Non-Tender Candidates: Dubon, Garcia, Urias, De Los Santos, McCormick, Sanchez, Trammell<\/p>\n
Free Agents<\/p>\n
The Astros finished the season with an 87-75 record and missed out on the final AL Wild Card spot after losing the season series tiebreaker to the Tigers. As far as seasons that don’t end in a postseason berth go, Houston’s year certainly could’ve been worse. Yet there’s plenty of work for GM Dana Brown and the rest of the front office to do this winter.<\/p>\n
The elephant in the room is the impending departure of southpaw Framber Valdez<\/a><\/strong>. It’s a safe bet that he will be pitching elsewhere come Opening Day, as Houston has rarely made a full-scale effort to retain their free agents over the years. Alex Bregman<\/a><\/strong> walked in free agency last winter, and Kyle Tucker<\/a><\/strong> was traded before his final year under team control so that he wouldn’t do the same. Gerrit Cole<\/a><\/strong> previously left for New York after reaching free agency after the 2019 season. Justin Verlander<\/a><\/strong> and Carlos Correa<\/a><\/strong> both signed elsewhere on two separate occasions, though both did return to Houston in trades after their respective departures.<\/p>\n Jose Altuve<\/a><\/strong> is the only one of the club’s stars they’ve managed to keep in town consistently, and comments<\/a> from Brown haven’t offered much reason to expect Valdez’s free agency to reverse that trend. Brown said that he expected to have “some conversations”\u00a0with Valdez’s camp, but otherwise largely focused on the emergence of Hunter Brown<\/a><\/strong> as a legitimate ace and the club’s other internal options when asked about the possibility of a reunion. Valdez is sure to be well outside the club’s typical comfort zone even as he enters free agency marketing his age-32 season, and Brown has suggested that the club could look to the trade market in any efforts to bolster its rotation.<\/p>\n
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