Yes, well, after all, that could be the main controversy on the Houston Astros’ roster this winter. One of them could be a trade piece, if we assume the value Jeremy Pena has for Houston in the near future. We’ll talk about that in a minute.

However, moving Walker doesn’t seem like such an easy option, as it could require Jim Crane to pay a substantial portion of the $20 million he owes him next season.

In a way, this reminds me quite a bit of the situation with first baseman Jose Abreu, who ended up out of the team in 2024, when the Astros released him before he completed his contract. Houston still owed him around $30.8 million, including the remainder of his 2024 salary and the $19.5 million corresponding to 2025.

That said, the Astros could gain much more with Walker gone and the possibility of keeping Jeremy Pena at shortstop and the expected arrival of Carlos Correa at third base, which would move Paredes to first base.

Whatever the cost, this is what makes the most sense for the Astros, rather than keeping Walker and having to decide whether to get rid of Pena or Paredes for next season.

Behind Yordan Alvarez, who led the offense with 6.8 fWAR and completed a historic season that places him among the leading candidates to win the MVP award, Paredes (4.4) and Pena (3.4) recorded the highest fWAR totals, nearly doubling Walker’s contribution (1.7).

Will Moving On From Walker and Other Free Agents Be Part of a Real Plan To Cut Payroll?

Let’s go back to August, when the Astros were going through a difficult stretch, fell three games behind the Texas Rangers, and concerns began to emerge heading into the final stretch of the season. At that time, Crane said something that isn’t entirely clear, but that can help us understand what the approach could be starting this winter.

“I think you’re watching some pretty good teams that don’t have big payrolls. That’s certainly something we’ll study very hard,” said Crane to Chandler Rome of The Athletic. “We were able to add as we went along and keep the team in a winning mode, and we’re still in a winning mode.”

“I think we’ll need to make some adjustments (and) look at how other people do things. There’s always something to learn. We do spend some money. We’re right there at the cap and (have) been over a little. We’re in the top quartile of people spending money, and we try to spend it wisely.”

It stands to reason that Crane’s “cap” refers to the luxury tax, which Houston did not cross in 2026.

If the Astros really follow that mindset, there will likely be moves to reduce payroll or change the way they distribute the money. Either way, this isn’t entirely clear, as Crane hasn’t addressed the subject again recently. Therefore, if it becomes a real focus, we’ll have to see what the priorities would be.

The truth is that Houston has not been able to solve its internal problems and, once again, contracts like the one they offered Walker, after betting on Abreu’s bat and seeing that attempt end in failure, turned out to be absolutely disappointing.

Given the way they finished the 2026 season, the Astros are going to need a lot of changes and, based on what Crane said in August, it doesn’t seem like the solutions will center on pursuing high-cost free agents.