The Astros eked out a win against the Red Sox on Sunday to give them their fourth series win of the season. On the negative side, they almost allowed a bases loaded / no out situation in the top of the tenth inning to get away from them (again) with the very unusual shortstop to catcher to third base double play from Jose Altuve. They also had Bryan Abreu, after looking good in the ninth inning, do all he could to erp up a two-run lead in the bottom of the tenth.
On the positive side, after Altuve’s DP at the top of the tenth, Brice Matthews had a great at-bat, wrangling a bases-loaded walk, and Cam Smith whacked his third hit of the day off the Green Monster to give the Astros a 3-1 lead. And Abreu did force a game-ending double play to provide the good guys with a pleasant flight home.
Nice win and nice series win….but what does it mean?
- Yes, the Astros played well and strung together their best pitching effort for a series this season. But the Red Sox are not a good team, and after Sunday, they are ranking below the Astros in the AL.
- And….the Red Sox are duking it out with the Rangers for the title of worst AL offense. The Red Sox have the worst OPS, the Rangers have the least runs scored – but it is a tight contest for who stinketh the most. That is a bit of a 1776 movie reference.
- And….after their second series with the Red Sox, the Astros are 5-1 against the Boston beans. But they are 9-20 against the rest of the MLB. Yuck.
The Astros have looked a bit better lately. They are 4-3 in their last seven games and were really competitive in all of them – even the 10-3 losing margin to Baltimore came about due to five late inning runs off of Jason Alexander. They have started to accumulate a few more quality starts in a season when that has been as rare as a Rockets playoff series win.
Spencer Arrighetti has been solid to very good. Mike Burrows has been improving. Lance McCullers has wobbled between meh and good. Peter Lambert has been surprisingly good, and Cody Bolton has not caused us to scratch our eyes out – yet.
But what does it mean?
Well, it will mean a lot more if, after the next three games against the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers, they have not been embarrassed and beaten to a pulp.
That could point to better times ahead.
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
40 responses to “Astros’ 2026: What does anything mean?”
Opening a three game set against the Dodgers and having to use an opener, followed by a guy playing in Korea last year. Oh how fortunes have changed for our Astros.
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So far tonight they look like the Las Stros or the Disastros. Weiss already given up 6 runs in just 2.1 innings. Time to fire Dana Brown. Not ready to unload Espada just yet. Hard to play with the big boys when you are given a bad hand.
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Thinking back over the past decade, the Astros rarely embraced the “opener” strategy. It’s a concept the club seemed to turn their nose up at. We were always able to dig up a starter when one was needed, even though the results were mixed. How did we end up where we are today? The clubs posture all off season was to build up a long list of arms that could be added to the rotation. Pitching security. But we have no pitching security left in the first week of May. It’s not all about injuries. That long list of options has been mostly ineffective. Didn’t we see past Dana touting his collection?
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Going to say 2 things. First, Skubal. 3211 pitches over 95 MPH since the start of the 2024 season. No other pitcher over 3000 at 95 MPH. Hopefully his elbow is what they think initially, just in need of a minor procedure. There are now Detroit fans thinking their whole season is over.
Which takes me to Dana Brown and Hunter Brown. I think Dana is using injuries as a scapegoat. But if Hunter Brown is never injured, what are the Astros? 15-21 or 16-20 instead of 14-22? No you win with depth, not because one guy is good. The Astros lost 13 games last year he pitched in. Some on him. Some on his bullpen. Some on his offense. You can still find a plethora of ways to win or lose with your ace on the mound. I guess the difference is this – when the ace walks out there, the boys think we have a chance. I don’t think anyone saw Okert walk out there with Weiss waiting in the wings and thought we had a chance.
Cody Bolton, Peter Lambert, Lance McCullers, sorry, this is not confidence. Even a healthy Cristian Javier, no confidence. I was supposed to feel good about Imai and Burrows. Turns out, not so much. Dana Brown can’t go soon enough for me.
And Espada? I keep hearing all the praise about AJ Blubaugh really toughing out that appearance in Boston and practically winning the game. He threw 59 pitches. But the game I watched, after pitch 30, his location faltered and he was getting peppered. Vazquez likely helped him out of a bad inning throwing out a runner. Paredes helped out with a good defensive play. His last 6 outs were spotty. As we stand today, he has a .186 BAA against pitches 1-25, a .389 after. His OPS against after pitch 26 – 1.353. Everyone looks like Yordan, actually, a little better. When Brown goes, please ask him to take Espada with him.
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It’s reasonable to consider that MLB could ultimately destroy itself if it can’t figure out a way to keep guys on the mound from such a high rate of serious and career ending arm injury.
And what makes this such a daunting task for MLB is that those injuries are so often initiated in young arms years before reaching professional baseball.
So why would a dad let their kids be pitchers? It’s not a wise choice. And I’m guessing at some point, a shortage of pitchers at much lower levels will become reality.
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Thoughts
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I agree Dan, particularly concerning Tucker. For me, when a player leaves my teams (Astros, Cowboys, and Spurs) I no longer have a rooting interest in them. I don’t care if the fans boo Tucker…or don’t. He was a really good player here that did literally zilch in the playoffs.
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Dan, but on the “Tucker” thing. Like Bregman, he’s on his ‘second stop since he left’.
BUT…we have three guys on our roster while Tucker tucks on elsewhere. Nothing for Bregman.
This should inform Crane’s decision-making process going forward as it pertains to players like Hunter, Yordan and even Pena. And, ‘going forward’ may be sooner than later!
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Preaching to this choir.
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It is interesting – if the Astros had Kyle Tucker in right last season instead of Cam Smith – would they have made the playoffs? Probably – though that would have also meant they had no help from Paredes.
But would you trade 1 season of Tucker for the many years of control for Wesneski, Smith and Paredes? Yes, you would and should.
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Example after example. Had the Astros traded Framber and Bregman during their last off season with the Astros, we would have likely sat out the post season in 2024 and missed it by a larger margin in 2025. But odds are that we’d be significantly better off today. That’s always been my contention and preference.
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Yea, its why I thought the Astros should have traded Framber after the 2024 season to LA for Sheehan and Rushing. I’m not completely sure LA would have done that, but given the presence of Smith, Freeman and Ohtani, they just can’t find ABs for Rushing, so maybe. In hindsight, I don’t know that Rushing fits the Astros culture though, a little too much Joe Kelly in that one. But I could imagine a team with Rushing behind the plate, Yainer at 1B and having never signed Walker. Heck, Sheehan isn’t an all star by any means but better than anything they are throwing out there at present.
And who the heck is Jordan Wrobleski, and why is it the damn Dodgers that keep finding guys that come out of nowhere to give them all star caliber seasons? It’s damn right disturbing to a person that can’t stand the Dodgers. I mean, heck, James Paxton showed up for them and went 8-2 in half a season. Buehler, Stone, May, Miller, they just get these guys that seem to have that year before water finds it level. We could use one of those.
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Steven – I’m sure teams have looked at the Astros and said the same thing before.
I’m sure I am missing some others, but we got a lot of value out of nothing during the Renaissance Seasons.
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The shuffling of the deck chairs on the titanic continue. Half of Sugar Land called up today. Time to watch some Space Cowboys TV tonight as they play the champs.
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Interesting night.
Imai threw 63 pitches in Sugar Land, 27 for strikes and walked 5 guys in three innings. We will hear today that he was throwing well, without fatigue.
Peter Lambert, former 2nd round pick for the Rockies who signed a minor league deal with the Astros in November, then was released on March 24 of 2026 when an an opt out cause was triggered, and then signed a new minor league deal on March 27, 2026, threw 7 innings of shutout ball last night at a time when such an outcome was really heaven sent to the beleaguered pitching staff of the Astros.
Up in Detroit, Framber had his first freakout of the season, giving up 10 runs in three innings, 7 earned, including three dingers, before drilling Trevor Story square in the back with a 94 mph fastball, causing benches to empty. He was tossed.
Josh Hader threw an uneventful inning across town, no hits, a K, a walk.
The large guy, Nate Pearson got just two outs in his outing last night, allowing three walks of his own, throwing 34 pitches, 17 for strikes.
In between all that stuff, our Astros walked away with a 2-1 win against maybe the best pitcher on the planet right now.
Who would have figured?
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The Astros are taking applications for SS this morning.
Looks like Correa may be “out indefinitely and could miss weeks or potentially months.”
The Space City Shuffle Shuttle continues.
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Carlos Correa Suffers Significant Ankle Injury – MLB Trade Rumors
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Thoughts
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Correa is having season ending surgery on a torn tendon in his ankle
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The Astros just announced, Correa done for the season.
Unless they wake up and find themselves 10+ games under .500 at the break, I don’t see a world where Paredes or Walker either one are traded. Personally, I would still trade Walker while the sell is in our favor and we can get rid of the salary without taking any of it, but that’s why I’m not a baseball exec.
I guess its next man up, Nick Allen.
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My first reaction was doom and gloom, but I don’t think this changes anything unless Crane/Brown had already decided to move one of those guys. Because of our infielder surplus this just guarantees more PA for Paredes which might be a good thing. I’m unsure whether Correa’s leadership was providing all the value I/we hoped, but I do worry losing his defense costs us a game or two by the end of the year.
However, if Crane was looking for an excuse to sell given the less than stellar start to the season this sounds like a good one. Waive the white flag with the excuse to the fans that injuries did us in and getting back prospects now will help them get back to competing in 2027 and beyond.
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Lance not doing too well today…
AAAARRRGGGHHH
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We knew that Correa was coming to us with an injury history that likely was not going to be kind to him ultimately. Another one of those deals that created enthusiasm for most fans late last year, but financially was going to hinder progress through 2028. That’s reality now. It’s too bad, because he was playing well and pretty clearly happy to be back in Houston.
Steven has noted several times that the Astros have no business leaving Lance in the rotation. Unfortunately we don’t seem to have a replacement for him. I suspect he’ll make his turn next week.
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Sometimes hope does not spring eternal. Well we only have one more year of Lance. But last night was a good game to watch even though I had to reach for the Rolaids in the 8th and 9th but King came through. Altuve with a day off after he continues to slump and swing at pitches a foot off the plate. I think Yordan needs a day off too as hes in a slump also.
One thing I can say emphatically. When a pitcher has terrible control (as many of ours do) the other team will take walks or look for that meaty pitch that they can drive. Why can’t we be like them?
Also I have noticed that our batters look as if they’re either going to take the next pitch, or swing at it (no matter where it is). Are our guys just guessing or do they have a predetermination of what they are going to do on that pitch. You’d think that they might have some inkling of recognizing the pitch coming or just maybe I have no idea what I’m talking about.
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I didn’t watch the game but I see Salazar got through the 9th in only 10 pitches. Sign this guy up.
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Pages hit a home run. Shame we don’t see the Dodgers again this year. If I were a pitcher, I’d be thinking about throwing one at him. No excuse for that. Can’t remember the saying but his action deserves some payback. Where’s Framber when you need him? (LOL)
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Tatsuya Imai to make Astros return after Minor League stint
Unsure whether this is good news or not….
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Good morning. Things are tough right now.
Seems that Lance lost part of a fingernail. That will likely get him out of the rotation for the moment, even though we have no real options to take his place. Colton Gordon. Alexander. It’s probably Ullola time. And Chandler mentioned Ethan Pecko yesterday. I hope he did not hear that from Dana Brown. I sure don’t want to risk wasting a prospect before his time again.
Imai will throw pitches from the mound in a real major league game next week. Talk about a wing and a prayer.
Just a month ago we were going on about Walker, Paredes, Pena, Correa and Altuve all having a place to play. We did not talk much about Jose being the weakest link. Over the past 28 days, he’s hitting .193 with a .521 OPS. We really need a guy that can give Jose more days off at this point. But we lack all the infield depth we once fretted about having too much of.
Can we cobble together an outfield? At this we’ve got a batch of young guys that should have more upside than downside.
Maybe Hader will come back and fortify the bullpen on those rare nights we require a closer.
Things are tough right now.
This is a team begging for a rebirth.
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I know something else that will get him out of the rotation that I would have done 2 weeks ago….. but I know how Crane is, if he is paying big bucks he is going to wait until he knows 100% there is no more juice in the orange. Meanwhile, as we wait, he will continue to pitch poorly enough to lose 2 out of 3 and marginally well enough in the other start that we aren’t “out” of the game.
Hader was moved to the 60 man and isn’t eligible for another 2+ weeks. That’s crazy considering he is throwing the ball pretty well.
Altuve has been getting the veteran treatment of day games off after a night game. I don’t know that Joe can do much more than that. He is streaky. That’s been as much a hallmark of the second half of his career as consistency was in the first half. Pressing is probably his way of dealing with the diminished skills he had from his 20s, and players that press can go through stretches where they are just trying to speed things up. While I have stated many times I would like to see him limited to the 140 game range for a season going forward, I’m not convinced the slump he is in right now, that the lack of rest is the issue. When he was a Altuve record pace for walks he was hitting. He is back to chasing some, he is not drawing walks at the same rate, I think he is just pressing trying to get himself out of it.
This is where Bagwell can help. Not the front office. But being down on the field during homestands talking to guys like Jose. He mentioned in the booth the other day he talks to him about hitting everyday. There isn’t anyone better to talk to. I’m confident that Jose will get back to hitting, but we will probably see an indicator first like 3 walks in 2 games that show us he is getting more comfortable. Moving to the leadoff spot is probably not going to help him, but maybe. He certainly has a lot of familiarity batting up there. But yea, if he started sitting once a series for a week or two maybe some pep will back in the step. Maybe.
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Steven, You know, I think behind that smiling Altuve veneer is a pretty high strung, stubborn dude, just not willing or able to discipline himself in all aspects of the game. We know he can be selective and being selective is best for him and the team. But he just can’t seem to bring himself to that place where he’s prepared to adopt a disciplined approach at the plate everytime he steps in. And I agree that Bagwell, in the absence of Brantley, is the best messenger for that change in Jose.
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Dave – Houston has had em. Altuve reminds me so much of Harden. All this talent. Just seems either the lack of an ability or desire to put the finishing touches on it. And now both athletes are out of their prime, still very good at times, but not prime James or Jose.
I see it in his baserunning. In his approach to hitting. I remember a meme going around when Harden and Paul were teammates and they had that fateful 3-2 lead on the mighty Warriors in the Western Conference finals and ended up losing. It was a timeout when Paul was clearly trying to explain something to Harden and James just slapped his hand away. Someone did a voiceover that was hilarious where Paul was like “that won’t work they have 4 allstars” and then puts his fist out James and he slaps it away and says “man, get out of here with that, I’m James Harden, I’m just gonna let it roll. Defense? Flopping is defense.”
I think Altuve just lets it roll. And assumes it will work like it did when he was 26 and his hands were faster than even a well placed 99 mph fastball. Now, he might need to do some home work. Try and figure out what pitchers are going to do. He can probably improve his defensive metrics just by knowing hitters tendencies better. He can probably stopped getting picked off or getting thrown out on base so much by working on it. But sometimes I think he just slaps helping hands away and says I’m Jose Altuve, I’m just gonna let it roll.
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Zanuda had it pegged. Altuve is the poster child for deciding whether or not to swing before the pitcher even starts his windup. I was watching the Duke-UNC baseball game last weekend and the commentators were speaking to the fact the UNC lineup this year is very aggressive early in the count, but once it gets to two strikes become very selective. In those situations they are looking for specific pitches in areas of the zone and any other strike they are just trying to foul off. That’s something I was never able to do. If a pitch was in reach of my bat I could put it in play (or whiff trying). That’s how I feel about current Jose. Instead of forcing pitchers to throw him something good to hit he’s stubbornly decided he can hit anything that’s thrown up there. However, he’s swinging and missing on 24.6% of strikes this year which shows he does not have that ability any longer. Data is conflicting by sites, but he was roughly 20% in 2025, 22% in 2024, 18% in 2023, 17% in 2022, and 15% in 2021. Prior to that, he’d been below 10% in 2014 and gradually crept up to over 20% in 2020…which makes me think this is not entirely age catching up to him.
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If the division wasn’t so bad I would be in panic mode. It seems 87 wins could be enough to win this division. That is a 72-52 run. .581 ball. They are still outpacing the 2024 Astros.
But…. that 2024 team had Framber, Hunter, and Ronel along with a bullpen of Pressly, Abreu and Hader. This team has Spencer Arrighetti suddenly becoming talent meeting result and a prayer. A bullpen with a greatly diminished Abreu, and a prayer.
Is it possible Imai is going to start winning starts? Or at least having some good ones and making the games winnable? I don’t think Peter Lambert is the 2024 Blanco, no, I think it’s more likely he is just a guy that had a career day, but the Astros sure could use him becoming that.
As for Ullola, you know he is talented. I can’t even find another example of a player lasting 5 years as a professional with a 6.2 BB/9. I definitely can’t find one that did that and went on to be a successful major leaguer. It’s not just the hitters that don’t know where the pitch is going. Pecko? He is not a major league prospect. Only in our system would we send a wing and a prayer for a guy with a career 7-18 record in the minors. I’m trying to figure out how he has made 5 starts and has just 13 innings? Are they doing some new funky share time in the minors? Like ultimate openers experiment?
Maybe by 15 June the Astros will be out of it. At that point, if they are still sub .500 (and I think they will be), maybe they will start making the hard choices. But can you imagine a world where they stay with 5-7 games under .500 and the first place team is just at .500? Oh, the choices they might make or not make. It could be the worst of outcomes for the 2028 Astros, the 2029 Astros, the 2030 team.
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If the division wasn’t so bad I would be in panic mode. It seems 87 wins could be enough to win this division. That is a 72-52 run. .581 ball. They are still outpacing the 2024 Astros.
But…. that 2024 team had Framber, Hunter, and Ronel along with a bullpen of Pressly, Abreu and Hader. This team has Spencer Arrighetti suddenly becoming talent meeting result and a prayer. A bullpen with a greatly diminished Abreu, and a prayer.
Is it possible Imai is going to start winning starts? Or at least having some good ones and making the games winnable? I don’t think Peter Lambert is the 2024 Blanco, no, I think it’s more likely he is just a guy that had a career day, but the Astros sure could use him becoming that.
As for Ullola, you know he is talented. I can’t even find another example of a player lasting 5 years as a professional with a 6.2 BB/9. I definitely can’t find one that did that and went on to be a successful major leaguer. It’s not just the hitters that don’t know where the pitch is going. Pecko? He is not a major league prospect. Only in our system would we send a wing and a prayer for a guy with a career 7-18 record in the minors. I’m trying to figure out how he has made 5 starts and has just 13 innings? Are they doing some new funky share time in the minors? Like ultimate openers experiment?
Maybe by 15 June the Astros will be out of it. At that point, if they are still sub .500 (and I think they will be), maybe they will start making the hard choices. But can you imagine a world where they stay with 5-7 games under .500 and the first place team is just at .500? Oh, the choices they might make or not make. It could be the worst of outcomes for the 2028 Astros, the 2029 Astros, the 2030 team.
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I’m going to go out on a limb and predict this is where Mike Burrows does something like 7 IP, 1 ER.
He has pitched a lot better than a 5.97 ERA would suggest. His exit velocity against numbers are down from last year. The hard hit percentage is down nearly 10%. His LD rate is slightly lower. The problem has been – when he has given up solid contact, its been worthy contact. His BAA is .318, with a .519 SLG. He has had some bad luck, but he has probably also made some mistake pitches, and he isn’t Hunter Brown. He doesn’t have 98-99 to hide some of his mistakes. His fastball tops at 96, will spend most of the night at 94, and even then you can see it’s kind of flat. He has little room for mistakes.
I still believe he has a chance to breakout and become a plus pitcher.
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The Yankees are bringing up their 1st round pick (25th overall) in the 2022 draft. Spencer Jones, a Vanderbilt product. He’s got 11 homers and 41 RBI’s with a .958 OPS at Scranton on the season. Will he turn out to be a Joey Loperfido or another big power hitting outfielder for the Bombers?
I have not in any way written off Burrows. He looks like he belongs on the mound. Does not seem fazed by the situation around him when things start going south. But does he have the intangibles to dig himself out of holes? That remains to be seen.
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Never been a fan of Jones. He has been a constant rumored piece in half a dozen mythical deals put out there. Strikes out too much for my taste, 600 in 415 minor league games.
The thing about Jones – his ratios worsened at every level. You probably don’t remember, but maybe because we were both huge Yainer homers coming out of the minors, I wrote about Korey Lee vs. Yainer Diaz. The thing about Lee is as he was progressing levels his ratios were going further south at every step up. He was still keeping some power numbers, but you were starting to see a drop in batting average because contact was become challenging. Yainer never saw demonstrable changes in ratios at any level. He is a hitter.
Well, Jones K rates through the years – 2022 – 18.9, 2023 – 29.0, 2024 – 36.8, 2025 – 35.4. As competition increased, his ratios dived. His 2025 number is slightly lower than his 2024 number, but he spent the first half of 2024 in AA, when he got to AAA he was at 36.6. And he was called up this year at 32.4.
He might strike out 40% of the time.
Now the advantage, he probably is a better hitter than Joey. Like Joey, he has plus tools – speed, also plays all 3 OF positions, reportedly at plus ability – so we’ll see. How many dudes have ever struck out +30% in the minors and went on to be successful major leaguers probably isn’t a long list but I’m sure there are a number of guys on it. Maybe that’s a good question for Claude or ChatGTP.
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I’d hate to play the Yankees in basketball. Regarding Jones, well, he strikes out at a ridiculous rate. He can probably be hidden in that lineup whereas he would be a huge liability in Houston.
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Unfortunately, we have that issue with both Loperfido and Cole.
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Well Steven, you got the start you were looking for. Good call. Most impressive is that Burrow had never gone 7 before. It was a rather compromised line up, but what a shot in the arm for the Astros. He pounded the zone with the 4 seamer, had not used it so much all season.
I’ll be interested to see if he can do similar work against a stronger line up next time out.
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