If you can play SS, you can play second base. Second base is the easiest of the infield positions minus first.
I think the only thing that could prevent crane to not sign off is the luxury tax this season. We would need to figure out to send some dead salary back. Maybe McCullers, Brendan Rodger, and Chas could make the numbers work.
In this scenario there may be some growing pains but I would not expect a poor result. A few random and scattered plays that looked like Altuve was out there on stilts. But it wouldn't matter anyway because he wouldn't play 2B until next year. 2025) Correa plays 3B. If Paredes manages to come back it won't be with more than 15-20 games left. Lets say 20: 1B) Walker 16, Paredes 4 3B) Correa 12, Paredes 8 SS) Pena 16, Correa 4 DH) Yordan 16, Paredes 4 Everyone gets 4 days off in the final 3+ weeks. 2026) Develop a plan in the offseason and work Paredes and Correa out at the expected positions leading up to the season.
The Correa rumors are obviously a longshot, but if these talks were happening I'd insist on Christian Walker going the other way to help offset the salary. You could then acquire O'Hearn to play first. Correa plays third and Paredes can take over first base next season. As for 2B, Altuve/Dubon can handle it depending on who's pitching that night. If you can't get O'Hearn, who is the best option at 1B, then any league average hitter/fielder can replace Walker's poor production. I don't think Paredes will play again in the regular season (maybe the last week if he's on the same timeline as Bregman earlier this year), so I didn't factor him into this year's infield equation.
If Houston adds Correa, he plays 3B for the next 3 seasons. If Paredes comes back this season, he will need a rehab stint and he can use that to get back in the groove of playing 2B. Problem solved.
If he’s not involved in the trade he either goes down and works on his swing and miss issue, moves into a utility role supplanting Dubon, or moves to CF.
I agree I would keep Brice Matthews and be willing to trade Dezenzo, Whitcome, Melton Framber Valdez, Brendan Rodgers can be traded for talent Could Brice Matthews shift to short stop in preparation of Jeremy Pena leaving (Pena turning down Astros offers)?
For a team that wants to compete and doesn't print money, prospects serve 2 definite purposes. 1) To become the players on the team. 2) To be used as currency to complete a team in hopes of winning a World Series. Any fan who focuses on one and not the other is being shortsighted or simply doesn't understand MLB. If a team who can't live above the CBT, they need the Jeremy Pena's to replace the Carlos Correa's. But they also need the Joe Musgrove's in order to get the Gerrit Coles'. Ideally, these trades happen in the offseason but players are all human. Some get hurt and some don't perform the way you hope. Every team that hopes to win a World Series this year WILL trade for someone to help them. That's how this works. Prospects by their very nature will not be as good now as they should be in the future. Thats even what prospect means. As the trade deadline approaches, if a team hopes to win, they must reinforce the team from the prospect pool. Obviously it is better in the long run for some prospects to not be traded but that can't be a priority over winning when you have a legitimate chance 2/3 of the way through the season and have major needs. This is why deep, good farm systems are important. The more legitimate talented prospects you have the more currency you have and the more likely it is that you can keep the ones you expect to help in the future and use others instead. This is why the Astros were able to get Verlander and still keep Kyle Tucker and get Grienke while still holding on to Forrest Whitley. This Astros team does not have that luxury. If a prospect is playing (like Matthews) or expected to when returning from injury (like Melton if Meyers is still injured) he is untouchable unless a replacement is brought back. If he is in the minors he is not untouchable regardless of what his potential is. Now, obviously, he has a value and you must get a good return for him, but holding on for next year (regardless of the potential) and saying he's "off the table" is a losing strategy. It's different if you are outside looking in and hoping to overtake other teams to get a wildcard. That requires harder choices. But when you are in position and have a legitimate shot - next year means nothing. All deals are about if it helps now and nobody should be untouchable. Then you deal with next year in the offseason. Sometimes you are back to square one as far as filling a roster hole.
Daily hypothetical. I think there’s a real chance Houston will trade for Carlos Correa. If that happens I expect it to happen in the next 100 hours; Minnesota has several players they are shopping who will draw a lot of interest, so if they are gonna trade Correa (who only has one potential trade partner if the rumors are true), they will want to get that deal done well before the deadline so they can focus on the deals that will go down to the wire. An ideal week would have Houston adding Correa by Tuesday, with Pena and Alvarez also returning. Then Houston can focus on adding pitching. Astros get: SS Carlos Correa $22M Twins get: P Miguel Ullola P Bryce Mayer OF/IF Shay Whitcomb Astros get: SP Charlie Morton RP Seranthony Dominguez Orioles get: P Ethan Pecko P AJ Blubaugh P Colton Gordon OF Chas McCormick Playoff roster: SS Pena LF Altuve DH Alvarez 3B Correa 1B Walker C Caratini RF Smith CF Trammell 2B Matthews Bench: Dubon, Melton, Diaz, Hummel SP: Valdez, Brown, Morton, Javier RP: Hader, Abreu, Dominguez, King, Sousa, Okert, Arrighetti, Garcia, Neris Optioned: VanWey, Hernandez, Contreras, Alexander, Salazar, Davidson, Corona DFA: Ort, Guillorme, Short, Singleton IL: Wesneski, McCullers, Blanco, Walter, Dubin, Dezenzo, Leon, Paredes, Meyers, Rodgers
I like this a lot. The only holes/questionables in our lineup would be Trammell and Matthews. And maybe Smith in his first postseason. However, if by some miracle Paredes is back and healthy then you could put him at DH and Alvarez in left. Altuve back at 2nd base. Yes, Matthews goes to the bench, but with the cycle of rotations at LF/DH/2nd he could still see plenty of plate appearances. AND if Meyers is back for the postseason then you are truly stacked and by all accounts could be the favorite. SS Pena DH Paredes 2B Altuve LF Alvarez 3B Correa CF Meyers 1B Walker C Caratini/Diaz RF Smith Rotate the lineup however you want, but that is lethal. (Yes, Yordan in LF isn't ideal.. but he is capable and it would just be for the postseason)
I wonder how much the looming threat of a lost 2027 season due to labor dispute is factoring into teams’ plans at this deadline. For Crane/Houston it should certainly motivate them to make the most of 2025 and 2026. For non-contending teams it might motivate them to go full tear down and play for 2028 and beyond.
A few problems with sending Walker to Minnesota 1. He has a no trade clause but we don't know what teams are on it 2. If they trade Carlos, it would very likely be because they want to reallocate that money into other areas. They only have a few guys who will be free agents after the year and other than Willi Castro none of them have much value. They are not going into a rebuild, I would guess if they decided to move Carlos they would want a young controllable SP back in the trade and then they would have the money they saved to go get another SP to fill the rotation along with Ryan, Ober and Lopez. They would have zero interest in taking back Walker. In fact I think the reason a Correa trade won't happen is they likely wouldn't be willing to pay $20 million or more on his contract 3. As bad as Walker has been this year, he still leads us in RBI. Over the past month his OPS is .830. While his season numbers still look bad, he has been a well above average player for the month of July. We are struggling to put major league players on the field as it is, we have NO ONE that could approach what he is bringing us on the field
Yep. If the Twins trade Carlos Correa, it is because the new owner wants a clean payroll and improved farm system. They might eat some of Correa’s contract, but they’re not taking Walker (or any other big salary) back. If Houston trades for Carlos Correa, it is because Jim Crane wants to win now and is (yet again) throwing his nuts on the table and approving/demanding Houston go over the CBT to maximize the current roster. Walker has shown signs of life the last month and looks like a fairly productive bat; with the likely loss of Paredes and questions around Diaz and Alvarez, Walker is an important part of the lineup even if they add Correa.
If you have Correa at 3b, Pena at ss, and Dubon at 2b. I send Matthew's down for two weeks or so (doing the idStrosFan's rookie manipulation idea). In those two weeks I give him a crash course on LF. When I bring him back up he becomes Altuve's position counter. When JA is at 2B Matthew's is in LF and vice versa.
