Astros' attempts to upgrade first base will face stiff competition from AL West rival

In some ways, the Houston Astros' third base conundrum is already a solved problem. Either the Astros will decide to pay Alex Bregman his money, or they will give one of the young guys like Brice Matthews an opportunity to win the job while bringing in some sort of veteran stopgap solution if they can't. However, Houston's issues at first base are a bit more complicated to sort out.

As soon as the Astros' ill-advised bet on Jose Abreu crashed and burned, it put the team in a rough spot. They still have to pay Abreu's substantial salary while getting literally nothing out of him, but they also don't have any easy replacements for him.

The team hoped that Jon Singleton would rise to the occasion, but he's impressively bad as a defender (even for a first baseman) and his .707 OPS last season just isn't going to cut it.

While Houston has been connected to some big time free agent first basemen like Christian Walker, their payroll situation is going to limit how much they can spend, especially if they decide to bring Bregman back. Unfortunately, that would put them in the same spending bracket for the same position as one of their biggest division rivals in the Mariners.

Mariners' first base need is going to cause some problems for Astros this offseason

While it isn't uncommon whatsover for two contending teams to have the same offseason needs, the Astros and Mariners appear to be competing in the very niche "budget first baseman" market. Seattle doesn't have the same sort of payroll issues the Astros do, per se, but they are going to be limited in how much they can spend after their owner hinted at only a modest payroll increase that is likely going to be gobbled up by arbitration raises for their pitching staff.

Complicating matters is the simplistic lack of availability of interesting first base options that fit the profile. There is no guarantee Pete Alonso leaves New York and, if he does, he almost certainly won't be a budget option. Walker isn't going to command as much as Alonso, but he definitely won't be cheap. The Mariners are going to be involved in that Carlos Santana/Yuli Gurriel/Justin Turner bracket, if only to spite Houston at every turn and drive the prices up.

This gives more credence to the idea that the Astros just need to fill first base internally. They have already given playing time at the position to Victor Caratini and Yainer Diaz this past season, and the Astros are toying with the idea of giving Zach Dezenzo an opportunity there in 2025. That would be a strictly better option than getting into a bidding war with a motivated Seattle over players that, frankly, may not be worth getting in a fight over.

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