Assessing Astros' best options for left-handed outfielder

After last months Kyle Tucker trade, the outfield is the biggest question for the Astros.

Jake Meyers and Chas McCormick are lined up to start in center and right field, respectively.

Meyers is a defensive stalwart without much offensive upside.

McCormick has been a very good hitter in the past, but hes coming off the worst season of his career.

Left field is completely open.

While Yordan Alvarez could get a few starts there, the Astros want to use him mostly as a designated hitter.

Former top prospect Taylor Trammell, who started one major league game last season, is Houstons projected left fielder at RosterResource .

Trammell is coming off a strong season in Triple-A, but hes 27 years old and has a .167/.270/.368 batting line over 359 MLB plate appearances.

If not Trammell, utility player Mauricio Dubon would probably get the majority of the playing time.

Houston still expects to compete for an AL West title.

Theyll need to add at least one outfielder before Opening Day.

General manager Dana Brown has acknowledged as much.

Houston is looking for a left-handed hitter , in particular, potentially allowing them to spell McCormick or Meyers.

The Astros project narrowly above the competitive-balance tax threshold and dont seem likely to make a play for Anthony Santander.

If theyre dealing with a tighter budget, where could they look? Free agency Jurickson Profar : Profar might be out of their financial comfort zone as well.

As of last month, the switch-hitting left fielder was looking for a deal of at least three years .

Hes the best non-Santander outfielder available in free agency.

Profar has had an up-and-down career but is coming off by far his best season.

He hit .280/.380/.459 with 24 homers behind massively improved exit velocities.

Hell turn 32 in February, but the Astros have made three-year free-agent commitments to much older hitters (i.e.

Jose Abreu and Christian Walker).

Profar is an ideal fit on paper, but the money could be an issue.

Alex Verdugo : For most of his Red Sox tenure, Verdugo was a capable if mercurial everyday player.

He hit .281/.338/.424 across four seasons in Boston.

The Sox traded him to the Yankees, who stuck with him as their regular left fielder amid the worst season of his career.

Verdugo finished the year with a .233/.291/.356 slash across 621 plate appearances.

Almost all the positives came in the first month of the season.

Verdugo carried a .267/.358/.446 line into May.

He hit .225/.275/.336 over his final 501 plate appearances.

Verdugo doesnt turn 29 until May, so hes a plausible rebound candidate, but thatd be less risky for a fringe contender than it is for a true win-now team like Houston.

Hes likely looking at a one-year pillow deal, probably for less than the $10M that Max Kepler received from Philadelphia.

Jesse Winker : Outside of Profar, Winker probably has the best offensive profile of this group.

He hit .258/.366/.422 with 13 homers in 404 plate appearances against righty pitching last season.

Hes a career .276/.379/.462 hitter with the platoon advantage.

Winker isnt a huge threat against lefties, but he can hit right-handers.

The big drawback is the defensive profile.

Hes a poor defender in left field who should primarily be a designated hitter.

The Astros would either need to have him divide left field work with Alvarez or play Winker there regularly if they want to keep their superstar DH off his feet.

Winker might be able to get two years but shouldnt be all that expensive.

Jason Heyward : Heyward finished the 2024 season in Houston after being released by the Dodgers.

He hit four homers in 24 regular-season contests and started one of their division series games against the Tigers.

While it was a fairly strong finish, Heyward had hit .208/.289/.393 across 197 plate appearances with Los Angeles.

Hes at best a strong-side platoon option and might be a better fit for a bench role going into his age-35 season.

Hed be available for one year and a base salary of a few million dollars.

David Peralta : Peralta has a similar profile to Heyward.

Hes a former above-average regular who has settled into a platoon role in his late 30s.

Hes coming off a nice season for the Padres, hitting .267/.335/.415 across 260 plate appearances.

The Astros would probably prefer to bring Heyward back if theyre going this route, but Peralta had better numbers in 2024.

Trade candidates Jesus Sanchez : Outside of Sandy Alcantara and the dead money owed to released outfielder Avisail Garcia, Sanchez projects as the highest-paid player on the Marlins.

MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $3.2M salary in his second of four trips through arbitration.

Thats hardly exorbitant, but Miami has shown a willingness to move virtually anyone amidst their full rebuild.

Sanchez is a former top prospect who has settled in as a low-end regular in the big leagues.

Hes coming off a .252/.313/.417 showing with 18 homers and 16 stolen bases his second straight league average offensive performance.

Hes a roughly average defender in either corner.

The 27-year-old may not have the upside that many prospect evaluators had hoped, but hed be an upgrade over Trammell.

Mike Yastrzemski : The Giants seemed likely to deal one of their arbitration-eligible players at the start of the offseason.

Yastrzemski, who agreed to a $9.25M salary in his final year of club control, seemed the most logical candidate.

San Francisco has been quiet since pulling off the Willy Adames deal, however, so they might not be looking to shed payroll to open additional free agent pursuits.

Yastrzmeski is coming off a .231/.302/.437 showing with 18 homers through 474 trips to the plate.

Willi Castro : Castro is a switch-hitting utility player who has more than 800 innings of left field experience.

He has had a solid two-year run in Minnesota, hitting .251/.334/.395 in 1,044 plate appearances.

Castro was a nice find for the Twins front office, who inked him to a minor league deal after hed been non-tendered by the Tigers.

Hes in his final winter of arbitration and projected for a $6.2M salary.

Minnesota highly values his versatility and clubhouse presence, so theyre probably not keen on moving him.

Yet the Twins are working with an extremely tight budget and have done nothing in free agency.

Trading Castro would be one way to open a bit of payroll space.

There are a few other trade candidates if Houston wanted to take a bigger swing.

Players like Wilyer Abreu, Jake McCarthy and Alec Burleson could be available.

Theyd require a stronger prospect return than any of Sanchez, Yastrzemski or Castro, however.

That seems unlikely considering the Astros dealt Tucker because they wanted to add talent to a very thin farm system without giving up on the upcoming season.

This article first appeared on MLB Trade Rumors and was syndicated with permission..

This article has been shared from the original article on yardbarker, here is the link to the original article.