Nobody is backing up any sort of haul for either right now. I won’t say Yordan is not an actual baseball player. They needed him all of last season as he does make the lineup that much more dangerous. They haven’t been able to have a legit DH since they’ve moved to the AL, so it’s not like they can just find one anywhere. He’s affordable and his only flaw is his injury status (which is what made him affordable to begin with). They’re ‘stuck’ with him. They’re ‘stuck’ with Altuve. This is the hand that’s dealt.
Fun offseason mental exercise for people who think this is a sinking ship: Which players are flotsam? Which players are jetsam?
We need to cut Walker and just pay him $40 mil to not play.... then sign Goldschmidt for 4 years $80 mil
Not a sinking ship… but not one that is expected to become an ocean-liner with simply just a new flag or a paint job. It is what it is. They can compete/win with some luck/health (and at least 1 more starting pticher). But they’re squarely in the middle.
How do you define spend? If you mean they have to go over the luxury tax you can probably forget it. After two years in a row of that the penalties for a third year become prohibitive.
FTR I agree Altuve has no business playing 2B or LF more than occasionally. BUT HE WILL The Astros have already said Yordan is the primary DH and they want him to play less LF than in the past. If that is true, Altuve will not DH very often. Apparently they prefer a poor fielding Altuve over a fragile Yordan in the field.
They are not stuck with playing them every day. I really think playing each of them 3/5ths of a season is a very good way to resolve this issue. It is pretty likely that one or both is injured for several weeks making it work out even better. The more I consider it the better I like it.
You are probably right, but let’s let the offseason play out. If they don’t make multiple aggressive moves to improve their 2026 roster, they will be a fringe wild card team firmly in the middle third of the league. But as things stand they are only ~5 wins away from being projected as the best team in the AL.
Both poor fielding Altuve and fragile Yordan suck. Splitting DH innings between them and getting them some at bats off the bench and as fill ins is the only realistic solution short of trading one or both of them.
His knees and his back got sore. They have tried him there a couple times and his body just isn’t having it.
I’m starting to think that the Astros will refrain from participating in the premier player acquisition of the offseason. I figure they will kick around some rocks, but nothing that will appear exciting on the surface. Nevertheless If the Astros can get healthy and stay, they will be much better by sheer default. Peña Paredes Álvarez Díaz Correa Walker Altuve Myers Smith The lineup looks very bland, and fellas will need to have some rebound years, other will need to build on their strong season. But for one thing is sure, Seattle is probably perceived as the favorite to win the AL West.
I meant with them being on the roster and playing out their contracts as Astros. If everybody is healthy… and everybody is performing to the worth of their contracts (or exceeding it)…. It will be a champagne problem.
They have to get more pitching… either with the payroll or via trade. They literally won’t even be in the middle with their current rotation as is, but they’ll do something. It just likely won’t be the aggressive move they’ve been accustomed to doing (even if most of the recent ones have backfired).
That might be the worst OF in baseball and no real positions for 33% of the lineup. This is why you trade Alvarez to bring lineup flexibility to the team. Go get a couple of MLB caliber OFs. Ones that can are left-handed that can balance the lineup. You either take the hit now, or you take an even bigger hit when you lose Brown and Pena for next to nothing. What this is really showing is how damaging those missing draft picks were, that was 4 bites of the apple we never got.
