Astros’ mistake on full display after eerie Christian Walker and Jose Abreu comparison

For better or worse, it looks like the Houston Astros have hitched their horse to Christian Walker for the foreseeable future. It's not like the Astros haven't tried to move on. In an attempt to resolve their infield logjam, Houston dangled Walker on the trade market and was met with radio silence.

The disastrous first year with the Astros landed Walker with the dubious distinction of being named to Bleacher Report's all-overpaid team as the first baseman. That's bad, but it's not even the worst part. Bleacher Report was sure to remind fans of the ill that Walker was supposed to cure: the disaster that was Jose Abreu.

As the writer Kerry Miller points out, both once-fearsome sluggers started off with awful slumps over their first 50 games. Abreu posted a .519 OPS over those early contests, and while Walker's .591 mark was better, it still was very bad. Both players also had something of a second-half surge. From Game 51 onward, Abreu managed a .768 OPS, while Walker came in at a nearly-identical .778.

Christian Walker has some horrifying similarities to Astros bust Jose Abreu

As bad as Abreu's first season was, Year 2 was worse, much worse. The former AL MVP managed just 35 more games with a .124/.167/.195 line before the Astros cut bait. The result was paying him $19.5 million in 2025 to not be on the team. If Walker follows the same trajectory, it will be back-breaking for a franchise that doesn't have a lot of cash to waste.

The silver lining seems to be that Isaac Paredes is here to serve as a safety net. However, that might not be the case for much longer. Houston has slowly come to the realization that if it is to relieve the corner infield logjam and rebalance the roster, it must trade Paredes.

The Astros are so close to the tax threshold that they need to shed salary, and Paredes could be looking at upwards of $9 million being thrown his way in an arbitration hearing. Unless Jim Crane backs down from his edict to avoid crossing the tax, there's no way Houston can afford that.

Moving Paredes out the door would then put the pressure squarely on Walker's shoulders to improve. Is it likely that, at 35 years old, he suddenly bounces back? Probably not. That's the place the Astros have put themselves, though, having to hope for the best while preparing for the worst. It's incredible, but true, it seems that they've really made the same mistake twice.