The Astros have been in the news a lot lately. They traded to the Cubs. They reportedly still have the door open a crack for and, relatedly, have some willingne s to move from second base to left field. General manager Dana Brown addre sed those various topics while speaking to the media today, with of among those to report on his comments. On Pre sly, Brown said that the relationship between himself and the reliever took a slightly different turn when the club signed going into the 2024 season. Any time you take a major-league player out of a role where they feel comfortable, its going to fracture your relationship some, Brown said. I think we continued to communicate. He was a true profe sional and I kept it real as a true profe sional myself. Ultimately, I wouldnt say (the relationship) was the same as (when) we first met, but I think there was some frustration, which I totally understand from a competitor. Pre sly had been the clubs closer for several years. He racked up 12 saves in the shortened 2020 season and then finished the next three campaigns with between 26 and 33 saves. But the club was looking to bolster the bullpen going into 2024, mostly due to factors unrelated to Pre sly. The Astros had lost , , and to free agency and then required shoulder surgery that was likely going to keep him out for the entire year. They decided that the best way to add to the bullpen was to get Hader, signing him to a five-year, $95MM contract. He took over the closing duties in Houston, bumping Pre sly to a setup role. It seems Pre sly was privately a bit miffed by the change, though he didnt make any public complaints. He was credited with 25 holds and four saves last year while posting a 3.49 earned run average. Rumors of a Pre sly trade have been floating around all winter. Part of the logic was that the Astros have some desire to avoid the competitive balance tax in 2025, which also provided some motivation for the trade. Pre slys contract pays him $14MM this year, a salary in range of market rates for a solid closer but perhaps a bit high for a setup guy on a club trying to limbo under the tax line. The complication, from an outside perspective, was Pre slys 10-and-5 rights. Since he had at least 10 years of service and at least five with the Astros, Pre sly had the right to block any trade. Since hes from Texas, it was fair to wonder how much appetite he had for leaving the Astros, but the reports about the behind-the-scenes discord perhaps shed some light on his decision. By approving a trade to the Cubs, he will get a fresh start and likely get a chance to be a closer again. For the Astros, they sent $5.5MM to the Cubs in the deal but that still allowed them to clear $8.5MM and duck under the tax, at least for now. Rome adds that Brown is trying to trade but without getting anywhere. Thats not especially surprising since Montero posted ERAs near 5.00 in each of the past two seasons and has been outrighted off the roster. He is Dennis Smith Jr. Jersey still owed $11.5MM for the final year of his deal, a three-year pact signed in the 2022-23 offseason. At that time, the club had parted ways with GM James Click and had not yet hired Brown. Owner Jim Crane was running the baseball operations department during the interim, a time in which the Astros signed Montero and . It remains to be seen whether the club will stay under the tax line. Recent has suggested that re-signing Bregman is still po sible, even though the club has acquired and . Those two project as the clubs third and first baseman respectively but the club has apparently considered re-installing Bregman at third, moving Paredes to second and Altuve to left. Despite those reports, Brown of re-signing Bregman as a longshot last week and continued to downplay the chances today, saying that the plan is something that been the subject of in-house discu sions and not something that has been discu sed with Bregmans agent, Scott Boras. We are definitely having conversations within our front office, Brown said. We havent reached back out to Boras. At some point, it could turn to that. Were taking a deep look at what it would look like if we acquired him and how it would look for us financially, does it make sense to do it? I would mostly say its all internal conversations as to what we would like to do in terms of Bregman. currently projects the clubs CBT number as $236MM, just shy of the $241MM base threshold. Signing any player of note would push them back over the line. Thats especially true of Bregman. The Astros have reportedly offered him $156MM over six years, which is an average annual value of $26MM. Rome last week that the offer is still on the table, despite the club pivoting to Paredes and Walker, though Browns framing of things today suggests their dialogue with Boras has been fairly casual. Bregman has also been connected to clubs like the Tigers, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Cubs but remains unsigned with spring training set to ramp up in about two weeks. As mentioned, a domino effect of Bregman returning to Houston would be Altuve ending up in left field, though that seems like it could be a factor this year with or without Bregman.We arent taking anything off the table and were weighing all options, Brown said. Well see what it looks like in left field with understanding that hes going to play some second base or be at second base quite often, depending on what the coaching staff comes up with. But were not taking anything off the table in terms of seeing what he looks like in left field. Altuve has been almost exclusively a second baseman in his big league career, with six innings at shortstop being his only experience anywhere else. Hes never been regarded as an especially strong defender, but his already-weak metrics have slid even lower of late. Altuve has been worth -82 Defensive Runs Saved over his entire career, with DRS tagging him with a -13 grade or worse in each of the past three seasons. Moving him to left field is obviously risky on account of his lack of experience out there, though the Crawford Boxes give Daikin Park one of the shallower left fields in the majors, so perhaps its easier for the Astros to take such a gamble. Altuve himself recently to do whatever it takes to bring Bregman back to the club though its le s clear how he would feel moving to left independent of that. If Altuve can stick in the outfield, it could help the club out there since thats a clear weak spot on the roster. The club plans to have spend more time as the designated hitter this year and also traded Tucker. That leaves them with , , and as their projected group out there. Having Altuve in left without Bregman on the roster could open up second base time for someone like , who has always hit well in the minors but doesnt currently have a path to regular playing time. Its also po sible that the club pivots to , who is reportedly another free agent the Astros have been in contact with, in addition to Bregman. Polanco is coming off a rough season and just had knee surgery but has a strong pre-2024 track record. The club Polanco in left field as well, though hes four years younger than Altuve and is a former shortstop. Polanco is also a switch-hitter, which seems to suit the clubs preferences. In the post-Tucker world, Alvarez is the only lefty projected for regular action as of now. Brown has that he would like to add a lefty-swinging outfielder as a way to add balance and reiterated that today, saying that adding a left-handed bat is sort of a priority. Adding Polanco and then putting either him or Altuve in left would be an unusual way of accomplishing that but is perhaps more attractive than signing a free agent like or . There are a lot of moving pieces and they all make the Astros an interesting club to watch in the remainder of the offseason. Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in about two weeks. Kristaps Porzingis Jersey