Always Looking for the Next Post

I have to admit that one reason there aren’t more posts from Dan P (especially in the off-season) is a lack of real Astro news and topics. How many times can one talk about the pitching injuries, the fill-in behind Framber Valdez, the potential trade to unplug the infield, or the lack of lefty bats with this team? I can also be lazy at times, I admit.

So, when one of my loyal readers suggests something, I will at least give it a shot. Here is a suggestion from a good friend of the blog, Steven.

“Dan – you should see a write up I did on position battles for Spring Training. Surprisingly our roster doesn’t have a lot of competition, which is good, but only one of Allen and Matthews will be here, only one of Cole and Dezenzo will be here, only one of Salazar and Perez will be here. And that bullpen. Ayeesh. Heck, they’ve got seven candidates for the 6 man rotation to open, and the loser of that muddies that bullpen situation even more.

There are ideas for your next write-up, lol.”

Let’s talk about the “competition”.

Starting Pitching

Sure Things – Barring injury, the following pitchers should be in a five- or six-man rotation.

Hunter Brown – Third in the Cy Young voting – he is the ace

Tatsuya Imai – Despite the fact that I have to check his spelling every time I type it – Imai was brought on here to be a #2

Mike Burrows – The Astros sent two top prospects to the Pirates for Burrows. He will be in the rotation.

Cristian Javier – He came back from his TJ surgery and pitched OK. They should be giving him a chance to show what he can do farther away from the surgery.

Duking It Out – The team might see this differently, but it seems like the fifth and sixth spots in the rotation may come down to the following pitchers

Spencer Arrighetti – Perhaps he is not fighting for a spot and is already there, but he did not pitch very well when he was not injured last year, so maybe he is not a shoo-in.

Jason Alexander – Maybe he is automatic, too, but with his lack of a good resume the team has to be watching to see if his success in 2025 was a fluke.

Lance McCullers Jr. – If Lance was making what Alexander or Arrighetti will be making in 2026, he would not be a consideration. But that $17+ million means that he at least will be given some kind of shot to make the rotation. But his leash has to be short.

J.P. France – Based on how he pitched back in 2023 before his injury and how well he pitched in limited innings in his 2025 return, he should at least be in the conversation for a spot in the rotation and/or bullpen.

Other Considerations

AJ Blubaugh – Based solely on 2025 results, Blubaugh would be in front of Arrighetti and McCullers. But likely he will either grab a bullpen spot or he will be stretched out at AAA waiting for someone to go down.

Colton Gordon – His 6-4 record in 2025 was good. His 5.35 ERA and 1.419 WHIP were not.

Miguel Ullola – He is on the 40-man roster and is considered one of their top prospects, but is very likely spending time this season honing his control before he is given a shot.

Infield

Sure Things

Christian Walker – If he is on the roster and not flying away to another team with $$ for a non-prospect – he will be playing first.

Jose Altuve – Whether he should or should not be playing the field statistically, Jose will be the main second baseman in 2026.

Jeremy Pena – The very best position player from 2025 is in like Flynn.

Carlos Correa – If he is healthy (and isn’t that always the question with Carlos) he will be playing at 3B and SS when Pena is getting a day off.

Duking it out

This is more like duking it out for a spot on the bench…

Isaac Paredes – He should have the third base spot tied up in this lineup, but the head scratching trade for Correa has placed him perhaps in a quasi-Mauricio Dubon position with the team. If…he is not traded before, during or after Spring Training he has to be on this roster and wandering the infield like Caine in Kung Fu.

Nick Allen – Just because they added Allen in a swap that sent Dubon away does not mean he is automatically grabbing a spot with this team. He has an All Star glove paired with a No Star bat.

Brice Matthews – Did the Astros see enough with Matthews in 2025 to find him a spot on this roster. This really comes down to whether they would rather see him back in AAA playing every day or sitting on the Astros bench.

Zach Dezenzo – Zach played the corner outfield and the corner infield spots in 2025. If he could make more consistent contact, he could be a backup to four positions in 2026.

Outfield

Sure Things

I was really tempted to put no one in the sure things spot. After the season, Dana Brown indicated that Cam Smith needed to earn his spot in Spring Training and Jake Meyers has supposedly been on the market to be traded away. But here is my best interpretation of the future.

Cam Smith – Yes, he needs to do better than he did in the second half of the season. But after bypassing AAA and with minimum minor league development to begin with the team owes him another bite of the apple.

Jake Meyers – If….he is with the team I believe he is a sure thing to be in the starting lineup most days in CF.

Duking it out

Jesus Sanchez – I’m sure they will do what they can to give Sanchez a role in this lineup but it won’t be based on anything he did (or mostly did not do) in his stint with the Astros in 2025.

Zach Cole – Astro fans would love to see Cole continue to flash the bat they saw in his late season cameo with the team (if we ignore his high unsustainable strikeout rate).

Zach Dezenzo – Dezenzo hit ok in his appearances in 2025. But he did miss a lot of time with injuries. He would be an under the radar addition to the roster in 2026.

Other Considerations

Brice Matthews – In his time with the big club in 2025, he played at 2B and 3B. But in the minors he played more CF than anything else in 2025.

Other folks like Shay Whitcomb or anyone on their prospects list like Joseph Sullivan or Ethan Frey are not making this team out of Spring Training, but bad performances at the MLB level could give them a shot pretty early in 2026.

DH and Catcher

Sure Things

Yordan Alvarez is the DH except when he is playing LF and when he is playing LF, the DH is one of the infielders mentioned above, but especially Altuve and Paredes.

Yainer Diaz is the C almost all the time even if he should be given a fair amount of rest.

Other Considerations

Right now the backup catcher is Cesar Salazar though the real backup may not be here. Former Astro Christian Vazquez’s name was floated today. He had a big run scoring hit in the Astros WS clinching Game 6 against the Phils, but truthfully his numbers have sucked – with an OPS of below .600 since he left the Red Sox to come to the Astros in 2022.

Bullpen

Sure Things

Josh Hader – Was having an excellent season before his late year injury.

Bryan Abreu – Was having an excellent season before Hader’s late year injury put him in the discomfort zone of the closer’s role.

Bryan King – Took over the 7^th inning slot that Tayler Scott booted away.

Steven Okert – Shared that slot many times with King as they pitched in 136 games between them.

Bennett Sousa – If…..he is healthy after his elbow “inflammation” flare up towards the end of the season.

Duking it out

With likely 6 starters and 13 pitchers overall – that leaves two more spots in the bullpen.

Enyel De Los Santos – he pitched very well when he first joined the Astros, but he slowly bubbled back to his mean.

Nate Pearson – He was very good for the Cubs in 2024 and very bad in 2025 in short stints.

Colton Gordon – Did they see enough good things in 2025 to give him another shot in 2026.

The “losers” – Someone who misses out on the rotation will have a shot at a long reliever or swing slot between relieving and starting.

Other Considerations

Roddery Munoz – On the 40-man roster currently, last year with the Cards in a short trial he showed the good (11.5 K/ 9 P) along with the very bad (7.4 walks/ 9 IP).

Jayden Murray – Also on the 40-man roster, he pitched very well in 9 games with the Astros in 2025.

Plenty to chew on – what do you think?