Latest update on Isaac Paredes’ injury helps explain Astros’ position on trade market

The Houston Astros' infield logjam is one without an easy solution. The corners are crowded with Carlos Correa, Isaac Paredes, and Christian Walker, all vying for two spots. The player that Houston would like to move is Walker, but his salary and limited no-trade clause make him a hard sell coming off a subpar 2025.

To that end, moving Walker might not accomplish much. Even if the Astros were able to find a deal, the amount of salary they'd have to eat wouldn't help them much in achieving their goals, most importantly, solving their starting rotation woes behind Hunter Brown.

That led to the uncomfortable, but reasonable, conclusion that Isaac Paredes must go. Coming off of his second straight All-Star nod and with two years remaining of team control, the dream would be to link up with an offensively-challenged team with a surplus of starters to swap the former Chicago Cub for a similarly controllable starter.

It's a solid plan, but one that has hit an unfortunate snag.

Latest Isaac Paredes update explains why the Astros are in a tough spot

The butterfly effect caused by Isaac Paredes' July 19 hamstring injury is what has Houston in this tough spot now. Occurring right before the trade deadline, Paredes' going down is what triggered the move for Carlos Correa, which saddled the Astros' books with $21 million in additional salary in 2026, and for several years to come.

That limits their breathing room against the luxury tax moving forward and created the logjam that we now see. Paredes valiantly fought back to return to action down the stretch as Houston's season was on the brink, filling in for Yordan Alvarez at DH following yet another injury in a lost season for the club's brightest star.

That appears to have come at a cost, however. The latest update on Paredes' health puts his status for opening day in doubt. That development also dealt a major blow to his trade value. After so much time, it would appear that the injury is more severe than originally thought, which isn't surprising given the Astros' issues with injury management.

Therefore, no team is going to offer up equal value for Paredes until they confirm that he's back at 100%. For Houston, there's no point to selling a 26-year-old who is a picture-perfect fit for Daikin Park, who still has team control for pennies on the dollar.

That takes them back to the drawing board, where the options are dealing Walker at a loss, or hanging on to all three corner infielders and trying to find a convenient way to make it work. We're still very early into hot stove season, but for Houston, this is quite the inauspicious start.