2 moves this offseason thus far that Astros fans wish Houston had pulled off instead

After several moves on the margins, the Houston Astros finally broke through in a big way, landing Mike Burrows in a three-team trade with the Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates. Unfortunately, Houston comes away from that trade with some universally poor marks from the pundits around the league.

The Astros might not be done, however. There have been some rumblings that Houston could link up with the Boston Red Sox to exchange Isaac Paredes for another young, controllable arm like Payton Tolle or Connelly Early. They also still have most of their albeit limited budget left to spend in free agency.

Still, all we can do is evaluate what they’ve done so far, and compare it to other moves made out on the open market, and come to the conclusion that, even with those tempered expectations, things have been relatively disappointing so far.

With that budget in mind, here are a couple of the moves we wish the Astros pulled off instead.

Two moves the Astros should have made to strengthen the club for 20261. Trade for Brandon Lowe themselves

Most of the focus has been on the starting rotation, and for good reason, given Framber Valdez’s all but certain departure, but we can’t ignore how bad Houston’s lineup was at times last season. Sure, some of that was due to injuries, and a full and healthy season from Yordan Alvarez changes the outlook somewhat.

Still, there are concerns. The Astros ranked 21st in runs scored with 686. They came in 17th in homers at 182. The club’s .714 OPS was exactly middle of the pack, ranked 15th. Things look even more bleak when you look at how the left-handed bats in the lineup hit. Houston got just 670 plate appearances from lefties, the second fewest in the league. Their left-handed hitters popped just 17 homers, which again was the second fewest in baseball. Finally, the .653 OPS the Astros left-handed bats posted was the worst mark in baseball.

Brandon Lowe would have changed that for them. The lefty popped 31 homers while recording a .785 OPS. He’d have given them another left-handed power threat apart from Alvarez, and his ability to play second would have allowed for more time in left field for Jose Altuve, while also coming with some positional flexibility of his own.

Finally, while not a bargain, his $11.5 million salary is still below market value and would have fit into the budget. Instead, we saw the Astros serving as the facilitator to land Lowe in Pittsburgh instead of gobbling him up themselves.

2. Sign Cody Ponce instead of, or in addition to, trading for Mike Burrows

Cody Ponce was one of the few free-agent starting pitchers who could have legitimately fit into the Astros’ budget, and he proved that by signing a three-year, $30 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Ponce is an unknown, coming over from Korea after putting together a magical campaign in the KBO. How exactly he will fare in his return to major league competition is anyone’s guess. But unanimously, scouts rave about how his stuff transformed while toiling in the KBO, and he comes with the upside of a solid No. 2, which is exactly what Houston needs behind Hunter Brown.

Maybe we’ll find that Burrows has that type of ability as well, but it’s important to be honest about who Burrows is. Throughout his minor league tenure, Burrows hovered around No. 10 in the Pirates’ farm system. That’s far from a slam dunk.

Burrows’ 3.94 ERA and 4.00 FIP in 96 innings of work last season scream back-of-the-rotation innings eater over some sort of Robin to Hunter Brown’s Batman. Maybe there’s room for growth, but will it happen in 2026? We’ll have to wait and see.

Signing Ponce wouldn’t have precluded the Astros from pulling off a trade for Burrows, or a similar type of hurler, and one can argue that Houston truly needs more than one addition to the starting rotation. Even with Burrows in the rotation, you’re still looking at poor options going every fifth day, like Lance McCullers Jr. and Ryan Weiss.

Signing Ponce would have given the club another insurance policy in case of injury or poor performance from anyone not named Brown, and if the Astros are serious about contending in 2026, they need as many darts to throw in order to see what sticks.