WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Etta James Walker just turned 7 months old. She can crawl a bit, may soon start teething and is beginning to recognize her father’s face. “When you walk in and she smiles at you or something like that,” he said, “it’s great.”
That cuteness captivated Christian Walker throughout an unsettled winter. Trade rumors turn trivial against the backdrop of being a first-time father. Etta received every ounce of attention from Walker and his wife, Amanda, a couple that considers itself homebodies and found parenthood perfect for that lifestyle.
Spring’s arrival starts to upend it. Walker ambled into the Houston Astros’ clubhouse on Thursday afternoon with baby stories to tell and a smile that belied his standing within this awkward situation. Houston’s overcrowded infield dominated the offseason discourse, even if Walker didn’t hear it.
“From my perspective, I try to stay out of it as much as I can,” Walker said. “Just a better headspace for the offseason, you know. It’s part of it. A very realistic part of the business. But as far as I’m concerned, this is home and I’m looking forward to this year.”
Walker has played parts of 11 major-league seasons, enough to understand how the business of baseball operates. This offseason, he trusted either general manager Dana Brown or manager Joe Espada to communicate anything that “has some traction or some weight to it.”
Neither man did. It is not indicative of any finality. The team remains in active trade discussions surrounding its infield surplus, according to multiple team sources.
Most of them center around Isaac Paredes, the third baseman displaced by Carlos Correa’s arrival at last August’s trade deadline. Jose Altuve’s return to regular second-base duties leaves first base as the only defensive position for Paredes to play.
“My goal is to play every day, be the everyday first baseman,” Walker said. “That’s kind of where I’m at with it.”
Doing so with Paredes on the roster is almost impossible — and part of the motivation Houston has to pursue a trade. The rationale is not that Walker is a better player than Paredes. In fact, under the current roster construction, the best version of Houston’s lineup would include Paredes and not Walker.
“We’re talking about potentially what to do with another really good player and a really good bat and a high value to a team that won us a lot of games last year and is going to win us games this year,” Walker said. “It’s a little bit of a puzzle, but I think it’s going to make the team stronger.”
Relegating a $20 million player to a part-time role is poor resource allocation, especially for a club being careful of its luxury tax positioning. An inability to guarantee Paredes’ regular playing time is the byproduct of a dysfunctional roster. Something has to give, whether it is within the next few days or sometime next month.
“All of us want to play every day. Every single guy in this clubhouse wants to play 162 games. My goal is to be on the field every single day,” Walker said, further underscoring this roster’s flaws.
According to league sources, trade interest in Walker has been minimal, which is understandable given his subpar 2025 season and $40 million remaining on his contract. A limited no-trade clause in the deal allows Walker to block a trade to six unidentified teams.
“I love it here. I want to be here,” Walker said. “A lot of where I draw motivation from is for the guys in this room. The guys in the clubhouse. I think about working out every day and staying disciplined because I know that Correa is doing the same thing. I know that (Jeremy) Peña is doing the same thing.”
Barring a trade partner willing to pay a substantial amount of Walker’s contract, moving Paredes remains the most straightforward solution to this situation. He has more value and will fetch a far greater return than Walker. The Astros’ foremost goal in making Paredes available is to receive something back that improves their 2026 team.
Potentially trading Paredes also doubles as a bet that Walker will bounce back from a forgettable 2025 season. He finished it worth 0.2 wins above replacement, according to Baseball-Reference. No qualified first baseman had a higher strikeout rate than Walker’s 27.7 percent mark. Only two had a lower OPS.
Walker still led Houston’s injury-ravaged lineup with 27 home runs. A .660 OPS in Walker’s first 90 games ruined any hope of salvaging his season-long stats. His .799 OPS after the All-Star break offered hope that his horrendous first half was an anomaly, not the start of a decline for a player who turns 35 next month.
Walker spent some of his offseason diagnosing the differences between both halves. Poor posture plagued him in the first half. After the All-Star break, Walker found himself “starting my swing from a better spot.”
“When my posture’s not in a good spot, my bat path does weird things,” Walker said. “I’m not going to say it was a bad thing. It was just something that I wasn’t used to, and it’s something I couldn’t quite figure out. As I moved into the second half, I noticed my launch position being a little bit more consistent, more repeatable, and something more cohesive with hitting balls in the air and making good decisions.”
Walker will spend spring training experimenting with some timing mechanisms in his stance, including a toe tap before the pitch is delivered. He changed his diet and controlled his portion sizes this offseason and, on Thursday, said he’s down anywhere from 10 to 12 pounds. A poor defensive season prompted him to become more agile and improve his range.
“You want to be there for your guys, and you want to be in a good spot and prepare for them because you owe that to them as a teammate,” Walker said.
On Wednesday, Brown acknowledged “you try not to put deadlines on yourself” while constructing a major-league roster. Unless Brown delivers one or orchestrates a deal, speculation about Walker’s standing will run rampant all spring. To answer it, Walker’s approach is sensible.
“I’m here for the team. I’m here to win a World Series,” Walker said. “Whatever happens in between now and winning that World Series is the way it is. We’ll be all right.
“I’m planning on playing first base this season and very much looking forward to it.”