Its exciting... but they do need at least one more position player (besides Yordan) who is locked in and expected to be a perennial all-star type. They'll get at least one all star appearance from the Diaz', Pena's, Meyers', Chas, Dubon category of player, but they're still a tier below the other foundational guys of the golden era. The Lance Berkman/Oswalt-era Astros also featured a similar younger core of potential long-term competitiveness.... but didn't have those true star-type guys that could really push the envelope day in/day out till Altuve (including Pence, who was underrated here). Hopefully they already have said player in the system.
Yeah, between the long term guys on the team and the farm, it is very likely they will be able to fill their lineup 4-9 plus the bench with internal options. It’s whether or not the farm can produce true stars to hit in the top of the lineup, and/or whether Crane will pony up long term for free agents (Tucker). Similarly, the 3-13 spots on the pitching staff should be well stocked with internal options, it’s just whether or not one of their guys steps up into a true ace, or whether Crane will pony up. I think Yainer Diaz and Hunter Brown are extremely important pieces because I think they are 2 young guys most likely to pan out into genuine stars. At this point Pena/Meyers/McCormick are fine everyday players, but extremely unlikely to consistently put forth the star level offense you want out of a 1-4 hitter.
Some are just wishing they were on the backend of their window. As long as they've got Alvarez/Tucker/Altuve/Pena and if they keep adding pitching the window is still wide open. They do need to make a few tweaks to the roster though.
When you add in defense Pena is a borderline star in my opinion Agree on Meyers and McCormick, although Chas could very well turn into a borderline star if traded. He simply isn't going to be afforded every day at bats here in Houston I mean look at right now, he is 10 for his last 34 with 6 of those 10 for extra bases, a 1.027 OPS Yet he sat Wednesday, was pulled after 2 at bats last night (a walk and a K) and sits again today And I know me and you disagree on the value of Singleton, but personally when I look at the upside of each I know which one I want in the lineup of what is actually a pretty important game, especially with a bullpen game tomorrow.
I don’t really see how people can view Pena as a star but not Meyers. They are very very similar in terms of offensive production and defensive value; the only thing Pena has had over Jake is health. Pena might be a star, but he’s a star that a contending team would rather have hitting in the 5-6-7 range than in the 2-3-4 range.
Because despite Meyers being able to chase balls down in the OF his arm keeps him from being an elite CF. I dont care what the analytics say. Pena is a GG winning SS. Meyers is slghtly better than Chas. When it comes to batting Pena had a ROY type yr, then fell off last yr and has rebounded this yr. He also was a major contributor to winning a championship and came up with big hits when they mattered the most. Has Meyers done any of these things?
Well, if you throw out statistics then there’s not much to talk about. But the “ROY type year” you reference for Pena was when he posted a 102 wRC+ in 2021. He was a league average bat who played excellent defense. Meyers posted better offense than that in his rookie year and is doing it again this season, and his defense in CF is every bit as good as Penas is at SS. Peña’s career wRC+ is 99, Meyers’ is at 94, which includes all the times he struggled when he was playing hurt.
Arguing Peña vs Meyers is like arguing Horry vs Elie. they are much needed role players that are excellent in very important defensive positions.
Finding good defensive center fielders that average to slightly below average with a bat is a lot easier than finding good defensive shortstops that are average with a bat. Heck, we had 4 of them on the roster the last few years in Meyers, Chas, Dubon, and Siri.
Keeping this going because it's working (was 33-40 when post was made). Despite losing the last 2 games (counting today as a loss) Astros did go 7-2. Checkpoint complete, now let's get to 15-6.
Probably because Jake has played so much less. Now some of that is because of health and some because of Dusty, but still he has played a lot less And I’m sure an ALCS MVP and WS MVP don’t hurt
SS is a .much more difficult position to play. I disagree that Meyers defense has been better and Pena has been as good offensively playing every day, despite the fact that Meyers has never started everyday and has a much lesser sample size. In short Meyers is an avg overall CF, Pena is an upper tier SS IMHO.
Chas was not a good defensive CF, he was an average defensive CF. Meyers is a better hitter than Siri or Dubon.
