UNTHINKABLE: Astros May Trade Isaac Paredes – Will Houston PULL the Trigger Amid Roster JAM?

UNTHINKABLE: Astros May Trade Isaac Paredes – Will Houston PULL the Trigger Amid Roster JAM?

As the winter meetings continue, the Astros have another first round draft pick and the league is buzzing. Jake Myers drawing serious interest from teams like Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and even the Dodgers. Esso Parades could be traded. There’s a lot going on. This stuff could reshape this roster going into 2026. Let’s talk about it right now. Yel Diaz, this is locked on Astros. Hello and welcome to Locked on Astros, your daily Astros podcast. Here are your hosts, Eric the Man Heisman, and Brett Htown Wheelhouse, Chansancy. [Music] We are Lock on Houston Astros and we hope that you join us for a daily lock on Astros podcast. My name is Eric Heisman. He is Brad Chansy. We are Lock on Astros podcast. Thank you for making us your first listen. Apple Odyssey, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcast, go and check us out. Thank you for becoming Everydayer. Somebody listens to our podcast every day. We have a Everyday Club just for you. Just if you go subscribe to us, you have access to a Discord and um if you get the all access, you have access to a subtext and also a weekly a daily newsletter as well. So go ahead and get all the inside in information from the Lock on Ash podcast and uh we’ll be here all off seasonason. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. And who would have bet on I I kind of had a suspicion something was going to happen. I mentioned it yesterday, but Esau Bradies is coming up in trade conversations. What is Dana Brown thinking? Why is this coming up? We’ll talk about that today. Al Alvarez and Alt, where are they going to play? And Joe Espada did offer some clarification on Altuve’s role and what is Altub going to be doing pretty soon. Talk about that and a whole bunch of news and notes about the Houston Astros. Today was a busy day on Houston Astros Nation. So, thank you for making us your first listen every day. Brett, a lot going on, dude. Yeah, you know, a lot going on. You know the old phrase, where there’s smoke, there’s fire, but you wonder if there is some teeth to this possible move. And it sounds to me like Dana Brown’s been talking about how they pretty much need all these players in here to move around. We’ll talk about playing time in a second, but when we talk about directly the players that have been discussed between the two clubs, it’s Connelly Early and Payton Tolley. These two guys, Pton allegedly, well, these are the players that Ken Rosenthal is mentioning. So, I’m gonna I’m gonna go with Ken Rosenthal knows what he’s talking about. Ptoni, I think, is a phenomenal arm. High upside, years of control. what two or three years of control at least. Connelly Early, another great um pitcher that is in the Red Sox um system. These two young lefties, they are left-handers. Would be a great get for someone like Esoch Pedes. Now, do I like Isach Pedes on another team? Absolutely not. Do I want Pedes in this lineup? 100%. But the Astros have to weigh what they’re doing now, what they’re getting now with what the future is going to hold. And do they miss an opportunity to cash in on Paradius where they have they say Alubet is going to play second? They say Walker still at first. Um, and does that log jam create an issue? I don’t know. I just know that he is a name that if you would have told me 24 hours ago they’re trading him, I wouldn’t have believed it until I heard it from the Astros, Ken Rosenthal, and those talking about the talks going on. Remember, when a club checks in, when a club discusses the structure of a deal, it doesn’t mean anything is close to happening. It just means that it’s a possibility. I think the Astros are not leaving a single stone unturned at this point. I think what’s going on is the Astros are realizing that they do have a log jam at on the infield and they’re probably calling teams about Christian Walker, but Christian Walker is making a lot of money and he’s coming off a bad season and so a lot of teams are probably not going to give you his value and they’re going to want you want the Astros to pick up a lot of that contract. So that’s that’s part of it. And also, uh, Dana Brown basically came out and said it today. We’re not trading Jeremy Pena. Other teams are not even asking about Jeremy Pena because they know how valuable a shortstop like him is to organization. Obviously, they’re not going to be trading Carlos Gray because nobody else is going to take on that contract. And the Astros just brought Carlos Gray back. It would be a bad look to go ahead and trade him. So, um, if they can’t trade Walker and we’ll talk about it a little bit in the second segment, but it sounds like Altuve might be playing a lot more second base. So, you have no place for Parades to play. I mentioned this yesterday when they when Jo was talking about Alvarez being the primary DH. Something’s got to give. Yes, you can have Isach Pares play a couple different positions and I saw somebody in a comment say, “Well, why don’t you just have him learn left field?” It’s not that easy for somebody to just learn left field and second base and go ahead and relearn how to play first base all coming off of a hamstring injury and just trying to be the best hitter in the Astros lineup because that’s what he was last year. And I think there I see the benefit of trading him while his value is high coming off a pretty good season before the injury. But at the same time, he is exactly the type of hitter that the Astros want. Patient, he can uh go with the pitch. He can uh drive the ball. He’s exactly what the Astros need at Dyken Park. Yeah, exactly. I mean, he’s exactly what every team needs. Um, a guy that sits on pitches that are out of the zone, a guy that has an eye to not chase a lot, a guy that doesn’t strike out a lot, and a guy like you said that makes contact and has power to go out of the ballpark. Um, this is a guy that outside of this injury that he had, I mean, was the clubhouse leader for RBI’s and home runs there for a while. Um, Esacho Pedes, I think, has fit in well with this club. And um again, we’ll talk about playing time in a second. I don’t want to mess with that, but the roster crunch is real. Now, they do sit at 39 people. Um you know, we’ll talk about Weiss here in a second. Um they did make that official today. But other trade rumors is that the both the Royals and the Pirates have been um people of interest for Meyers and Bubik or Burroughs. Also, one of the Dodgers and the White Sox. Well, get this. One of the teams named was the Los Angeles Dodgers for Jake Meyers. Look, Jake Myers as a center fielder apparently has a little bit more value leaguewide than I anticipate. I still wonder if his value is seen more highly within the organization versus outside. But if the Cardinals and the Dodgers and the Pirates and different clubs are looking for a center fielder, I mean, heck, could you make a trade with the Dodgers? They got plenty of options for you to go get. They’ve got a good farm system. So, right now, it’s a wait and see. There’s a lot of people who are cautiously optimistic and a lot of people I’ve seen online that say, “Yeah, this is gonna be a boring um you know, winter meetings and I anticipate that Pedis and Walker and all these guys are going to be in an Astros uniform come spring training.” Yeah, we’ll see. But the Astros did make a move. Uh they did sign Ryan Weiss. Uh so technically this happened during the winter meeting. So maybe that was the whole delay the whole time. So Dana Brown could say, “Look, I made a move at the winter meetings.” But um I think the Jake Myers trade is going to come to a need for need. I don’t think you’re going to see possibly a trade for prospects. I think you’re going to see need for need. And the problem with the Dodgers is that they have um some good young pitching, but at the same time, they I don’t think that their value is going to equal what the uh Jake Meyers value is. And so that’s why I think the Dodgers are going to be out. I just don’t get the White Socks interest in Jake Myers. Um I guess to have a veteran on that team, have a better center fielder out there. I I could see the Royals. Uh the Royals has been a team I’ve been kind of saying since the beginning. They make the most sense. They have a surplus of starting pitchers and they just make the most sense. But, uh, it just feels like if if you’re going to bet on any team, it would have to be the Royals because, uh, they just I think Bubick is probably going to be the guy that comes back to Houston if it’s not somebody else. But who knows? Uh, they Astros could have to trade Bradies. And I honestly think it would be a big mistake on one hand. At the other time, capitalize on one of your biggest trade pieces. See what you can get. Um, if they say no, then uh, what’s the harm? You still have parades to anchor your lineup. But, uh, we’ll have to go and continue this conversation. Thank you for making Lockdown Astros podcast your first listen every day. That’s right. This episode is brought to you by FanDuel live on Sunday. It moves fast. One big play, suddenly everything feels different. That’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time with FanDuel. 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You can also find the link in the show notes. All right, guys. So, right now we’re going to go ahead and uh talk a little bit about uh the roster crunch. And I know today uh Joe Espada basically the day after uh basically saying that Alvarez is be the DH all season long for for the most part. I’m sure he’ll play some left field, but to save his knees, to make sure he’s healthy, he’s going to go ahead and play the primary DH. So that takes out I know Dana Brown earlier in the offseason said, “Well, we can go ahead and keep Parades and Walker and have one of them play DH.” Well, if you have Alvarez basically hogging the DH position, then you can’t have Parades over there. And then you have the possibility of Prades playing second base. But then Joe Espada today said, “Well, I’m not gonna come out and say it, but um I think that you’re gonna see a lot more of Jose Altuve in second base this next year. Uh he did good in left field, but I think we’re going to go ahead and um have have him play second base a little bit more. So that means that I’m not saying that they’re not going to trade for Brendan Donovan, but it sounds like the infield is crowded and Parades just doesn’t have a home. Well, he may not have a home, Eric, but Dana Brown did make it um clear that, you know, if Yordon Alvarez is dhing and Jose Altuve is healthy and Parades is healthy, Jose Altuve will go to left. Parades will go to second. Walker will will, you know, will be at first. If they’re dhing Walker, they can put Parades at first. They can have Altuve at second, and they can put Yordon in the outfield. Look, it gives them four options in four different positions. DH um first base, second base, and left field, and you got four players, and you can just rotate them around and just give certain players access to that position more so than the others. Now, the problem with Pedes playing second is defensive analytics shows that he has not ever really adjusted well or made a solid move to second base. So, that is a that is a less than desirable place for him. Um, the Parades trade talk makes sense. If you get the two young controllable pitchers, if they do pan out, it does it does help get rid of this kind of middle infield or left field conundrum. At the same time, what are you giving away in Esacho Parades that you’re getting back? Um, does Parades have enough stock in his game and what he does to warrant the Astros keeping him? And look, the last two years, Eric, injuries has been the name of the game. So them keeping all these players may not be such a bad idea. Um someone even mentions in here um Kareah to second. They are not moving Kaya to second. Kareah is not coming off a third base. He’s going to overshoot Christian Walker with that. He will be at third base for the remainder of his career. End of story. That is without a doubt going to happen. Um but Jose Altuve, how many games is he gonna play? Um how healthy is he gonna be? And their number one priority right now is with Alvarez, keeping him on the field. Joy Spot said that keeping him healthy in that DH spot is where he would go. Every once in a while play left field, but yeah, I think they can make it work, Eric, but it definitely does make it difficult. And but maybe it’s a reason to keep Pettis around because it just gives you one more guy you can rely on. But you’re uh paying $20 million to Christian Walker, then an estimated $9.3 million for Parades. That’s $30 million for basically the same position. Let’s just say first base. And then one of them is going to be a super I mean prades is going to be a super utility player and like Jay Roberts said earlier just uh in case of an injury that’s a very expensive injury card that you’re going to play. So I I get the idea and I don’t want to trade Brad Parades. I’d much rather trade Christian Walker than Parades because I just think that what he offers to the scene is something that no other Astro can at this point. Unless Alvarez just all of a sudden become the same guy he was before. But um I’m just afraid that yes, we’re trying to improve the offense, but sorry, we’re trying to improve the pitching, but wasn’t it the offense that struggled last year? And if we take out Parades, that was a big part of our offense. And then you’re going to take him out of this lineup and you’re not bringing anybody to replace him, then what else? Yes, Nick Allen is the answer. Thank you, uh, Panda. Thank you for that suggestion. U, but all seriousness, was it s Okay, we’ve got people in the chat chiming in. Okay, for those of y’all listening, if you don’t know what he’s talking about, Supreme Superior Panda, he used to be Supreme Panda, now he’s Superior Panda. Wow, he’s really he’s really taking this personally. Superior Panda is saying, “What about Nick Allen?” Look, uh, you know, Nick Allen is here as a utility guy, as a fifth or sixth infielder. You’re not looking at this guy getting a lot of bats. I’m not worried about Nick Allen creating a conundrum in the infield. Um, he’s there for injury purposes, literally. But again, Eric, if you can get these two controllable lefties from Boston, that’s pretty good because, you know, the Astros have a surplus of back-end guys. No offense to Weiss. No offense to JP France and all these other guys. We got a ton of backend starters. We need a front-end starter. We need a number two guy. And that’s where I think they go out and they swing for the fences with Jake Meyers and get someone either from KC or maybe Pittsburgh. But then again, Pittsburgh already got a center fielder from the Red Sox, so I see those talks probably not going anywhere with Burroughs. Yeah, there’s a lot of moves today. I know Edwin Diaz went to the Dodgers. It just makes you hate the Dodgers even more. Um, and you know what? You know what, Eric? They get better every year. They get better every year. They just won back-to-back titles. And they don’t care what Astros fans think. They don’t care what opposing teams think. They are in it to win it and they’ve got the money. They’re spending it. Now, I will say this because someone asked me this um here in the side comments. Actually, I’ll address it in our in our third segment. Someone asked me what it means that Jim Crane sold the minor league clubs of the Astros. What that means to us as a club as a whole. It means freeing up more money for Justin Berlin. We’ll talk about it. I’m kidding. It has nothing to do with this. Guys, thank you for making Lock on Astros podcast your first listen every day. Wow. Game time. Game time is where it’s at. Eric, get out of the screen. Let me talk about game time, man. Use locked on code $20 off. Use a locked on code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase when the pitch is perfect. And I’m talking about World Cup soccer. I’m talking about football or as Bobby Bushier’s mom said, foosball. Um, 48 teams for the first time ever back in the US since 1994. Game time app is coming in clutch, giving fans the real advantage when it comes to snagging seats. If you want to see Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal, the German team, the Netherlands, three of the top 10 teams in the world square off. It’s not just a friendly. This is for national honor. So go with Game Time. You can track price drops in real time. Get alerts when great seats open up. Buy tickets the moment they hit the app. So take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets and every match, concert, and or event with Game Time is there right at your fingertips. Download the Game Time app and create an account. Use the code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. Now terms to apply. Again, download the app, make an account, and use the code locked on MLB for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Game time. Hey guys, thank you for making Lockdown Astros podcast your first listen every day. Whether it’s on YouTube, go ahead and subscribe to us. Go make first listen every day. Uh thank you for becoming Everyday. Uh go ahead and join the Everyday Dares Club. We’ll talk about that a little bit more. But um I know that there’s a lot of news, so we don’t want to just focus on Eso Parades and Jake Meyers and the whole log jam at um on the infield because I know that’s a big topic. But we have all offseason till Dana Brown does something because he already made his big winter meetings transaction. Uh but let’s go ahead and talk about some other u moves. I know that uh somebody asked about the um selling the farm the farm system. So basically AAA um and then double A and I think the woodpeckers were sold. Yes. Bas it was a transaction. I think it was the um what organization was on bottom. I don’t remember the I I thought you had it right. Diamond. It’s a I got it or something. It’s the um it’s the it’s the Diamond Baseball family. Now, what this means is they sold them to them and the Diamond Baseball family will actually manage these teams. They’ll they’ll they’ll keep the same personnel. They’ll keep the same GMs. No one’s changing hands. But this puts money in Jim Crane’s pocket and lets somebody else be in charge of managing these minor league clubs. Now, just because an owner has money in his pocket doesn’t mean that it’s so liquid that it flows into trades and signing big names. So, don’t think that one equals the other. It’s not necessarily a direct cause and effect. Now, it can have a benefit. And you got to remember something, Eric. Um, the impending lockout is coming up after this next season. The CBT is going to go up. The threshold is not going to go down. It’s only going to go up. It’s like inflation. And and so, you will have more wiggle room there. If you have more wiggle room, if Jim Crane has made more money, maybe that opens the door for some other deals to get done. Maybe we can extend both Jeremy Pñena and Hunter Brown. What do you think? Yeah, I think what this also does is it lets them focus more on player development versus trying to actually run the organization. So, I think this would be better for the Astro system as a whole because they’re trying to not only uh develop these players, but develop the organizations themselves. So, this kind of takes out the responsibility like you said. So, I think it’s going to be a good move for Houston Astros. Um uh they’re still going to be part of the Astros organization, but it’s just going to be a good move. So, um I do want to go ahead and talk a little bit about um the World Baseball Classic. Altbe wants to play according to Omar Lopez, but it all depends on how he responds from his foot ailment, his procedure, and he if he does play, he’s going to play second base and bat third for team Venezuela. So, um a um I hope he plays, but at the same time, b I don’t want him to play just because of what happened last time. I don’t want him to rush back after this um foot ailment that kind of hindered him towards the end of last season. Yeah. And and and that’s where it’s tough. So um I heard one GM or assistant GM talk about this during the winter meetings um last couple days and he said as a GM, you don’t want your players in there because you don’t want to have to see what happened. And he talked about Altuve, he talked about Diaz, all that stuff. But he said also you got to put on your what’s going to grow the game hat and you have to look at it that way. So Major League Baseball’s got the leaguewide interest in mind. Um it’s just interesting that all these coaches are saying, “Oh yeah, Carlos Koreah, he wants to play for Puerto Rico. Jose Altuve, he wants to play for Venezuela.” I’m like, “Wait, did he really say that or are you putting words in his mouth?” Now, I’m pretty sure that Omar Lopez, who is a consumate professional, is not just throwing Alt under the bus and saying something that that hasn’t been discussed. So, I’m not I’m not saying that he’s being unprofessional about it. I, for one, I enjoy watching the World Baseball Classic. I got to go to the last one in Miami. I got to see um I got to see the Dominican Republic play against Israel. That was an amazing game. Even though Israel just got absolutely shellacked, it was a it was a fun game. I got to meet a bunch of people from the DR. That was really cool. And you know, that’s a neat aspect of it, getting an international aspect of the game, Eric. But I’m not super thrilled that the Astros will probably have an excess of 14 or 15 guys like last time that will participate. Uh I just with all the injury history we have, I’m just like, come on, guys. Can we maybe maybe can y’all just be coaches? I think uh this is kind of like what the kids do with the prom posals. Uh this is a world baseball classic proposal. So uh this is what the coaches are doing. No right. Well, Altuve, if you’re healthy, we want you, bro. And Carlos Belron says and Carlos Ka now that you’re playing third base, love it, by the way. Hey, can you come play third base for Puerto Rico? So, it’s that I think that’s part part of what it is, but it also uh is just kind of pushing them to kind of make the decision. They’ve probably already had that conversation, but this is just kind of saying, “Hey, yeah, I think he wants to do it.” But, um, it’ll be exciting to see baseball early and see all this going on. But, um, the Astros do not have the number one overall pick. They will not be picking in the first six picks. They have the 17th overall pick uh in next year’s draft and they were also have the 28th pick that they got from the PPI uh selection by Hunter Brown finishing in top three scion and I I don’t know if you watched Julian Morales’s um podcast when he she interviewed Hunter Brown but he was perfectly aware of that and he said that no I wanted to make sure my bosses were happy. So, I made sure I got at least in the top three of the Cyan vote. He said the other two guys were great, so I probably was going to get top two, but yeah, um I wanted to please my bosses. Well, I can say this with us getting the 17th pick. I don’t think Job Spata should be allowed to sit in that chair next draft. If the Astros don’t make the playoffs, they need to send somebody else. He was bad luck. That’s why they got the 17th pick. I mean, come on, man. You can’t get higher than 17th. It sure looked rigged to me, Eric. And then they No, listen. And then to add insult to injury, the freaking Rangers get 16th. Are you kidding me? Come on, man. There’s no way. Anyways, but ser in all seriousness, you get the 17th pick, you get the 28th pick. I I mean, this is a great thing for the Houston Astros and having draft assets. And they are saying, draft evaluators right now are saying that the 2026 draft is stronger and better than the 2025 draft. I’m excited about that because we got one Xavier Nans who’s throwing up videos of his sweet, violent, smooth swing, as I call it, and the future of Houston Astros catching. And look, I’m excited to see where Dana Brown goes with this. And Eric, we forgot to mention this. They asked Dana Brown about contract extensions for Joe Espada because of Rob Thompson and in Philadelphia and he said, “Well, both Joe and I want to retire in Houston.” Now, I know some of our friends who aren’t fans of that, but look, if they can go back to the playoffs and they can improve this club, right, and they can do their job and win, winning seems to cure all criticism. Well, I think we’ll have to wait until see if they can win another World Series, what Dana Brown can do with the farm system. I I just don’t know if Astros fans will have the patience to go through another process right now. Eventually, Father Time will catch up to Jose and some of the other guys. And we will have to do a rebuild or a reload, whatever you want to call it. But right now, I think the Astros still have a good enough team if they uh make a good enough trade to get a young started uh pitching core that will help support Hunter Brown for many years. Hayden Wesneski comes back healthy and then you have some of these other guys like Christian Javier uh perform up to what he’s capable of. I think this rotation could be really strong, but the thing I I will repeat, like I said earlier, the offense was the issue last year. Yes, having a healthy Alvarez have a healthy lineup would be great, but you need these guys to produce and they did not produce last year. So, I just don’t know if taking Parades out of this lineup is the best answer, especially with him being the most patient. he took so many pitches and uh extended the pitching the pitchers count and I think that’s a valuable asset and I think that’s why other teams are very interested in Isaches. Yeah, that’s right. Um and I will um I will close out the show and my thoughts with this. I do think that the Astros this season with the new pitching coaches, as Dana Brown said, look, we just needed to get a different perspective in here. And I think with the different perspective, guys like Yanner Diaz can improve. Jeremy Pñena is gonna continue to rake. I believe in the big leagues. Carlos Cray I think is gonna have a better year. Yordon Alvarez, you keep him healthy, he has a better year. So you’ve got guys like Zack Kohl’s, you got some exciting things. Christian Walker can do nothing but improve. He he can’t really be any worse than he was at the beginning of the season last year. So with new faces, with new blood, and maybe some new players, maybe that’s more incentive to keep Esso Parades here. And oh, by the way, Yanner Diaz went deep um at Leome today um in his winter league ball and it was an opposite field shot. Actually, no, I think he I think it was poolside power, but it was a really nice home run. Let’s hope that swing and miss is decreased going into next year. All right, guys. Well, thank you for tuning in to Lockdown Astros podcast. Uh tomorrow we’ll go ahead and uh talk about whatever happens tomorrow. I don’t think anybody would have seen Esoch Bradies, but make sure you subscribe and follow the lockdown MLB podcast. Go and follow Lockown Astros so you can get all the latest ones. But let’s go ahead and talk about the Spotify wrapped approve it on social media to secure a full a free month of our brand new Everyday Club. Just tag our national locked on podcast network account on any social platform and we’ll drop you a code because one of the first things uh to join every day club uh to get your favorite show ad free and exclusive access to the membersonly discord channel. For those on you on video we we send you the first ever 247 national locked on podcast network YouTube channel on audio. Make sure you make your second listen to Lockdown MLB podcast. But um go ahead and subscribe and we got the number the um URL at the bottom. And guys, we’ll be back tomorrow and thank you for making us your first listen. Goes. [Music]

Could the Houston Astros shake up their infield by trading Isak Paredes while Jake Myers garners serious interest from contenders like the Dodgers, Royals, and Pirates? Eric Huysman and Brett Chancey break down the Astros’ emerging roster crunch, exploring how Alvarez’s DH role, Jose Altuve’s return to second base, and Walker’s contract create a high-stakes infield logjam. With rumors heating up around Paredes as a potential trade chip for controllable young pitchers like Peyton Tolley and Connelly Early from the Red Sox, Houston’s front office faces tough decisions that could reshape the 2026 lineup.

Key topics include trade scenarios, Jerermy Peña’s untouchable status, and the impact of the Astros’ new pitching staff. The hosts weigh the risks of moving a disciplined hitter like Paredes, consider the market for Jake Myers, and analyze the strategic implications of recent minor league club sales and draft picks. Can the Astros maximize value without sacrificing offensive production?

0:00 — Astros Trade Rumors
4:27 — Roster Crunch & Infield Logjam
21:13 — Astros Minor League Sale & Offseason Notes

If you’re trying to understand where the Astros’ offseason is really headed — this episode is for you.

Locked On Astros is your daily Houston Astros podcast, hosted by Eric Huysman and Brett Chancey. As part of the Locked On Podcast Network, we bring you the latest Astros news, in-depth game analysis, player updates, and exclusive insights — every single weekday.
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