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Offseason In Review: Houston Astros

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The Astros lost one star in free agency while trading away another. They're moving their longtime second baseman to left field. It'll be a different team, one they hope will remain a top AL contender in the short term while avoiding a true rebuild in the second half of this decade.

Major League Signings

2025 spending: $21.2MM
Total spending: $62.2MM

Option Decisions

  • None

Trades and Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Extensions

  • None

Notable Losses

The Astros are seeking their ninth consecutive playoff berth. Houston's incredible run of seven straight trips to the ALCS came to an end, but they still cruised to an AL West title after a ghastly start to the '24 campaign. The contention window certainly hasn't closed, but the front office had its work cut out for them this winter.

Alex Bregman's free agency was the most immediate challenge. Houston has spent up to and occasionally beyond the luxury tax line under owner Jim Crane. They're willing to spend, but that has come with the general caveat that they're not keen on offering long-term contracts. Houston had already allowed George Springer and Carlos Correa to walk in free agency. How much urgency would they show with Bregman?

The Astros made some effort to retain their longtime third baseman. They reportedly offered a six-year, $156MM proposal early in the winter. Bregman remained in pursuit of a contract closer to $200MM. While Houston left the offer on the table, the front office began turning its attention elsewhere when there was no progress towards a deal within the offseason's first six weeks.

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Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR's Steve Adams hosted a live chat today at 2:30pm CT, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.

 

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10 Out Of Options Players To Watch This Spring

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One of the most interesting elements of spring training every year, at least for those of us who feast on roster construction minutiae, is the collection of players who are out of minor league options. MLBTR just released a full list of such players earlier today.

In many instances, a player being out of minor league options is inconsequential. Justin Steele, Isaac Paredes and Evan Phillips are among the players who fit that description but are in no risk of losing their MLB roster spot. They're all key players on big league rosters who'd never be in danger of being sent down to the minors anyhow.

However, there are typically a handful of players every spring who are on the roster bubble with their current club but who could be a better fit on a team with less competition in their current position. Most of these players have already had big league opportunities with their current club but whether due to injury or poor performance (or both) have yet to firmly seize hold of a roster spot. As players exhaust their minor league options, they'll tend to face increased competition from younger players progressing through the minor league ranks and/or external additions made via trade or free agency. An out-of-options player who doesn't fit his current roster can still go on to find a more solid role and some success elsewhere. Joey Bart was in just this spot last year and after being squeezed out in San Francisco has emerged as Pittsburgh's starting catcher. The Yankees didn't have a spot for Ben Rortvedt, but he's the Rays' clear No. 2 catcher now.

Let's run through 10 names to keep an eye on this spring. Not all of these players will lose their roster spots, and even some who do might not wind up making an impact elsewhere. But each of the names listed here has some reason to hold a bit more intrigue than many of their out-of-options brethren (players listed alphabetically)...

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Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers!

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MLB Mailbag: Nationals, Painter, Royals, Yankees, Mets

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Today's mailbag gets into the Nationals' offseason approach, the accuracy of preseason win projections, what Andrew Painter will do this year, the Royals' outfield, how small market teams can compete, the Yankees' third base situation, the Mets' rotation, and more.

Steve asks:

The Nationals have now spent over $50 million in this offseason on new acquisitions. Do you like their strategy of building depth with upside players with lower $ risk per player to keep the books clean for the coming years?

OTOH, they could have gone all in and met Bregman's rumored price of $210 million over 7 years, and had enough money for Nathaniel Lowe and Ogasawara and adding Finnegan, Lopez and Poche for their bullpen and skipped signing Sims for the bullpen and Bell for DH.

Which route do you like better?

Just to review, the Nationals added Trevor Williams, Mike Soroka, Kyle Finnegan, Josh Bell, Shinnosuke Ogasawara, Jorge Lopez, Lucas Sims, Amed Rosario, and Paul DeJong in free agency at a 2025 AAV cost of $38.75MM.  They also traded for Nathaniel Lowe, who is earning $10.3MM this year.

Despite adding $49MM in total '25 AAV, the team's CBT payroll is only $138MM.  The question is whether 2025 is/was the time for this team to pounce.  Owner Mark Lerner doesn't think so, based on comments made to Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post.  Referencing GM Mike Rizzo, here's what Lerner said to Svrluga:

“When Mike calls me in and says, ‘We really need to think about it,’ for next winter, we’ll talk about it,” Lerner said. “Right now, he doesn’t think — and I agree with him: There’s no point in getting a superstar and paying him hundreds of millions of dollars to win two or three more games. You’ve got to wait until — like Jayson. Jayson was right on the cusp of [the team] being really good, and it took us to the next level. That’s the ideal situation. It’s always on our mind.”  He paused. “You could get nauseous thinking about it,” he said, laughing.

Despite the additions, FanGraphs projects the Nationals for only 73 wins this year.  And even though - as I'll show later in the mailbag - teams sometimes outplay their projection by a dozen wins, that still might not be enough for a wild card.

The Nationals have three suspect lineup spots: Bell at DH, Keibert Ruiz at catcher, and Jose Tena/DeJong/Rosario at third base.  Bregman alone doesn't make this team a likely contender, and he turns 31 in March.  I don't think he fit as the team's Jayson Werth move.  I doubt Nolan Arenado would've accepted a trade to D.C., and he doesn't sense for this team anyway.

The Nats still owe $40MM to Ruiz and have a few catching prospects in the pipeline, so I can see why they didn't do anything there.  Likewise, adding a bigger bat than Bell might mean 74 or 75 wins instead of 73.

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Who Else Could The A’s Look To Extend?

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Last week, Evan Drellich of The Athletic reported that the A's had opened extension negotiations with outfielder Lawrence Butler. General manager David Forst declined comment on Butler specifically but implied that he's not the only player with whom they've had discussions.

"We’ve had conversations with a couple other players other than (already-extended DH Brent Rooker), and those talks are ongoing," Forst told Drellich. "It is an important thing for us to lock guys up (heading) into Las Vegas and make sure that we keep the core of what we think is a really good young team together, ongoing."

MLBTR covered Butler's extension candidacy at the time of Drellich's report. With Forst's comments in mind, it's worth taking a speculative look at who else the A's may try to sign over the next few weeks.

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Trade Rumors Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR's Steve Adams hosted a live chat today at 3pm CT, exclusively for Trade Rumors Front Office subscribers.

 

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The Best Remaining Free Agent Position Players

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The market for free agents of any note is drying up by the day. In particular, we've seen a run on veteran pitchers. Nick Pivetta, Andrew Heaney, Cal Quantrill, Jakob Junis, John Means, Tyler Alexander, Kenley Jansen, Scott Barlow, John Brebbia, Kendall Graveman, Luke Jackson, Scott Alexander and Lucas Sims have all come off the board in the past ten days. A few bats have signed in that time as well, but typically on smaller-scale deals. Justin Turner's $6MM Cubs deal is the most notable. Each of Michael A. Taylor, Ty France, Paul DeJong and Luis Urias secured guarantees between $1-2MM.

At this stage, there simply aren't many potential big league deals left for free agent position players. That doesn't mean there aren't any, however. There are still four free agent hitters who posted better-than-average offense last year, plus another couple notable names who are looking to bounce back from their first truly poor offensive performance in the past six seasons.

Let's run through some of the remaining free agent position players on the market, with a brief look at their 2024 season, what they bring to the table, and some of the best landing spots left for each.

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Front Office Subscriber Chat Transcript

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MLBTR’s Anthony Franco held a live chat today, exclusively for Front Office subscribers.

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MLB Mailbag: Devers, Vlad, Rizzo, Mets, Phillies, Sean Murphy

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This week's mailbag covers the Rafael Devers situation, potential Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scenarios, fits for Anthony Rizzo, whether the Braves should've traded Sean Murphy, and questions involving the Mets and Phillies.

Clarke asks:

Devers says 3B is his, Story is at SS, Campbell at 2B and Casas says he's at first and Bregman is at 2B and to heck with the kids. Meanwhile, Yoshida insists he's ready to DH and play outfield. Sounds like an accident waiting to happen. What say you?

Elden asks:

What would be the outcome of a player refusing to accept an assignment decision made by the club management? ex: Devers refusing to give up 3B or Stroman refusing to work out of the bullpen. Would it be grounds to void a contract? suspension? other remedies?

It's a mess, and it's why I didn't think Bregman was a good fit for the Red Sox.  Here's a potential 2025 plan:

I think there's a fair chance Bregman misses 20 or so games due to injury.  Third base would well-covered in that case with Devers, perhaps Campbell in a pinch, and maybe Marcelo Mayer when he's ready.

Story is 32 and hasn't topped 94 games in a season since 2021, so the Red Sox may need to cover 40+ games at shortstop.  He could be backed up by Mayer, Campbell, or even Bregman.

If Campbell falters as a rookie, various options open up for Alex Cora given that the team still has a bunch of other second base possibilities beyond Bregman.

There's a pretty good chance Casas misses 20+ games due to injury.  It makes tons of sense for Devers to work at first base in spring training, as he could get 40+ games as an infield corner backup even if Bregman and Casas are the starters.

A lot of different injury scenarios push Yoshida into more playing time, though Cora will probably want to sit him for Rob Refsnyder against most lefties.  Wilyer Abreu needs a platoon partner as well.

What about a scenario where everyone is healthy and the younger players are hitting to their projections?

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