Feels like something you do before you plan on putting one of your left-handed relievers in a trade package
In related news... Astros are now looking to sign the janitor at the local college, who's never played baseball in his life, because he has 6 years of control left. Smart
Right now fangraphs has Paredes only getting 469 pa with Altuve getting ~15 games in LF and Alvarez getting ~35. I think their estimates are close to ideal, but they need to find ~100 more pa for Paredes. I think they can reallocate Dezenzo’s 98 pa to Paredes by giving Yordan a handful more games in LF. Alternatively they could give Paredes Allen’s 91 pa at 2B, which would have Paredes playing ~50 g at 2B. I also think Walker could have his playing time reduced. There’s plenty of options to make sure everybody’s playing enough. But yes bottom line is Alvarez is gonna have to play at least 40 games in LF.
It is interesting - and shows how hard it is to really grade or rank. The Astros are in the top 20-25% in 3rd, DH, LF (?) and RP. I would argue that if everyone is healthy, they will be better than the 6th best bullpen.... but I also don't see having the 7th best LF. If Altuve plays 80% at second, they will be better than 14th as well. The one that sticks out is starting pitching and again, that is going to have to carry the Astros. A lot of pressure on the Astros new additions in the rotation and for Javier to bounce back from injury.
After adding Teng and Cosgrove, the Astros now have 14 too many pitchers slated for AAA and MLB. That doesn’t include JP France (who was DFA today), the 3 guys who will start 2026 on the IL (Wesneski, Blanco, Walter), or any pitchers who ended 2025 at AA or below. Gonna be a lot of guys either starting 2026 on the IL or cut loose in ST.
Yes, the Astros have a ton riding on Miller&co ability to maximize pitching. There’s upside on their staff to have one of the 2-3 best overall pitching staffs in the league. But that will require Imai, Burrows, and Javier all being among the ~120 best SP in the league and the bulk of their BP staying healthy and carrying over their 2025 performances. As opening day gets closer I see more and more upside on this roster than downside. Walker, Correa, Yordan, Paredes, Smith, Altuve, and Yainer could collectively put up 50%+ more production than they did last season. All those guys plus Pena, Cole, and Meyers are capable of putting up a 3+ win season.
It is tough - because the real ideal situation for the Astros would to be to have an organic player fill an outfield spot and be an above average bat. The Astros would extend the line up, and they also would have a cost-controlled solution. That could be Dezenzo.... Matthews.... Cole... but Zach showed some upside when healthy.
This team has a wider variance than prior seasons - but I agree there is a lot of potential upside. In the rotation, all of the attention has been cast on Tatsuya in the rotation, but the Astros also added Burrows, who has a lot of upside as well and may end up being the better pitcher. Everyone assumes that Tatsuya will be good, I really don't know honestly. The stuff and competitiveness is there - but he has never done it in the Major Leagues, and he wasn't as dominant as Ohtani and Yamamoto. Blubaugh looked like a different pitcher by the end of the season, he looked like he was ready to blossom... but I am not a professional pitching coach.
