Making a list of all the things that should be on the Houston Astros offseason agenda:
Hire a GM
Dana Brown is now out of the organization. The idea of a caretaker GM who can just keep the machine running is long gone. They need a team builder. A visionary with a plan of what the team should look like, how it can best function, to bring it back to true prominence and once again be a real World Series contender.
Extend or replace Joe Espada as manager
The fact the organization hasn’t yet decided on Joe
Espada’s fate is simply cruel. He’s been a loyal employee for 9 years, beloved by coaches and players. He deserves to know if he is staying or going. Many of the coaches’ fates are tied to Espada’s fate, and stringing them along isn’t right. Make the decision, and the either get Joe in on the GM meetings or let him get to interviewing elsewhere.
Extend or trade SS Jeremy Pena
The Astros really should have landed this extension last season, and maybe they were going to before Pena switched agents and hired Scott Boras. Boras likes to take his guys to free agency.
Pena is the team’s catalyst at the top of the lineup. They really have no in-house replacement defensively or offensively. Carlos Correa came here to play 3B, and we have no idea what the result of his torn ankle ligament will have on his mobility. Playing shortstop will put the most strain on Correa’s body. Their young shortstops in the minors aren’t ready yet, with their best prospects still in A ball.
Is Pena the next guy in the line with Biggio, Bagwell and Altuve s an Astro for life, or is he the next guy in line with Springer, Correa, Bregman, Cole and Tucker who were great players with championship pedigree who were allowed to walk away?
Find a new home for 1B Christian Walker
This is not meant to be a Walker hit piece. Simply, the Astros have too many infielders and not enough spots, and Walker is the most expendable. Whether its Isaac Paredes at 1B or Carlos Correa at 1B, or maybe even Jason Schiavone at 1B, it cannot be Walker again next season. The HR and RBI are valuable, but the awful average, low on base, the strikeouts, the missed opportunities – he just hasn’t lived up to expectations and Paredes has exceeded expectations. When Correa has been healthy, he has performed, and his injury this season was a complete freak accident.
They will have to eat significant money to move Walker, but since he only has one year left on his deal, it should be reasonable enough to make this move. They will have to work with him on a new home as he does have a limited no trade, but this relationship needs to end.
Adjust the responsibilities of Jose Altuve defensively
Altuve is a franchise icon, but Father Time started winning the battle with future Hall of Famer in 2026. Altuve’s defense regressed badly, and his offensive stats are better when he DHs than when he plays 2B. He needs to be alleviated of the toll playing the field takes on his body to keep his bat at the best level he is currently able to perform at.
This means Altuve should be DHing half the games he plays. That means Yordan Alvarez will need to DH only half the games he plays, and not the overwhelming majority. Yordan’s offensive numbers are actually even better when he plays OF, Altuve is better as a DH.
To get Jose through 3 more years relatively healthy, help him on his quest for 3000 hits, and keep him at his potential best, this needs to be the play forward.
Sign a legitimate outfielder who can hit
After season in which the offensive production the Astros got from their outfielders was disgracefully low, they need to find at least one legitimate outfield bat. Ideally, this person can at least play a capable LF. They cannot be a total slug in the field.
They will need a CF who can really go get it, and they have a few options in their system who could be that guy if they can get their bats straight. The team had hopes for Zach Cole last season, but he followed his breakthrough season with a disaster of a year, though he seemed to finally find his bat in September. It’s possible they could experiment more with Cam Smith in CF as well. Whoever plays CF has to be able to cover a lot of ground, because adding Yordan to the field for 70+ games will put extra area to cover for their CF. Getting another OF who can really hit will be important this offseason.
Find a number two starter
They tried Mike Burrows, he failed. They tried Tatsuya Imai, he failed. They hoped Cristian Javier would have returned to his 2022 form, but he has not and maybe won’t ever.
This team needs a real number 2 starter behind Hunter Brown. Adding a legit 2 along with Hunter, Javier, Wesneski and Lambert allows you to make a competition for the final spot, and not be stuck with multiple pitchers who failed you in 2026.
Extend or replace Bryan Abreu
Despite his brutal start to the season, Abreu was very solid from May 1 on. There’s a good chance he wants to go on the free agent market and get a chance to be a closer somewhere on lucrative multi-year deal. So re-signing him is unlikely.
If Abreu leaves, they need a new 8th inning bridge to Josh Hader, and turning that over to either AJ Blubaugh (inexperienced) or Steven Okert (whom they have to re-sign as well but is far more likely) isn’t going to suffice. They need a legitimate high leverage reliever to be the new setup guy.
Solidify the bullpen
Blubaugh is likely to have a more important role in the pen, as a single inning reliever who will probably have some high leverage. Blubaugh could possibly be the new 7th inning guy.
The team needs to re-sign Okert, who established himself as the team’s stopper this season. He was crucial to the team as the guy who slammed the door to stop a rally, regardless of the situation or inning.
They could likely have other young/inexperienced arms in the pen like Logan VanWey, Miguel Ullola, and Roddery Munoz. With all those young arms, they need some veterans with experience, and they need to be capable of at least being a mid-leverage guy.
I don’t expect all of those young guys to be in the pen, and I do expect at least one of the starting pitchers who doesn’t make the rotation to be in the pen as a swingman/long reliever.
It’s a long list. Let’s see how many of these things they actually get through.
