HOUSTON, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 21: Isaac Paredes #15 of the Houston Astros hits a home run in the eighth inning against the Seattle Mariners at Daikin Park on September 21, 2025 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The deal now gives the Astros, or any new team, two years of cost certainty.
Earlier today, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reported that the Houston Astros have come to a contract agreement with 3B Isaac Paredes on a 2-year, $22.7M deal.
Source: the Astros have settled with IF Isaac Paredes for $9.35 million for 2026 and a 2027 club option for $13.35 million. If he’s top 10 in MVP in 2026, the club option becomes mutual option.
This deal having a second season with a club option (unless he finished Top 10 MVP) give the Astros a cost certainly on Paredes for the next two seasons, taking him through his final year of arbitration.
It also gives cost certainty to any team that should trade for him.
Paredes is a player that has high value on the trade market, and having the next two years salaries established would make it easier to deal him. The Astros currently have a clear logjam at 1B with Paredes and Christian Walker.
While the club would like to keep Paredes, GM Dana Brown has pined for a reliable lefty hitting outfield bat all offseason, and Paredes may be his best chance of getting one.
The Astros have had trade discussions revolving around Paredes all offseason with various teams. With a 2-year deal now in place taking him through his arbitration years, it may make setting compensation with an interested club easier.
AUSTIN, TEXAS – JANUARY 7: Adrian Rodriguez #24 of the Texas Longhorns poses for a portrait on Texas baseball media day on January 7, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by The University of Texas Athletics/University Images via Getty Images)
David Hamilton. Trey Faltine. Jalin Flores. Adrian Rodriguez?
Over the last decade, the Texas Longhorns have featured elite play at the shortstop position, a standard that former Gold Glove winner Troy Tulowitzki has helped elevate since joining the coaching staff on the Forty Acres in 2019.
After playing second base, third base, and left field last year for the Longhorns, Rodriguez takes over the position that Flores played at a high level for three seasons as he works his way back from hand surgery.
The sophomore battled through pain after missing seven games when he was hit by a pitch against Missouri that forced him to only hit left-handed for the rest of the season and made it difficult for him to play in the infield.
As Rodriguez proved his toughness in earning Perfect Game Freshman All-American honors despite the injury, he was able to reach base safely in the final 25 games of the season, ultimately slashing .313/.410/.516 with 35 runs scored, 14 doubles, seven homers, and 23 RBI and tying for the team lead with 15 stolen bases.
The expectation is for Rodriguez to take a step forward in 2026 if he can stay healthy even though his offseason development was hampered by the hand surgery — his ability as a switch hitter ensures he always has favorable matchups, and his bat-to-ball skills were impressive even when it was painful for him to swing.
“He’s on track to come back from his hand surgery. He’s not swinging the bat right now, but he should be able to do that in about a week or two,” Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle said last week.
“The biggest thing with him was we had to hold him back. If you tell him five swings is good, he’s going to take 50. So we’ve to be careful with him that way.”
The double-play partner for Rodriguez is junior Ethan Mendoza in his second season on the Forty Acres. After gaining strength and showing early signs of a power surge after transferring from Arizona State, Mendoza was set back by a shoulder injury that forced him into a designated hitter role and seemed to sap his improved power.
Adding about 20 pounds of muscle during the offseason while focusing on making similar gains in straight-line and lateral quickness has further increased Mendoza’s pop with hopes that he can translate the four home runs he hit over a six-game stretch last season into more consistent power across the entire season. At the least, improvements in his exit velocity should translate to a higher slugging percentage thanks to better gap-to-gap power.
The Southlake Carroll product was also successful in altering his approach at the plate after arriving at Texas, showing more patience and working deeper into counts to get better pitches to hit, jumping from 13 walks in 2024 to 36 walks in 2025, although the side effect was nearly doubling his strikeout rate, a concession that Schlossnagle is willing to make.
To replace Kimble Schuessler, the former catcher who grew into one of the best defensive first baseman Schlossnagle has ever coached, the staff moved junior Casey Borba across the diamond from third base back to his primary infield position from 2024.
The focus for the California product has been improving his functional athleticism and understanding of the position because Schlossnagle wants to have a regular starter at first base.
“It takes some time to learn bunt defenses, where to play, where to position yourself, what balls to go get that are towards the second baseman, how to communicate in running away from the ball knowing that the second baseman can get the ball. And you only get those things through repetition and in the games and in practice,” Schlossnagle said on the Around the Horns podcast.
At the plate, the staff has continued to emphasize the need for an opposite-field approach. Borba hit 12 home runs in 2025 and improved his slugging percentage by 86 points, but his batting average suffered because he was hitting the ball hard into the shifts regularly employed against him, which put a hard ceiling on his ability to get base hits.
Borba did flash his upside in the Austin Regional win over Kansas State, recording the first multi-home run game of his career with a grand slam and a three-run blast on his way to a career-high eight RBI.
For Borba to have a true breakout season and capitalize on the potential that made him a near top-150 prospect nationally by Perfect Game out of Orange Lutheran in California, Borba will have to use the entire field as a hitter.
Back across the diamond at third base, Schlossnagle teased a platoon between Stanford transfer Temo Becerra, a defensive-minded former shortstop with a high contact rate and little power, and Wichita State transfer Josh Livingston, who has mostly played first base and second base.
“He worked his tail off to become a serviceable or even better than that third baseman — he’s really done a nice job,” Schlossnagle said of Livingston.
After leading the Shockers in home runs (15) and slugging percentage (.555) last season, Livingston brings a left-handed power bat to the Longhorns lineup and should receive starts against right-handed pitchers in addition to the possibility that he could see time at designated hitter.
Asked to pick a position player who could surprise, however, Mendoza nodded to Becerra.
“I think he’s a really good baseball player. Obviously, he’s been there for a really long time. He knows what the game is about, and he’s just a grindy player, too,” Mendoza said.
Sophomore Liberty transfer Callum Early provides infield depth after batting .295 for the Flames last year, as does well-regarded freshman Maddox Monsour, who has the versatility to play in the outfield, as well.
Schlossnagle would prefer to have more depth in the infield, but the starting group has plenty of experience and enough untapped potential to make the trajectories of Rodriguez, Mendoza, and Borba intriguing storylines to watch in 2026.
HOUSTON, TEXAS – AUGUST 27: Framber Valdez #59 of the Houston Astros pitches during a game against the Colorado Rockies at Daikin Park on August 27, 2025 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Houston Astros/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s only a motion away.
Could there be an Astros and Framber Valdez reunion? Maybe the odds are better than we previously thought?
Monday night on AREA 45 on Sportsradio 610, I posed the idea of the Astros getting back in on Framber Valdez with a short term, high AAV type deal with opt outs that would allow Framber to pitch in Houston this season, and go back on the market next year to search for his long-term deal without being attached to a Qualifying Offer.
Framber is the highest rated free agent still on the market, and the fact he has not signed yet is puzzling. Framber was easily the best pitcher on the market, and not only the best but most durable. Framber is baseball’s biggest ground ball machine and he eats innings. Framber pitched 192 innings in 2025, and has thrown 767.2 innings the past four seasons.
Five seasons ago was the last time Framber didn’t make at least 28 starts, and that was because of a fractured finger he suffered on a comebacker in Spring Training. He made 22 starts and pitched 134.2 innings.
For his career, Framber has a 3.36 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. His career groundball rate is 61.5%, and the MLB average is 42.4%. In an era of chasing the long ball, Valdez is the antidote.
Several teams have been linked to Valdez, but as the offseason has worn on, many have gone in different directions. There is now a question as to whether the long-term deal Valdez seeks will be available to him this season. Any team signing Valdez this season will also have draft pick forfeiture as a penalty for signing a free agent who rejected the Qualifying Offer. The combination of losing draft pick(s), losing international bonus pool money and paying out a long-term high value contract seems to have weakened teams’ desires to pay Valdez.
Enter the Astros.
Valdez clearly is familiar and comfortable in Houston. The Astros know Valdez’ temperament better than anyone, and know how to get the most from him.
For a team that may be offensively challenged (Houston has several ‘good hitters’ in it’s lineup but only one great hitter in Yordan Alvarez), having an elite rotation would catapult the Astros back into the World Series conversation. Framber is that kind of a difference maker.
A contract similar to the one Blake Snell signed in 2024, two years with a high AAV and an opt out, would make sense for all parties should the long term deal Valdez wants not be available.
Earlier today, Astros GM Dana Brown addressed the media and in his comments left the door open to a possible Framber reunion (Framber question in video at 3:06)
Astros GM Dana Brown made some big news on Framber Valdez and a possible LH bat today — plus what they learned this offseason on how to FIX their INJURY ISSUES.https://t.co/dPjj2HVXV4
Adding Framber Valdez to a rotation that already has Hunter Brown, Tatsuya Imai, Cristian Javier and Mike Burrows would create a lot of competition for the sixth rotation spot and also give the Astros a chance to have two righthanders in the pen who can give multiple innings. Having multi-inning relievers in a short pen due to the longer rotation would be paramount for the club to keep key arms like Josh Hader and Bryan Abreu from being overworked.
It may be a longshot, but before today it seemed like a no shot.
Brown swooped in on Imai late and stole him when few in MLB thought Houston was a real player. Could he do it again with Framber?
TORONTO, ONTARIO – OCTOBER 19: Cal Raleigh #29 of the Seattle Mariners looks on after grounding into a double play during the third inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game six of the American League Championship Series at Rogers Centre on October 19, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It was very sad, he thought. The things men carried inside. The things men did or felt they had to do. -Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried”
There is a powerful Tim O’Brien short story, part of a larger eponymous collection, called “The Things They Carried,” which catalogues the physical weight of the individual items a group of soldiers in Vietnam carried, as a way to interrogate the mental weight of what their assignment demanded they carry.
Baseball is a far cry from the foxholes of war—part of the reason people are consuming sports content especially fervently right now, I think, as an escape from The Horrors—but just as the soldiers in O’Brien’s short story are forever changed by the psychological weight of the things they now carry, so too are the 2025 Mariners altered by the weight of promise fallen short. I was personally taken aback, at a post-season media event held in late October, at how fresh the wounds still felt: I was expecting the team officials in attendance (Jerry Dipoto, Justin Hollander, Dan Wilson) to still be feeling the sting of disappointment but overwhelmingly proud of how far the team came, farther than any other Mariners team ever had. Instead, it was clear the bones of heartbreak hadn’t quite knitted: eyes were wet, mouths were tight, and the hurt hung over the room palpably.
Three months later, that pain hasn’t dissipated, but it has calcified, hardened into a sharp point of purpose. This past weekend, the Mariners held the first Fan Fest the team has sponsored since 2019, and while the overarching theme of the weekend was a joyous riot of excitement, from players and personnel alike there was a distinct sense of a job not done and an acute awareness of the task ahead.
Cal Raleigh, now a (mostly) year-round Seattle resident, was in attendance both days, thrilling fans wherever the should-have-been MVP showed up. He brought fans to their knees as a surprise guest in the photo opp area, oversaw a gender reveal, and generally sent whoever was in his vicinity into transports of delight. But while enjoying the outpouring of love and support, Cal was contemplative about the year that was, focused on the year that will come.
“Obviously last year was great. I’m glad we got to celebrate that, it was definitely a special season,” he said. “But at the same time, you have to be able to turn the page and look forward to a new year and understand that what we’re trying to accomplish here is win a World Series and setting the standard, the bar, the expectations super-high, because that’s where we want to be.
I think everybody’s going to be excited going into camp. It’s going to be hard work, though. It’s not going to be easy. New years bring new challenges.“
From all the Mariners in attendance this weekend, the message was clear: job not finished. But there’s also an understanding of the weight of expectations, the bar that’s now been set. George Kirby delivered his expectations for this upcoming season in typical unflinching Kirby style.
“I feel like I can speak for a lot of the guys, getting to where we did,” said Kirby. “I feel like that’s the floor for us this year. And anything else just kind of doesn’t cut it. So being able to get a taste of that, and then losing and seeing Toronto go on to celebrate all that stuff puts a fire in your stomach.”
Getting so close, but falling just short: the confusing cocktail of should-be pride mixed with with the sharp metallic tang of disappointment. Josh Naylor expressed a similar sentiment, although with a typical Naylor pragmatic twist.
“Yeah, obviously the loss was not easy to take. It sucked, especially knowing that we had them,” said Naylor. “But it is what it is, and it wasn’t meant for us to win it. God has really weird plans for people, and I trust Him. So I’m just gonna go out there every day and try to win ballgames. But having that experience and getting that close, I hope it fuels everyone in the off-season to come back stronger: a little bit bigger, a little bit better, a little bit smarter. It has for me. I’m trying to grow every single day in the off-season, trying to get 1% better in some sort of area. Obviously not every day can be sunshine and roses, but you can pick a little area to grow in.”
If the expectations are heavier than they’ve ever been, there’s a comfort in the fact that those expectations are now matched by experience. Kirby spoke about finding “learning lessons” from specific situations in postseason games and using that as a focus for training, physically and mentally, during the off-season. Emerson Hancock took a broader view on how that post-season experience might shape the course of an entire season.
“I think ultimately it makes you better, the whole experience of being in the postseason, understanding what’s at stake, the pressure, it makes you better,” said Hancock. “It stings. It’s hard. You know, you get to right there and you’re just almost—but it makes you want to get back there even more. And I think the people that were a part of that, now know that we go through the 162 game schedule like, all right: we grind through it, we know what’s at the end of this thing. We know what we want to play for and what we want to do.”
But for all the looking forward, players were also open about the fact that this is the kind of pain that doesn’t ever really go away. It becomes part of your story, part of your elemental self, something that can be managed and transformed into something productive, but can never truly be eliminated.
“That’s something that you carry with you, an experience that you had” said Julio Rodríguez, reflecting on the loss. “That’s something that I will carry with me, the experience that I had in those games, and I feel like it has helped me to become a better player. And bring a little adjusted mentality for this new year.”
The weight of the loss is still palpable when Cal Raleigh reflects on the season: despite the new heights he’s reached in his career, going from a catcher who never made a prospect top 10 list to a household name and narrowly missing out on an MVP award, all his personal accomplishments are wrapped up in a season where the team fell short.
“It was hard,” said Raleigh, sighing heavily. “Part of me is like, I don’t know if you ever really move on. You’re going to be feeling that one for a long time. And it doesn’t matter if you eventually go on to win it or not, you’re still going to look back and be like, that season, it felt like we had a real chance, a real shot. So I think part of me will always feel that.
But at the same time you can’t dwell on it. You have to understand that chapter is closed, and we’re opening a new one. It’s going to be a lot of fun this year, and also very challenging. We’re going to have to do some things and make sure that we’re improving and staying on top of things, and not just being satisfied with where we’re at.“
Maybe no Mariner knows more about closing the book on a painful chapter than skipper Dan Wilson, who understands both the disappointment that is baked into the sport of baseball and the particular experience of a Mariners team falling short. But that experience puts him in a unique position in order to be able to lead this club into a year heady with expectations.
“I think every time you’re eliminated, it’s disappointing. I mean, this one was maybe extra disappointing, because we were so close, but at the same time, I think it’s part of being an athlete, it’s part of being a baseball player. We talk about baseball being that game of failure, and you have to move on in a lot of ways. So yes, it becomes part of your story,” said Wilson. “I think our guys do a really good job of taking that and making it a motivator rather than something that slows them down. And I don’t anticipate that being any different. These guys are determined, as we all are, to get back there and get all the way to where we want to go to, which is that World Series championship.”
For Wilson and his team, the trick will be taking the things they’ve carried over the off-season – the disappointment, the hurt, the desire – and crystallizing that into purpose in 2026.
“Postseason baseball is different. When you experience it, you want to do everything you can to get back there,” said Wilson. “I think that’s where this fire came from with these guys. They want to get back there. They want to be a part of postseason baseball for the foreseeable future. And that’s what Mariner baseball is going to be about.”
“When you get a taste of it, there’s nothing like it.”
The Chicago Bulls are sending two-time All-Star center Nikola Vučević and a second-round pick to the Boston Celtics for guard Anfernee Simons and a second-round pick, according to multiplereports Tuesday afternoon.
The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach reported hours later that the trade won’t be officially completed Tuesday night, noting that the Bulls and Celtics are open to potential minor tweaks to the deal.
With the expected move, Boston will be out of the first apron, as its tax bill drops from $39.5 million to $17 million, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, who also pointed out that the Celtics are poised to be eligible to sign a waived player who had a pre-existing salary of at least $14.1 million.
The Celtics (31-18) are tied for the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.
Boston tax bill drops from $39.5M to $17M
They get out of the first apron
More importantly, they are eligible to sign a player waived that had a pre-existing salary of $14.1M plus
The Bulls traded for him midseason during the 2020-21 campaign. At the time, the Orlando Magic were hitting the reset button, and Chicago was trying to make it back to the playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 season. The drought continued that season, Vučević’s second as an All-Star, but he helped the Bulls return to the postseason the following year.
They haven’t made another trip since their first-round exit in 2022, though. Once again hovering around .500, they’re changing things up.
While Vučević is averaging less than a double-double — he’s currently posting 16.9 points and nine rebounds per game — for the first time since 2017-18, he still has 19 double-doubles to his name this season.
Vučević will slot into a Celtics rotation that’s headlined by wing Jaylen Brown, as well as guards Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, in the absence of star Jayson Tatum.
He’s scored 20 or more points nine times this season, even going for 39 last month in a road win over the Miami Heat. Simons has also tallied five or more assists on five different occasions in 2025-26.
Boston approached the deadline about $12.1 million over the luxury tax threshold, according to The Athletic. The Celtics are in line to shed some salary now, considering Simons is on an expiring $27.7 million contract and Vučević is on an expiring $21.5 million deal, per The Athletic.
(Washington, D.C., February 3, 2026) – On January 31st, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of State welcomed a new commitment between the United States and Mexico that strengthens implementation of the 1944 Water Treaty, providing greater certainty for farmers, ranchers, and producers in South Texas who rely on consistent water deliveries from the Rio Grande.
Although we still haven’t returned to the heyday of first base, the position is starting to look up. The arrival of Nick Kurtz has given the position another superstar, as the youngster still hasn’t played a full season and is already the top first baseman on many draft lists. And the longstanding group of veterans, including the likes of Pete Alonso and Matt Olson, is still going strong.
But as strong as the first base position is at the top, it drops off just as quickly. Depending on format, there are about a dozen appealing options. Unfortunately, the next tier leaves much to be desired, which is especially a problem in Roto leagues, where many managers will need to secure their corner infielder from the pool of first basemen. Here are some players to target and avoid.
A second-tier first baseman by ADP, Olson is closer to those in the tier ahead of him than those who trail him on the list. In four years with the Braves, the 31-year-old has hit .261 with an average of 37 homers, 109 RBI and 97 runs scored. Those numbers look an awful lot like the ones that are expected from Kurtz and Alonso, who are both being drafted roughly 15 picks earlier. Olson is boring, productive and the perfect third-round pick for those who have started their draft with a couple of speedy players.
Ben Rice, New York Yankees (Yahoo ADP 84.7)
Let’s start with the obvious — the best part about drafting Rice is that he is eligible at the catcher position but will not have the physical demands of working behind the plate. And managers who come for the expanded workload will find that they get much more. Rice is an emerging star who last season logged a 95th percentile average exit velocity and 92nd percentile barrel rate. His expected stats were far ahead of his actual marks, which indicates that he could enjoy better batted-ball luck and a major uptick in performance. More volume and better on a per-game basis? Sign me up.
Willson Contreras, Boston Red Sox (Yahoo ADP 105.9)
The ceiling was raised for Contreras as soon as he was traded from the Cardinals to the Red Sox. Fenway Park will be the best venue he has called home in his career, and Boston has a lineup that is vastly superior to the one Contreras left behind in St. Louis. Expected to hit out of the cleanup spot with his new team, the 33-year-old could produce 25 homers and 90 RBI across 150 games.
Fades
Josh Naylor, Seattle Mariners (Yahoo ADP 58.5)
No one truly knows what to make of a player with third percentile sprint speed who surprisingly stole 30 bases last season. The guess here is that Naylor’s steals total comes crashing back to Earth now that he is in possession of a long-term contract, and he finishes closer to 10 steals than 20. And when we take away the swipes, Naylor doesn’t look so special as a career .269 hitter who has hit more than 20 homers just once.
Freddie Freeman, Los Angeles Dodgers (Yahoo ADP 52.7)
Let’s take away the name value of Freeman and look at his stats from the past two seasons. Over 2024-25, the Dodgers’ star has averaged 147 games, 23 homers, 81 runs, 89.5 RBI, 7.5 steals and a .289 average. Those are excellent numbers, but they aren’t much better than the production that can be expected from a group of first basemen who have an ADP that is 30-40 picks later than Freeman. Add in his advanced age (36), and there are reasons to let someone else use a premium pick on him.
Spencer Torkelson, Detroit Tigers (Yahoo ADP 185.4)
Torkelson was one of the biggest busts of 2024, and after getting off to a hot start last season, he compiled just 17 homers and 36 RBI over the final four months of the campaign. The career .227 hitter needs to be a premium home-run hitter to have value in standard leagues. So far, his power stroke has been too inconsistent.
Sleepers
Kazuma Okamoto, Toronto Blue Jays (Yahoo ADP 179.6)
A quick look at Okamoto’s stats from Japan will make fantasy managers excited. The 29-year-old has strong contact skills and posted six 30-homer seasons overseas. He may play multiple positions (which would be great for his fantasy value) and will be a full-time member of Toronto’s lineup. He could also earn a premium lineup spot by getting off to a good start. Late-round picks are best used on players with upside, and Okamoto fits that profile.
Alec Burleson, St. Louis Cardinals (Yahoo ADP: 184.1)
Burleson improved in several areas last season, including walk rate (7.1%), average exit velocity (91.0 mph) and fly ball rate (42.1%). On a rebuilding Cardinals team, he has virtually no competition to play every day and bat out of a premium lineup spot. He should post a batting average similar to his .290 mark from 2025, while also hitting more than 20 homers and chipping in a few steals.
Andrew Vaughn, Milwaukee Brewers (Yahoo ADP 219.0)
Vaughn was terrific after joining the Brewers, hitting .308 with nine homers and 46 RBI in 64 games. One of the smartest organizations must be confident in the sustainability of his contributions, as they did not pursue other first-base options in the offseason. Vaughn is going undrafted in most leagues despite his potential to provide a helpful batting average and solid counting stats while playing regularly in one of baseball’s best lineups.
