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When the 2026 trade deadline dust had settled, most of the nameplates in the Houston Astros’ lockerroom were unchanged. It wasn’t necessarily because they loved all the players there, but they didn’t make many moves. Some of it was leverage. Some was a diminished market. And in one case, it was an owner overruling the front office.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean those players will be back in Houston next season. A player surviving the deadline and one surviving the winter are very different. The Astros will have some financial and roster pressure heading into 2027, so there are three players who probably shouldn’t get too comfortable.
A few current Astros are on the verge of becoming former Astros
Bryan Abreu
This one is the easiest to read. We already know how close they came to moving Bryan Abreu for Trevor Larnach to the Twins. It seems pretty clear that deal was done, and got vetoed. But there’s also the fact that he’s a free agent after the season. There is a history of the Astros keeping their own, but it feels like Abreu is going to test free agency and will likely get what he wants.
Abreu is a free agent after this season anyway, and the Astros haven't even opened extension talks. The obstacle is obvious: Josh Hader is owed $57 million through 2028, and paying two relievers premium money isn't how this front office operates. Abreu took over closing duties when Hader went down and has settled into the role, which only raises his price tag on a market that already values him as a potential ninth-inning arm. Crane can block a trade in August. He can't stop free agency in November.
Christian Walker
Christian Walker has been fine in Houston, though underwhelming. He had a brutal start to the 2025 season but was solid in the second half. Then he started 2026 hot, and it seemed like he’d settled in. But he’s cooled off quite a bit. Since the start of June and through the weekend, he’s hit just .219/.300/.384. The Astros need him right now with the injury to Carlos Correa, but with him nearing a return and hoping for better health in 2027, it’s hard to say they wouldn’t want to unload Walker if they have any opportunity, even if they had to eat money.
The contract will be a problem. His three-year, $60 million deal is one of the uglier contracts in baseball, but there’s no such thing as a bad one-year deal, and he’ll only have one year left after this one. His season overall has made him more movable, though teams generally don’t itch to acquire late-30s first basemen. Still, his former team, the Diamondbacks, has a huge hole at first, and they seem like they could be an answer to help bail out the Astros. Maybe they move him for pitching help if they can find a taker.
Jeremy Peña
We know the extension talks with Jeremy Peña went out the window when he hired Scott Boras, and this has happened before with Kyle Tucker. Houston is committed to a playoff push, so Peña wasn’t moved at this deadline as he could have been (though he wasn’t really shopped). But with the sides so far apart on a long-term deal, they will likely do what they did two offseasons ago and trade him rather than lose him for nothing more than a draft pick, if that is even still a thing in the next CBA.
The idea of trading him was never more than a break-glass solution this deadline, but their options dwindled by keeping him around. They could hold on to him into the season and see how it goes, but rental position players just don’t provide the value on the trade market that a full season would. He was ice cold for a week or so, but might be starting to heat back up. If he can continue that and improve on a great 2025 season, the return will be worth exploring.
The Astros chose not to make big moves in either direction at this deadline. That restraint probably helped buy them a run to October. But restraint isn’t commitment, and the Astros have too much work to do to improve the roster for 2027 to stand pat. The deadline allowed these three to stay in Houston a little longer, but it seems awfully likely their time will be up before 2027.
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