When Astros general manager Dana Brown reached an agreement on a five-year, $64 million extension with Cristian Javier in February, it seemed as if more such deals would end up being completed before Houston’s 2023 regular season opener. However, this will not turn out to be the case for the reigning World Series champions.
During a press conference ahead of the Astros’ regular season opener against the Chicago White Sox, Brown took some time to touch on the futures of both Kyle Tucker and Framber Valdez with the team. Brown noted that extension talks with the two have been put on halt.
“We’ve put that on pause,” Brown said.
Tucker is under team control with Houston for the next three seasons. He will earn $5 million in the 2023 campaign after he lost his arbitration case in February.
Brown mentioned during the offseason that he was in “conversations” with Tucker regarding a possible extension agreement, but the one-time All-Star will head into Opening Day without having signed off on such a deal.
As with Tucker, Valdez is set to become a free agent following the 2025 season. Brown did entertain the idea of signing the left-hander to a new contract during the offseason, but the one-time All-Star will also enter the 2023 campaign uncertain of whether he will soon sign off on such an agreement.
Brown could end up facing extension dilemmas with both Tucker and Valdez. He did note earlier this month that, as with Astros owner Jim Crane, he is not necessarily fond of handing out “big deals.”
“I just don’t like big deals,” Brown said. “If they’re open for something a little more than five, maybe I would be open to doing that. I’m sure Jim would be, too. I think Jim is very open. But doing 10-year deals, I don’t know if we’ll ever get to that point. That’s a lot of years. I’m not comfortable doing 10.
“I don’t mind doing 10 if you get a guy to the big leagues in the early 20s, really feel like he’s a big piece of the franchise, face of the franchise, and get him done for 10, and he finishes it out at 32-33. I’m OK with that. These deals that go beyond 33, for me, I’m uncomfortable. The analytics on that is not good.”
The Astros will open up their 2023 regular season schedule with a four-game home series against the White Sox.
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