It feels like time to unload a mix of thoughts from this clogged noggin of mine. So, without further ado….
- The LaMonte Wade Jr. situation – I came down hard on the Astros adding him to the roster. Others, like Steven have said they don’t like it that much but due to his talent at taking pitching and drawing walks he is worth a flyer.
After watching him play – I am OK with giving it a shot. He had one 0 for 4 game and another 3 hit game with a double, homer and an RBI.
The biggest complaint I ever had was that the team had not given Joey Loperfido a real shot (though an injury played into that). If Wade throws in a handful of 8 pitch walks and can keep the BA above .200 and the OBP well above .300 that will be OK.
- Can we live with Burrows in the rotation? – On the plus side, Burrows is leading the team with 13 starts, 73.1 innings and 60 Ks on the season. On the negative side he is leading the American League with 8 losses, 87 hits, 47 ERs and 17 Home runs allowed. He’s on a pace to allow 40+ home runs at this point. The big question is what happens when Hunter Brown returns. Dana Brown being asked about Burrows, indicated that he is here to be in the rotation and to learn and improve over the long run.
Just for comparison let’s look at the main rotation pieces when Brown returns…
| Name | Starts | ERA | WHIP | HRs/9 IP | Ks/9 IP | BBs/9IP |
| H. Brown | 2 | 0.84 | 1.031 | 0 | 14.3 | 5.1 |
| S. Arrighetti | 9 | 1.94 | 1.176 | 0.5 | 8.1 | 4.8 |
| T. Imai | 4* | 2.91 | 1.015 | 1.27 | 8.3 | 3.7 |
| K-W Teng | 6** | 4.00 | 1.407 | 1.0 | 8.0 | 4.7 |
| P. Lambert | 9 | 3.55 | 1.263 | 0.53 | 8.3 | 4.4 |
| M. Burrows | 13 | 5.77 | 1.568 | 2.1 | 7.4 | 3.4 |
* Showing Imai’s 4 starts since returning from the IL
** Showing Teng’s stats for his starts only
Looking at the stats, the no-brainers here to be in the rotation are Hunter Brown, Spencer Arrighetti, Tatsuya Imai and Peter Lambert. Based on what Dana Brown said, we will probably see Kai-Wei Teng moved into a swing spot. He has been more effective as a reliever than as a starter, but has also shown he can be good out of either role (though his starting numbers are beginning to sag). If they need a 6th starter he would have to be the man.
It sure would be nice if Burrows stopped giving up so many homers. He’s given up 2 homers in 7 of his starts and at least 1 homer in 10 of his 13 starts. Of note, he has won 2 of the 3 games he did not give up a homer and had a no decision in the other.
Brown acts like he will not pull Burrows from the rotation, but is there a point where he will have to make a move?
Is this Yordan’s year for the MVP? – Ever since Yordan Alvarez’s crazy first half season where he easily lapped the field for the Rookie of the Year award (27 homers and 78 RBIs in only 87 games) Astro fans have been waiting for that MVP explosion. Don’t get me wrong, he has been overall excellent but still has topped out with 37 homers (2022) and 104 RBIs (2021) and with injuries taking away chunks of some seasons and limiting his effectiveness in others…he has never put it all together.
Currently, the only thing holding him back (now that Aaron Judge will miss time with thoracic surgery) is that he is mostly a DH.
The current odds on for the AL MVP are the following according to ESPN 2026 MLB awards tracker: Odds for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year – ESPN:
| Name | WAR | BA | OBP | OPS | HR | RBI | SB |
| Bobby Witt Jr. | 3.7 | .280 | .354 | .810 | 9 | 27 | 23 |
| Yordan Alvarez | 3.2 | .316 | .431 | 1.080 | 22 | 48 | 1 |
| Ben Rice | 2.4 | .299 | .392 | 1.032 | 18 | 45 | 2 |
| Nick Kurtz | 2.7 | .276 | .431 | .927 | 12 | 45 | 7 |
- Witt is leading because he is the best overall player with speed and plays the most difficult position at SS.
- But….if you are in a tight ballgame, who do you want to face? Witt or Yordan.
- To put Witt in perspective – look at Jeremy Pena’s 2026 stats. His slash is .299 BA/ .354 OBP/ .789 OPS. If he had played the same amount of games as Wit this season – his other numbers factor out to be 3.0 WAR, 7 HRs, 27 RBIs, 7 SBs. Except for the stolen bases he is very close to Witt and as much as I love Pena, I don’t think he’s the MVP of this team much less the league.
- This comes down to how much the fielding comes into play on Witt’s side as straight away the hitting can only be strongly on Yordan’s side. It is an odd situation as neither the Astros nor the Royals are good teams this season (to date). It will be fascinating how this all shakes out.
What are you thinking about today?
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
3 responses to “Astros 2026: Unloading some stuff”
What am I thinking about today?
I think we’ve got a mediocre team. I try to piece together a squad that will improve significantly. But my reality keeps finding long term mediocrity.
Maybe Hunter Brown will come back in and give the rotation a big boost and the other guys will follow along. Our present rotation is all the depth we’ve got. I can’t think of another guy I’d like to move into that group of 5 or 6. That’s why we’ll be watching Burrows into the immediate future. He reminds me of Mike Fiers in 2017 when he led the Astros in innings pitched and had a 5.22 ERA and a 1.428 WHIP. And looking ahead, I’m not going to count on Javier, Blanco, McCullers or any of the other guys coming off major injuries. Dana tried that last year. He sold it hard. It did not work.
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You are looking at it correctly I am afraid, Daveb. It is only hope that tells us that someone out of McCullers Jr., Javier, Wesneski, and Blanco might actually come back and be of value. I don’t know why Lance or Cristian will be any better this time around than they have shown coming off of surgery. I have a bit more hope for Wesneski based on his youth – Blanco – I just don’t know.
I was hoping the Astros could get a little momentum heading into the finale Sunday, but it was like so many times when they put up a 10+ spot and follow it up with a big nothing sandwich.
This article shows who the “experts” think might be the Astros main trading chip – Pena.
1 trade chip for every team ahead of 2026 Deadline
The team has not shown (except for the Tucker trade) that they are willing to abandon ship on the unsignable.
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Cristian Walker had a .918 OPS in April, a .743 in May and has a .629 so far in June.
Christian Vazquez had a .920 OPS in April, a .520 in April and has a .631 so far in June.
Taylor Trammell had an .878 OPS in April, a .663 in May and has a .593 so far in June.
I illustrate these three guys because we all knew there had to be correction at some point. How they see-saw the rest of the way is impossible to say, but odds are we won’t see another April from them again. After Trammell, check out the .OPS figures from our other outfield options.
Loperfido .710
Smith .658
Meyers .610
Dezenzo .595
Matthews .570
Cole .542
It is of little wonder that Dana brought Lamonte in. Someone else said this earlier. He’ll pull a John Singleton on us. Don’t forget that every other ML club passed on Wade. The White Sox gave him a minor league contract. To me, Dana Brown’s biggest fail over the past three and a half years is that he’s been totally incapable of finding any outfielder that has hit for this team.
So where do we see the positives in our offense? Heck, if Yordan stays healthy, he might be in the running for MVP. But if the team wins just 75 games, they’ll find someone else to give the award to. Pena is going to make things happen offensively. He should be traded in the off season. I’d trade Paredes too, rather than paying him 13 plus million next year. Altuve might hit. He might not. But at least we don’t have to worry about trading him. It’s ironic, but Yanier Diaz might end up being one of our better hitters.
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