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The 28-year-old outfielder was a fifth-round selection by the Rangers from the 2019 draft class and spent the first seven years of his minor league career there. In 2025, he slashed .242/.347/.344 with eight homers, 40 RBI, 32 stolen bases and a 91/59 K/BB ratio across 429 plate appearances at Triple-A Round Rock. He’ll add outfield depth for the Astros.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand says it’s a $14 million deal. It’s not surprising that Caratini is quickly following J.T. Realmuto off the board, but this is an unexpected fit, given the Twins’ budget issues and their already having a starting catcher in Ryan Jeffers. Caratini deserves to be a starter, but he could help just about anyone starting 70 games behind the plate and another 20 or 30 at DH and first base. That’s probably what he’ll do in Minnesota, unless the team now pivots to trading Jeffers. The Astros had interest in bringing Caratini back, and it was also thought that the Red Sox might jump in, given that they had interest in Realmuto.

The 27-year-old right-hander was released by the Guardians last June after giving up three runs on four hits over two innings in his lone appearance at the big league level. He’ll add bullpen depth for the Astros.

A second-round pick of the Rays back in 2013, Unroe, who never has gotten the chance to play in the majors, has hit .246/.345/.353 with 58 homers and 155 steals in 4,219 plate appearances over 12 seasons in the minors. Last year was one of his best efforts, as he finished at .278/.397/.409 in 68 games as a part-timer for Triple-A Toledo. He also ended up with a 0.84 ERA in seven relief appearances, though that’s because eight of the nine runs he allowed were unearned.

With Carlos Correa now back in town and Yordan Alvarez likely spending all of next season at DH, the Astros have a surplus of infielders and likely need to trade one of Walker or Isaac Paredes. The Astros would like to keep Paredes and play him at first base, but they would need to find a way to trade Walker. The 34-year-old did hit 27 home runs last season, but he has two years, $40 million left on his contract and has been declining offensively over the last couple of years. The Astros would likely get back far more in a trade for Paredes, so the question will be whether Houston prefers to make essentially a salary dump trade or tries to bring back players of value.

Biggers spent the first seven seasons of his minor league career in the Rangers’ organization. The 28-year-old slashed an unimpressive 214/.358/.265 with one homer, 24 RBI and a 69/52 K/BB ratio over 295 plate appearances across three minor league levels in 2025. He’ll add infield depth in the upper minors for the Astros.

This is interesting. Nelson returns to affiliated ball for the first time in nearly a half-decade after a remarkable 34-homer campaign for the Charleston Dirty Birds of the independent Atlantic League. The 28-year-old third baseman, who was a 15th-round pick of the Marlins back in 2016 and has yet to reach the majors, has spent the last four years bouncing around the independent leagues — including a stint in Mexico — but he’ll get a chance to show what he can do in camp with the Astros this spring.

Carlson represents the latest lottery ticket addition for the Astros as they throw metaphorical darts at their bullpen depth chart. The 27-year-old former starter has yet to reach the big leagues after the Mariners made his a second-round selection in the 2017 MLB Draft. The 27-year-old posted a serviceable 4.44 FIP and 78/36 K/BB ratio across 59 2/3 innings over 45 appearances at Triple-A Oklahoma City in the Dodgers’ system this past season. He’s likely to wind up at Triple-A Sugar Land at the conclusion of spring training.

It’s the first time that hard-hitting 27-year-old backstop is eligible for arbitration. MLBTradeRumors.com projected that he would earn $4.5 million via the arbitration process, so it seems far more likely that if it does go to a hearing that Diaz would ultimately win out. He’s coming off of another solid offensive season in which he slashed .256/.284/.417 with 20 homers, 70 RBI and a 95/20 K/BB ratio across 567 plate appearances.

Paredes is projected by MLBTradeRumors.com to earn $9.3 million via arbitration, so right around the midpoint between the two filings. The 26-year-old slugger slashed .254/.352/.458 with 20 long balls and 53 RBI in 438 plate appearances during his first season with the Astros.