The Astros may not even have their front office settled yet, but the roster questions are already staring them down. With free agency approaching and the World Series about to begin between the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays, Houston has every reason to be watching closely for players who could fit once the winter market opens.
One name that jumps out is Freddy Peralta. After eight seasons with the Brewers, he is now chasing a title with Tampa Bay after a trade deadline deal sent him there, and he looks like the kind of arm who could price himself beyond what the Rays can handle.
Houston needs that type of certainty in the rotation. No Astros starter won more than eight games this season, and only Peter Lambert and Hunter Brown reached 20 starts.
Peralta has made at least 30 starts in each of the last four seasons and carries a 3.71 career ERA. He also just turned in a postseason run that earned him ALCS MVP honors, going 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA over three starts and four appearances.
Put him with Brown, and Houston would have a pair that changes the look of the rotation.
Jake Bauers is a different kind of fit, but one that makes sense for a team that could soon need a bridge at first base. The Astros led the majors in home runs in 2026 and already have Christian Walker signed for 2027, so they do not exactly look desperate for another bat like that.
Still, Walker slugged 29 homers and drove in 87 runs this season, and his age, 35, plus his contract situation, make the position less settled than it first appears. Bauers, the reigning NLCS MVP, could handle the outfield and keep his bat in the lineup now, then potentially slide into a full-time first-base role when Walker’s deal runs out after next season.
Bauers hit 26 home runs and posted a .874 OPS, topping Walker’s .727, while also setting career highs in homers and RBI.
Then there’s JoJo Romero, who would give Houston the kind of bullpen help it clearly needs. Josh Hader was excellent in 2026, finishing 4-2 with a 1.01 ERA and 26 saves, but the rest of the relief group was uneven.
The Astros ranked 17th in bullpen ERA at 4.08 and gave up the fourth-most home runs in the majors with 91. Bryan Abreu and Steven Okert were solid, AJ Blubaugh showed promise, and Bryan King and Enyel De Los Santos struggled in high-leverage spots.
With Abreu, Okert and De Los Santon headed for free agency, the bullpen becomes an obvious offseason priority. Romero, who went 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA in 11 regular-season appearances after a deadline move to Milwaukee, has been even sharper in October, going 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA and nine strikeouts in four postseason outings.
If Houston wants playoff-tested help, these are three names worth circling. The bigger issue is who will actually be making those calls.
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Yordan Alvarez also sits on the list as a possible future answer at first, which only adds to the sense that Houston is trying to plan several steps ahead. The problem is not finding bodies for the position so much as finding the least disruptive fit, and the Astros would have to prepare for a change that could ripple across the rest of the infield. For a team built on run prevention as much as offense, this is the kind of decision that can shape more than one roster spot at once. [Read more 🡒]
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For fans who know the franchises roots, Colt Stadium has always been more than a footnote. It was the backdrop for the teams earliest days, the kind of place where memories were made before the organization moved into its next chapter, and the marker is meant to recognize the stadiums place in the citys baseball history. There were notable names and moments tied to the old ballpark, reminders that Houstons path to the majors began long before the team became the Astros. [Read more 🡒]