Houston Astros Ace Floated As Potential Trade Piece Once Again

One of the Houston Astros best players has been floated as a potential player who could be traded this offseason.

Oct 1, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros pitcher Framber Valdez (59) walks off the mount in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers in game one of the Wild Card round for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Minute Maid Park / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros are in offseason mode much earlier than they would have liked or envisioned, but that also gives the organization some time to figure out how they are going to approach things this winter.

Alex Bregman is the key free agent that will determine what the franchise does going forward.

If they are going to re-sign the star third baseman, they likely will be over the luxury tax for multiple years which is something that has only happened twice under Jim Crane's ownership.

If they let him walk, then their championship window could start closing.

That's the balancing act general manager Dana Brown has to figure out this offseason and was one of the things he addressed when discussing how the Astros might approach things when free agency begins.

"... we may have to get creative," he said per Chandler Rome of The Athletic when talking about potential strategies.

That prompted Rome to float the idea of Houston potentially looking to trade away their ace Framber Valdez, getting something back in return while also shedding some salary that could help them re-sign Bregman.

"Dangling workhorse starter Framber Valdez and his projected $17.8 million arbitration salary would seem logical if there is a directive to trim payroll. Giving away nearly 200 innings of a sub-3 ERA is dangerous, but the emergence of Hunter Brown, Spencer Arrighetti and Ronel Blanco, along with the expected return of Luis Garcia, would soften the blow somewhat," the insider wrote.

While the thought of not having the ace on the roster seems a bit backwards for a team looking to continue winning championships, it's not like the left-hander has been a shutdown guy during their past two playoff runs.

Valdez posted a 9.00 ERA in three starts last postseason, which was followed up by surrendering three runs on seven hits across 4.1 innings in his lone playoff start this year.

Depending on what Houston gets back in return, this could be a real option they consider.

A rotation consisting of Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco, Spencer Arrighetti, Luis Garcia, and Lance McCullers Jr. looks good enough on paper for the Astros to compete in 2025 while also having their strong lineup back if Bregman re-signs.

It will be interesting to see what comes out of this.

Brown was hired as the general manager to also start rebuilding this depleted pipeline, so if they can get some top prospects back from a pitcher-needy team in exchange for Valdez, that might be the "creative" option he alluded to with his comments.