ORLANDO, Fla. -- Astros general manager Dana Brown and members of the team's front office left the Winter Meetings on Wednesday having accomplished some of their goals but with a lot of work remaining before Spring Training starts in two months.
The club is still in pursuit of starting pitching, despite adding three arms, and still has to address the backup catcher position. The Astros are aiming to stay below the luxury tax, which is forcing them to get creative. They've non-tendered infielder Ramón Urías and traded Mauricio Dubón to the Braves in recent weeks to free up some money to spend on pitching.
Brown said he doesn't want to trade from the Major League roster, but sources say the club continues to try to move outfielder Jake Meyers, which would force them to go young in center field next year with Zach Cole and Jacob Melton, while saving more money. Meyers is arbitration-eligible for a second time.
Moving Urías helped clear up the Astros' jammed infield picture, but trading Isaac Paredes would provide further clarity while giving Houston more money to spend on pitching (Paredes made $6,625,000 last season in his second year of arbitration). Brown said the money the Astros have trimmed from their 2026 payroll will be re-invested into the team.
BIGGEST REMAINING NEEDS
1. The Astros have added three pitchers so far this winter, signing Nate Pearson in October and Ryan Weiss from the Korean Baseball Organization earlier this week and taking right-handed reliever Roddery Muñoz in the Rule 5 Draft. Those transactions won't move the needle much with Astros fans, but they are low-risk moves that could pay big dividends if the club can bring out the best in each of them.
2. Brown said shortly after the season ended that he'd like to bring back veteran catcher Victor Caratini, who's a free agent, but so far the price is too high. That leaves the Astros with a void behind starter Yainer Diaz, so expect them to bring in another catcher. César Salazar could handle some of the load as a reserve, but the Astros feel they need a more proven commodity at an important position.
HE SAID IT
"We are going to give them a longer look in Spring Training. I think not only they showed that they could play at our level but they did it in an environment where we were in the middle of a playoff hunt, and they were able to handle that very well. And their performance was better than what we all expected. So I am really excited about what these players can do. And I am going to give those guys an opportunity to play a lot in Spring Training and give them an opportunity to make the club." -- manager Joe Espada on Cole and Melton getting a chance to impact the club next season.
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