Astros double-down on 2025 gameplan with non-tender deadline decisions

The Houston Astros had some fundamental choices to make at Friday's non-tender deadline. They could either stay the course with some of their 2025 additions and hope they work out next season or they could non-tender them to save some money and use the savings to look for better alternatives. With the number of potential non-tender candidates they had and the potential savings in play, most thought that a roster culling was coming.

However, that ultimately was not the case. While names like Yainer Diaz, Hunter Brown, Bryan Abreu, and Jeremy Peña were mortal locks to stick around, only the recently DFA'd Ramon Urias was non-tendered, and everyone else, including Jesus Sanchez, who was a popular prediction to be non-tendered, is sticking around for now.

Astros stay the course and keep pretty much all of their roster at the non-tender deadline

Trading Mauricio Dubon gave the Astros cover from that difficult choice posed by their roster logjam and financial inflexibility. After that, though, it is a bit odd that Houston didn't take the opportunity to trim roster fat here and give themselves more wiggle room when it comes to free agency and trades with their payroll.

However, it is entirely possible that Dana Brown and the Astros front office feel as though the open market either didn't have better solutions or potential upgrades would be more expensive than they want to pay. Sanchez certainly wasn't good after being acquired at the trade deadline, but he fills a situational lefty hitter role that would be pricey to find someone better, and there is less onus on him heading into 2026, assuming Yordan Alvarez is completely healthy.

Doubling down on what was some very questionable (though not necessarily incorrect) roster building last season is a bold strategy. However, sometimes you just have to read the market and make a decision, and it looks like the Astros have charted their course this offseason. Now we just have to see where it heads.