WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A winter longer than any other across the Houston Astros’ golden era still ended with uncertainty. The team reinforced its starting rotation and gave itself multiple layers of depth in case of injury. Simply keeping Yordan Alvarez on the field should improve a lineup that languished toward the end of last season.
However, the team will convene in West Palm Beach on Wednesday with a curious roster construction and doubt surrounding its outfield. Here are three burning questions before Wednesday’s first workout for pitchers and catchers.
Will Houston solve its infield surplus?
A question hounding general manager Dana Brown and his baseball operations staff across the past six months is still unanswered, though the team’s activity in recent days does offer some insight into its calculus.
Throughout last week, Houston intensified its efforts to trade third baseman Isaac Paredes, who does not have a path to everyday playing time with the team’s current roster construction. Jose Altuve will be the team’s primary second baseman, Carlos Correa is entrenched at third base and, according to manager Joe Espada, Alvarez will take “the majority” of his at-bats at designated hitter.
If he isn’t traded, Paredes’ most direct path to playing time is as part of a first-base timeshare with Christian Walker, who is also available in trades, but more difficult to move given his age, $20 million salary and limited no-trade clause.
Paredes, a reigning American League All-Star, has no such constraints. At least five teams have shown interest in Paredes, according to sources familiar with his market.
Two of them, the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates, acquired position players on Monday morning that could lessen their likelihood of landing Paredes. That the Astros had extensively engaged with both clubs across the past week underscores how untenable team officials believe this infield surplus to be. Last month, Houston had the framework for a three-team trade to send Paredes to the Red Sox and acquire utilityman Brendan Donovan from the St. Louis Cardinals.
Throughout the winter, multiple team sources reiterated that Houston does not want to trade Paredes, but parting with him may be the most straightforward path to solving this roster crunch. The right return could offer some stability to the Astros’ unsettled outfield, too. Houston is seeking an outfielder who hits from the left side in any potential package for Paredes.
If no team is able to satisfy the Astros’ demands, team officials insist they are content with carrying both Walker and Paredes on the Opening Day roster. Doing so would require acceptance from both players that their playing time could be inconsistent. Correa, Alvarez, Altuve and shortstop Jeremy Peña would have to accept at least some decrease in their at-bats to facilitate the setup.
Neither Paredes nor Walker has spoken publicly this winter — and their availability in trades is not a secret within the industry. Houston’s first full-squad workout is scheduled for Monday. Whether both men will be there is a legitimate question.
Who wins the final two starting rotation spots?
No spring training competition will be more fierce than the fifth and sixth spots in Houston’s expanded starting rotation. Playing 26 games in the season’s first 28 days, coupled with Tatsuya Imai’s experience pitching every sixth day in NPB, will force the Astros to open with a six-man rotation.
Imai, Mike Burrows, Cristian Javier and Cy Young Award finalist Hunter Brown are all but guaranteed rotation spots. Nothing behind them is as certain.
Tatsuya Imai pitched 163 2/3 innings for the Seibu Lions in 2025. (Alex Slitz / Getty Images)
Spencer Arrighetti, Lance McCullers Jr., Ryan Weiss, Jason Alexander, Nate Pearson, Colton Gordon and AJ Blubaugh should all enter camp with legitimate chances of cracking the rotation. All aside from Weiss have substantial major-league starting experience, though Weiss thrived in the Hanwha Eagles’ rotation while pitching in the KBO last season.
Pearson and Weiss signed guaranteed contracts with promises they could compete for roles in the starting rotation, but signing Imai and acquiring Burrows will make their paths more difficult. Pearson also underwent what Dana Brown described as an “elbow cleanup” this offseason, putting him slightly behind the rest of Houston’s pitchers in camp.
If neither Weiss nor Pearson wins the spring training rotation competition, both would profile as long relievers on the Opening Day roster — especially valuable for a club carrying a shorthanded bullpen due to the six-man rotation. Remember, the Astros use the tandem system in the minor leagues, meaning all of their homegrown pitchers have extensive long relief experience.
Based only on major-league track record and past performance, Arrighetti and McCullers should enter spring training as the favorites for the final two rotation spots. Both men had injury-marred seasons in 2025 but, according to team officials, have had normal offseasons and will enter spring training with no restraints.
Do Grapefruit League stats matter?
Last spring, Dana Brown surprised some in his own organization by carrying rookie Cam Smith on the Opening Day roster after just 32 games of professional experience. Among the myriad factors in Brown’s decision-making: Smith’s stupendous showing during 38 Grapefruit League at-bats.
Brown is a lifelong scout who values on-field production. It is not his only data point when evaluating players, but putting both Smith and fellow rookie Zach Dezenzo on the Opening Day roster last season underscored how much weight performance carries with Houston’s fourth-year general manager.
One spring later, Smith will arrive in West Palm Beach without a guaranteed roster spot. Houston’s entire outfield feels unsettled — especially with the aforementioned uncertainty around Paredes and Walker.
Could Grapefruit League statistics help to settle it? If one of Smith, fellow rookie Zach Cole, Jake Meyers or Jesús Sánchez has a standout showing in spring training games, Brown has set a precedent that it matters. Ditto for non-roster invitees Joseph Sullivan and Lucas Spence, two left-handed hitting outfield prospects in an almost identical situation to Smith’s last year.
Perhaps the same sentiment can carry over to the pitching staff, where at least two rotation spots are up for grabs. The validity of spring training stats is often debated, due to the time of year, level of pitching faced or some combination of both. It’s clear, though, that it matters in Houston.