Since being hired to helm the club’s baseball operations last winter, Astros GM Dana Brown has not been shy about the club’s interest in extending its core players. So far, that has yielded extensions for both right-hander Cristian Javier and second baseman Jose Altuve, with third baseman Alex Bregman and outfielder Kyle Tucker seemingly the club’s next priorities to negotiate with. With that being said, Brown recently indicated to reporters (including The Athletic’s Chandler Rome) that the club would have interest in looking into extensions for players with less service time, as has become commonplace in Atlanta, where Brown served as scouting director prior to joining the Astros.
Per Rome, that interest has not yet materialized in extension negotiations, at least when it comes to shortstop Jeremy Pena and right-hander Bryan Abreu. Pena finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting during the 2022 season and earned a Gold Glove for his work at shortstop, but took a step back last season as he slashed .263/.324/.381 with just 10 home runs in 634 trips to the plate. Abreu, meanwhile, just turned in his second consecutive campaign with a sub-2.00 ERA out of the Astros bullpen, pitching to a 1.75 ERA in 72 innings of work while striking out a whopping 34.8% of batters faced. Pena remains under control through the end of the 2027 season, while Abreu can be controlled through at least 2026.
That the Astros have yet to engage either player in extension talks hardly precludes them from doing so in the future. While Rome relays that Pena recently declined to comment about his contract status, Abreu indicated that he’s open to offers from the team. Rome highlights sophomore catcher Yainer Diaz as another early-career extension candidate in Houston, with right-hander Hunter Brown and outfielder Chas McCormick among other speculative candidate who could make sense as potential extension targets for the club at some point.
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