The Houston Astros have had rotten injury luck and don't have a perfectly built roster, but they have had some positive storylines to follow as they sit in first place in the AL West. Hunter Brown looks like one of the best pitchers in baseball, Cam Smith has impressed after a slow start and Jeremy Pena looks like a budding star. He's played so well to the point where the Astros reportedly attempted to lock him in long-term. But an agent switch to Scott Boras has halted those negotiations.
They were talking about a deal for in the range of $100M. Now on hold. https://t.co/uMGjzT0lfQ
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) June 25, 2025
Jon Heyman of the New York Post revealed that the extension the two sides were discussing was in the range of around $100 million, and it would've presumably kept the shortstop in Houston for several years to come. Now, those talks are fully on hold.
The odds of any extension coming to fruition now with Boras in the mix are incredibly slim.
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Astros barely miss chance to lock up homegrown star
Pena is known for his heroics in the 2022 postseason, and he's always been a solid shortstop, but he's taken his game to another level this season. He's slashed .326/.380/.493 with 11 home runs and 40 RBI in 78 games for Houston. There's a good chance he'll make the All-Star team, and an argument can (and probably should) be made that he should start in the Midsummer Classic. He's been that good.
Pena has always been a valuable player thanks to his athleticism and outstanding defense at a premium position, but his bat going from roughly league-average to elite has made him one of the most valuable players in the game. Pena's 150 wRC+ is tied for 10th among qualified position players, ahead of players like Byron Buxton, Jose Ramirez and Freddie Freeman. With a bat that good plus his elite glove, he's been worth 4.0 fWAR, tying him for third in the Majors behind only Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh.
Given how productive he's been, it comes as no surprise that the Astros are eager to keep the 27-year-old in town long-term before he hits free agency after the 2027 season. With Boras representing him, though, Astros fans have reason to doubt a deal will ever happen.
Astros have seen this movie before with Scott Boras
The Astros have seen many homegrown stars walk in free agency in recent years, and there's one common denominator: Scott Boras. The super-agent is known for getting his players to free agency and getting every possible cent he can from the highest bidders. The Astros are rarely the highest bidder, so they've lost their stars.
This past offseason, Alex Bregman, Houston's former star third baseman who is represented by Boras, signed with the Boston Red Sox on a Boras-esque short-term deal loaded with opt-outs. Carlos Correa is another example of this: He wound up signing a similar deal as Bregman with the Minnesota Twins and eventually remained in Minnesota on a long-term pact after opting out.
If Pena continues to ascend to stardom, there's a good chance Boras will convince him to test free agency. As a high-end shortstop on the open market, chances are that a big-market team will outbid Houston and snag Pena in free agency — that is, if the Astros don't decide to simply trade him sooner as they did with Kyle Tucker this past offseason.
But while hopes are low regarding an extension being reached, they shouldn't be zero.
Jose Altuve gives Astros fans semblance of hope regarding Jeremy Pena extension
Boras is known for pushing his star clients to free agency, but Jose Altuve is one of the few who have not tested the open market. Altuve has signed two team-friendly extensions, the second of which will likely result in the 35-year-old remaining in Houston for the remainder of his career. While testing free agency is what Boras is known to prefer, his clients are still the ones who hired him. If they want to sign an extension, there's little Boras can say to stand in their way.
The odds of Pena doing this are probably slim, but they aren't zero. If Altuve did it, he can too. the shortstop probably hired Boras to try and get every cent out of an organization, but he might just believe that Houston is the right fit for him.
It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds. The Astros will almost certainly make more attempts to lock Pena in on an extension of some sort before he hits free agency after the 2027 campaign. Whether Pena and his new agent are interested or not will be an important storyline to follow.