HOUSTON -- Carl Everett is gone, and Mike Hampton could be next to leave the nucleus that has helped the Houston Astros win three consecutive division titles.

	Hampton

The Astros traded Everett, an outfielder, to the Boston Red Sox Wednesday for minor league shortstop Adam Everett and left-handed pitcher Greg Miller. The Astros made the move rather than sign Carl Everett to an extension beyond his 2000 contract.

General manager Gerry Hunsicker also revealed that pitching ace Hampton did not want a contract extension, preferring to play the final year of his contract next season and see what the free agent market will bear.

"This throws another monkey wrench into our plans," Hunsicker said of Hampton's decision. "Mike is signed for one more year. We have to decide if playing him another year makes more sense than trying to trade him."

Hampton became the Astros' ace last season with a 22-4 record. His 22 victories broke the franchise record of 21 set by Joe Niekro in 1979.

Hampton's agent, Mark Rogers, said his client simply wants to explore his options.

"By no means is this an indictment of the Houston Astros, the city or the front office," Rogers said. "It's about the curiosity of a 27-year-old wanting to know what is out there in the rest of baseball.

"Realistically, who among us if given overwhelming options about their future wouldn't at least be curious about it."

Carl Everett earned $2.4 million last season and will command a sizable raise after having a career year last season with a .325 batting average, 25 home runs and 108 RBI. After preliminaries talks, Hunsicker determined that the Astros would not be able to meet his asking price.

"In the absence of having a contract extension in place and looking at what it will take to sign some of our other players, I look at this as a building block from the present to the future," Hunsicker said. "This reduces the logjam in our outfield and gives us flexibility."

Last week, the Astros signed second baseman Craig Biggio to a three-year contract extension worth $28 million that made him the highest-paid player in club history.

The Astros expect left fielder Moises Alou to recover from knee surgery that kept him out all of last season. Unless the Astros make further trades, they also have Richard Hidalgo, also returning from surgery, Derek Bell, Glen Barker and Daryle Ward to man the outfield.

"This (Everett) will not be the last trade we will have to consider as we build our bridges and move to the future," Hunsicker said. "We're trying to keep our nucleus but we have to make room for our talent coming up from the minor leagues."

Astros owner Drayton McLane plans to keep the player payroll at $55 million next season when the team moves to their new downtown home at Enron Field.