Which infielder will end up as the odd man out?
While everyone is happy about the reunion between the Houston Astros and Carlos Correa, it does bring up a big question. At the end of this season, who is the odd man out?
With the additions of Correa and Ramón Urías, the Astros now have four different guys who are supposed to be playing shortstop and third base. Adding these two to a roster that already includes two All-Stars on the right side of the infield in Jeremy Peña and Isaac Paredes will bring up a huge question at the end of the season.
For the remainder of the 2025 season, everyone knows what will happen. Correa will shift over the third and play there the rest of the year while Paredes deals with his hamstring injury. Once the team learned of the severity of his injury, with him having to be out for the next 6-7 months and possibly missing opening day for the 2026 season, they shifted their mindset during the trade deadline to trying to get someone to fill that hole. And that is where Correa came in.
Despite the no-trade clause in his contract with the Minnesota Twins, Correa lifted that when he heard that his old team was looking at him. Not happy with the direction the Twins were going as a franchise, Correa was more than happy to not only come back, but to switch positions for the first time in his career and move away from short, where he is a former Gold Glover.
You also can’t forget utility Gold Glover Mauricio Dubón, who has been one of the biggest keys to the team’s success this year. Due to all the injuries this season for Astros hitters, Dubón has been moved around all over the place, playing seven different positions so far, including 20+ starts at each infield position other than first. He has been one of the ones to step up at short and left field after the injury to Peña.
But this does spark a question thinking about the start of next season.
Between Peña, Paredes, Correa, Urías and Dubón, only Correa has a deal that keeps him in Houston for the 2026 season. For the rest of them, the Astros will have to agree to a deal in arbitration and some of those may be expensive.
Peña for example avoided arbitration with the team in his first year after his rookie contract and agreed to one-year, $4.1 million with the Astros. That is one contract that will go up significantly come the offseason with the season that he has been having.
Paredes is the same way. He agreed to a one-year contract to avoid arbitration with the Chicago Cubs worth $6.6 million. There is no telling what his injury will mean for his contract, but at just 26-years-old, it is only assumed that that number could go up.
All four of them are on one-year contracts with the Astros and all four are hitting one of their remaining years of arbitration after 2025. There is a possibility of retaining all of them, but that seems unlikely and way too expensive for this team.
While Correa seems like someone who will be here a while with his contract paying him over $33 million a year, it will be interesting to see what the front office does with the other four. I think the only one of all of them I can say for certain will be back next year is Dubón. He has given so much help to this team over the past few years and shown GM Dana Brown his worth and I think it will show come the end of the season.
As for the others, I think it is a high chance that we can re-sign Paredes, but his injury will be the sign as to how that goes. As much as I love him and want him to say an Astro, I think one thing that the Correa deal did was give Houston a way to let Peña walk.
At just 27-years-old, he will be in search of a big payday at the end of the season, especially if he comes back and continues to mash like he was before he was hurt. He is someone that will have a ton of value as a short stop by season’s end and could be someone that a team looking to sign a young star could be looking for.
I think Urías would also be one of the ones that goes. Between him and Dubón, Dubi is not only the much more proven player, winning a Gold Glove more recently and being much more versatile in the field. While Urías was someone we traded for, his job was essentially thrown out the window once the Correa deal went through. Each of them has one more year of arbitration left before becoming UFA, and I think the Astros will be willing to put extra money down for someone like Dubón, who is also a year younger.