Houston won the AL West at 81-81 and then got swept out of the wild card round by the Chicago White Sox. From there it got worse.
Owner Jim Crane parted with general manager Dana Brown on Aug. 24 and named himself temporary head of baseball operations. On Oct. 14 the Astros declined to renew manager Joe Espada’s contract and dismissed five coaches. Both jobs remain open.
Into that vacuum arrives the offseason’s first Astros storyline. The Athletic’s Chandler Rome wrote on Oct. 16 that Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker are expected to be discussed as trade pieces this winter, and called Jeremy Pena an “ideal trade candidate.”
Read that carefully. A beat reporter expects these names to come up. The Astros themselves have said nothing, and no team has been reported in talks.
Why These Three
The logic is clean, and it is about 2027 rather than this past season.
All three are right-handed infielders whose club control runs out after next year. Pena, 29, hit .277 with 22 home runs in 112 games and projects to $13.1 million in his final arbitration year. Walker, 35, hit .226 with 29 home runs and 87 RBI across a full 156 games and is owed $20 million. Paredes, 27, hit .262 with a .360 on-base percentage, 25 home runs and 94 RBI, posted a 130 wRC+ that ranked 11th in the American League, and carries a $13.35 million club option that MLB Trade Rumors calls an easy call to exercise.
Then there is Carlos Correa, 32, who had season-ending ankle surgery in May, a second procedure in September, and is expected back for spring training. Correa, Pena, Paredes, Jose Altuve and Walker is five infielders for four spots.
The Payroll Is the Real Driver
Houston finished 2026 around $249.7 million and already has roughly $222.2 million committed for 2027 before arbitration. Altuve is owed $30 million, Correa $30.5 million, Yordan Alvarez $26 million, Walker $20 million and Josh Hader $19 million. Eleven arbitration-eligible players project to a combined $57.2 million.
Meanwhile the actual holes are nowhere near the infield. Houston used 10 center fielders who combined for a .654 OPS. The rotation behind Hunter Brown never recovered from April injuries. The farm system, by MLB.com’s own accounting, has stopped producing front-line talent and keeps most of its best prospects in the low minors.
Trading an infielder to fund an outfielder is the obvious move. It is also a move nobody in the building currently has the authority to make.
Pena Does Not Want to Go
The best quote on this story arrived before the rumors did. Pena told Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle in early October: “I love this city, I love everything about the Astros.” He added, “Hopefully, I can be here long-term.”
He also happens to be the one the trade logic likes most, because he is the only one of the three with no option and no cheap path to keeping him beyond 2027.
The Honest Version
Nobody in Houston has announced a plan. What exists is a reporter correctly identifying that a payroll-constrained team with a surplus at one position and nothing at two others is going to field phone calls.
Paredes and Walker were in Astros trade rumors last December too. Houston moved neither. Brown said in June there were “zero discussions” about trading Pena, and Brown is gone, so that assurance carries no weight now.
Before any of this becomes real, Crane has to hire a general manager and a manager. One executive surveyed by Yahoo in September said Houston “might be the worst job of the ones available.” Fix that first. The infield can wait.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
