Astros are shopping the wrong reliever this offseason

Dana Brown and the Astros faced a unique offseason challenge. Where does the team go from here? Do they enter a mini rebuild? Is it time to take a step back and "retool"? After missing the ALCS for the first time since 2016, these were questions that came up for Houston.

Many expected Alex Bregman to be gone in free agency, while a lot of others held out hope of a potential Kyle Tucker extension shocking everyone. Unfortunately, it seems like those talks never got anywhere, so Brown shipped Tucker off to the Chicago Cubs (and that relationship is off to an interesting start) in exchange for more club control and a Bregman replacement in Isaac Paredes.

After the addition of Christian Walker, the Astros sit right on the edge of the luxury tax threshold for the 2025 season and owner Jim Crane has stated that he doesn't want to be over the luxury tax threshold for the second consecutive year. Last year was the first year over the threshold under Cranes ownership. While the team still has a few holes to fill, it seems like they at least have some interest in moving one of their relievers in hopes of clearing some money up.

Astros should look at trading Bryan Abreu instead of Ryan Pressly

Ryan Pressly has been a hot topic of conversation this winter given his $14M price tag for the 2025 season and relatively mediocre production. Moving him might be difficult for a number of reasons.

First there is the $14M he is due for the 2025 season, a hefty price to pay for any reliever, let alone a 36-year-old one that isn't quite elite anymore. The second reason being his full no-trade clause. A native of Dallas Texas, where both of his kids were born and his wife currently lives, a move to another team might not be all that appealing this late in his career.

If Houston can't move Pressly to either get a productive major leaguer in return, or at least clear his salary to allocate their resources elsewhere, what should they do? How about trading your most valuable reliever, on an inexpensive contract, to get the maximum return?

Bryan Abreu and the Astros agreed on his 2025 salary, avoiding arbitration. He received $3.45M compared to his projected $3.7M figure, a nice savings for an elite 27-year-old closer. Moving Abreu wouldn't clear a lot of salary space for you, which is fine because he would net you a very good major league player in return.

The price of relievers is always higher in the summer but look at the package (even if it is purely prospects) that the Marlins got for Tanner Scott. Abreu is under contract through the 2026 season, and a team that is heavy on offense (Orioles, Cubs, Mets) might be interested in flipping some of that offense for a valuable reliever.

It would be a bold move to keep Pressly as the teams closer, opting to move on from Abreu instead. However, this offseason Astros fans have seen that Dana Brown is not afraid to make a daring move.