Free agency is mostly finished up for teams, so trades could loom large for anyone looking to make improvements.

ESPN’s David Schoenfield put out a new article on Friday in which he comes up with trades that would make sense to happen sooner rather than later. He gets the Astros on there multiple times.

One of the deals is with the San Diego Padres. That proposal would send first baseman Christian Walker with cash to the Padres for minor league righty Bradgley Rodriguez.

“After finishing 28th in home runs in 2025, the Padres need more power, and with Walker at first, they can slide Jake Cronenworth on a full-time basis over to second base,” Schoenfield writes. “The current alignment doesn’t project well, with the Padres ranking 28th in FanGraphs’ projected WAR at first base (a mix of Gavin Sheets and Cronenworth) and 20th at second base (a combo of Cronenworth and Sung-Mun Song). Rodriguez is a big-league ready reliever who can help a Houston bullpen that is a little thin from the right side beyond Bryan Abreu.”

The Astros would certainly get out from Walker this way while he still has a bit of value, rather than waiting too long.

The other suggestion is a deal with the Los Angeles Angels which would send Jake Meyers from Houston and bring back Josh Lowe.

“While this is hardly a blockbuster, it solves a problem for both teams,” Schoenfield writes.

This is really a defense-adding move for L.A., while the Astros get a better bat.

“Lowe, acquired earlier in the offseason from the Rays, is not a good center fielder despite his speed,” Schoenfield writes. “The Angels have even talked about returning Mike Trout to center, which sounds like a typically bad Angels idea. Meyers, however, is an excellent defender, and while his bat and health have been issues, he did hit a career-best .292/.354/.373 in 2025, sacrificing power for some better contact. Lowe’s overall numbers from 2025 weren’t good, but he did hit .242/.307/.420 against right-handed pitching and he’s not that far removed from a 3.7-WAR season in 2023.”

Schoenfield actually also had the Astros on the list a third time, in a deal that sends Isaac Paredes to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Man, with all this speculation, it seems like the Astros are bound to do something.