The Houston Astros have done their best to avoid handing out bad contracts in recent years, consistently letting their top players leave in free agency rather than re-sign or extend them to long-term deals.
But despite their best efforts, the Astros still have several regrettable deals on the books, including some that are considered among the worst contracts in baseball.
Cody Stavenhagen ranked MLB’s ugliest deals for The Athletic on Monday, and unfortunately for Houston, several of its big-name players popped up.
Astros Saddled by Several Bad Deals
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Houston has tried to extend its dynasty and win sustainably by avoiding crippling contracts, letting homegrown stars like George Springer, Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker and likely Framber Valdez go. Nobody’s perfect, however, and the front office has still made several missteps in this regard.
While Stavenhagen didn’t rank any Astros players in his 10 worst contracts, he did include three in the “honorable mentions” section.
One is first baseman Christian Walker, whom Houston inked to a three-year, $60 million deal last offseason to help offset the losses of Bregman and Tucker. It was a risky move at the time with Walker entering his mid-30s, and sure enough, he endured his worst season in four years.
Walker rebounded from a disappointing start in the second half to finish with respectable numbers, but he still had a career-high 177 strikeouts and his worst OBP (.297) ever for a full season. He also slipped defensively, failing to win a Gold Glove for the first time in four years.
Stavenhagen also named another recent Astros acquisition in Carlos Correa, who’s guaranteed $96 million over the next three years. Houston reunited with him at the trade deadline after letting him walk in free agency four years ago.
Correa’s a good player, but he’s injury-prone an no longer an elite shortstop. He’s also on the wrong side of 30 and doesn’t figure to age well, making him overpaid at his salary.
Stavenhagen also listed Lance McCullers Jr., who hasn’t been able to stay healthy. He’s thrown just 103 innings over the last four seasons combined and was terrible in 2025, posting the worst ERA (6.51) of his career. He’s 32 now and still has one year and $17.7 million remaining on his extension.
Aging Astros in Decline
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These bad contracts finally caught up with Houston in 2025, contributing to the team’s first postseason miss since 2016. That continued a downward trend for the Astros, whose record has gotten worse in each of the last three years.
Unfortunately for Houston, it’s likely stuck with all three of these deals for at least one more season. McCullers comes off the books next year and will provide some salary relief, but spending $70 million for a handful of WAR from this trio isn’t ideal.
Jose Altuve still has four years and $92 million left on his extension as well, which looks like a risky investment heading into his age-36 campaign. He’s coming off his worst full season in over a decade and if he continues to decline, it wouldn’t be surprising to see his name on this list next year.
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