HOUSTON — Tendering contracts to both Chas McCormick and Jake Meyers on Friday should’ve surprised no one. Both underperformed enough last season to put their immediate futures in peril, but neither outfielder is projected to make more than $3.3 million in salary arbitration.
Shedding such a meager sum wouldn’t make a meaningful dent in the Houston Astros’ already-bloated payroll. Jettisoning pitchers José Urquidy and Penn Murfee earlier this month removed an estimated $4.55 million, making Houston’s decision easier on Meyers and McCormick.
The club had already arrived at it during the general managers meetings, when Dana Brown confirmed the club would tender both outfielders.
Nowhere in his 209-word explanation did Brown mention Meyers by name or allude to any specific role he envisioned for next season. Brown lauded McCormick as a “good player” who the 2025 team will “really need” while vowing to “get him some help” against right-handed pitching.
Asked later whether the organization had McCormick “above” Meyers in its outfield hierarchy, Brown confirmed it does: a damning but accurate acknowledgment from a man who displays candor that compares to few of his counterparts.
“In terms of the best combination of hit and defense, I would say McCormick’s ahead of him,” Brown said. “I mean, he’s shown that … I would say he’s more of a total package, whereas Meyers is a really good defender in center field.”
Meyers has a contract in hand, but seems on borrowed time in Houston. He is perhaps the most logical trade candidate on the team’s 40-man roster and a player who may benefit from a change in scenery.
Teams inquired about Meyers last winter before Brown took him off the trading block and proclaimed him Houston’s everyday center fielder during the winter meetings. First-year manager Joe Espada even called Meyers to reassure him of the runway he was about to receive.
Meyers responded with an 86 OPS+ across a career-high 513 plate appearances. He slashed .188/.252/.274 in 220 plate appearances after the All-Star break. That Meyers received that many at all is a byproduct of McCormick’s brutal season and an indictment on the club’s nonexistent outfield depth.
Chas McCormick was worth -0.6 WAR according to Baseball Reference in 2024 after registering 3.6 WAR in 2023. (Heather Barry / Getty Images)
Brown is attempting to remedy both problems this winter. Finding a left-handed hitting outfielder is one of Houston’s offseason goals, but not at McCormick’s expense. McCormick posted a .576 OPS last year en route to a late-season demotion to Triple-A Sugar Land. Brown still believes McCormick “can be an everyday left fielder” and giving him “a chance to come back” is “important” to Brown.
“However, if there’s an opportunity for a left-handed bat in any of our discussions, we’ll make that move. And then we’ll adjust with McCormick and whoever we sign or Meyers,” said Brown, who seemed to again signal where Meyers resides in the team’s plans.
McCormick is the same player who hit 22 home runs with a 130 OPS+ in 2023, a stretch of sustained offensive success Meyers has never matched. In some ways, Brown’s bullishness on McCormick mirrors how he treated Meyers last winter — supporting a struggling player’s confidence with a plethora of public praise.
Meyers failed to seize any advantage of it. He is slugging .360 with an 82 OPS+ across his past 1,014 major-league plate appearances, the sort of sample size that invites wonder whether an offensive turnaround is feasible.
Meyers will turn 29 in June. He has two minor-league option years remaining, is projected to make $2.2 million next season and is under club control through 2027, three variables that should increase the trade value his offense has depressed. No team is going to hand over a prospect haul for Meyers, but perhaps Houston felt hanging onto him past the non-tender deadline would help crystallize a market.
Meyers is one of the sport’s best defensive center fielders and finished last season as an American League Gold Glove finalist. He covers 28.9 feet per second when he sprints, too, trailing only Jeremy Peña for the fastest among Astros.
There is a place for this skill set on Houston’s roster, but it’s difficult to envision it in an everyday role. The impending arrival of top outfield prospect Jacob Melton — himself an accomplished defensive center fielder — only further muddles Meyers’ future.
“You just never know with these young players. Could (Melton) come in and have a great spring and start off real well in the minors and be in the big leagues making an impact? Yes, he has that type of potential,” Brown said.
“We would love for him to really turn the corner at this point in time. That would be outstanding. Because now we would be in a position where he could play every day.”
Which would leave Meyers with little place to make any impact.
(Top photo of Jake Meyers: Tim Warner / Getty Images)
