Astros admit another massive free agent mistake with latest DFA

Eric Cole

Houston Astros v Chicago White Sox / Jamie Sabau/GettyImages

Of all the contracts the Houston Astros have given out the last several years, the worst one is still probably the deal they gave Jose Abreu. However, Rafael Montero's three-year, $34.5 million deal is a strong second place on that list.

Now, like Abreu who got sent packing earlier this year, the Astros have begun to undo yet another mistake, as it was revealed that Montero was designated for assignment the day after the trade deadline.

The Astros DFA reliever Rafael Montero who was in the 2nd year of a 3-year, $34. 5 million contract, which is 7 weeks after releasing Jose Abreu, who was in the 2nd year of a 3-year, $58.5 million contract.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 31, 2024

Astros News: Houston designated Rafael Montero for assignment after brutal tenure with team

While Montero had a strong 2022 season with the Astros, you will struggle to find many that thought the team should have committed that much money to him even back then. His only halfway decent season before '22 featured 22 appearances with the Rangers back in 2019, and he often battled command issues and getting hit hard.

Unfortunately, Astros owner Jim Crane used his short window of control after running James Click off to give Montero a heavy eight-figure contract. What did Houston get for their troubles? A combined 4.94 ERA in 109 appearances over the last two seasons. Making matters worse, Montero's strikeout rate has cratered to 5.4 K/9 this season. As a result, there were many Astros fans that were hoping that the team would find a way to move on from him.

Unsurprisingly, the Astros couldn't find a team willing to take Montero's contract in a trade. With Yusei Kikuchi and Caleb Ferguson needing spots on the 40-man roster, Houston made the right (if painful) choice to get one of their worst players off the roster to make room.

Having dead money on the books is never ideal, and Houston now owes Montero and Abreu a boat load of it, but the Astros are fighting to maintain their spot among MLB's elite. Step one towards that goal was fielding the best roster possible, and that means without Montero.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.