3 more Houston Astros who won't be back after early playoff exit: Pitching staff takes hit

The Houston Astros postseason ended without a win, thanks to an AL Wild Card series defeat in two games to the Detroit Tigers, and former manager AJ Hinch. Hinch was infamously fired after the Houston sign-stealing scandal came to light, so such a victory had to feel good.

After Houston lost to Detroit in the AL Wild Card series, FanSided's Cody Williams wrote a similar list of their free agents to be, specifically four players who won't return. Those players are Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander, Jason Heyward and Caleb Ferguson. Bregman and Verlander are easily the two most prominent players on that list, and rightly so. Both have won World Series' in Houston, and Bregman's been there since the beginning. Longtime teammate Jose Altuve has pleaded with the Astros front office to keep him around.

Verlander, on the other hand, still thinks he has something left in the tank. Father time has caught up with JV fairly quickly, and he struggled with injuries in 2024. Verlander is unlikely to return to the Astros next year for many reasons, but he'll have to take a pay cut to play somewhere, as he's no longer the Cy Young winner we once knew.

As notable as those absences will be, they are not alone. The 2025 Astros will look much different.

3. Kendall Graveman's injury will cost him a future in Houston

The Astros acquired Kendall Graveman at the 2023 trade deadline, and he immediately posted a 2.42 ERA in 23 appearances. Unfortunately for the Astros, he didn't pitch in the 2023 postseason because of shoulder discomfort, and his injury status played a major role in why Houston felt the need to pay big money for Josh Hader last winter.

When healthy, Graveman has proven he's one of the best relief pitchers in the game. He's also a free agent this offseason, and given how much Houston already has invested in their bullpen, a nice contract for Graveman probably is not in Dana Brown's future. Graveman missed the entirety of this season, and when he was asked about his future in January, he didn't sound too hopeful.

“Any time you miss a season, I don’t care who you’re with or what it is, it’s tough,” Graveman said. “I’ve done it once before and it was not really fun. I will say I grew a lot during that season, last time, when I had Tommy John surgery in 2018. I think I came out of it better, but it’s tough in this situation, knowing the team, and I really respect all the guys and think there’s a great thing going in Houston.”

Graveman's injury history makes him a risk, and Houston can't afford more of those.

2. Ben Gamel was a flyer, but Astros must ground him

The Astros took a flyer on Ben Gamel in September as Kyle Tucker's injury kept him out longer than expected. While Joe Espada and Co. were impressed by his at-bats, Gamel isn't productive enough to stay on a contending team for a long. There's a reason the Mets placed him on waivers to begin with.

“You’ve been in small market, big market, kind of everything in between,” Gamel said about playing in Houston. “And I think when you get in this clubhouse, you just buy in. I keep emphasizing this, but there’s really good baseball players at the top of this lineup, and they set the tempo and it’s on us to just kind of fall in line.”

The Astros promised Gamel some at-bats, and he had a .717 OPS in 38 games. On a bad team, that could be good enough to receive some starting time, and that's what Gamel should be chasing as he heads into free agency.

1. Yusei Kikuchi has earned a big contract, but not with Astros

The Astros took a lot of heat after trading a prospect haul to Toronto for Yusei Kikuchi, but the former Blue Jay was arguably their best pitcher down the stretch. Kikuchi was 5-1 with a 2.70 ERA for the Astros after being acquired. He is also a free agent this winter, and likely already has one foot out the door, as much as Houston fans would prefer he return.

"Yusei had a really good run with us and as I said before we aren’t taking any options off the table to improve this club," Brown said. "We knew how special he was with us when he pitched here and how receptive he was, but the fact that we do have a lot of those guys coming back, our rotation is going to be pretty stacked."

Brown believes in the depth of the Astros rotation, much of which has been injured all season long. With those players returning, they can afford not to overpay for Kikuchi, who can ride his hot second half to a nice contract in free agency.

"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 then we can allocate that money to use in other places?'" Brown continued. "I think we’re going to have those kind of conversations."

Kikuchi, as valuable as he was the past few months, doesn't figure to be a part of those conversations.