Astros Face Decisions on Four Impending Free Agents This Winter

Since his true breakout in 2021, Valdez has become one of the best left-handed pitchers in the game. He isn't as flashy as Garrett Crochet or Tarik Skubal, but he gets the job done year in and year out for Houston.

In each of the past four seasons, his lowest innings pitched was 176.1. He threw over 190 three times, including in 2022 when he threw 201.1 innings and finished fifth in the Cy Young. Since that 2022 season, only Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants has thrown more innings than Valdez, who has thrown 767.2 innings.

The two time All-Star isn't coming off of his best season, having posted a 3.66 ERA and 187 strikeouts in 192 innings. It's his highest ERA since 2019 season when he spent most of the year as a reliever. Aside from his performance on the mound, he had the incident where he crossed up his catcher, and reports of how he is as a teammate after that could effect his free agent stock.

Despite that controversey, Spotrac has Valdez's market value at over $33 million per year, meaning someone will be willing to give him the bag this offseason and sign him to a long term deal. That team likely will not be Houston.

Valdez will be linked to plenty of teams during the course of free agency as a highly sought after pitcher. It will be a huge loss for Houston as he provides them with stability and innings at the front end of the rotation. Luckily for them, Hunter Brown just had a breakout season and looks like an ace.

C Victor Caratini

Caratini was a pretty significant contributor to the Astros in 2025. Although Yainer Diaz was the primary catcher, he got plenty of playing time in a lineup that dealt with a lot of injury.

He played 114 games, posting career highs in doubles (14), home runs (12) and RBIs (46). Caratini also posted a 101 OPS+ and 0.9 bWAR. He's had the best stretch of his career in Houston, where he's been a 105 OPS+ hitter with a .735 OPS, the highest he's had with any of his four teams.

Even though he's not the starter, this would be a pretty huge depth loss for the Astros. It's hard to gauge the catching market and where Caratini fits in it, but given the plus bat he's shown the last two seasons, it's hard to imagine teams not having some interest. It helps that he's also a serviceable defender.

Houston should definitely look to make a run at Caratini to bring him back this offseason. He's not going to cost a lot and their top catching prospect, Walker Janek, has yet to reach Double-A.

2B Brendan Rodgers

Back in 2015, Rodgers was the number three overall pick out of high school. Since his debut in 2019, he hasn't found any real consistency and his contract with the Astros didn't end up working out after he suffered an oblique injury that put him on the 60-day IL.

Things had stalled out for Rodgers since posting 4.3 bWAR and winning a Gold Glove in 2022 and the Astros hoped to get him back to that form as they were looking to move Jose Altuve to the outfield. He wound up playing just 43 games and was not effective.

Rodgers hit just two home runs and posted a 52 OPS+ with a .544 OPS. It wound up being Marucio Dubon who became the effective, Gold Glove caliber defender.

Rodgers was brought in on a one year, $2 million deal and he probably won't be returning in 2026. Instead, the Astros could give more at-bats to top prospect Brice Matthews.

RHP Craig Kimbrel

The Astros signed Kimbrel towards the end of August after he was released by the Texas Rangers. The future Hall of Famer only threw 11 innings for Houston, but was pretty effective in that small sample. He had struck out 16 and allowed only three earned runs, giving him a 2.45 ERA.

It was a nice little run for Kimbrel, just there's very little chance he is re-signed by the Astros this offseason. He'll be 38 years old for most of 2026 and hasn't been the same dominant reliever he once was.

Besides, closer Josh Hader will be back and healthy next season and behind him, they have two really good relievers in Bryan Abreu and Bryan King.