The Astros’ incredible seven consecutive runs to the American League Championship Series ended Wednesday when they ran into a scorching-hot Tigers club helmed by former Houston skipper A.J. Hinch.
Although the ’Stros had their shortest season since 2016 and have several high-profile free agents coming off the books, general manager Dana Brown and manager Joe Espada clarified in addressing the team’s beat that there’s no plan to step back. Houston will unsurprisingly aim at another deep postseason run next year, although tighter-than-usual financial parameters could punctuate the looming offseason. “I think we’re going to have to make some wise decisions as to — are there younger players that we can call up and put in certain roles to maybe save some money here and .
.. allocate that money to other places,” Brown said Thursday via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle.
“...
We may have to get a little bit creative.” That’s an ominous sentiment for any fan to hear from a team’s GM at the onset of the offseason. A look at Houston’s payroll reveals a similarly dire setup.
The Astros opened the 2024 season with a payroll of around $235M and finished the year north of $244M, per RosterResource . They already have $147M in guaranteed contracts on next year’s books (including dead-money commitments to Jose Abreu and Rafael Montero ). That doesn’t include a 10-player arbitration class — headlined by Framber Valdez and Kyle Tucker — projected by MLBTR c.
