Right. The only way to play their 6 best hitters “full time” is for Alvarez, Altuve, and Paredes to combine for 120+ games in LF. Injuries are extremely likely to render it a moot point, but it’s definitely not ideal to have a roster constructed such that a really good player is regularly playing out of position.
Agreed, but the Astros believe both Altuve and Alvarez’ primary position should be DH. So someone is always going to be out of position.
This team actually has very good quality and depth in the bullpen, especially if Pearson and/or Blubaugh end up there due to recent rotation additions.
I don’t know why they don’t just tell Paredes “sorry, but you’re the LF in Daikin Park for 2026. You will mix in at 1B and 3B and DH on the road, but at home, you’re playing LF, accept it and get yourself ready.”
Just keep Paredes man, the logjam immediately fixes itself if just ONE of Yordan (heavily injury prone), Correa (moderately injury prone), Altuve (old), or Walker (old) get injured.
It's just crazy that our two best hitters are either too short or two big to play first base and best suited to be DH. In a normal world, Altuve would have transitioned to first base or DH by now, but he's too short to play first and we have an MVP candidate DH who gets hurt doing more than jog around the bases.
Meh. If he wants to pout he will be hurting himself more than anyone else. And the hamstring isn’t much more of a concern in LF at home than it is at 3B, especially considering how few balls he will be chasing with Cole or Meyers shaded toward him; Altuve averaged <2 fielding opportunities per game in LF last season, most of which came within a few steps of where he was standing.
This if any injury happens, you are gonna want Paredes back real quick Agreed. Take advantage of the field you have. They’ve put plenty of terrible defensive players in that left field and it’s never been a complete disaster.
30 days until ST. The chances of a deal diminish each day. The reality of one of these guys being in LF more than planned is becoming a reality.
Ok Im sure his agent will just say man up too I understand your feelings here, but it’s simply not how it works. As for the hamstring part, I’m just repeating what Dana said a while back, but I know he prefers to lie when he speaks so who knows
Put Parades in LF and leave him there. Then when Walker/Correa get hurt move him into the infield. I'm beginning to hope Dana stands pat.
Players under contract play where the manager plays them; agents aren’t consulted on those kind of decisions, especially for 2nd tier players working on year to year arbitration salaries. You might have an ultra rare instance like Boston had with Devers (a superstar player who signed for $300M with a promise to play 3B), but players playing somewhere other than their favorite position happens all the time. I think you might be the one who doesn’t understand how it works.
I think it would be 50/50 that Duran or Abreu would be just as valuable as Paredes on this Astros team in 2026. If Paredes was put into LF, I think that goes to at least 60/40 in favor of Duran/Abreu
While I agree with the reason for this question, the team intentionally cherry picked starts for Altuve in LF so he was likely to havecas dew chances as possible. This is only possible when limiting starts in LF which is exactly the opposite philosophy of what people here are suggesting. If Alvarez, Altuve and/or Paredes are made primary LF then the number of chances and chances per game goes up.
Yeah with all the injuries that we had last year. I think it is highly unlikely that we go through a full season where the players you mentioned are all healthy.
