Of Organization After Playoff Miss

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For the first time since 2016, the Astros won’t be part of baseball’s postseason.  Houston was officially eliminated from wild card contention yesterday, ending an eight-year run for the club that included two World Series titles, four AL pennants, and seven AL West crowns (plus, since it can’t be overlooked, the infamous sign-stealing scandal).  The Astros won their season finale today to finish with a respectable 87-75 record, but a 3-6 record over their last nine games left Houston short of the playoffs.

The franchise doesn’t appear to be taking this near-miss lying down, as general manager Dana Brown told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and other reporters.  The Astros are planning “a complete look at all of our operations,” with Brown saying “we’ll have a full assessment of what we’re doing in this offseason, and so we’ll take a look and really think about the entire operation.”

While teams routinely take stock in what they’re doing after every season, it will be particularly interesting to see how the Astros respond after their eight-year stretch of October success has been interrupted.  This is the same franchise that parted ways with former GM James Click immediately after the 2022 World Series win, so owner Jim Crane is certainly no stranger to shake-ups even when things are seemingly going well.

Perhaps the most inevitable question is the fate of manager Joe Espada.  Brown stated that Espada is “under contract” for at least 2026, providing some clarity on Espada’s status since the terms of his deal weren’t made public when Espada succeeded Dusty Baker following the 2023 campaign.

Brown stopped short of confirming Espada’s return, but said “as far as I’m concerned, Joe worked hard through this season….I haven’t sat down and gone through it yet, but from my initial thought process, Joe did a good job.  He battled through all of the injuries and pressed a lot of the right buttons.”

Espada has a 175-148 record over his two years as Houston’s manager.  The 2024 season saw the Astros win the AL West again, but their streak of seven consecutive ALCS appearances was ended when the Tigers pulled the upset and swept Houston in two games in the wild card round.  With that early exit now followed by a playoff miss altogether, it might not be a shock if Crane decided a change was needed in the dugout, even if Espada’s overall record is quite solid.

Moving beyond the manager’s office, it isn’t out of the question that Brown himself could be feeling the heat.  Crane is considered to be more hands-on than most owners in baseball operations decisions, and senior advisor and ex-Astros great Jeff Bagwell is known to have an influential voice within the organization.

Houston’s health woes were brought up multiple times by Brown, and it is hard to argue that even an average amount of injury luck would’ve greatly improved the Astros’ season.  As it turned out, almost every player on the roster missed at least some time, and the Astros finished the year with a whopping 15 players on the IL.  The pitching staff was particularly hit hard, and the position-player mix was finally depleted to the point of no return when Jeremy Pena and Yordan Alvarez were sidelined in late September.  In Alvarez’s case, his ankle sprain came after he’d already missed close to four months recovering from a finger fracture.

“Losing Yordan and Peña for those last three series is what I really feel like hurt us,” Brown said, and the health issues as a whole were his “biggest frustration” with the 2025 campaign.  “There’s no magic bullet.  There’s nothing to point to to say, ’Oh, we got these many injuries because of this.’  We had freak accidents that happened.  There’s been multiple reasons why we had a lot of injuries.”

It could be that the Astros will view their health problems as a reason to hold off on wholesale changes this winter, if there’s a sense that fewer injuries will just naturally mean better results next year.  However, some of those injuries (i.e. multiple pitchers who underwent UCL-related surgeries) will linger into 2026 or even beyond, and there’s also the natural concern over how well the veteran core can continue to hold up.  Returning to the pitching, longtime staff stalwart Framber Valdez is heading for free agency, so that represents another rotation hole and a lot of innings that will need to be filled if Valdez isn’t retained.

AL Notes: Naylor, Chisholm Jr., Altuve, Cowser

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Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor was removed from Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Dodgers due to groin tightness, according to Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. Manager Dan Wilson described the move as precautionary, which is quite a relief for M’s fans as they gear up for the postseason. Naylor has been one of the team’s best hitters since being acquired from the Diamondbacks in July, batting .299/.341/.490 triple in 54 games with his new club. He has also been a positive on defense, posting five Defensive Runs Saved and three Outs Above Average at first base.

It makes sense for Seattle to play it safe with Naylor’s health. The team has already clinched the No. 2 playoff seed in the American League, which gives them a first-round bye through the Wild Card Series. Their first game is set for Saturday, October 4, against either the Guardians or the Tigers. With a week off until then, the club wants to make sure Naylor is at full strength for what will hopefully be a deep postseason run.

Some more notes from around the Junior Circuit…

  • Initial x-rays on Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. were negative, and he is set to undergo a CT scan as well, according to Erik Boland of Newsday. Chisholm was removed from yesterday’s 6-1 victory over the Orioles after being hit by a pitch in the fifth inning. The 27-year-old is having a great year for New York, posting a .243/.333/.482 triple slash that rates as 27% better than league average by wRC+ while continuing to provide good defense at the keystone. Heading into their final regular season game, the Yankees are tied with the Blue Jays for first place in the AL East, although they have clinched a postseason spot regardless. With that in mind, the club may give Chisholm the day off to rest up before a potential Wild Card Series on Tuesday.
  • Astros second baseman Jose Altuve told Chandler Rome of the Athletic that his right foot injury “is pretty painful,” adding that he “had no choice but to go out there and play.” Houston had been fighting for the last AL Wild Card spot recently, but with the Guardians defeating the Rangers 3-2 yesterday, the Astros were eliminated from postseason contention. Altuve has hit .265/.329/.442 in his age-35 season, good for a 113 wRC+, but his defense has graded out poorly. In addition to 66 games at the keystone with -8 DRS, he has also spent significant time in left field, earning -10 DRS in 47 games there. According to Rome, Altuve will meet with doctors to discuss his next steps, though it is unclear if surgery is on the table.
  • Orioles outfielder Colton Cowser played through two broken ribs which he incurred back in June, according to Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner. The 25-year-old previously missed time due to a thumb fracture as well as a concussion. Regarding this additional injury, he explained that even though he felt good enough to play, he was “still trying to find [his] way back” performance-wise. In 91 games this year, Cowser has batted just .198/.272/.390 with an 85 wRC+, with the injuries undoubtedly affecting his performance. Baltimore is out of postseason contention, so Cowser will look toward the offseason to get back to full strength in order to help his team in 2026.

Astros Place Jake Meyers On Injured List, Designate Nick Hernandez

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The Astros are placing center fielder Jake Meyers on the 10-day injured list, relays Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Rookie infielder Brice Matthews was recalled to take his spot on the active roster. Meyers is dealing with right calf soreness. Houston also reinstated Lance McCullers Jr. from the 15-day IL and designated Nick Hernandez for assignment to open a spot in the bullpen.

Meyers’ injury is the latest hit to a Houston team whose playoff hopes are on life support. The Tigers beat the Red Sox this afternoon to clinch a playoff spot. The Astros are down to one path to October. They need to win their final two games in Anaheim and count on the Rangers to beat the Guardians twice in Cleveland. They may already know their fate by the time tonight’s game opens at 8:38 pm Central. Cleveland’s game is already underway, and they’re tied 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth at the time of this writing.

If the Astros find a way to sneak into the playoffs, they’d need to play at least the first round without their starting center fielder. Meyers wouldn’t be eligible to return until Game 2 of the Division Series. It’s the second calf-related IL stint of the season for the right-handed hitter. Meyers strained the same muscle before the All-Star Break and didn’t return to the big league club until September 6.

Meyers has had arguably the best season of his career when he’s been healthy. He’ll finish the regular season with a .292/.354/.373 batting line with three homers and 16 stolen bases in 104 games. Meyers has been a fantastic defensive outfielder throughout his career. He hadn’t been much of an offensive threat over his first three-plus seasons. This year’s average and on-base percentage are easily personal highs.

Houston has now lost three regulars within the past two weeks. Yordan Alvarez sprained his ankle and won’t be back this weekend. Jeremy Peña hasn’t played in a week due to an oblique strain. He’s out of the lineup again tonight. Zach Cole replaces Meyers in center field, drawing Taylor Trammell into the lineup in left. Mauricio Dubón is in at shortstop for Peña.

McCullers is back from a minimal IL stay related to hand soreness. The former All-Star starter has been relegated to the bullpen and owns a 6.71 ERA over 52 1/3 innings around a trio of injured list stints. His return comes at Hernandez’s expense. Houston did not need to create a 40-man roster spot but had already optioned Hernandez five times over the course of the season. That’s the maximum under the terms of the 2022 collective bargaining agreement, so the Astros will need to run him through waivers to send him down again.

Houston acquired Hernandez in a minor league trade with the Padres last June. They called him up a day later and have used him as an up-and-down reliever since then. The 30-year-old righty has pitched 10 times this season. He has allowed six runs in 10 2/3 innings, striking out 11 while issuing eight walks. He pitched well during his various Triple-A stints, turning in a 2.12 earned run average while striking out a third of opponents across 46 2/3 innings.

Hernandez has below-average velocity. His fastball averages around 91 MPH and he leans equally heavily on a low-80s slider. It’s not eye-popping stuff, but he has gotten swinging strikes on more than 13% of his offerings at the big league level. Triple-A hitters whiffed more than 16% of the time. That could be enough for a team to grab him off waivers. While Houston maxed out their five options within a season, Hernandez has one option year remaining after this one. A claiming team could send him back to Triple-A next season if they’re willing to keep him on the 40-man roster all winter.

Yordan Alvarez Won’t Return During Regular Season

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Friday marked the first day Yordan Alvarez was eligible to be activated off the Astros’ 10-day injured list, but manager Joe Espada instead closed the door on Alvarez’s participation in the team’s final series.  Espada told the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters that Alvarez will remain on the IL for the remainder of the regular season, though it is still possible Alvarez could return for the playoffs if Houston makes the bracket.

Should the Astros sneak into the postseason, the first game of their Wild Card Series is set for Tuesday.  That would seemingly still allow little time for Alvarez to be game-ready, as he hadn’t yet started any hitting or running drills as of late Wednesday.  Espada indicated that Alvarez was showing improvement since Wednesday but “as much as he’s [progressed] the last two or three days, I just don’t think that it would be the best for him to be able to come here and play.  We’re just not there.”

Alvarez suffered a left ankle sprain on September 15 while scoring a run in the Astros’ 6-3 win over the Rangers.  There was immediate concern that the injury could be season-ending, though Alvarez raised some hope last weekend about the potential of returning for this closing series with the Angels.  Given the import of these final two games, it is safe to assume that Alvarez would be playing if he was at all physically able, as his absence creates yet another problem for the struggling Astros.

A 1-6 record in their last seven games has pushed Houston under the playoff line, as the Astros are a game behind the Tigers for the final AL wild card slot.  Houston loses tiebreakers to both Detroit and Cleveland, so the Astros will need to win both of their remaining two games and hope that at least one of the Tigers or Guardians lose both their remaining games in order for Houston to reach the playoffs.

Between this ankle sprain and a hand injury that was eventually revealed as a finger fracture, Alvarez played in only 48 games this season.  After missing the better part of four months on the IL, Alvarez hit well after returning to action in late August, and brought his season numbers up to .273/.367/.430 and six homers over 199 plate appearances.  This 118 wRC+ is respectable, yet a far cry from the spectacular 166 wRC+ Alvarez posted across his first six Major League seasons.

Alvarez’s injury was one of many notable absences faced by the Astros this year, and yet it wasn’t until this past week that the club finally seemed to wilt from such an overloaded IL.  To add another setback, Jake Meyers was a late scratch from Friday’s game due to right calf soreness, costing Houston another regular in a 4-3 loss to the Angels.

Jeremy Pena Dealing With Oblique Strain

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Imaging has revealed a left oblique strain for Jeremy Pena, the shortstop told reporters on Thursday. Chandler Rome of The Athletic was among those to relay the update. Pena had been out of the lineup for the past four games. He was initially in Sunday’s starting nine before being scratched due to the injury. Houston was swept at home by Seattle and has dropped the first two games of the series against the Athletics.

Just a few days after GM Dana Brown said Pena’s oblique injury “could be just a two-day thing,” Pena is now facing what could be an extended absence. While no roster move has been made regarding Pena, oblique injury timelines are typically measured in weeks, not days. It’s the second time this season that Pena has dealt with a left side issue, as he missed 27 games with a broken left rib.

It’s brutal news for a Houston team that just lost Yordan Alvarez to an ankle sprain. The Astros ceded their spot atop the AL West over the weekend and are now in danger of missing the postseason altogether. They entered Thursday’s action one game behind the Tigers for the final AL Wild Card spot. Given that the season is hanging by a thread, perhaps there would be some temptation to put Pena out there even when he’s not 100%. However, they are also doing that with Isaac Paredes, who was rushed back from a hamstring injury and is using the designated hitter spot at the moment.

The oblique injury could cut short a breakout 2025 campaign for Pena. The 28-year-old posted a healthy 135 wRC+ while slashing .304/.363/.477. He matched a career high with 20 steals. Pena’s 17 home runs fell short of the 22 he hit as a rookie, but he exceeded his total from 2024 in 107 fewer plate appearances. It was quite the bounce-back season after Pena put up below league-average offensive numbers the past two seasons. He equaled his career-best strikeout rate from 2024 at 17.1%, while pushing his hard-hit rate up over 40% for the first time, per Statcast. Pena was able to combine the improved plate discipline from 2024 with the power he showed in his debut MLB season, turning him into one of Houston’s most potent offensive threats.

The Astros have turned to Mauricio Dubon at shortstop for three of the four games without Pena. Carlos Correa slid over from third base to cover the spot on Wednesday. He certainly has plenty of experience playing up the middle for Houston. The versatile Ramon Urias is also an option at shortstop, though he hasn’t appeared in a big-league game at the position since 2022. It’s hard to imagine any of the potential replacements matching Pena’s offensive prowess, but Dubon is at least a viable defensive fit. While Pena had an excellent defensive season, ranking seventh among shortstops in Outs Above Average, Dubon is actually eighth on that list.

MLBTR Podcast: The Tigers And Astros Try To Hang On, And Brewers’ Rotation Issues

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Why do people keep suggesting the Cardinals trade Brendan Donovan? (30:25)
  • Who will the Phillies re-sign out of their impending free agents? (41:00)
  • What was the revenue sharing for each club last year? (48:00)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol, Imagn Images

Astros’ Luis Garcia Will Miss 2026 Season Due To Elbow Surgery

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Astros right-hander Luis Garcia will have some sort of elbow surgery and miss the entire 2026 season. Manager Joe Espada relayed the info to reporters, including Chandler Rome of The Athletic.

It’s a devastating blow for Garcia, who has already had a rough go of it in recent years. He has hardly pitched at all since the 2022 season. He made just six starts in 2023 before requiring Tommy John surgery. His attempts to return to the mound in 2024 repeatedly hit setbacks and he ended up missing that entire season.

He still wasn’t healthy to begin 2025 and he repeatedly hit more setbacks. He finally made it off the injured list in September. His first big league start in over two years went quite well, as he allowed three runs over six innings against the Angels. But in his second start, he didn’t make it out of the second frame. Facing the Blue Jays in Toronto, he called for the trainers and quickly departed. He was then placed on the 15-day IL due to elbow discomfort. He was transferred to the 60-day IL a few days later.

Given all the stops and starts of the past few years, it’s not especially surprising that something is amiss. Espada didn’t provide any specifics about what kind of surgery Garcia will require, but the fact that the procedure will wipe out his 2026 points to another ulnar collateral ligament operation. More details will likely be revealed after the procedure takes place.

The big question now is what’s over the horizon. By the time the 2026 campaign is done, Garcia will have essentially missed four seasons. Even if he does eventually get back to something resembling full health, there will be natural workload concerns after so much missed time.

Garcia is currently in his second arbitration season. He made $1.875MM both last year and this year. He can be retained via arbitration for 2026 but he’ll be non-tendered now that he’s going to miss the entire season.

Once he becomes a free agent, it’s possible that some club will sign him to a two-year deal. Such pacts are common for players rehabbing from notable surgeries. With such arrangements, the player get to bank some money while rehabbing. The signing team knows it won’t get anything in the first year of the deal but hopes that the investment pays off in the second season. Garcia does have a decent track record in the big leagues, with a 3.60 earned run average in 359 2/3 innings, but the exhausting extent of his recent time in the wilderness will surely make clubs hesitant to put money on him.

For the Astros, they already knew they weren’t getting anything out of Garcia this year, given that he was quickly put on the 60-day IL a few weeks ago. They probably didn’t have too much hope for him in 2026 but he’s now officially ruled out of next year’s plans as well.

They are about to lose Framber Valdez to free agency, so their on-paper 2026 rotation consists of Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier, with guys like Jason Alexander, Colton Gordon, AJ Blubaugh, J.P. France and others potentially in the mix. Spencer Arrighetti should have a spot if he’s healthy, though he is currently gathering opinions on his elbow. Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter each required Tommy John surgery and will be sidelined into next year.

Photo courtesy of Erik Williams, Imagn Images

Astros’ Brandon Walter Undergoes UCL Surgery

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Astros southpaw Brandon Walter underwent UCL reconstruction surgery yesterday, the team informed reporters (including Chandler Rome of The Athletic). Meanwhile, Ari Alexander reports that southpaw John Rooney had a procedure to remove bone spurs and address tennis elbow.

Houston had announced a couple weeks back that both pitchers were going under the knife. They didn’t provide specifics at the time beyond calling each a season-ending elbow procedure. The news is obviously much worse for Walter, who’ll miss all of next season. Rooney’s surgery is less significant and it doesn’t seem out of the question that he’ll be available for Spring Training.

Walter, 29, had proven a nice pickup on a minor league deal last August. Houston selected his contract at the end of May. Walter picked up nine starts for an injury-riddled rotation. He tossed a quality start in six of those outings, working to a 3.35 earned run average across 53 2/3 innings overall. The former Red Sox prospect punched out a quarter of batters faced against a pristine 1.9% walk rate. Walter overcame pedestrian velocity to get chases and whiffs at slightly above-average rates.

Unfortunately, the injury bug struck again for the 29-year-old. Walter missed the entire 2024 season after suffering a rotator cuff injury while pitching in minor league camp with Boston. That led the Red Sox to release him, paving the way for him to land in Houston. Walter probably showed enough for the Astros to keep him on the 40-man roster throughout the upcoming offseason. They’d be able to place him back on the 60-day injured list at the beginning of Spring Training.

Rooney may have a tougher time sticking on the roster. He was on a minor league deal with the Marlins when Houston acquired him at the beginning of August. Rooney came up for his big league debut in late August. He tossed 1 1/3 innings of one-run ball before suffering the season-ending injury. The 28-year-old reliever combined for a 2.56 ERA over 38 2/3 Triple-A frames this year.

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