Ready for the season to start

Every season is the same in one aspect. After many months of off-season and a solid 6 weeks of Spring Training, all fans are ready for the season to finally start.

We are ready to stop speculation on personnel.

We are ready to enjoy the personnel performing for real.

This season, we are ready to see….

  • Whether the Astros go five-man or six-man rotation.
  • How the Astros make up for the loss of perennial innings-eater Framber Valdez.
  • How the new guys, Tatsuya Imai and Mike Burrows perform in that rotation.
  • Whether Lance McCullers Jr. and Cristian Javier perform better one season farther removed from their surgeries.
  • How the Astros reconfigure the bullpen with both Josh Hader and Bennett Sousa on the IL.
  • If Bryan Abreu takes to the closer’s role, even temporarily, better than he did in 2025.
  • Who fills in one or two spots of long relief / spot starting in the bullpen.
  • How does the team handle having five starting infielders for four starting spots, when Jeremy Pena returns to the lineup.
  • How does Isaac Paredes (who seems to be the odd man out) handle reduced usage due to the 5 vs. 4 conundrum.
  • Who is the Astros regular starting outfield – Cam Smith, Jake Meyers and Joey Loperfido??
  • Who is the backup catcher.
  • Who else is on the bench with the backup catcher and Paredes (or one of his infield friends).
  • Who is next man up after injuries at every position.
  • How the team handles the return of the injured….who is sent down or out.
  • If the Astros can dodge the injury bug that pounded them the last two seasons.
  • How the team responds to the first non-playoff season since 2016.
  • If the Astros can return to glory as constructed or need a mid-season boost or eventual tear down and rebuild.

Those are things that I am anxious to see. How about you?

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14 responses to “Ready for the season to start”

  1. Dan, this post is littered with tough questions as we close in on March 26. Our winter visitors sure bring a bunch of germs with them. They brought me the flu, which I can’t ever remember having. But I won’t let a lack of hustle on a double turned into a triple by Cam Smith today get me down.

    Anyways, excellent post.

    1. Seems to me we need the 6 man initially. Steven has already made this point. Would the Astros go with an opener, or rather split a start between two guys?
    2. We don’t replace Framber with one guy. Hopefully we have a bit more depth. We need 150 innings from Imai and Burrows. We need 175 from Hunter. Last year we got 433 from our top three guys. I’m looking for 475. Our next five guys gave us an average of 73.4 in 2025. Can we do better? Can we produce a couple more outs a start from the back of the rotation?
    3. I don’t have an answer for the pen. Blubaugh has to show up. I still don’t know if Abreu has the genes to close. We need a couple of the new guys to help when a start goes bad.
    4. The infield problem to me is only a problem if guys like Walker and Altuve keep not hitting. Later on, it will sort itself out for better or worse.
    5. Yes, that’s our outfield to start the season, with a platoon that will include Matthews.
    6. Don’t know the catcher answer without knowing the terms of the Vazquez contract.
    7. Nick is on the bench.
    8. Next man up is beyond my pay grade. But I will say that we need to stay healthier this year with so little apparent depth.
    9. We’re not returning to glory. I suspect we’ll be competitive and maybe make the post season, but we don’t have the kind of roster to win the whole thing.
    10. And no, Crane will never tear the whole thing down. But he will fire Dana if this club repeats 2025.

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      • And the Coogs look formidable – especially with them playing at Toyota Center near the campus for the next game or hopefully the next two games

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  3. For those that didn’t see the HPU – Arkansas game you missed a great game. Unfortunately, Arkansas came out on top. HPU is just down the road from me so I was pulling for them big time.

    As for the Astros, what does Espada do if Altuve goes 0 for 25 in his first starts? I hope that isn’t the case but as it has been mentioned he still tries to pull the ball and all one has to do is give him a diet of sliders and off speed pitches and that becomes reality. It really hurts to see this team lacking any kind of offense. He needs at least 200 hits for the next three seasons to get to 3,000 or 153 in the next four when his contract runs out. Then there’s the Christian Walker and Yanier Diaz issues along with the outfield. However the pitching looks good so if we’re going to be competitive it rests on the pitching staff. But as Robert Duvall told Tom Cruise in the movie Jack Reacher, “Play Ball”!

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    • Yeah Z – I was pulling hard for Highpoint – they were a fun team to watch. Loved that point guard who was lightning quick.

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  6. Last season they were 12th in the majors in BA and 14th in OPS – so this does not seem that out of whack. I know they did not hit that great in ST but were coming on a bit towards the end. Now if Altuve continues hitting .125 or whatever….

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    • That’s a good point Dan. We just need more guys stepping, not slipping, on home plate in 2026. Wonder if the offensive game plan will include more than more walks? You know, some old approaches, ones that might not be analytically correct?

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      • I like the additional walks which I hope means they are seeing more pitches and maybe getting the other team’s pitch count up.

        I am worried about the total lack of power this spring – 29th in the majors in SLG.

        Hope that is an illusion that goes away

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    • Yes I like this even if it is the Rangers. Kind of like last spring when Cam Smith’s family was brought in when he was told he made the team. A very special moment…

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