Unknown at this point. I don’t recall saying he should be replaced. Although, now that he’s in arbitration years, the pool of candidates is much bigger. I merely outlined what he needs to stop doing in order to get to the next tier.
You may have been, but all I did was simply say he’s a replacement-ish level player until he corrects a few things. Mainly being consistency on defense and discipline in the batters box. He made some inexplicable errors for a defense-first SS last year and still gets fooled at the plate too much.
Gotcha. I was thinking/talking to whoever wanted Dubon/Rando to be the starting SS. You're not wrong about any of that.
Ok. Sorry. - family commitment, but I'm back. If Pena were traded in the scenario that I suggested: David Hamilton would be one of the players coming from Boston. Brewers 8th rd pick in 2019 out of Texas. Top of the scale speed and bottom of the scale power. Once you remove Rafaela, who Boston announced will play mostly CF, Mlb.com has him listed as backup at SS and 3rd option at 2b. Fangraphs has him 4th at SS and backup at 2b. 1.7fWAR/2.6bWAR in 317 PAs as a rookie last year for Boston. .698 OPS good for 92 wRC+. Hits lefty and so far has extreme splits= 102 wRC+ vs RHP/43 vs LHP. Stole 33 bases while being caught 4 times. Scouting report lists him as an average fielder with great range and sure hands but a fringe arm better suited for 2b. As a rookie his fielding wasn't good at SS but projects to be serviceable. He will never win a GG at SS but should be acceptable as a part time starter and band aid for 1-2 years. He has 2 options left and not arbitration eligible until 2027. Not a FA until 2030. He would platoon with Dubon until Arias is ready. There is no doubt that SS would not be a strength in 2025, but it isn't exactly dropping from an All Star level and also isn't falling much below average. It's the price of getting Abreu and Arias into the organization.
Are you trying to win or are you trying to play for next year to win the prospect games? If you're trying to win you need a really solid defensive SS who can hit enough to be in a MLB lineup (kinda like Pena)...bat him 9th who ****ing cares. Dubon and Hamilton would immediately combine to become the worst SS in MLB.
I disagree, but let's say you are correct. The Astros currently project to be 17th in SS WAR Pena projects to 3.4 WAR in 679 PAs as the everyday starter. Hamilton projects to 0.6 WAR in 210 PAs. Dubon projects to 0.6 WAR in 310 PAs. Hamilton gets 70% = 475 PAs = 1.4 WAR Dubon gets 30% = 204 = 0.4 WAR Astros lose 1.6 WAR, so the move costs them 1-2 games in the standings. How many wins does Abreu replacing Trammell add? At worst, he makes up the 1-2 games and the trade is even on the field in 2025. Pena has 3 years of control remaining. Abreu has 4 years of control remaining Hamilton has 5 years of control remaining Arias has 6-7 years of control remaining.
Lol. eta: I just realized this is the same David Hamilton I watched at UT for 4 years, this makes your idea even more lol.
The points everyone is missing or disregarding are: 1) Pena is not on a level where trading him should create any kind of outcry. 2) Based on projections, replacing Pena with ANY MLB caliber SS will hurt the team less than bringing in an above average corner OF will help. 3) Hamilton is just a throw in band aid to allow the Astros to fill the SS position until Arias is ready. His value is not crucial to this trade. They could change out Romy Gonzalez who is a year older with 1 year less control and much less upside and the value of the deal would not be changed much, except he hits RH and Boston wants to add RHH while Houston wants to add LHH. The bottom line is this deal improves RF more than it hurts SS and the Astros add depth to the roster and a premium SS prospect that helps the team's "window" stay open longer.
Pena's defense at SS carried the infield last season. With more agile players at the corners taking some of the load off him the overall infield defense will be vastly improved this season. I would love to see a three year extension of Pena before 2026 in order to have a little continuity as the remainder of the infield is replaced by prospects one by one over the remainder of the 2020s.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...-eldridge-in-tucker-crochet-trade-offers.html Interesting report that SF was in on Tucker and Houston wanted Eldridge. I assume the deal would have been Eldridge, Wade, and a young pitcher (probably not Whisenhunt but maybe Birdsong). That was a deal I speculated on upthread. That would have been a fair deal but I like the package Houston ended up getting better.
Side note: I cold totally see SF backing up the brinks truck for Tucker as soon as he hits Free Agency after the upcoming season.
One thing about Yuli whether he was hitting or not, was great defense at 1B. While many have speculated about Walker and hitting better in this park, he at least talks about his value defensively at 1B. He wants to make his teammates look better because of this D. I like that.
