Houston’s offseason plan centers on preserving core stability while addressing two free-agent questions. Framber Valdez and Victor Caratini are the only consequential free agents from the current roster, with Valdez anchoring the rotation and Caratini handling catching. The rest of the star core—Altuve, Alvarez, Peña, and Brown among others—remains under team control for the near term, creating room to balance extensions, arbitration, and payroll without a full rebuild.

Beyond Valdez and Caratini, the horizon features a mix of arbitration-eligible depth and aging or longer-term contracts. Key decisions will revolve around how aggressively Houston retains or replaces pieces like Abreu, Dubón, Urías, and McCullers, while mapping out long-term commitments for a championship window that runs through the late 2020s and into 2030s via extensions and option structure.

Brown navigates a 2026 contract question while signaling continued leadership of the Astros after a season derailed by injuries. Houston finished 87-75 and missed the postseason, prompting a broad ops review and a focus on offense at the deadline with Correa, Jesús Sánchez and Ramón Urías. Espada remains under contract for 2026 as Crane weighs continuity with internal improvements.

Injuries crippled the rotation (Blanco, Wesneski, Arrighetti, Garcia) and late-season slide underscored offensive gaps (24th in runs, 23rd in OPS). The front office is balancing internal returns with depth additions as they chart a path toward a healthier, more complete 2026 roster.

Houston's late-season tumble leaves them one game behind Detroit for the final AL wild-card, despite a deadline trio that sparked optimism: Jesús Sánchez, Ramón Urías and a Carlos Correa reunion. Sánchez has cratered, Urías has seen little action as Mauricio Dubón handles infield duties, and Correa’s bat, while solid, isn’t delivering a game-changing push. Yordan Álvarez’s injury and a battered pitching staff amplify the misstep, leading Chandler Rome to call the moves unproductive.

Correa has been the lone bright spot with a .286/.348/.427 line and six homers across 210 PAs, but the rest has fallen short of expectation. The combination of Sanchez’s collapse, Urías’s diminished role, Álvarez’s absence and pitching injuries has Houston scrambling to salvage a season that once looked like a postseason lock.

In a fifth‑inning flare, Astros manager Joe Espada was ejected after arguing balls and strikes as Jesús Sánchez took a called third strike. Livensparger signaled Espada's exit, and Espada exchanged words with crew chief Mike Muchlinski, drawing in Snitker.

Espada’s second ejection of the year—his first came May 18 in Texas—adds a layer of tension for Houston. The incident could influence bullpen usage and lineup decisions, with fantasy players watching for signs of volatility or shifts in how the club handles on-field confrontations.