At the beginning of the offseason, the Houston Astros knew they had to address their bullpen after three of their key relievers hit the open market in free agency.
With limited financial flexibility, it would be difficult for them to get even one of these players back after they put together some of the best years of their careers.
It was reported the Astros already weren't interested in a reunion with one of these stars, but things might have changed following an injury to their reliever Kendall Graveman that will keep him out for the entire 2024 season.
Yet, despite this, it doesn't seem like general manager Dana Brown is changing his strategy they've deployed so far this winter.
"We’ve been focused on the (bullpen) anyway, this doesn’t intensify it. We just may have to get one more body or one of our guys internally will step up," he told Chandler Rome of The Athletic following Graveman's injury.
That doesn't give a lot of confidence for a team who will be entering the upcoming season down four of their relievers from last year's unit.
Internal candidates seem thin.
Forrest Whitley seems like the choice to step into their bullpen this season. Houston's No. 3 ranked prospect, Spencer Arrighetti, could also be an option, but he's primarily worked as a starter and posted an ERA of 4.64 in 15 Triple-A appearances during 2023.
The Astros were interested in Jordan Hicks before he agreed to a deal with the San Francisco Giants and they were not willing to meet the four years that was offered in his new contract.
For all intents and purposes, this is a scary situation for Houston right now.
The bullpen regressed to a 3.56 ERA as a unit in 2023 after posting the league's best 2.80 in 2022.
That was with the star players who have already departed this offseason.
It seems like a given the Astros would become more active in the free agency market to address the issues they now have in their relief staff, but the GM doesn't seem to be feeling the same amount of pressure according to his remarks.
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