4 early offseason Astros rumors that should have fans very concerned

Martin Maldonado could be coming back after all

Why o' why can the Astros not quit Martin Maldonado. Despite the fact that Maldonado was one of the worst players in baseball last year and has been terrible at the plate for longer than that, Houston could not help themselves and gave Maldonado the bulk of the playing time at catcher in 2023 despite having the strictly better Yainer Diaz on the roster.

Things were looking up when the season ended, though. Maldonado became a free agent and Dana Brown committed to Diaz as being the guy that was going to get the bulk of the playing time at catcher. It appeared as though our long nightmare had finally come to an end.

However, a report from a few days ago changed that sentiment as The Athletic's Chandler Rome shared that the Astros have talked with Maldonado and are considering bring him back for 2024 to serve as their backup catcher.

In a vacuum, having Maldy serve as a mentor to the younger Diaz makes a ton of sense. However, Houston should not be trusted to have Maldonado on the roster and not give him far more playing time than he should get at this stage of his career. Hopefully whoever ends up being the Astros' new manager doesn't make that same mistake if Houston does indeed bring Maldy back, because it is very clear that they need to move on.

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