December 11th: Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that Weiss’s club option for 2027 is worth $5M with a $500K buyout.
December 9th: The Astros have now officially announced their signing of Weiss. The opened two roster spots last week by outrighting Taylor Trammell and Logan VanWey. Their 40-man count is now at 39.
December 2nd: The Astros have reportedly agreed to a major league deal with right-hander Ryan Weiss, who has been pitching in Korea lately. Weiss is guaranteed $2.6MM and there’s a club option for 2027. The Sports One Athlete Management client could potentially earn $10MM over the course of the pact. The Astros have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to make this official.
It’s a bit of an early birthday present for Weiss, who turns 29 next Wednesday. A fourth-round draft pick of the Diamondbacks back in 2018, he showed enough promise as a minor leaguer that the Snakes added him to their 40-man in November of 2021 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft. He had just tossed 78 1/3 minor league innings in that 2021 season with a 4.60 earned run average and 9.5% walk rate but his 27% strikeout rate was quite good.
He struggled in the minors in 2022 and was placed on waivers, with the Royals placing a claim. Kansas City then passed him through waivers unclaimed in October of 2022. The Royals then released him in May of 2023. At that point, Weiss had tossed 76 1/3 innings on the farm, dating back to the start of 2022. In that time, he allowed 6.96 earned runs per nine.
That release kicked off a nomadic period for Weiss. He then landed with the High Point Rockers of the independent Atlantic League. After a few months there, with a 4.61 ERA, he signed with the Fubon Guardians of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League. He had a decent 2.32 ERA there, though in just 31 innings. He started 2024 back with the Rockers, posting a 4.61 ERA over nine starts.
In June of 2024, he signed with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization. It was with that club that he seemed to unlock a new gear. In 2024, he gave the Eagles 16 starts with a 3.73 ERA, 25.5% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 48.2% ground ball rate. He returned to the Eagles in 2025 and took the ball 30 more times. He logged 178 2/3 innings with a 2.87 ERA, 28.6% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 48.5% ground ball rate.
Weiss then pitched in relief for the Eagles in the playoffs but the Astros plan to utilize him as a starter. Houston has plenty of uncertainty in their rotation mix. They just lost Framber Valdez to free agency. Luis Garcia required another Tommy John surgery late in 2025 and has been jettisoned from the roster. Hayden Wesneski, Ronel Blanco and Brandon Walter also had TJS in 2025 and are slated to begin next year on the injured list.
That left the Astros going into 2026 with Hunter Brown and a heap of question marks behind him. Cristian Javier will be in the mix but he had a 4.62 ERA in 2025 after returning from his own lengthy surgery layoff. Lance McCullers Jr. has had all kind of injury troubles and put up a 6.51 ERA this year. Spencer Arrighetti was good in 2024 but spent most of 2025 on the IL and only made seven starts. Jason Alexander had some passable results this year but he’s a journeyman depth guy who’s about to turn 33. J.P. France spent most of 2025 recovering from shoulder surgery. Colton Gordon and AJ Blubaugh are on the 40-man but lacking in experience.
Upgrading the rotation for 2026 makes plenty of sense but it appears the club doesn’t have a ton of spending capacity. Reportedly, owner Jim Crane would prefer to avoid the competitive balance tax in 2026. RosterResource projects them for a $218MM CBT number next year. That’s more than $20MM below next year’s $244MM base threshold but the club also has other needs to address this winter. Trading someone like Christian Walker or Jake Meyers might free up some extra space but it’s somewhat tight for now.
So far, their rotation additions have been of the low-cost wild card variety. They took a flier on former top prospect Nate Pearson, signing him to a $1.35MM guarantee. Now they’ve added Weiss into the mix as well. Perhaps there’s a more surefire rotation upgrade over the horizon. For now, the Astros are making a modest bet that Weiss transfer some of his strong KBO results to the MLB level. For his part, Weiss gets a nice paycheck despite still having no major league experience.
Reporter Daniel Kim first reported that the two sides were close to a deal. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reported that an agreement was in place for a major league pact and that Weiss will be a starter. Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported the guarantee, the presence of a ’27 option and the possibility for the deal to go beyond $10MM. Chandler Rome of The Athletic specified that the option is a club option.
I like Weiss over Ponce considering what he got, and I certainly think he has a better chance a succeeding than Pearson.
Pearson is working out of the bullpen.
I still don’t think he’s very good, personally.
Here’s his scouting report in 2021 (his ceiling).
He has triple digit velocity (Astros need that), multiple injures plagued career (sounds like Forrest Whitley). Can be untouchable at best, (hit 104 once). Nasty slider, upper 70s changeup,upper 70 curve. Deep 4 pitch mix.
In other words, he’s another Forrest Whitley. How nice! We totally need another Forrest Whitley on our roster!
Dana Brown was likely 🤪 when he said Pearson is a starter.
The guy was mediocre for two straight years in indy ball after several mediocre years in the minors and yet they think he will be good enough for the majors after one good year in Korea? Good luck with that.
Are you saying that he’s going to be bad?
I have no clue, I cannot see the future. I’m just saying based on his track record before 2025, I wouldn’t sign him.
The Astros probably see something in his peripherals they want to work on. I’m surprised that they gave him almost $3 million though.
Are we talking about Ponce at the same time as this guy?
Might as well.
2.6 < 30 for one year of success in the KBO!
He’s coming in as a pitcher who has had success in pro ball. Nice heater. He gets a shot at the rotation and could be a good 5.
If he falls short, that heater could transition well to a role in the bullpen. That is a nice hedge in a sense. Great sign for the Astros.
A Weiss move??
Nice, chuckle. It actually does look like a good move -low risk high reward type of thing
Only Thyme will tell.
They got 53 innings of 3.35 ERA and 71 innings of 3.66 ERA out of Walter and Alexander respectively. Anything over 3.70 out of this guy would be a let down.
This one flew over my tracking radar. I don’t know him from Adam.
So yesterday I heard Locked on Astros
He’s going to be a complmentary piece to someone bigger. They will use him out of the bullpen and as a spot starter or something like that.
Or actually a few days ago.
Hope so. Off-loading Dubo to save $4 mil was to facilitate getting an MLB starter. Now Pearson and Weiss get that $4 mil & we get 2 maybes with poor history.
KBO = AA or AAA.
Brett Chancey said KBO=AAAA
On the other hand, McTaggart today said he will be a starter. Astros also signed Nate Pearson and will be a “starter”, but something bigger is on the way for sure.
Framber
More likely King or Suarez.
Which Suarez? Eugenio, Robert, Ranger, all 3?
Ranger.
We don’t need 3B, bullpen is fine.
I know this isn’t a headline grabbing signing, and I might be off my rocker, but in terms of international pitchers I like him better than Cody Ponce, or Kona Takahashi.
This guy has around a career -18 WAR in the minors, if I read that correctly. That sounds suboptimal.
In my dreams, he goes 13-11, 3.66 ERA with 30+ starts.
The Astros may make a big signing next or maybe some minor league depth signing.
He had an average fastball velocity of about 94.6 mph according to Statiz before it decided to ban users from the US so I don’t know if it went down. Additionally he threw 15 2/3 IP of 4.02 ERA ball over three postseason appearances (2 starts) where he struck out 15 against four walks allowed
I don’t think they’re gonna go to a full rebuild even though it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. They got the Altuve contract they have to ride out and I think Alvarez has got 4-5 years left on his deal
Low risk, high reward.
Clubs are trying to reign in spending. this how it’s done. lower echelon major leaguers have to take what the clubs give them. superstars will get their money.
According to Crane, the “window is always open.” Signings like this don’t validate that statement at all.
Yeah, spend for once and we can get Ranger Suarez or Framber Valdez or somebody! Extend Brown, Pena Crane.
The Astro fans are in for a rude awakening over the next several years. They are not going to be the team they use to be. Let the rebuild begin. First they have to shed all the IR players and pitchers.
Things That Will Stop The Astros From Going Back Into Early 2010s Mode
1. Spend MORE (bid for top FAs)
2. Develop farm system more
3. Be aggressive on the market
4. Exceed the luxury tax threshold
5. Extend your stars like Hunter Brown when they are still in their contracts (if only you’d extended Kyle Tucker or Alex Bregman)
I don’t think they will do most of those. Should be interesting to see what they do though. If they can keep it rolling that would be against the odds. They have been winners for 10 years or so though.
Extending a player is not a one way street. Most players want more years than Crane is willing to give. It’s his team and his money so we can only hope for the best.
Dumpster diving, just saying
The KBO ain’t gonna have no pitchers left.
“Spencer Arrighetti was good in 2024”. He was serviceable but I love how striking guys out while being below average at everything else turns you from suspect to quite good actually. And when these guys sometimes figure it out before their arm blows we say the numbers were fluky and the K-rate told the tale all along. If only we’d give less flashy pitchers the benefit of the doubt and opportunities they may just magically figure it out too (sort of like what happened all throughout major league history until recently)
You may say I’m a dreamer…but I’m not the only one.
One of my favorite Astros pitchers is Spencer Arrighetti.