{"id":166886,"date":"2026-03-20T09:10:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T09:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886"},"modified":"2026-03-20T09:10:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T09:10:53","slug":"astros-let-bryan-abreu-slam-doors-in-the-ninth-but-wont-even-open-their-mouths-about-locking-him-up-long-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886","title":{"rendered":"Astros let Bryan Abreu slam doors in the ninth\u2026 but won\u2019t even open their mouths about locking him up long-term."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Astros Haven\u2019t Yet Discussed Extension With Bryan Abreu<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
\"Bryan<\/div>\n

Bryan Abreu<\/strong> is slated to become a free agent at the end of the 2026 season, and the reliever told The Athletic\u2019s Chandler Rome that the Astros hadn\u2019t yet engaged in any extension talks with his representatives at ISE Baseball.\u00a0 Abreu indicated he would be open to such negotiations, saying that \u201cthe dream of any baseball player<\/em>\u201d is to \u201cstay with one team forever<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abreu signed for just a $40K bonus as an international free agent in 2013, and he has joined Jose Altuve<\/strong> ($15K), Framber Valdez<\/strong> ($10K), Cristian Javier<\/strong> ($10K), and Luis Garcia ($20K) as lightly-regarded international signings who had a giant impact on the last decade of Astros baseball.\u00a0 Abreu emerged as a bullpen force during Houston\u2019s World Series year in 2022, and over the last four seasons, the right-hander has delivered a 2.30 ERA, 34.3% strikeout rate, and 95 holds over 281 2\/3 relief innings.\u00a0 He also has a 2.49 ERA over 21 2\/3 career postseason innings, highlighted by a inning of work during the Astros\u2019 combined no-hitter against the Phillies in Game 4 of the 2022 World Series.<\/p>\n

Walks have been a persistent issue for Abreu, and opposing batters made a lot more hard contact than usual against his offerings in 2025 than in past seasons.\u00a0 Still, only two pitchers have made more appearances than Abreu\u2019s 275 trips to the mound over the last four years, and this combination of durability, upper-90s velocity, elite strikeout power, and bottom-line results have quietly made Abreu one of the better relievers in the sport.<\/p>\n

Assuming he keeps up his usual level of performance, a big multi-year payday awaits Abreu in free agency next winter, when he\u2019ll hit the market in advance of his age-30 season.\u00a0 As Rome notes, the exact size of that contract could hinge on whether rival teams view Abreu as a set-up man or as a closer, which adds extra import to Abreu\u2019s temporary role as Houston\u2019s closer while Josh Hader<\/strong> begins the season on the injured list.<\/p>\n

Abreu has 16 career saves on his resume, with seven of those saves coming last season after Hader\u2019s season was ended in August by a capsule sprain in his throwing shoulder.\u00a0 In the 18 games and 18 2\/3 innings after Hader\u2019s final game on August 8, Abreu held opponents scoreless in 15 of those outings, though three multi-run outings boosted his ERA in that stretch to 3.86.<\/p>\n

It is too small a sample size to draw any big conclusion, of course, and whatever Abreu does as the Astros\u2019 fill-in closer this year probably won\u2019t also move the needle in terms of gauging his next contract.\u00a0 As we\u2019ve seen with reliever contracts in recent years, teams seem to be as willing to pay bigger money based on future projection than they are concrete past results.\u00a0 Abreu having both a strong track record and future upside in a closing role will likely serve him well in free agency.<\/p>\n

This assumes that Abreu will test the market at all, as it isn\u2019t too late for the Astros to explore negotiations.\u00a0 Teams generally wait until closer to the end of Spring Training to delve into extension-related business, though one would\u2019ve imagined that the Astros might\u2019ve broached the subject with Abreu\u2019s camp at some point before now.<\/p>\n

Houston has been active in locking up some members of their core over the years, while letting others (Valdez, Alex Bregman<\/strong>, Carlos Correa<\/strong>, etc.) simply play out their contracts or team control, and then walk away to other teams.\u00a0 Most of the Astros\u2019 extensions were struck well before a player was so close to hitting the open market, though another prominent reliever in Ryan Pressly<\/strong> twice signed extensions in advance of his final year before free agency.\u00a0 Both of Pressly\u2019s deals, however, were two-year pacts \u2014 it would take at least three years and very likely four to convince Abreu to forego the open market and stay put.<\/p>\n

Some money will drop off the Astros\u2019 books when Lance McCullers Jr.<\/strong>\u2018s contract is up at season\u2019s end, and Tatsuya Imai<\/strong> has the ability to opt out of the remaining two years of his contract.\u00a0 Whether or not that makes the Astros more open to re-signing Abreu remains to be seen, as Houston still has several other hefty salaries on their long-term ledger.\u00a0 Of those contracts, Hader is owed $57MM through the 2028 season, so re-signing Abreu means that the Astros would have to be okay with committing a hefty chunk of payroll towards two relief pitchers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Astros Haven\u2019t Yet Discussed Extension With Bryan Abreu Bryan Abreu is slated to become a free agent at the end of the 2026 season, and the reliever… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nAstros let Bryan Abreu slam doors in the ninth\u2026 but won\u2019t even open their mouths about locking him up long-term. - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Astros let Bryan Abreu slam doors in the ninth\u2026 but won\u2019t even open their mouths about locking him up long-term. - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Astros Haven\u2019t Yet Discussed Extension With Bryan Abreu Bryan Abreu is slated to become a free agent at the end of the 2026 season, and the reliever...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-20T09:10:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-28-4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"XuanTan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"XuanTan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886\",\"name\":\"Astros let Bryan Abreu slam doors in the ninth\u2026 but won\u2019t even open their mouths about locking him up long-term. - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-28-4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-20T09:10:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-20T09:10:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-28-4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-28-4.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Astros let Bryan Abreu slam doors in the ninth\u2026 but won\u2019t even open their mouths about locking him up long-term.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06\",\"name\":\"XuanTan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"XuanTan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Astros let Bryan Abreu slam doors in the ninth\u2026 but won\u2019t even open their mouths about locking him up long-term. - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Astros let Bryan Abreu slam doors in the ninth\u2026 but won\u2019t even open their mouths about locking him up long-term. - NEWS USA","og_description":"Astros Haven\u2019t Yet Discussed Extension With Bryan Abreu Bryan Abreu is slated to become a free agent at the end of the 2026 season, and the reliever...","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2026-03-20T09:10:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-28-4.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"XuanTan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"XuanTan","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886","name":"Astros let Bryan Abreu slam doors in the ninth\u2026 but won\u2019t even open their mouths about locking him up long-term. - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-28-4.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-20T09:10:53+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-20T09:10:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-28-4.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-28-4.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=166886#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Astros let Bryan Abreu slam doors in the ninth\u2026 but won\u2019t even open their mouths about locking him up long-term."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06","name":"XuanTan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"XuanTan"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=166886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166990,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166886\/revisions\/166990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/166989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=166886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=166886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=166886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}