It may be time for the Astros to have internal conversations about being ready for ST and for Espada to get creative with lineups. Too many trade partners are out of the running. The Astros would be bidding against themselves.
Yes but you never know. I am still very skeptical of a deal happening but Paredes is a valuable player with enough versatility to appeal to a lot of teams. Brewers, Pirates, Phillies, Marlins, and to a lesser extent the Mets, Guardians, and Padres could all be improved by adding Paredes. I don’t buy that Paredes salary precludes a deal to any of those teams. I am surprised there is still so much chatter about a potential trade. But the GM is the source of most of it. I just hope they don’t end up making a desperation move to solve a problem that might not even exist. This aspect of the offseason hasn’t reflected very positively on Dana Brown (so far).
Morosi says it is “more than likely that Paredes and Walker are both in camp when ST begins.” IMO, you can’t sell Paredes with a depleted trade market. I have to wonder if the next move is to focus on selling Jake for a LH OF prospect or similar MLB guy that can push for a MLB spot.
Paredes also is way more valuable to the Astros than he is other clubs. He’s a perfect fit for our stadium and provides what this offense needs being a patient hitter that can work a count. The Sox are a good fit stadium wise and make sense but it seems pretty clear they value him and their OFers differently than we do. I just don’t see a trade happening at this point either.
Lets just roll with what we have. I am glad Brown isnt giving Isaac away for a discount. Once an inevitable injury happens this IF depth will be great. Then at the trade deadline, someone may need to improve their IF and we win a trade. Heck, Walker could play his way into a positive asset by then.
I agree. I just want to hear Joe and Dana start talking with confidence about a valid plan for these players.
Hypothetical with the Phillies: Phillies get: IF Isaac Paredes CF Jake Meyers P Spencer Arrighetti Astros get: SS Aiden Miller OF Justin Crawford This is doubtful as it’s not a win now move for Houston, but it would be a great trade for the Astros. They’d get a LH CF in Crawford and one of the best prospects in the game in Miller. Phillies get an all star 3B, the depth SP they need with Wheeler on the shelf, and a CF to replace Crawford. This trade would free up $11M+ so Houston could potentially backfill Arrighetti with Verlander. Another version of this trade replace Nori with Alec Bohm, where Bohm becomes an oft used bench player filling in at 3B, 1B, and LF for Houston; but that only works if the Astros think Bohm would be ok in LF 60+ games this year.
@Snake Diggit thanks for all of the analysis recently, really helps to understand the realm of possibilities! Was Nori supposed to be in the "Astros get:" section? Cheers, Shark44
Yes I messed up. I originally had OF Dante Nori in the Astros get section but deleted him once I thought more about how valuable Miller is. I still think Paredes/Meyers/Arrighetti for Miller and Crawford would be a good trade for Houston.
This would be a great deal for us. It would also allow us to trade Pena is a larger move as well. If we can't sign him long term, we should capitalize on his high trade value.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/orioles-jackson-holliday-hamate-surgery-injured-list.html Astros get: OF Heston Kjerstad C Maverick Handley Orioles get: IF Isaac Paredes
Astro get: C Liam Hicks IF Cristian Hernandez Marlins get: 1B Christian Walker $22M ($11M 2026, $11M 2027) Astros get a LHH cheap backup C (who can also play 1B), an high upside AA SS, and free up $9M in 2026. That would put them ~$20M under the tax. They could use the surplus money to sign Lucas Giolito, giving them one of the deepest rotations in the league. There are no good lh bats left in free agency (and the trade market appears harsh) so they’d just have to make do with internal options. Opening day roster: SS Pena 1B Paredes DH Alvarez 3B Correa 2B Altuve C Diaz RF Smith LF Cole CF Meyers Bench: Hicks, Loperfido, Allen, Salazar SP: Brown, Imai, Giolito, Javier, Burrows, Arrighetti RP: Hader, Abreu, King, Okert, Pearson, Munoz, McCullers Optioned: Gordon, Blubaugh, Ullola, Alexander, Murray, Sousa, Teng, Weiss, Matthews, Dezenzo, Whitcomb IL: Walter, Wesneski, Blanco DFA: De Los Santos
So to my surprise it looks pretty certain that Houston is going to trade for an everyday caliber LH OF. There just aren’t that many. The list: Wilyer Abreu Jarren Duran Oneil Cruz Bryan Reynolds Matt Wallner Trevor Larnach Alec Burleson Christian Yelich Lars Nootbaar Steven Kwan Kerry Carpenter Addison Barger Masataka Yoshida Seiya Suzuki Sal Frelick Nathan Lukes Pavin Smith Jake Fraley George Valera Garrett Mitchell Mickey Moniak Jack Suwinski Heston Kjerstad Today’s hypothetical: Astros get: C Joey Bart OF Matt Wallner Pirates get: IF Isaac Paredes Twins get: P Hunter Barco OF Joseph Sullivan SS Pena 2B Altuve DH Alvarez 3B Correa LF Wallner 1B Walker C Diaz CF Meyers RF Cole Bench: Bart, Loperfido, Matthews, Allen
I'm sure the Brewers would love to get Yelich's contract off the books, even in exchange for Walker. Yelich would be awesome for the Astros and be a huge win now addition for 2026. But he is owed more than twice what Walker is owed over only 1 additional season. He also only started 18 games in LF last year (out of 150 played) after years of back issues. The Astros would be solving a problem in 2026 while adding more in 2027 and 2028. I would love to see Christian as a rental in this lineup but not with 3 years left ( ages 34, 35, and 36)
Yeah I’m just having a hard time seeing why the narrative is that Houston traded Sanchez in order to clear money to acquire an OF. If they trade Paredes that will give them ~$20M to play with in 2026 money and there just aren’t any remotely available and viable LHH OF making even $10M outside of Yelich. I also feel like trading for Yelich is a Jim Crane type of move. If Houston could trade Paredes for 2 good prospects and flip one of them to Milwaukee for Yelich, with the Brewers eating enough money to get his salary to $19M AAV, I think that would be a really good outcome for Houston. It is worth noting that Yelich has a full no trade clause. Just hard to see how Houston needs $15M+ in available payroll to add a LH OF.
Yelich body can’t hold up playing the field His bat would be great But we don’t need a 3rd “everyday” player who needs to be a full time DH
They need money to add a catcher, have $5Mish available for the deadline, and have a buffer to be 100% sure they don't go over Plus a LH OF
