Jeremy Pena's Astros Contract Extension Talks Reportedly 'On Hold' After Agent Switch

In the midst of an All-Star-caliber season for Jeremy Peña, the veteran shortstop has paused his contract talks with the Houston Astros.

Per Jon Heyman of MLB Network and the New York Post, talks between the two sides are "on hold" in the wake of Peña's recent decision to switch representation and hire Scott Boras as his agent.

The Athletic's Chandler Rome reported on Monday that Peña hired Boras to represent him.

It seemed like a calculated move for Peña in the midst of arguably the best season of his career as he was talking about an extension with the Astros.

Boras isn't against his clients signing long-term extensions before they hit free agency, but his modus operandi is generally to have them hit the open market and create a bidding war to drive up the price.

Even though this isn't necessarily an ideal scenario for the Astros, they aren't in imminent danger of losing their star shortstop. Peña is under team control for two more seasons before he can become a free agent after 2027.

It's also possible Peña and the Astros will eventually come to an agreement, but Boras taking over means he will want to speak with Peña about what he is looking to get out of a long-term extension.

One thing that seems certain is Peña will get a lot of money, whether it's from the Astros now or as a free agent in the future. The 27-year-old is on pace to set career-highs in batting average (.326), on-base percentage (.382) and slugging percentage (.495) this season.

The only AL players with a higher FanGraphs WAR total in 2025 than Peña's 4.0 are Aaron Judge (6.1) and Cal Raleigh (5.4).

Even if there's concern about how much of an outlier offensive season this has been from Peña relative to the previous three years, his floor is extremely high because of his glove at shortstop.

Dansby Swanson is the only shortstop with more defensive runs saved than Peña's 34 since he made his MLB debut in 2022.