Astros just got exposed by a division rival doing what Houston refuses to

The soon-to-be Las Vegas Athletics have made a habit of locking up their young talent of late. Over the past couple of years, Brent Rooker, Tyler Soderstrom, Jacob Wilson, and Lawrence Butler have all signed long-term extensions with the Athletics. Why can't the Houston Astros do the same?

The Athletics are now attempting to sign last year's AL Rookie of the Year, Nick Kurtz, to a long-term extension. Kurtz burst onto the scene in 2025 and walloped 36 homers while posting a 1.002, and he looks like the future of the A's franchise. The likelihood of a deal is not yet known, but the Athletics are hopeful the two sides can come to terms on a long-term contract.

Astros missed their window to sign Jeremy Peńa and Hunter Brown

The Astros, however, have failed miserably when it comes to signing their young stars to long-term deals. Players like Jeremy Peña and Hunter Brown stand to leave once their arbitration window closes, and while Houston has reportedly had contract talks with both players, nothing was ever finalized.

After failing to reach a long-term agreement last year, Peña decided to join the Boras Corporation. Though Houston's front office has plenty of experience negotiating long-term extensions with some of Scott Boras' top clients — Jose Altuve has signed two extensions with the Astros — MLB's super agent prefers to take his clients all the way through arbitration and into free agency. Brown is also represented by Boras.

Further complicating Houston's failed efforts to extend their players is an abundance of bad contracts still on the books. Altuve is taking home a team-high $33 million, and Lance McCullers Jr. is owed $17.7 million this season. While the Astros are not paying the entirety of Carlos Correa's 2026 salary, Houston is still on the hook for $71 million of the remaining $103 million on his current contract. Josh Hader is pulling down $19 million, and Christian Walker is making $20 million.

The Astros bet big on aging players like Altuve and Walker and spent big on a closer like Hader, all the while failing to secure a Cy Young finalist and an All-Star caliber shortstop.

Houston's inability to spot young talent, take a risk, and pay for future production is going to cost them dearly — one way or another. Having missed out on the "cheap" route to keep both Peña and Brown, the Astros are faced with two options. They can either pay them market value (which seems unlikely) or they can allow them to leave via free agency (or trade them before they reach that point).

The Astros are staring down a messy situation, and it's one of their own making. Houston needs to do a better job of identifying their budding, young talent when they're pre-arbitration eligible. Otherwise, they're doomed to lose them.