In search of infield insurance in the wake of Isaac Paredes’ “significant” right hamstring strain, the Houston Astros are acquiring utilityman Ramón Urías from the Baltimore Orioles, a league source told The Athletic on Wednesday. In exchange, the Astros are sending minor-league right-hander Twine Palmer to the Orioles.
Urías has made all but one of his defensive starts at third base this season, which is crucial for an Astros team that could be without Paredes for the remainder of the season. Paredes, an All-Star and the team’s home run leader, is seeking a second opinion on his hamstring injury.
The Astros have engaged with the Minnesota Twins about shortstop Carlos Correa’s availability, but authoring a reunion would require the sort of financial commitment owner Jim Crane has long been wary of making. According to Cot’s Contracts, the Astros are approximately $2 million under the luxury tax threshold.
Urías is making just $3.15 million this season and has one more year of arbitration eligibility, offering a team without much upper-level position player depth another layer of insurance.
Urías raises the floor of a depleted Astros roster while strengthening one of the sport’s best run prevention machines. Only four infields entered Wednesday worth more outs above average than Houston’s — a byproduct of moving Jose Altuve to left field and signing three-time Gold Glove first baseman Christian Walker this offseason.
Urías has been worth three outs above average at third base this season, according to Baseball Savant. According to Sports Info Solutions, he’s been worth six defensive runs saved.
Playing Urías primarily at third base would put him alongside Gold Glove shortstop Jeremy Peña, who could return from the injured list on Friday when the Astros open a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.
Presuming Urías and Peña comprise the left side of the infield, Houston could shift Mauricio Dubón — a utility Gold Glove winner — to second base, where rookies Brice Matthews and Shay Whitcomb have been splitting playing time.
Acquiring Urías could allow the Astros to send Matthews back to Triple-A. Team officials have acknowledged Matthews was brought up before he was ready in response to Houston’s rash of injuries.
Matthews, the team’s top position player prospect, has struck out 18 times in his first 35 major-league at-bats.
Primarily a third baseman, Urías also has played a decent amount of second base, and he’s played sparingly at shortstop and first base. Most metrics peg him as a good defender at third, where he won a Gold Glove in 2022. He also set a career high with a 2.6 fWAR in 118 games that year.
Most seasons, Urías been more like a 1.0-WAR player, a useful role player who is good in the field and league average or better at the plate. He had a 114 wRC+ last season but has been slightly below average by that metric this season. His career left-right splits are minimal, but he’s been significantly better against left-handed pitching this season.
Originally signed by the Texas Rangers in 2010, Urías played in the Mexican League and spent two years in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system before being claimed off waivers by the Orioles in 2020.
(Photo: Edward M. Pio Roda / Getty Images)
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