Spring training Q&A: Dan asks, you answer

Today, it is your turn to answer some multiple-choice questions about the 2026 Astros. Please, take a swing at this. There are no wrong answers. Yet.

  1. Which of the following likely starting rotation pitchers is most critical to the overall success of the Astros in 2026, and why?
  2. Which of the following possible starting rotation pitchers is most critical to the overall success of the Astros in 202,6 and why?
  3. Which of the following injured pitchers would you want to have back (the most) in 2026, and why?
  4. Which of the following Astros’ pitchers do you want to see in the swing position in the bullpen – multiple innings of relief and spot starts and why?
  5. Which of the following Astros’ position players do they need the most to improve from 2025 stats towards their norm and why?
  6. Which of the following Astros’ position players do they need to repeat 2025 results the most rather than regress towards their norm and why?
  7. Which reliever outside Josh Hader is the most critical to their 2026 success and why?
  8. Which prospect do they need to grab a starting OF spot by the neck and why?
  9. Who has the best chance of helping out in the bullpen and why?
  10. Who is more on the hot seat for 2026 and why?
    • Manager Joe Espada
    • GM Dana Brown
    • They are sharing the same love seat

Thanks for reading and participating.

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22 responses to “Spring training Q&A: Dan asks, you answer”

  1. Dan, here are a few answers.

    1. Hunter. Everything rises or falls with him. If he has a Hunter Year, the others will follow I believe.
    2. Arrighetti. When he’s on, he’s a solid #3 if not #2.

    Yordan has to be better. Much better. But most of all, he needs to be out there in 120+ games. There’s been a LOT written about Walker, but if he can hit .250+, he’ll be a key player in the infield because of his solid defense. I’m not entirely ready to write him off just yet. Man, if you could just put his defense together with Altuve’s bat and come out with one solid mid-30s player.

    As for the hot seat, it has to be Brown. Look what Joe did last year with all the injuries. Give him a decent roster, and I believe he’ll bring a division title. Maybe not a GREAT manager, but he ain’t the problem in my book. We’ll get a much better read on Brown by the All Star break.

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    • Chip – I think Brown should be on the hot seat first – because I agree that I thought Espada may more lemonade from lemon Pledge than Brown did. But Crane may think he was just doing his job. I have more patience for Espada, but my vote does not count. s

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    1. Hunter – must be 7-10 games over .500 in his starts as a team. If the team goes 21-11 in his starts versus the 18-13 they were last year. He has to be even better. Honorable mention to Imai though – he can close that gap IF he goes 5-7 games over.
    2. Of that list Arrighetti, because he has the arm talent. If he finds command, and become a plus .500 guy instead of a sub .500 guy…..
    3. Thats easy, Ronel is easily the best of those 3.
    4. Blubaugh – again, just more arm talent. Command of multiple pitches with consistency has stopped him from dominating the minors, but sometimes command shows up at weird times.
    5. Yordan – because improvement just means he is playing. The most important player to the offense.
    6. Pena – because Meyers really wasn’t overly effective despite hitting for average. I’ll take a repeat of a .342 OBP out of the 9 spot though. But if Pena doesn’t continue and regresses back towards his career numbers, the leadoff spot in the lineup could be a challenge to fill.
    7. Abreu, because of any of the rest of them could go Tay Scott and get replaced. Lose your one leverage arm and that is going to be hard to fix.
    8. Any of them. Dezenzo may have to most “natural” swing of all those guys, but he bats from the wrong side to probably make this team out of ST. I really would have no problem with them putting Dezenzo in LF for 110 games next year, but watching him play 1B on Saturday was an adventure.
    9. They all 4 have good enough arms. Just don’t walk people, something none of the 4 have been good at.
    10. It’s cozy on that hot seat for 2. I don’t like Espada being on it with him, but it is what it is with Crane.

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    • Steven

      I waver on Hunter being the most important – in 2025 it was actually the man behind him – Framber Valdez who was most important to their failure. I certainly would love to see Imai pitch well and be poised when we need it the most.

      In the back of my mind I sure would love to see a lot more Blubaugh than let’s say McCullers this year.

      I get your Dezenzo wish – seemed to have a solid bat – not sure how good of an OF he is. But I lean towards Cam. I am hoping there is a lot more first half Cam inside him than second half Cam.

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      • I guess its how you define “important.” A lot of people are leaning towards Imai because they think its the closest possibility to replacing Framber’s innings and wins.

        I just ask, if it’s announced that Hunter or Imai is lost for the season tomorrow, which one makes fans believe the season is lost and which one makes us say “well, ok, now this is really an uphill dredge.” To me, the answer is obvious. But I do agree, Imai at least giving us a 13-9 record with a mid 3 ERA and 180 innings would obviously put us in a spot where this thing might salvage to 88-90 wins and a division title. Take Hunter’s expected performance out though, season is gone.

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  3. I agree: More Blubaugh. I hope the Lance situation can be resolved in spring training and not extend to the regular season and cost us games .

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  4. Good morning.

    1. If Imai turns out to be a guy worth 20 million, then we’ve got an excellent top of the rotation. But he’s not going to give us Framber innings. So I’m thinking Burrows is the big key. We need 140-150 quality innings from him. Then I can imagine a solid 6 man rotation as needed throughout a good part of the season.

    2. Spencer Arrighetti. As Dusty Baker might have said, it’s time he put on his big boy pants for an entire season. Can he be healthy though?

    3. I disqualify myself from answering this question. Hopefully the new regime of care givers and rehab specialists will make sure none of our pitchers come back from injury prematurely. For me though, any of those guys coming back and pitching well in 2026 would be a bonus.

    4. Blubaugh just seems like the kind of guy with the correct mentality to take on any challenge and figure out a way to make it work. That said, I’m still leery that he does not have more of a minor league pedigree. But my other options were Gordon and Pearson.

    5. Easy question. Yordan has to be Yordan. His norm is far beyond anyone else’s in our line up. And he has to do it for 140 games.

    6. Pena is the only answer. I maintain that Jake did not have a breakthrough season in 2025. How can a guy have 4 RBI’s, zero homers, 10 walks, 39 K’s and a .538 OPS at home? That’s with 176 PA’s, not a tiny sample. His home Babip was a realistic .296. On the road it was .400. Not repeatable. Based on his .632 career OPS at home, he should be the first home-road platoon guy in MLB. Dana tried to trade Jake, but these days, teams want some offense, even from places like center field.

    7. Assuming Hader gets healthy ( and I’m dubious) Abreu is about the most automatic performer in the league in the 8th inning role. So give me a special year out of King, Okert or Sousa. I don’t care which one.

    8. Prospect Smith. Because if he does not grab right field (or maybe center at some point) by the neck, then however unfair to a 23 year old guy with little Milb experience, the pressure will mount. Easy to say now, but Dana made a bad call last year. Remember when Hunter Pence had a great spring in 2007? He still got sent to Round Rock, if only for a month. Then he forced his way back up and ended #3 in ROY voting.

    9. Dan, I almost went with ‘none of the above”. But I’ll give Murray the nod. I have nothing to base it on other than he seems to be a good tweak candidate.

    10. I know we don’t like to send a GM home during the season, but a poor start by this Astro team might convince Owner Crane to send Dana packing. Walker, Hader, Correa. There’s a good chance none of these guys were Dana choices.

    But he did bring in some guys last summer, and they are all gone now. He has not found a left handed bat. Isaac is still here and I’m glad. Jake is still here and I’m not surprised. We’ve get potentially the best defensive outfield in MLB and the worst offensive outfield in MLB. That’s on Dana at this point. And if his creative rebuild of the pitching staff does not work, that’s dagger for GM Brown.

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  5. Yesterday I started a comment that basically amounted to there not being any one particular guy who was the most important. We missed the playoffs by one game last year and the division by 3. We lost an extra inning game to CLE where Hader gave up a grand slam and another in the 10th to DET where Hunter when 6 scoreless, but wasn’t great, and the final was 1-0. It’s possible replacing Dubon, Sanchez, Rodgers, and Chas will be enough of a boost for the offense to win more without even considering Yainer and Walker’s struggles.

    We’re paying $16M in salary and $2M in signing bonus to Imai this year. He has incentives that can raise it and then at least one player option. The most we paid Framber in any season was $18M. While I recognize Brown is/was in a tough spot because of money owed to guys we have discussed ad nauseum, they need to get their money’s worth out of Imai this season. While we don’t need him to compete for a Cy Young award, we can’t have him (or really any) of the guys brought in to fall flat.

    Right now numbers 7 and 9 on your list are my concerns. If the bullpen is excellent we will win games. If it struggles, well, I don’t know that we can expect to win consistently.

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  6. Dan P answers Dan P questions

    1.Which of the following likely starting rotation pitchers is most critical to the overall success of the Astros in 2026, and why?

      • I am torn on this one – but I lean towards Imai because I guess I believe Hunter is a sure thing and will likely win more games this year due to better luck. Getting a solid 2 in Imai is critical to the overall rotation.

      2.Which of the following possible starting rotation pitchers is most critical to the overall success of the Astros in 2026 and why?

        Spencer Arrighetti – because he has a good arm and strikeout ability – he just has

        to put it all together (easier said than done)

        3. Which of the following injured pitchers would you want to have back (the most) in 2026, and why? Blanco – he was great two seasons ago and they sure could use great.

        4. Which of the following Astros’ pitchers do you want to see in the swing position in the bullpen – multiple innings of relief and spot starts and why? I want more Cow bell – I mean Blubaugh

        5. Which of the following Astros’ position players do they need the most to improve from 2025 stats towards their norm and why? Yordan – because he is a huge difference maker and the one who can scare the opponents and change their strategy

        6. Which of the following Astros’ position players do they need to repeat 2025 results the most rather than regress towards their norm and why? Has to be Pena, because frankly Meyers only brought BA and OBP to the table.

        7. Which reliever outside Josh Hader is the most critical to their 2026 success and why? Has to be Abreu right now – but if Hader does not come back any time soon – one of the other three needs to be the set-up man Abreu-lite

        8. Which prospect do they need to grab a starting OF spot by the neck and why? I want it to be Cam. I want Cam to show that great skill he showed in the first half of 2025 without the complete collapse of the second half of 2025

        9. Who has the best chance of helping out in the bullpen and why? Maybe Murray? He was good in a cameo last season. De Los Santos pitched well and then they caught up with him. I’m not buying Munoz or Teng yet.

        10. Who is more on the hot seat for 2026 and why? Dana should be – but I feel this is like that stretching room in Disney World at the Haunted Mansion, where one man is sitting on another’s shoulders, but the first is sinking into quick sand

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        2. I had a post but either I didn’t hit the right button or it went into la la land. The long and short of it I agree with a lot of the comments here.

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          • I thought Sanchez was going to be a good add last summer. He always had been a solid lefty bat against right handed pitching. And he always had been a pretty good outfielder too. Either he simply freaked out or we screwed him up. It will be interesting to see what he does in Toronto. At least for now, they seem to be happy to have him.

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        4. When I think about all the guys that did not do anything late last season, it’s shocking. Framber of course, Sanchez, Cam, Altuve did little from August on, but he was apparently hurt. Hader was gone. Abreu was not a closer. Dubon had a .504 OPS in August and a .448 in September. And people wonder why he went? Javier could not help. Lance was done. Jake had a .475 OPS in September until he was shelved for the last week. And there were others. Maybe I’m finally facing up to the fact that our team just could not make a stretch run, something that I had pretty much come to take for granted.

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          1. Tatsuya Imai is the starting rotation pitcher who is most critical. The club needs a starter to step in and be the strong number two in the rotation and fill in the losses of Framber’s innings and wins.
          2. Ryan Weiss is the starting rotation pitchers is most critical to the overall success of the Astros. Looking over his overall stats, his win total is .663, he has a strong, middle of the road ERA and his Ks to BBs is way positive.
          3. Ronel Blanco is injured pitcher that I want to have back (the most). May I have another round of year 2024 please!
          4. Put Nate Pearson in the swing position in the bullpen – multiple innings of relief and spot starts. Gordon is a solid lefty for the rotation and Blubaugh needs to remain stretched out also.
          5. Why Yordan, of course. He is the straw that stirs the drink for the club. Opposing clubs fear pitching to him and when they do pitch to him, he often does not miss.
          6. Jeremy Pena is the Astros’ position players do they need to repeat 2025 results. The infield needs an anchor and Jeremy can be that anchor.
          7. Bryan King has a sterling Ks to BBs stat which is most critical to the Astros’ bullpen success.
          8. Is Cam still considered to be a prospect? He did grab a starting OF spot by the neck last year and held his own in a new fielding position very well.
          9. None of the above. The candidates seem to not be able to pitch very well.
          10. They are sharing the same seat. Brown hired Espada so Brown is responsible.

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        6. The bullpen seems to be getting a lot of traction in the pods/blogs out there lately. I think most people, Rome included, think Munoz will not make this team. My concern was always with 6 starters who are all candidates to be in the 5.1 innings averaged per start club (maybe Hunter is a guy that can finish 6 most nights and 7 sometimes), and if you do spend 7 weeks to start in a 6 man rotation, you need 3 guys out there that can go multiple innings. There might be a time or two you try and get extra outs from Okert or Sousa, but probably not even a full second inning. King is likely going to be shuffled into a leverage 7th inning/8th inning when Abreu isn’t available role, and of course Abreu and Hader are 1 inning options. That defines 5 of the 7. De Los Santos and Munoz are not really options for “damn, Javier just 100 pitches in the 4th inning” guys.

          But, as things often shake themselves out, Hader missing 2-3 weeks to open and De Los Santos possibly more, and if Munoz indeed does not make this team, spots are there for Pearson, Blubaugh, Weiss, etc., and those guys are ready for the inevitable 3.1 inning start from Javier, or 75 pitch outing from Burrows, or Arrighetti can’t find the strike zone start. I’ll feel somewhat better about it particularly because Blubaugh and Pearson have the kind of arm talent that turns into leverage relievers if you have to use one in the 7th.

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        7. Steven – The Imai / Hunter thing – I can see it either way. I mean last year Hunter (through no fault of his own) was only 12-9 and the team was only 18-13 in his starts). And they came within one game of the playoffs. Could they replace that? Maybe.

          On the other hand – if they don’t have someone picking up those innings and those wins from Framber (13-11 and the team was 17-14 in his starts) they would be in trouble too.

          This is why this year is fascinating. Who is doing what? What will Burrows bring? Will Javier take a step back to what he was? Can Serengheti (My brother and I call him that) find some of that K magic from 2024? etc

          The bullpen scares me more – but you are right – there are people available from the starter competition that could help. Who knows – Maybe a Blubaugh comes in and steals a high leverage spot.

          Sarge – Enjoyed your list. There is no right or wrong answer right now. And frankly there are a lot of different folks who could fill in the gaps in this roster.

          Devin – Good comments – especially about Imai for Framber salary (from last year).

          Z – sorry your comment died – but thanks for reading and agreeing haha

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          • Devin – if we consider throwing out a normal starting lineup for 2026 of

            Pena – SS

            Altuve -DH

            Correa – 3B

            Walker – 1B

            Alvarez – LF

            Meyers – CF

            Smith – RF

            Paredes – 2B

            (and there could be other combos)

            Those 9 players have taken a combined 18 ABs so far this spring through today’s games with Altuve, Yordan, Walker and Paredes totaling 0 ABs.

            So, you aren’t going to get that much competence until some real hitting begins – it would seem. And that might not be until opening day.

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