Its been a whirlwind offseason for the Astros. While Houston isnt rebuilding by any stretch, its fair to call this something of a transitional winter. Theyve traded an MVP-caliber outfielder ( ) to the Cubs and appear likely to part ways with a cornerstone of their World Series teams ( ) in free agency. is in San Francisco. Longtime closer followed Tucker to Wrigleyville in a separate trade. With those names out the door (or likely out the door, in Bregmans case), the Stros have brought in , , and their new top prospect, . Owner Jim Crane has maintained that the club has the wherewithal to match last years spending (i.e. pay the luxury tax) in the right scenario and for the right player. Presumably, with Houston leaving its six-year, $156MM offer to Bregman on the table even after acquiring Paredes and Walker and even as Bregman seeks lengthier/larger contracts elsewhere Crane feels a Bregman reunion is such a scenario/player. However, general manager Dana Brown said yesterday that he hasnt recently talked to agent Scott Boras and used the past tense when talking to the Astros beat about Bregman ( ). A reunion doesnt seem likely. In that same media availability, Brown continued to voice his hope to acquire a left-handed bat ideally in the outfield: Were trying to get a left-handed bat for the outfield, said Brown. Most of the options are slim to none, but were still working through it and grinding to get some left-handed at-bats in our outfield. Cynics will point out that Houston had one of the best left-handed hitters in all of baseball (Tucker) and traded him to the Cubs although doing so brought them multiple years of control over their new third baseman (Paredes), their potential fifth starter (Wesneski) and their new top prospect (Smith). Tucker wasnt likely to sign an extension, and the Stros undoubtedly received more long-term value than theyd have garnered with a compensatory draft pick by simply letting Tucker reach free agency. That long-term value comes at the cost of a le ser 2025 roster but could well prove to be the best play in the long run. Regardle s of how one feels about the Tucker trade, hes gone and wont factor into this years roster. That leaves the Astros with a heavily right-handed lineup. Paredes, Walker, , , , and all bat Tyler Bertuzzi Jersey from the right side. is the lone left-handed bat a sured to be in the lineup. On top of that general lack of lefties, the Astros also more broadly lack certainty in the outfield. Meyers plays great defense but is a .222/.290/.369 hitter over the past two seasons. McCormick is coming off a career-worst .211/.271/.306 batting line. The other outfield spot, as things stand, projects to be filled by a combination of utilityman and DFA pickup/former top prospect . Houston can hope that a combination of , , , and can factor into the outfield puzzle, but no one from that group is close to established in the majors. Leons stock is down considerably from when he was Houstons top prospect. Melton is still well-regarded but didnt hit all that well in last years Triple-A debut. Even if someone from that group steps up, the Astros arguably need better outfield options. Alvarez played 53 games in left field last year, and manager Joe Espada said this week that the club hopes to reduce that number significantly in 2025, so more time on the gra s for the teams top slugger isnt the answer. One injury or continued offensive decline for Meyers or McCormick could lead to a disastrous outfield setup. It all leaves the Astros in a tough spot. Theyre about $4.75MM shy of the $241MM luxury tax threshold, , with an owner who seemingly doesnt want to cro s that line for anything other than a Bregman reunion (at the Astros price rather than Bregmans price). There are some free agents who could fit the bill, but would they sign for under $5MM? Thats far le s clear. Lets run through some potential options. Free Agents : The Astros got a decent run out of Heyward after the Dodgers cut him loose. He appeared in 24 games and hit .218/.283/.473 with four big flies in just 61 plate appearances. Heyward still plays a strong right field, but hes coming off an overall .211/.288/.412 showing last year. He and McCormick could form a platoon, but Heyward only has 73 plate appearances versus lefties over the past three seasons combined. He shouldnt face them. Given his age (35), marginal 2024 showing and platoon splits, it seems plausible that the Astros could sign him for something similar to s $4MM in Baltimore and keep themselves under the tax line. : The 37-year-old Peralta hit .267/.335/.415 for the Padres in 2024, with about 90% of his plate appearances coming against right-handed pitching. As with Heyward, hes a veteran in the twilight of his career whod require strict platooning. That said, Peralta has consistently hit right-handed pitching, with the 2023 season standing as the lone exception of note in recent years. He bounced back nicely in 2024 after signing minor league deals with the Cubs and Padres. A big league deal with a small enough guarantee to comfortably remain under the luxury tax at least feels plausible. : After four productive years as a regular in Minnesota, Rosario has alternated between league-average offense and bottom-of-the-scale production, in every-other-year fashion, from 2021-24. He posted exact 100 wRC+ marks in 21 and 23 but hit .212/.259/.328 (63 wRC+) in 2022 and .175/.215/.316 (45 wRC+) in 2024. A minor league deal with a low base salary seems to be the likely outcome here. The Astros could swing that, but theres zero guarantee that the 33-year-old Rosario can bounce back from that woeful 24 showing. Over his past 1517 MLB plate appearances, hes hitting .231/.278/.396 (82 wRC+). : Still just 28 years old, Verdugo picked a poor time to have a career-worst season. He hit just .233/.291/.356 as the Yankees regular left fielder last year, and that came despite a blistering start to the season. From mid-May onward, Verdugo fell into an interminable slump and ranked as one of the games least effective hitters. In Verdugos final 480 plate appearances, he posted a .221/.270/.330 slash. Thats 31% worse than league-average, by measure of wRC+. Verdugo is very likely looking at a one-year deal, but he made $8.7MM last season, so a cut to le s than $5MM is probably a hard sell. Plus, most teams with interest in Verdugo are likely willing to include incentives to boost whatever base salary he accepts. For the Astros, such an arrangement might push them north of the tax line again. Plausible Trade Options To be clear, this isnt an exhaustive list of every left-handed bat the Astros could pursue nor is it nece sarily a collection of high-impact, cost-effective prospects. Sure, the Astros would probably love to pry away from the Orioles, but short of offering up a compelling top-of-the-rotation arm like which doesnt at all seem like something Houston is considering/has considered a prospect of that caliber isnt likely to be available. Some of these names have, and surely will again, already come up in trade talks, but broadly speaking this is a speculative list of potential fits whod check some boxes for Houston. , Dodgers: Outman was one of the Dodgers top-ranked prospects a few years back but hasnt been able to overcome his penchant for strikeouts. The outfield in L.A. no longer has room for him. , and look likely to start there, and even if Edman shifts to the infield, has leapfrogged Outman on the depth chart. Outman posted a miserable .147/.256/.265 slash in 156 plate appearances with the Dodgers last season but slashed .248/.353/.437 in 567 turns at the plate the year prior. He hit .279/.390/.543 in Triple-A last year. Outman has a minor league option remaining, so the Dodgers dont need to be in any rush to trade him. Hes nice depth to have on hand. But hes also 27 going on 28 (in May), not in the teams immediate plans, and has fast-rising prospects and climbing the minor league ranks behind him. , Marlins: After a brief run of trying to compete, the Marlins are back to teardown mode perhaps even more so than at any point in recent history. They traded 10 big leaguers last year between Opening Day and the deadline, and theyve shipped out this offseason as well. Sanchez, earning $4.5MM this year, is one of two players on Miamis active roster earning more than $2MM. (Ace and likely summer trade chip , at $17MM, is the other.) Since hed effectively be replacing a league-minimum player, hed be a net $3.75MM add to the teams luxury bill, allowing Houston to stay under the tax line. Sanchez has subpar plate discipline and cant hit lefties. He also has enormous raw power and elite batted-ball metrics. Hes only an average runner but nonethele s swiped 16 bags in 18 tries this past season. Since 2023, the 27-year-old is hitting .252/.319/.431 with 32 homers in 931 plate appearances. Hes a solid, if unremarkable right field defender and is under club control through 2027. With the Marlins in a rebuild, Sanchez could be had for prospects. , Giants: Wade is probably a stretch as a regular outfielder. He ranks among the games slowest runners, sitting with seventh percentile sprint speed, per Statcast, and the Giants havent played him on the gra s even semi-regularly since 2021-22. The Astros have a grounder-heavy rotation, though, and the short left field porch at the newly renamed Daikin Park inherently reduces the amount of ground Houston left fielders need to cover (especially relative to Oracle Park in San Francisco). Wade excels in two key areas, however. He hits right-handed pitching and, more broadly, . Wade has walked in nearly 13% of his career plate appearances. That includes a 14% clip acro s the past three seasons and a ma sive 15.5% mark in 2024. Hes a lifetime .251/.359/.431 hitter against righties. Wade is earning $5MM in 2025, his last year before free agency. The Astros can probably shoehorn him into the payroll and narrowly duck under the tax line. Hes lined up to be the Giants primary first baseman in 2025, but the Giants have listened on Wade this winter and there are first base alternatives still on the market that San Francisco could pursue if they receive an offer to their liking for Wade. , Pirates: Similar to Outman, Suwinski is a strikeout-prone lefty who had an encouraging 2023 showing (26 homers, .224/.339/.454, 112 wRC+) before tanking in 2024. The Bucs opened 2024 with Suwinski locked into their outfield but optioned him multiple times amid a disastrous .182/.264/.324 performance at the plate. Part of Suwinskis struggles were BABIP related, as he hit just .225 on balls in play, but poor luck doesnt tell the whole story. He saw notable drops in his excellent batted-ball metrics from 23 and saw his ground-ball rate skyrocket from 27.9% to 46.4%. Even with above-average speed, thats a bad trend for a pull-heavy lefty. The Bucs still have one unsettled outfield spot, and Suwinski will be in the mix barring a late acquisition. Strikeouts are an i sue, but Suwinski walks a lot (career 12.1%), runs well and is a pa sable, albeit slightly below-average left fielder. He hasnt reached arbitration yet, so salary isnt an i sue. , Reds: Theres no urgency for the Reds to move Fraley, but hes a moderately priced ($3.125MM) lefty whos controlled through 2026 and could feasibly net Cincinnati a bullpen option in a trade. Fraley is a career .264/.346/.440 hitter against righties. He runs and throws well but still draws only average (or slightly below) grades for his glovework in right field. The Reds recently added on a one-year deal. They now have Hays, , , and as big league outfield options, with , and on the 40-man roster and likely Triple-A bound. They could afford to move Fraley for some relief help. , White Sox: Maybe weve reached the point of silline s here. Benintendi is owed $47.5MM over the next three seasons and hasnt panned out at all since signing a five-year deal with the South Siders. That said, he quietly batted .251/.326/.470 (124 wRC+) with 16 homers over his final 322 plate appearances. Would the White Sox eat a (significant) portion of the contract to move on? Would they take back an underwater contract like (still with the organization after being outrighted, still owed $11.5MM) or erstwhile top starter ($34MM through 2026)? Calling Benintendi any sort of a solution is an extreme stretch, but he finished nicely in 2024, is still only 30 and was a quality all-around performer as recently as 2022. Longer Shots There are ample names to consider around the league, but many would require the Astros to part with talent from their current big league roster. The D-backs have in and this winter likely some from the Astros but both will play big league roles, with McCarthy in particular looking like a starter for a win-now Arizona club. The Cardinals dont have a great spot for other than DH but also have no reason to consider moving him unle s theyre getting meaningful prospects in return. Atlantas signing of leaves without an everyday role once returns, but the Braves are probably reluctant to move on after engineering a convoluted series of salary-driven trades to acquire/purchase Kelenic last offseason. There are countle s scenarios to draw up, but the bottom line is that Houston faces an uphill battle in adding a credible left-handed bat to its outfield group if Crane remains intent on staying under the tax threshold for anyone other than Bregman. Wyatt Kaiser Jersey