{"id":447957,"date":"2026-02-01T22:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T22:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/447957\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T22:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T22:02:13","slug":"mlb-writer-hints-at-unfortunate-reason-for-astros-free-agent-remaining-unsigned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/447957\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Writer Hints at Unfortunate Reason for Astros Free Agent Remaining Unsigned"},"content":{"rendered":"

When free agency began, it was widely known that Framber Valdez and the Houston Astros were headed for a split. The signs were there, but the question was, just where was the left-hander going to end up? It was a rocky end to the 2025 season for Valdez on a number of levels last year.<\/p>\n

If you like our content, choose Sports Illustrated as a preferred source on Google<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest storylines near the end of the season was Valdez and his cross-up<\/a> of catcher C\u00e9sar Salazar. It generated some talk around the league and there was some thought that it might affect Valdez’s free agency<\/a> and keep teams away. That seemed like a little bit of a strong take, but one writer thinks that could be a reason as to why Valdez remains on the open market.<\/p>\n

Framber Valdez’s Character Called Into Question in Free Agency\"Houston<\/p>\n

Framber Valdez | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report<\/a> listed the top 8 remaining free agency dominoes, with Valdez listed. It does remain surprising that Valdez remains a free agent. Kelly hinted that his dust-up with Salazar might be a big reason as to why.<\/p>\n

“As it turns out, purposely crossing up your catcher shortly before you hit the open market doesn’t do a ton for your free-agent stock,” wrote Kelly. “It’s difficult, at this stage, to think that character concerns aren’t part of the reason why Framber Valdez remains available in free agency.”<\/p>\n

You would like to think that is not the reason, but it’s hard to ignore<\/a>. The 32-year-old is coming off a 2025 season that saw him go 13-11 in 31 starts with a 3.66 ERA in 192 innings. He struck out 187 and walked just 68 while finishing with a 3.8 WAR. Those are numbers you don’t see often in a player who is still a free agent with spring training around the corner.<\/p>\n

Valdez is looking for a long-term commitment with a team, but the longer he goes unsigned, the less likely that is. Character issues aside, he would, without a doubt, be a top-of-the-rotation starter and solidify a contender’s rotation.<\/p>\n

There have been teams linked to Valdez, including the Baltimore Orioles<\/a>, who need a starter like Valdez. Could the Detroit Tigers or Toronto Blue Jays come in and sign him late? Maybe, but those teams would be more likely to offer a short-term deal of one or two years rather than a long-term commitment. <\/p>\n

The longer Valdez remains on the free agent market, the less likely he is to get a big deal, and the more his character will be called out, which is unfortunate for a pitcher who is one of the top ones when he’s on top of his game.<\/p>\n

More Astros On SI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When free agency began, it was widely known that Framber Valdez and the Houston Astros were headed for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-447957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}