{"id":97302,"date":"2025-03-14T18:26:56","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T22:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=97302"},"modified":"2025-03-14T18:26:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T22:26:56","slug":"astros-framber-valdez-extension-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/03\/14\/astros-framber-valdez-extension-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros Ace Framber Valdez Poised for Massive Contract Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With free agency approaching next offseason, Houston Astros ace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/v\/valdefr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Framber Valdez<\/a> could sign one of the largest contract extensions in franchise history. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Astros have had quite the offseason, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/12\/20\/christian-walker-joins-astros-on-3-year-contract\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">filling a need at first base<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=walkech02,walker008chr&amp;search=Christian+Walker&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christian Walker<\/a>, but parting ways with several core members of their championship team. If you can take nothing else from the departures of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tuckeky01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Tucker<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bregmal01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Bregman<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pressry01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Pressly<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/v\/verlaju01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Justin Verlander<\/a>, the Astros saved a good chunk of money on payroll. With Valdez set to be a free agent, now is the time to sign him to a long-term deal.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Framber Valdez Could Receive Historic Contract Extension from Astros<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Signed by the Astros as an international free agent in 2015, &#8220;La Grasa&#8221; has been a staple in Houston since his 2018 debut. Houston\u2019s Opening Day starter for three (and now likely four) consecutive seasons, the 31-year-old left-hander has been nothing shy of an ace. Valdez is coming off of a strong 2024 campaign where, despite a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/26\/astros-activate-framber-valdez\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">brief stint on the injured list<\/a>, he finished seventh in American League Cy Young contention. He owns a career 3.30 ERA, 866 strikeouts, and a 62.2 ground ball percentage in 888 \u2154 innings. In his final year of eligibility, Valdez avoided arbitration with the Astros, agreeing to an $18 million salary for 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Framber Valdez had a 1.96 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and a 10.04 K\/9 after the All-Star Break last season.<\/p>\n<p>Blake Snell was the only other starting pitcher to have a sub 2 ERA, sub 1 WHIP and at least a 10 K\/9 after the All-Star Break. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wcwAnTjktb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/wcwAnTjktb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kirk Snyder (@dynastyinfo411) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dynastyinfo411\/status\/1899932200700678318?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 12, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking at the free agent class of 2026, multiple teams will be vying for the lefty with seven career complete games. Outside of Valdez and fellow southpaw <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=montgjo01,montgo001jor&amp;search=Jordan+Montgomery&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jordan Montgomery<\/a>, the starting pitching market will be predominantly right-handed. Montgomery, who is a year older than Valdez, is a decent comparison. Arizona signed the 33-year-old just two days before Opening Day last season, but he struggled, making 19 starts before moving to the bullpen. While Diamondbacks ownership has said <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/03\/26\/jordan-montgomery-signs-diamondbacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Montgomery\u2019s $25 million deal<\/a> was &#8220;a horrible decision,&#8221; it gives Valdez a good starting point.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Valdez&#8217;s Market Value<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also reaching free agency at the end of the season are right-handers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/ceasedy01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dylan Cease<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/galleza01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zac Gallen<\/a>. Cease and Gallen, like Valdez, have twice finished in the top 5 in Cy Young voting and possess sub-3.00 career ERAs. Despite having just as much success as the two right-handers, Valdez is two years older than the pair. While Cease and Gallen are both looking at a potential seven-year deal, starters entering their age-32 season rarely sign for more than four years. Both right-handers will likely secure nearly $30 million annually, a figure Houston has only reached once under Jim Crane&#8217;s ownership.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6182553\/2025\/03\/11\/mlb-contract-extension-candidates\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Athletic\u2019s Tim Britton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> estimates Valdez to be worth $134 million over five years, signing him through his age-36 season. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/altuvjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-03-14_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose Altuve<\/a> holds the record for the largest extension in franchise history, signing a five-year, $151 million deal in 2018. Houston <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/02\/07\/jose-altuve-extension-astros\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">just extended Altuve<\/a> for another $25 million in average annual value and was prepared to offer Bregman $26 million. Securing Valdez to a long-term deal under $27 million in annual value would be a major win for the Astros. General manager Dana Brown has not approached Valdez, once a topic of trade conversations, or his representatives about an extension. W<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hether Houston will meet Valdez&#8217;s market value remains unclear, but if Brown lets him walk, will their offseason decisions be worth it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With free agency approaching next offseason, Houston Astros ace Framber Valdez could sign one of the largest contract extensions in franchise history. The Astros have had quite the offseason, filling a need at first base with Christian Walker, but parting ways with several core members of their championship team. If you can take nothing else [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4975,"featured_media":97495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1071],"tags":[1524,2359,1166,251,2262,1820],"class_list":["post-97302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-astros","category-mlb","tag-dylan-cease","tag-framber-valdez","tag-jordan-montgomery","tag-jose-altuve","tag-mlb-free-agency","tag-zac-gallen"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97302"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97496,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97302\/revisions\/97496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}