After losing to the Texas Rangers, which in the American League Championship Series, the Houston Astros are looking forward to a stronger 2024 campaign. Dusty Baker, the manager of the Astros, will be leaving the team, which could result in internal change.
Recently, new hometown hero CJ Stroud of the Houston Texans revealed his surprising thoughts on the Astros’ sport. Contract talks on superstar second baseman Jose Altuve and third baseman Alex Bregman got a not-so-good offseason update.
On Thursday, reporter Chandler Rome of The Athletic revealed an update on the possibility of bringing back World Series winning catcher Martin Maldonado to the Astros franchise.
Maldonado and Michael Brantley are among the team’s free agents heading into the 2024 season. Maldonado is 37 years old and has built an excellent rapport with the current Astros pitching staff.
With 25-year-old Yainer Diaz ascending, the question is whether the Astros may want to keep Maldonado around for spot duty. He hit just .191 with 15 home runs last season for an Astros team in need of more consistency and a youth movement along several different sections of its starting lineup.
Rome’s report stated that the Astros and Maldonado have mutual interest in pursuing a return for next season.
It is more likely that Maldonado will be back next season as a backup to Diaz after General Manager Dana Brown talked with the veteran catcher’s agent, Dan Lozano, during general managers’ meetings.
As the star of the Astros, Justin Verlander, is a strong supporter of Maldonado’s abilities at the plate, which could provide him an advantage when it comes to returning for the upcoming season and enable him to start more games than he otherwise would.
