The frozen first-base market finally started to thaw Friday, with reports that Christian Walker has agreed to a three-year, $60 million deal with the Houston Astros. While Pete Alonso remains the premium option available among his positional peers, Walker is the first from a deep first-base free-agent class to find a new home, with the […]
The frozen first-base market finally started to thaw Friday, with reports that Christian Walker has agreed to a three-year, $60 million deal with the Houston Astros. While Pete Alonso remains the premium option available among his positional peers, Walker is the first from a deep first-base free-agent class to find a new home, with the right-handed slugger securing a multi-year deal from a Houston club that has been awfully busy of late.
The Astros’ signing of Walker comes on the heels of reports that Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado recently exercised his no-trade clause to block an agreed-upon deal between Houston and St. Louis that would’ve sent the 10-time Gold Glover to H-Town. Such a deal would have, in theory, moved Isaac Paredes — acquired from Chicago in the Kyle Tucker blockbuster — to first base, with Arenado supplanting long-term star Alex Bregman at the hot corner. Instead, Arenado said no, sending Houston back to the drawing board.
Additional reporting signaled that Arenado’s decision did not necessarily doom the possibility of him ending up in Houston this offseason but, rather, suggested that the third baseman, who is still widely expected to be dealt, did not want to green-light a deal at this stage, preferring to wait and see what other potential landing spots might surface. Rather than waiting to learn if Arenado would reemerge as a viable option later this winter — or continue to engage with Bregman as he seeks a massive deal in free agency — the Astros have seemingly addressed both corner infield spots, with Walker at first and Paredes primed to remain at his more native spot on the other side of the diamond.
If this indeed closes the door on Bregman’s time in Houston, what a run it was. His landing spot now becomes one of the bigger storylines left to play out this winter. And beyond Bregman, Walker’s signing amplifies the spotlight on Alonso, the other premier position player remaining on the free-agent market. A reunion in Queens would seem to still be in play, but Walker coming off the board might prompt other teams in need of a first baseman to more seriously consider Alonso as an impact addition at the position.
For Walker, this lucrative deal is the culmination of quite the baseball journey. His power prowess dates back to his amateur days, first as a Pennsylvania high schooler who won a 2009 home run derby that also famously featured Bryce Harper and then as an offensive force in the SEC for the University of South Carolina. After being selected by Baltimore in the fourth round of the 2012 draft, Walker’s ascent toward major-league-slugger status slowed considerably. He hit well in the minors but never well enough to be considered a fundamental part of the Orioles’ future. He had a few big-league cameos with Baltimore but was designated for assignment during spring training before the 2017 season.
Walker then bounced among a few teams on waivers — first Atlanta, then Cincinnati — before landing with Arizona shortly before Opening Day. With Paul Goldschmidt still in the fold for the D-backs, it was another two seasons before Walker finally got his shot as the team’s everyday first baseman. But once Goldschmidt was traded to St. Louis, Walker seized the starting job in 2019 and never looked back.
Walker was solid in his first two seasons as the Snakes’ regular first baseman. His third campaign in 2021 was marred by injuries. He bounced back in a big way in 2022 with his best season yet, mashing a career-high 36 home runs and winning his first Gold Glove at first. Long known for his powerful bat, Walker had also begun to establish himself as an exceptional defender. He didn’t win his first Gold Glove — the first of three in a row — until that 2022 season, but Walker rated in the 98th percentile in Outs Above Average in his first full season in 2019. And though first base is considered at the bottom of the defensive spectrum, Walker has a well-earned reputation as the rare difference-maker with the glove at his position.
More importantly, he has continued to mash. Walker followed his full-blown breakout in 2022 with a similar season in 2023 as a key cog in the middle of the lineup for an Arizona team that shocked the world en route to a pennant. An oblique strain cost Walker a month of the 2024 season, but he again was one of the driving forces behind one of baseball’s best offenses in his platform year.
Walker was 28 years old and had six-plus professional seasons under his belt before he got the chance to play every day at the major-league level. After patiently waiting his turn in multiple organizations, he blossomed brilliantly in the desert, enabling the unlikely outcome of his hitting the open market as a highly coveted free agent, even as one who will soon turn 34. Now Walker will slot into the middle of Houston’s revamped lineup with the responsibility of helping the powerhouse Astros extend their championship window despite drastic personnel changes in recent years around the face of the franchise, Jose Altuve. While Chase Field was certainly a hitter-friendly home for Walker over the past six years, the newly named Daikin Park and its iconic Crawford Boxes should provide an ideal venue for his right-handed power to continue to flourish.
For as snug of a fit as Walker seems to be on Houston’s roster, his signing also undeniably comes in the shadow of the Astros’ most recent attempt to address the first-base position. For the majority of Houston’s dominant run atop the American League, Yuli Gurriel manned first. After Gurriel’s contract expired following the club’s championship in 2022, the Astros pivoted to another Cuban star, signing Jose Abreu to a three-year, $58.5 million deal. The spectacular degree to which the Abreu deal failed — with the accomplished slugger released in June with another $19.5 million owed to him in 2025 — is a huge reason Houston was looking for a first baseman this winter to begin with.
Despite the eerily similar contract, it’s unfair to attach to Walker the same concerns raised at the time of Abreu’s deal. Walker is two years younger than Abreu was when he signed, and he brings substantially more defensive value as arguably the best defender at his position. What’s more, beyond his gaudy surface stats, Walker’s underlying offensive metrics portray him as a legitimate middle-of-the-order threat. Abreu ended up being an albatross, but Walker now represents an intriguing mulligan for Houston at first base.
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With the infield formidably reinforced, Houston must now turn its attention to its unsettled outfield situation, with Tucker no longer the anchor in right. Yordan Alvarez has averaged 45-50 games in left field over the past four seasons, but manager Joe Espada spoke at the winter meetings about his preference to use Alvarez even less frequently in the outfield, in hopes of more consistent durability for the fearsome slugger.
That would leave all three outfield spots uncertain, with incumbents Jake Meyers and Chas McCormick both coming off particularly poor years offensively. Meyers’ excellent defense is likely worth consistent playing time in center, but the corner spots remain in flux.
Does Houston have the appetite for another addition via free agency or trade to address this? That could be the difference between the Astros entering 2025 with an offense that looks markedly better than their 2024 group and beginning the season with one that is merely constructed differently.
