Opening Day draws closer and closer, and still the Houston Astros roster doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. There are more quality infielders than the team can possibly play at one time. Seemingly everybody hits right-handed. The rotation feels like a battle royale behind Hunter Brown.

And yet, Houston can only carry 26 players with them into the regular season, which means something’s gotta give over the next few weeks. Who should be on the outside looking in by the time Spring Training concludes?

INF Isaac Paredes

The Astros remain publicly committed to keeping Paredes, but exactly what’s the plan here? He’s set to make $9.35 million this season before a $13.35 million club option decision looms next winter. That’s a lot of money for a cash-strapped team to pay to a guy currently slated to ride the bench, with precious few at-bats available barring injury to any of Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Jeremy Peña and Christian Walker.

Paredes is a valuable player, especially to a team that plays its home games in Daikin Park, and it’s never a good idea to get rid of good players on a whim. But at a certain point, Houston’s roster logjam becomes simply untenable: Paredes isn’t doing anyone any good as a bench piece — particularly given his defensive shortcomings — and everyone would be much better served trying to flip him for a left-handed bat at some point over the next few weeks (preferably one that can play the outfield).

RHP Lance McCullers Jr.

This one is a bummer. I’m not burying McCullers Jr. entirely: His struggles last season after more than two full years in the wilderness weren’t terribly surprising, and it’s by no means out of the question that he could look better the further removed he gets from his injuries. But he did look bad in 2025, and despite a six-man rotation opening up another spot, the Astros simply have better options available right now.

Hunter Brown, Tatsuya Imai, Mike Burrows and Cristian Javier are locks. Then there’s Spener Arrighetti, Ryan Weiss, AJ Blubaugh and Brandon Walter, plus Nate Pearson when he fully ramps up at some point early in the regular season. Can you really argue for McCullers as at least the second-best option of that group? Maybe a few years ago, but it feels awfully hard right now.

2B Brice Matthews

This one is in many ways tied to the fate of Paredes. But even if Houston does find a trade partner that clears up the infield picture between now and Opening Day, Matthews is probably best served heading back to the Minors to start the year.

He was rushed to the Majors before he was ready out of necessity last season, but what’s most important right now is that he get as many reps as possible in order to refine his plate approach. The Astros are giving him run in both the infield and outfield this spring in case his versatility could be useful, but does it really make sense to have your top prospect getting precious little exposure to live pitching in order to keep him on the Major League bench?

C Cesar Salazar

Salazar is Houston’s backup catcher right now basically by default, as Carlos Perez is the only other internal option with MLB experience. But there’s no reason that should remain the case by Opening Day, at least not for a team with legitimate playoff aspirations.

Salazar is a fine defender, but he’s not exceptional enough with the glove to make up for his truly punchless bat (even by the standards of a modern backup catcher). Houston doesn’t even have to take a swing at someone like Ryan Jeffers; nabbing, say, Pedro Pages from the St. Louis Cardinals could be a good fit, or JC Escarra from the New York Yankees. Anything to have a more viable option in order to take some of the pressure off of Yainer Diaz.

RHP Roddery Muñoz

Muñoz is something of a surprise inclusion here: A Rule 5 Draft pick from the Cincinnati Reds, he’ll have to be offered back to his former team if he doesn’t break camp on Houston’s Major League roster. That would seem to give him a leg up, but he struggled in his first spring outing last weekend, and we just haven’t heard a ton about him so far that would suggest he’s turning heads.

Which is a problem, because the Astros have a ton of relievers without any Minor League options remaining. That makes flexibility an issue; if Muñoz doesn’t force the issue, he could wind up being the odd man out by default. Houston is certainly looking for more right-handed relievers to add to the mix with Enyel De Los Santos still not close to a return, but Kai-Wei Teng seems to be ahead of him in the pecking order, and with the six-man rotation to start the year, space is limited.