There always seems to be a time in every baseball season when the fans, and perhaps the team itself, doubt the team’s identity and destination.
Folks may say, “Hey, we knew the 2017 team was exceptional and headed for greatness the whole time.”
I say bull hockey.
Float back in time to the 2017 trade deadline–the real trade deadline at the end of July. The fans and even some of the players (Dallas Keuchel specifically) were vocal about their disappointment with GM Jeff Luhnow’s inaction at the deadline. The team was struggling with injuries and depth issues in the pitching rotation and stumbled to a terrible 11-17 record in August, which left many folks shaken. But luckily, that season there was a second trade deadline where teams could trade players who had passed waivers, and the Astros were able to pick up OF Cameron Maybin in a blockbuster deal. Oh, and some pitcher named Justin Verlander.
This season, it is hard to figure out where this team is and where it is headed.
The Infield – In the off-season the infield was supposedly so deep with five starting players for four spots (Christian Walker, Carlos Correa, Jeremy Pena, Jose Altuve and Isaac Paredes) that they considered trading Paredes.
But basically, the team, with the exception of a handful of games at the beginning of the season has never had the five healthy at the same time.
- Jeremy Pena has only played in 13 of the team’s 51 games with his pulled hamstring.
- Before Pena’s return, Carlos Correa went down for the season with surgery on his broken ankle.
- Meanwhile, Jose Altuve went on the IL with an oblique strain right before Pena’s return and is likely out for a month or more.
If you are scoring at home, this means the best that could happen would be that Altuve returns from his injury and the Astros have the foursome for the rest of the season. But when is that going to happen and who is going to bet on them staying healthy?
The Outfield – This was the Astros’ weak offensive point in the offseason, but that did not keep Dana Brown from entertaining offers for CF Jake Meyers, possibly to shore up the pitching staff.
The Astros considered Meyers, Joey Loperfido and Cam Smith with a little help from Brice Matthews and Yordan Alvarez to be their outfield entering the season. But again, the injury bug bit.
- Jake Meyers has only played in 13 of the 51 games after also suffering an oblique injury while batting, just like Altuve would. But he has finally returned.
- Loperfido has only played in 20 games after suffering a quad strain earlier this season. He is close to a rehab stint now.
- Taylor Trammell helped out with a red-hot start but went down with a groin strain running the bases and has only played 10 games this season to date.
- Cam Smith, Zach Cole, Zach Dezenzo and Brice Matthews have all put up below average numbers while picking up necessary at bats so far this season.
Catcher and DH
Yordan Alvarez has played mostly DH and some LF and has not missed a game this season. After an insane start to the season, he has cooled off but is still showing overall very good numbers.
- At catcher, Yainer Diaz started off dead cold, before beginning to warm up, but….. He was placed on the IL in early May with an oblique injury while swinging in batting practice. Please, raise your hand if you have heard of this injury and cause combination before (Altuve and Meyers). He has only played in about half their games – 26.
- Christian Vazquez as the back up catcher was piling up great numbers in limited appearances. Since taking over the starting spot in early May he has been stone cold with a .154 BA/ .463 OPS.
Starting Pitching
This was the biggest area of concern heading into the season with Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski on the IL from injuries in 2025, Framber Valdez pitching with the Tigers, Lance McCullers Jr. and Cristian Javier coming off less than inspiring cameos in 2025, folks with little or no numbers on the back of their baseball cards like Mike Burrows, Tatsuya Imai, Kai-Wei Teng, and Ryan Weiss trying to pick up critical spots in the rotation or bullpen.
But the concern area got bigger….
- Hunter Brown pitched great ….in 2 games and then he went on the IL with the dreaded shoulder strain. If they are lucky, he may return in mid-June.
- Cristian Javier pitched awfully in 3 games before also going on the IL with a shoulder strain. But unlike Brown he has not been shown to be working his way back yet.
- Lance McCullers Jr. has pitched both good and bad in 8 starts before also going on the IL with shoulder problems a few days ago. And no one would be surprised if we never saw Lance pitch in another game for the Astros.
- Imai has missed a few starts with arm fatigue, which seemed to really mean he was having problems adjusting to being a multi-millionaire in a new country. He pitched decently in his last start but was terrible before.
- Burrows has led the team in innings pitched and K’s. But he has also led them in losses, hits, earned runs and home runs. In fact, he was also leading the AL in those bad stats.
- Weiss had a +7 ERA in 9 games and is back in the minors.
- J.P. France pitched a couple times at the end of 2025, tried to help out in 2026, but was bad and was bounced back to the minors.
- The rotation has had some positives lately as substitute starters Peter Lambert, Teng and Jason Alexander have all had good moments as starters.
- And Spencer Arrighetti started the season in the minors and has been a solid sub for Hunter Brown at the top of the rotation.
Can the Astros ever get their staff back together? Can they hold on until Hunter returns?
Bullpen
The bullpen had a big question mark coming into the season, which was how they would stand up without their closer, Josh Hader at the back end. Hader had not recovered from his injury at the end of last season and the bullpen looked a lot thinner with both Hader and Bennett Sousa on the IL.
- Sousa returned from injury and pitched poorly in 5 appearances before returning to the IL
- Bryan Abreu who should be heir apparent to the closer’s job, pitched comically bad to start the season and has been slowly working his way back to the closer spot in May.
- Nate Pearson was picked up in the offseason to help out wherever, but has just now come off the IL and pitched in his first game.
- Bryan King and Steven Okert have continued to be helpful in their spots – picking up higher and higher leverage spots this year. Teng was very good but then recruited by the rotation.
- The rest of the bullpen has been filled with the marginally useful (A.J. Blubaugh, Enyel De Los Santos, Cody Bolton and Christian Roa) and the impossibly poor (Jayden Murray, Colton Gordon, and Roddery Munoz).
- In defense of much of the bullpen, due to the short starts by the pitching staff, most of them have been asked to pitch too long and could have been more effective in shorter stints.
Will the return of Hader in the next couple of weeks be the catalyst to help solidify the bullpen? We can only hope.
In the end, it is very hard to decide what we are looking at here. Is it a team that just needs a little luck and health to turn the corner and head back to a winning record. Or are they what they seem to be – a team that needs too much luck and health to compete?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
25 responses to “What are we looking at here?”
Good morning. Dan, that’s an excellent synopsis of where this club stands. And let’s face it, more stuff will happen. there will be more injuries.
The Astros are what they seem to be. And that’s why I remain firm in my belief that major changes need to be made. But I don’t want to beat a dead horse either. If what I want to happen actually happened with Jim Crane at the helm, then I’d be shocked.
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Hey folks – anybody outside of daveb out there today?
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I’m here, just busy.
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been doing home improvement. Saw where Astros won today. Arighetti is da man!
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Another month of this, Arrighetti will be an All Star. He’s been mostly terrific at a time when he’s become our stopper.
The Cubs are really in a slump right now. They gave Spencer some help. But his stuff sure is moving, and moving all over the place right now. 2 hits, 2 HBP and 4 walks. That won’t always work. But for now, Spencer Arrighetti is our ace.
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Dan, this is a weird conundrum and dilemma.
Questions for you and everyone else:
• If the Astros had everyone healthy (e.g. Brown, Correa, Pena, Hader et al) for April and May, where would this team be? Shoot, they could — emphasis *could* — be running away with the AL West, if not the entire AL.
• As you suggest, 2017 was 1-2 players away. Whether it comes in the form of a trade or just key players (again, Brown, Hader, etc returning) s this team just 1-2 players away?
• Is it fair to hold management (Crane, Brown, Espada) responsible for injuries? In other words, is the team they assembled and THOUGHT would be on the field this season good enough to contend? If you say ‘yes’, then are you saying they did a good job of putting the roster together?
• How would mediocre players (e.g. Weiss, Kai-Wei Teng, even Imai, Paredes, Smith) be performing if they hadn’t been forced into KEY roles and they’d been allowed to play the supporting roles they were designed to play?
Having the anchors leading obviously keeps the team moving in a positive direction. And Brown, Hader, Pena, Correa, Meyers and others have not been there to lead.
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Hi Chip,
Good thoughts. No doubt, without all the injuries, I have to figure the Astros would at least be competitive right now. But I sure don’t see them running away with the AL. Simply not enough pitching, even with a healthy Hader and Brown.
Injuries happen, although the volume of injuries is tough. However, all those injuries expose the Astros minor league system for what it is. Weak. I don’t see where Dana Brown has built anything in his 3 plus years in Houston.
We still don’t have any reliable hitters in our young, athletic outfield. That’s on Dana.
Someone, and I suspect Crane as much as anyone, missed big on Imai. At 18 or 20 million Imai should have been a key acquisition playing a key role.
Weiss was a miss. He wanted to start. Dana thought he’d start and be productive. Today he’s another arm in AAA. That’s on Dana.
Burrows. He’s shown glimpses of being a quality pitcher. But he leads the league in earned runs and homers. He’s got a 1.527 WHIP to date. He does not seem to have his head in every pitch he throws. Is he fully committed? So far, he’s a miss and that’s on Dana.
Teng has been pretty good. Dana deserves a nod for this acquisition.
Smith got screwed by his GM. He had no business out in right field last year. His GM had not provided anyone else to play out there. 2026 has turned into a repeat. Forced development failed. That’s on Dana.
Issac. He looks old at 27. If you look at Baseball Savant, you’ll see how much he’s regressed. Chase rate way up. BB%, way down. Arm strength, bat speed, sprint speed, hard hit rate, all terrible. If I blamed Dana, I’d be picking on him. But maybe the injury last year damaged Paredes badly.
Jake Meyers is not leader. The guy has a .629 career home OPS. And I do think Dana has tried to move Jake. He had zero home homers last year. I just don’t think anyone wants him.
I could go on. Personally based on what I’ve seen from Dana (with quite a bit of help from Crane) over the past three plus years, I don’t see him making this organization or this Astro team better in the next three years.
As far as Joe goes, I’m a bit ambivalent. Joe has to work with what he’s been given. But a new GM should bring in his own manager.
And Crane, he’s going to meddle. That won’t help either. And it might make it tougher to hire a really progressive, independent thinking new GM whenever the time comes.
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Well, sir. You poked obvious holes in my generally half-full cup analysis. Given the state of the league this year, though, a strong Brown/Hader/Correa/Pena et al could have meant a 6-8 game swing, which means the Astros may — MAY — have been 4-6 games above .500. I think that is a reasonable view.
Running away from the league? You are probably right. Rose-colored glasses there.
Running away with the West? Very doable with those leaders in place, IMO.
Yes Crane meddles. That’s the result of losing two of your trusted guys — Luhnow and Hinch — and feeling burned. Crane is probably one of those “that will never happen again to me” leaders now. A taint that may never go away.
Indeed, there are lots of mis-moves.
Paredes, indeed, is older than he looks. Given his team control is short, I wonder if he shouldn’t be on the short list with Walker, Yordan, and others if the Astros find themselves sellers in July.
Burrows, though, considering what we gave up, is probably a good move long-term…not necessarily strong, but good, especially considering he’ll be probably be here after Brown and others are gone.
To be sure, Dana is no Luhnow, who will forever be the benchmark, rightly/wrongly, fair or not fair.
It would be good to peek behind the veil. How much is Crane? How much is Dana? What would Dana’s moves look like if he had the same leash that luhnow had?
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This kid Schiavone with 18 homers in 38 games between Nashville and a game in Corpus is an interesting subject. He’s got a 180 plate appearances of which 42 are walks and 54 are K’s. He’s got an 1.189 OPS and a .444 OBP.
I’d love to end up with a home grown first baseman or catcher, but moving ahead, he’s going to have to strike out less and play some defense.
Playing the summer in Corpus should tell us quite a bit about the guy. Not the launch pad Asheville is.
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When did the Astros decide that Brice Matthews is not an infielder? He was a SS at nebraska and played SS/3B/2B in the minors and even 2B in Houston.
He played 767 innings at 2B and 712 at SS in the minors and a handful at OF positions.
With Altuve out, wouldn’t it seem it was the perfect time to see what you’ve got for the future? Or maybe that’s already been determined? Or announced, and I missed it?
Today, you have a 25-year-old rookie starting in LF, a former SS starting in CF and a former third baseman in right.
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Chip, I think he’s a better centerfielder then he is a shortstop. If he could hit in his home park, he’d be a success story right now.
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Hate to be negative but in reading the comments there’s a lot of “IFs” there. Injuries, bad decisions on the part of the GM, some on the Manager, and some on the training and medical staff make for a lot of “Ifs”.
As a friend of mine once said about “ifs”, (pardon the explicitness) “If I had a dog that ate red mud and had a square a–hole and &^%# bricks, I’d be a millionaire.”
I want this team to be competitive and win but good teams seem to be prepared for the unexpected. I just didn’t see that happening here. But I’ll keep pulling for our guys none the less.
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Thoughts
Astros are 4.5 out of the division and 3.5 out of the Wild Card.
They are the only team with a winning record in their division in their last ten games 6-4
On the other hand if they lose a couple in a row again the optimism will falter
The Astros have had terrible injury problems but if they didn’t would they have discovered that Teng and Lambert could be solid starters
I know the terrible WL of the teams are giving us any hope we have – but if they climb back in it and get Brown and Hader back … but then who gets hurt
Walker muscled a couple out yesterday into a gale – two laser shots – he is keeping us in this
Here’s hoping that Yordan’s back spasm was nothing
Joe had to piece together the bullpen the last two days and it worked – can he do it again if today’s game is tight
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You’ve got to give some people some credit for getting Teng stretched out to 6 innings and 89 pitches. Who knows if it lasts, but he’s never pitched so effectively during his brief ML career.
The Cubs continue to help. But the Astros are taking advantage of a good club mired in a terrible team slump.
Walker has been slumping, but woke up yesterday to win it pretty much single handedly.
Brice keeps producing in the road. Unfortunately, he has no business playing at AC park.
The Astros are 29th in MLB in stolen bases, with just 17 swipes and 9 caught stealings. Terrible. I was reading an Athletic article the other day about how much easier it is to steal a base with all the new rules. Some of our ineptness has to be attributed to a lack of/bad coaching.
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It could be bad coaching Daveb or lack of speed.
Two of their speedier guys and base stealers – Peña and Meyers have not played much.
Altuve is no longer a base threat unless it’s a threat to get thrown out. Paredes – turtle. Diaz and Vazquez – not much speed.
Walker – decent baserunner but not a base stealers.
Cam and Brice have speed but are not base stealers. Those are the guys who maybe need better coaching.
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Our outfielders are 13 of 19. That’s where our speed is. Cam is 6 of 7. That means our other outfielders are 7 of 12. Poor. Jake has never been much of a base stealer. My guess is that overall, our guys lack the confidence to run.
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But yes, a lack of speed overall is a big factor. Who designs such a roster?
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Don’t shoot me down, but the Astros are .500 for the month of May. Back in ’24, when they had a similar start (10-19 through March/April), they went 15-14 before going on to win the AL West with a 88-73 record.
Yes 2026 and 2024 had similarities, but also big differences.
In 2024, just 24 short months ago, Jon Singleton and Jose Abreu graced the first base line. And Bregman was on the other side of the infield. And a guy named Kikuchi joined late.
But I digress. Just a point … again … that I don’t believe Crane is going to throw in the towel. He thinks he can still go 88-73.
Heck, there’s 2/3 of the season to go. Enjoy the ride. It’s the only one ya got!
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Good Memorial Day morning. Imai is starting in Arlington this evening. If he has a bad outing, he’ll be back next week regardless. And indeed, that’s because the Astros are 11 and 11 in May. Chip, Joe is not getting fired. Neither is Dana. And Imai is going to get more opportunities to turn around his miserable start.
Hunter and Hader looked more than solid last night. Loperfido and Trammell are running and playing. It’s not all gloom and doom.
Altuve getting a rest might be the best thing for him and his team.
Had May become a repeat of our 8-18 April, who knows what might have happened. But a .500 record is a pretty good recovery. No big changes on the way in Houston.
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dave, I think you’re right.
I’d really like to see what Joe could do with a full roster. He’s had to deal with this stuff since he became manager of the Astros.
It would be nice to know if he’s just a bridge to the next ‘season’ for the Astros or if he really does know what he’s doing. To be fair, , though you may disagree with his moves and ideas, I don’t think you can judge him honestly now.
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Thoughts
Let’s see – yes here in my predictions book – I said Imai would walk 3 of the first 4 hitters but would throw 6 hitless innings. (I won’t tell you when I wrote that)
Then I predicted that Okert would come in for his 200th appearance of the season, throw a hitless inning and hand the no-no baton to Alimber Santa making his MLB.
Santa threw great breaking stuff for strikes or close enough to draw swings. I was happy that he really didn’t get close to walking anyone. Had a great sweeper and slider and threw 2 no hit innings to seal the deal
Nice offensive game led by dingers from Walker and Yordan
Really good defense as needed
I’m happy tonight
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Maybe it will payoff being in a bad division. The Astros are as close to or closer to first place than the Yankees, Cubs and Diamondbacks. At the same time, they won’t have the wildcard to fall back on.
A four game winning streak and topping it off with a no hitter scares me more than anything else. To win this division the Astros are going to have to pick a month, June, July, August, or whatever it is, and go something like 20-6 or 19-7 in that month and tread water the rest of the way. The question is do they think they have a roster that can do that?
I fear playing close enough to fool them and not being good enough to get over the hump. But no one of consequence is a free agent at the end of this year. There really isn’t any urgency to reset, though extra control on Pena, Yordan, Paredes, Brown, makes them all more attractive. Heck that new 23 year old first baseman is even proving he may draw something in the market. I don’t know what magic juice they found to turn his clock back but I’m betting some of it got stuck in that stache. Seriously, I think the adjusted zone from ABS has really helped Walker, he was killed on high fastballs last year, and shaving an inch off the top has forced pitchers down to him. He has unloaded. He now leads the league in RBI. He is below a K a game for the first time since 2023. He has drawn half his walk total of 2025 in only a third of a season. He is on pace for 40+ HR.
I don’t think a Jarren Duran for Isaac Paredes was ever close, I think the Astros think Duran is an overvalued piece by the Red Sox, but neither one are doing much to help their teams right now. Dave – I assume a lot of Isaac’s damage to his selective stats were done early as he was a mess at the plate. The last few weeks he has been a lot better at controlling the zone and had some up and down results. I still think Isaac has a heater coming where he carries things for a month. To be honest, this inconsistency is a big part of his game, and is a big reason for the .237 lifetime average and him being on his 3rd team by the time he is 27. Personally, I would sign him through age 31, get his best years, because he won’t be 29M a year. But I don’t run the team. I just know they have to find some affordable guys, and if you can get a 4 yr, 64M deal with Isaac you could hammer down 3rd base with a more affordable option. They can’t all be stars, we got to have guys that have a strong suit like seeing pitches on a roster where the rest of them don’t necessarily like to do that. And who knows, guy is just entering his window. Age 28 is typically a major league hitters best year, a slight edge of 29 and 27. But the window is 27-31 for excellence. A few do it after, the special ones get there before, but most of them, its 28. As for Correa, he may end up playing that contract out back at SS. Pena seems to be the most unaffordable of them all, and that folks is just how the Astros operate.
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I would not have “thunk it” but 4 in a row and the guys looking like a contender is a refreshing change. I’m not going to get overly excited but it’s been fun these last few games. Let’s see if they can keep it up.
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What’s going on, you ask? Due to injuries, underperformance by front-line guys or both, we have gotten production from unexpected sources: Arrighetti, Lambert, Teng, Vazquez, Allen, Shewmake. Keep it up, and hopefully the expected contributors can recover or continue to improve: Altuve, Pena, Paredes, Diaz, Brown, Hader, Imai, Burrows.
Druthers, druthers
There’s too many expensive signings
Brother, brother, brother
Far too many guys rehabbing
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring wise spendin’ here today – yeah
Owner, owner
Contracts need not escalate
See, WAR per dollar is the answer
For cheap talent can conquer LA
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring Gold Glovin’ here today, oh
Sattelite (smother) and cable rights (murder)
Don’t punish me (slaughter) with subscription fees (massacre)
Watch for free (super) on Fox TV (get what you paid for)
Oh, what’s going on (what’s going on)
What’s going on (what’s going on)
Yeah, what’s going on (what’s going on)
Oh, what’s going on
Ooh, ooh
Tat-su-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya, Ya-ya-ya-ya-ya
Ooh, ooh
Tat-su-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya, Ya-ya-ya-ya-ya
Spencer, Spencer, everybody thinks you’re the bomb
Oh, but who are they to judge you
Simply because your hair is long
Oh, you know you’ve got to find a way
To bring down your walk rate here today, oh
Sattelite (smother) and cable rights (murder)
Don’t punish me (slaughter) with subscription fees (massacre)
Watch for free (super) on Fox TV (get what you paid for)
What’s going on
Yeah, what’s going on
Tell me what’s going on
I’ll tell you what’s going on
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