The recent Pedro León move says as much about where the Houston Astros are as it does about where he’s going. When they signed him out of Cuba for $4 million in January 2021, the vision was clear: fast-track impact, star-level tools, and a potential long-term answer in an outfield that would eventually need fresh blood.
Four years later, the decision to designate him for assignment and expose him to waivers wasn’t some emotional overcorrection — it was a reflection of a contender managing a shrinking margin for experiment.
Houston remains in a stage of its competitive window where every 40-man spot is a resource, not a souvenir.