3 Takeaways From Astros Front Office on First Day of Winter Meetings

The Houston Astros front office answered several ailing questions from reporters regarding current players, promotions, and possible moves to make to strengthen their roster

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Day one of the Winter Meetings have come and gone. The Houston Astros front office have quite the work to do in order to reach their goals heading into 2026: Get back into the playoff conversation, by adding starting pitching and a left handed bat.

General manager Dana Brown and Manager Joe Espada were present during the first day of the Winter Meetings, and candidly answered some of the ailing questions reporters had asked them, including from Chandler Rome of The Athletic on X (formerly Twitter) and Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Here are three things that can accurately describe where the Astros are headed.

Overall Player Health

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One of the many underlying factors the Astros failed to secure a playoff run and another AL West crown was injuries. 2025 saw the Astros sadly achieve an MLB record of current players on the IL. Notable players in Luis Garcia, Spencer Arreghetti, Hayden Wesneski, Lance McCullers Jr., Jake Meyers, Jeremy Pena, and Isaac Parades saw ample time on the IL to completely being shut down for the rest of the season.

Parades in particular suffered a severe hamstring injury in July that had him sit for over two months. He returned in mid September in an attempt to aid the playoff push. To make matters worse, Their best hitter in Yordan Alvarez only played in 48 games due to a nagging hand injury that set him on the IL from late April through August. After recovering from his hand injury, he then suffered a sprained ankle shortly thereafter in September when attempting to cross home plate, thus ending his season.

Astros GM Dana Brown reiterated today that both Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes will be a "full go" when spring training begins.

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) December 8, 2025

Rest assured, as Brown confirmed that both Alvarez and Parades are a "full go" when spring training starts next February, according to Rome.

For Astros fans, this is great news. Parades earned his second career All-Star nod with Houston before going down with his hamstring injury, blasting 20 homers with an .809 OPS in 102 games. Alvarez is due for a comeback after playing just a fourth of the season last year. In just 48 games, "Air Yordan" hit .273 with 6 dingers and a .792 OPS.

To also help with preventing any future injuries, Brown promoted Eric Velazquez to head athletic trainer. Velazquez was the assistant athletic trainer to Jeremiah Randall before Brown fired Randall after serving as the head for 10 years.

Alvarez and Altuve

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Alvarez has had a ongoing relationship with the IL throughout his career since entering the big leagues in 2019. Turning just 29 next season, Espada will closely monitor his health in 2026 to ensure he contributes on a daily basis. According to Rome, Espada mentioned he would like Alvarez to "spend most of his time at DH."

Altuve on the other hand is turning 36 next season. For an age standpoint, he should be the one DHing to prevent injuries. Approaching father time is hard, especially for baseball players. Injuries are more common and athleticism tends to decline rapidly.

Case in point last season, Altuve played statistically his worst defense of his career in 2025, with a RDRS per 1,200 innings of -19 at second base and a -32 in left field.

He voluntarily spent time in left field and his previous everyday position at second base. According to Espada, Altuve has not yet decided whether he will play for Venezuela the World Baseball Classic next spring.

The 2017 MVP played for Venezuela in the 2023 WBC fresh off his 2022 World Series championship. During the WBC, Altuve suffered a fractured right thumb off a hit by pitch from Daniel Bard. This delayed his 2023 debut by over half a season.

Brown On Adding Roster Depth

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Rome also asked Brown about what roster plans he will make to add via free agency or trade. The Astros are open to acquire pitchers by any means necessary, but due to the constraints the front office is in on a financial standpoint, they would prefer to acquire a starting pitcher via trade.

"It's always tough when you're going out on the free agent market", Brown said. "We really don't like losing draft picks because that's the bloodline of the organization, that's the future. If we could avoid that, we'll try."

Regarding free agents with qualifying offers, Dana Brown said: "It's always tough when you're going out on the free agent market. We really don't like losing draft picks because that's the bloodline of the organization, that's the future. If we could avoid that, we'll try."

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) December 8, 2025

On Rome's podcast titled "Crush City Territory" with Tyler Stafford and Josh Reddick, Rome mentioned the history of Astros free agent signings and how they don't particularly gamble on signing players long term for a huge amount of money in the offseason.

"As we go into the Winter meetings I would not be thinking you're gonna get news in the couple days the Astros are in agreement with Michael King or Ranger Suarez," Rome said.

Since being the Astros owner, Crane has not spent more than $170 million on a single player and does not want to go over the luxury tax. The most Crane spent on a player is Altuve, who received a seven-year, $163.8 million extension in 2018.

History tends to repeat itself, so the Astros are more than likely going to test the trade market by acquiring starting pitchers in exchange for prospects. Notable names to trade in order to grab quality starters are Jake Meyers and a few prospects in their farm system.