Astros waste little time in immediately solving their roster crunch problem

The Houston Astros' roster issues are well-documented. It is bad enough when you have roster deficiencies on both sides of the ball to address during the offseason, but having to do so with a full 40-man roster and having to purge players ahead of time adds a level of difficulty. While it sounded like Houston was going to chip away at the roster problem after moving on from Chas McCormick, apparently they were just getting started on Tuesday.

With the number of roster additions they probably want to make as well as protect their players from the Rule 5, Houston needed to clear several spots from their 40-man roster. While most thought that that would come ahead of the non-tender deadline where there were several candidates to let loose, the Astros just went ahead and placed a slew of players on waivers along with McCormick including Luis Garcia.

Luis Garcia among the players that did not survive the Astros' early offseason roster purge

Houston clearly has some plans early on in the offseason as they placed a number of players on waivers that could have been shed at the non-tender deadline instead. By making these moves now, the Astros have some roster wiggle room early on in the event that opportunities present themselves.

The headliner from this group, other than McCormick who was reported earlier in the day, is definitely Garcia. The Astros had hoped that he would return from injury and re-establish himself as a key member of Houston's rotation. Unfortunately, Garcia almost immediately suffered another arm injury and his roster spot all of a sudden became very perilous once he was ruled out for 2026.

As for the rest, there are some notable names, although most had fallen off since the peak of their value. Kenedy Corona was once a prized hitting prospect, but then he forgot how to hit. Pedro Leon flirted with getting significant playing time in the majors, but could never really sustain success at a high level.

Strap in, Astros fans. Things are already getting interesting.