3 Astros who won’t be on the roster by May 1

2. Pedro Baez

There’s a very good chance that Pedro Baez will see his career wrap up in the relatively near future. The 34-year-old pitcher who was once really solid for the Los Angeles Dodgers just hasn’t been all that spectacular while he has been with the Houston Astros. While Baez has a respectable resume throughout his career, his arm just isn’t producing anywhere near enough velocity for the Astros to truly rely on him much throughout this season.

Baez has been with Houston since 2021 and in that timeframe, he has made a grand total of five appearances with the Astros.

Sure, he’s managed to post a very nice 1.80 ERA in that very absurdly small sample size, but that’s too small of a sample size for the Astros to really trust. And if Baez is consistently throwing anywhere from 86 to 89 mph for his fastball, it, unfortunately, seems like it’s only a matter of time before Houston decides to move on from him.

1. Bryan Abreu

The Astros have an interesting pitcher in Bryan Abreu, but it’s worth wondering if he’s ready to compete against MLB competition on a regular basis. Abreu is young and exciting and wasn’t really all that great in the 31 games he appeared in during the 2021 season.

Abreu had a 5.75 ERA through 36 innings pitched. He gave up four home runs and walked 18 batters, but Abreu also managed to strike out 36 batters. It’s clear he’s got potential. Is that potential ready to go right in this moment though?

There’s a pretty strong argument to keeping Abreu with the Astros. What is that argument, you might find yourself asking?

Well, this:

Getting that kind of velocity out of the bullpen would be huge for Houston. The Astros would definitely benefit from having Abreu on the roster if he’s able to perform at that level consistently. The biggest question is if Abreu will be doing that regularly or if that’s just not going to be his norm. If it’s not and Abreu still needs a little more time to sharpen his skills, then maybe having him play in nearby Sugar Land would be a good option for the team.

There’s a chance that any of these three can earn a spot on the roster, there’s obviously still some time. It remains to be seen if that’ll happen.