DH I’m guessing. Even if Altuve goes to IL with his foot, I can’t see Paredes playing 2B. 11 games there in his career.
To me this is all extra. The Astros could win the division or not even make the playoffs and I will feel roughly the same about them. The injuries have been incredibly tough. While a lot of guys are back for a playoff push, they are without 2 of their 3 best relievers and half their best starting pitchers. I personally think Espada will be back either way short of the players asking for a change. I don’t think Espada is a good manager but Brown and the coaches appreciate that Espada will communicate and work with them. Crane has the ultimate say but if everyone is pushing him to keep Espada- he will likely. I am optimistic for 2026 assuming Hader and Sousa are healthy and Blanco or Wiesnieski pitches in 2026 like they should. I expect that the Astros make a few moves - either Matthews at second or dealt with Melton for a starter or reliever. Walker could well be moved too, with the Astros possibly eating 25% of his money, so Paredes can play 1st and the Astros can target a pitcher. As a side note - most interesting and makes no sense name I have heard linked to the Astros is Trevor Story. How? Why? No idea.
Doesn’t happen so often now but it has definitely happened often in the past. Team doctors have pressure too.
Yeah, this isn't the "shoot him up with cortizone, give him some uppers, and run him out" days anymore.
If you're gonna trade Pena, you might as well trade Alvarez and Brown and everybody else. **** winning actual games that matter, tear it all down and you'll finally get the prospect rankings that you want. Because *that's* what's important.
Very rough summary of over/under achievement vs opening day expectations/projections: C: -1 win (Diaz underperforming) 1B: -1 win (Walker underperforming) 2B: push (Rodgers underperforming, Dubon over performing) SS: +2 wins (Pena over performing) 3B: push (Paredes hurt, Correa added) RF: -1 win (Smith underperforming) CF: +1 win (Meyers over performing) LF: -2 wins (Altuve underperforming, McCormick underperforming, Dezenzo hurt) DH: -4 wins (Alvarez hurt and underperforming) SP: -3 wins (Brown +1, Gusto +1, Alexander +1, Javier -1, McCullers -1, Walter +1, Blanco -1, Arrighetti -2, Wesneski -1, Garcia -1) RP: +2 wins (Abreu +1, Okert +1, King +1, Hader -1, Sousa +1, others -1) Alvarez’s injury alone is the difference between the Astros having a fairly comfortable division lead and the current dogfight they’re in. But effectively losing 6 quality SP for the bulk of the season on top of that…it’s a miracle they’re even in position to make the playoffs, and if they’d had a fully healthy roster for the season, they’d probably be chasing 100 wins.
There is a lot of focus on losing the division lead to Seattle, understandably. But imo all we gotta do is get into the playoffs. The main thing is holding off Texas and Cleveland. While not ideal, starting off on the road as a wild card team isn’t that bad considering we could have a fully stacked lineup (Paredes hopefully back) and deepest it’s been all year. Hader is the x-factor (garm reference lol). If he gets back, along with the entire lineup hitting well (atm they are), we could steamroll, and catch all the fools off guard. Framber may wreck the whole thing though. just get in baby, 2 game lead, head to head coming up, win 2 of 3 and its all good more than likely
If the Astros trade Pena (and not others), they would not be doing it for prospects most likely, but players that they believe will help them win now and in the future. It wouldn't be to raid another teams farm system.
It needs to be a Tucker type return with maybe an extra prospect. Pena has 3 more years which will add, but Tucker is/was one of the best hitters in baseball with one year left. I personally would not trade Pena at all, but if they do, they need a starter of Paredes level, a prospect at Cam’s level, another top 100 prospect and a MOR pitcher at a minimum. I would weigh what you can get for Alvarez against what you can get for Pena if the Astros are looking to trade for salary purposes. Having Correa/Pena at 3b and SS is extremely valuable in my opinion and I believe Pena has turned the corner offensively. If we don’t trade either, I guess they will need to test Paredes at second, if that’s not going to work then Walker will have to be traded. We have 2 guys that need to be playing DH most everyday. I can’t see a scenario outside of injury that Crane would allow Altuve to play a bench role. I could also see them standing pat since it’s almost 100% that no baseball will be played in 27. What do you think the 27 walkout/strike will have on the Astros philosophy.
If the Astros are trying to win next year, and there is obviously no reason to think they wouldn't be, trading Pena would be awful. One of the biggest problems this team has offensively is having so few players with a decent approach. Pena and Jake are the only two players on the team right now that are getting on base at a good clip. Jake leads the team at .371 and still hits at the bottom of the lineup, but that's a different argument I think it would be incredibly difficult to trade Pena and be better off right away To me the best option would be to move Walker for whatever pitching you can, even if it's basically just a salary dump Pena SS Jake CF Yordan DH/LF Paredes 1B Correa 3B Altuve 2B/LF/DH Diaz C Cam RF LF/2B Where we could be incredibly hurting next year is SP, so many unknowns. And as much as Framber is an idiot and crappy teammate, that's a lot of quality innings to replace looking at it just from a season long standpoint
Pena just has two more years, but I agree with what you are saying I don't think this is just a career year for Pena, I think he has become what he is Same with Jake
Just looked at the schedule and it's still possible for the Angels and A's to catch us in the standings with 13 games left. Won't happen but the fact that it could... geez
They won't trade Pena unless they get what they want - which would be a haul, so I am not worried about that. They would be getting players under team control.
I don't think the Astros have any pressure to deal Pena, but if they can fill multiple holes they could potentially be better. There are a lot of moving parts that will be involved...... one of those could be Walker for sure.
The idea behind trading Pena is that he’s at the peak of his value and at risk for regression. It would also be a move to capitalize on their lineup depth and take advantage of the barren SS market. Pena rarely walks (6%). He’s riding a (by far) career best BABIP which indicates he’s benefitted from luck. He’s barreling a few more balls but not really hitting the ball harder (EV 88mph) than he has throughout his career. There’s nothing in his plate discipline numbers that indicate he’s made a sustainable improvement to his approach. Aside from Bichette, there are no everyday SS available in free agency. If a team wants to value Pena like a controllable 5 win player, it makes sense for Houston to trade him. If they can get a deal like they got for Tucker (a young MLB BoR SP that the coaches think they can maximize, a MLB Top 50 prospect who could be in the majors quickly, an underrated established everyday position player) plus another meaningful prospect, they should do it. Something like Cooper Pratt, Joey Ortiz, Robert Gasser, and a competitive balance pick from Milwaukee could be a good value.
