Houston Astros Must Watch How Star Free Agents Finish Year Before Making Offer

The Houston Astros need to pay close attention to how these sluggers finish the season before making any huge offers.

Aug 20, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants third base Matt Chapman (26) during the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Oracle Park. / Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Astros have already been connected to a couple of the biggest free agents set to hit the market, but need to be watch how the season unfolds before making any decisions on who to pursue.

As MLB's Thomas Harrigan put together a list of upcoming free agents that need a strong end to the year, two players that Astros fans have heard brought up a lot were discussed.

First, a favored trade target that didn't end up moving teams, was the polarizing Pete Alonso of the New York Mets.

Houston has had a ton of issues at first base this season and locking down Alonso for a long term deal could be exactly the answer that they are looking for. The problem is, the slugger hasn't looked like the same player for much of this season.

The soon-to-be 30-year-old has both a career-worst isolated power number and slugging percentage this season. He's also on pace to hit the fewest amount of home runs that he has outside of the pandemic season.

In some good news, Alonso has put up an improved .253/.349/.484 slashing line over the last month. He's hit more home runs (six) in August than he has in any month since April.

He might be fine, just in a down year, but the Astros need to be careful before signing him to a $200 million deal.

After Alonso, came a player that has been a fairly new potential target as of late. San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman is expected to opt out of his current contract and become a free agent.

The need for Chapman is really tied into how things shake out with Houston's own impending free agent Alex Bregman.

Bregman is going to fetch a hefty price tag of his own soon and it's up in the air if the Astros are going to try to bring him back. If the two parties do go their separate ways, Chapman makes a ton of sense for Houston.

He's more so known for his glove, which has been as good as ever, but they'll still need his bat to be performing at a high level.

The 31-year-old started the season with a measly ,205/.255/.331 slashing line over his first 39 games. After knocking the rust off, though, he evened out to where he's been over the past couple of season.

At the end of last year, though, he put up a horrid .167/.262/.370 line. If that happens again, the Astros might think twice about staking their future on him.