Rumor Mill: Framber Heading to Flushing?

While almost every Astros fan expects the team not to re-sign homegrown star SP Framber Valdez, we may have an idea on where he is going, and for how much.

International MLB Insider Hector Gomez posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the New York Mets are the favorites to land the All-Star lefty.

Translated, it reads “The #Mets are the favorites to sign Framber Valdez. It is expected that they will sign him for 6 years and US$200 million.“

Astros fans have long accepted owner Jim Crane’s reluctance to hand out long term deals, especially to pitchers and especially to players on the other side of 30. Valdez is entering his age 32 season, and history has shown that long term deals to players starting at age 32 have a low track record of success.

Valdez has been a workhouse for the Astros, twice named an All-Star and with 3 Top-9 Cy Young finishes in the past 4 seasons. He is coming off what could be considered more of a “down year” by his own very high standards, finishing 2025 going 13-11 with a 3.66 ERA and 1.245 WHIP. In 192 IP over 31 starts, Valdez struck out 187 batters, but saw a slight uptick in walk rate ( 3.2 BB/9 in 2025 after posting 2.8 BB/9 in 2024 and 2.6 BB/9 in 2023) and significant uptick in hit rate ( 8.0 H/9, up from 7.1 H/9 in 2024 and 7.5 H/9 in 2023). Valdez also led the AL in wild pitches with 12.

Should Valdez sign a free agent deal with another team, the Astros will receive a compensatory draft pick following the 4th Round of the Amateur Draft in June. The pick is after the 4th Round instead of the 2nd Round because the Astros exceeded the Luxury Tax threshold in 2025. The Astros are entitled to draft pick compensation because they offered him the Qualifying Offer and Valdez rejected it.