Decisions ahead on Castro, Gomez

Jason Castro and Carlos Gomez are both a year away from free agency, but that alone shouldn’t incentivize the Astros to move them as it might have in the past.

It’d be near impossible for the Astros to justify a deal that doesn’t improve the 2016 team. Plus, Gomez is coming off a down year, and Castro has become very strong defensively and integral to the pitching staff.

If a deal were to happen involving one of the two, moving Gomez and turning around and signing an outfielder — the blueprint the Astros followed last offseason when they traded Dexter Fowler and signed Colby Rasmus — could work again.

“I think Gomez right now is our center fielder and Castro’s our catcher, and those guys are hard to replace,” general manager Jeff Luhnow said Tuesday. “We could be looking at a situation next year where either or both of those are in the qualifying-offer camp as well. So if you trade ’em, you’re potentially giving up opportunity to keep them on a one-year deal after next year. Or a draft pick if they choose to sign elsewhere. That’s a valuable situation. But most importantly for us, I think Gomez and Castro are key parts of our team next year.”

There’s also no clear option to replace Castro because of Hank Conger’s throwing troubles. The outfield is more crowded, with Gomez, Jake Marisnick, George Springer, Preston Tucker and potentially Rasmus as well.