Astros' utility man purge creates a new need despite all-in approach to filling holes

One of the more curious moves the Houston Astros made at the trade deadline was acquiring Ramon Urias from the Orioles despite Mauricio Dubón already being on the roster. The addition seemed superfluous. Urias had historically been the better hitter, but Dubón was a much better defender and more versatile to boot. Regardless, they both occupied essentially the same lane.

Together, the two were set to combine for roughly $11 million in arbitration salaries in 2026. That number was way too high for what was essentially a luxury for a team with serious budget constraints. One had to go, and the club struck quickly, designating Urias for assignment.

That seemed to be that, but then Houston struck again, dealing Dubón to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for infielder Nick Allen. Allen is projected to make only $1.5 million in his first trip through arbitration, freeing up roughly $10 million more in funds that can go towards a No. 2 starter.

That is certainly a bigger need, but the drop off from last year's utility duo to Allen is stark, and has created another need in the process.

Astros' moves with Ramon Urias and Mauricio Dubón provided valuable cost savings to solve other needs, but also opened a new hole

The thing is, Dubón and Urias weren't just utility men for the Astros who fill in at various positions once in a while. One of them was going to be a borderline starter at second base, with Jose Altuve expected to once again split his time between the keystone and left field, while also getting his share of DH days.

Dubón would've been the defense-forward option. Winning two of the last three AL utilityman Gold Gloves, his career 85 wRC+ didn't leave all that much to be desired when his defensive contributions were factored in.

Meanwhile, Urias is the offensively gifted player. His 2025 line of .241/.292/.384 line was good for an 87 wRC+ and was the worst mark of his career. If he rebounded back to his career averages: .257/.321/.403 104 wRC+, he would have been more than serviceable as a pseudo-starter.

Allen, on the other hand, owns a career wRC+ of 53, which ironically was identical to his performance in 2025. He's a very good defender, but with a 0.3 career fWAR through parts of four seasons, his glove isn't enough to cover up his putrid bat.

Running Allen out a few times a week as the starting second baseman would be asking for trouble. The Astros would essentially be ceding roughly half their games to a replacement-level player. That's not ideal, and instead, the best one could hope for from Allen is to be able to play once a week to give someone a breather and not much more.

Therefore, Houston now has another problem. The team is either going to have to find another second base option who has more ceiling than Allen, or scrap the idea of Altuve in left and shift the need to the outfield. The unfortunate thing is that it will cost money, and it becomes questionable if the Astros will have saved anything at the end of the day after jettisoning Dubón and Urias. If the answer is no, the question needs to be, What was the point?