Christian Walker signs with Astros

Christian Walker signs with Astros

Free agent first baseman Christian Walker signed a three-year, $60 million deal with the Houston Astros, CBS Sports MLB insider Jim Bowden first reported Friday. USA Today insider Bob Nightengale was first with the terms.

Walker, 34, rejected a $21 million qualifying offer from the Diamondbacks in November. Thus, once this deal becomes finalized, the Astros will lose their second- and fifth-highest selections in the 2025 MLB Draft since they were a tax team in 2024. If they sign another, such as Teoscar Hernandez, they will lose their third- and sixth-highest selections for 2025.

In addition to being one of the best available 1B, he was arguably the best available two-way player (no, not like Ohtani). Over the last three seasons, Walker combined to sport an .813 OPS with a 123 OPS+, averaging 32 home runs, 29 doubles and 94 RBIs in 149 games. He also secured three gold gloves in that span, averaging 13 outs-above-average and 11 defensive runs saved–stamping his name as arguably the best defensive first basemen in the sport.

He dealt with an oblique strain last year, which could be difficult to navigate at his age; it’s not quite a red flag, but a yellow one. I still liked him a lot, and that’s a very fair deal for his age given the market–but the concerns are also fair.

Given how mediocre Houston’s first base production has been with Jon Singelton and Jose Abreu, losing Alex Bregman while supplementing him with Isaac Paredes while also adding Walker isn’t bad business. They could’ve done much worse. He’s a good middle-of-the-order bat that you can either slot behind or ahead of Yordan Alvarez. I have a feeling that Walker’s going to become pretty friendly with the Crawford boxes over the next few seasons.

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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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