The Houston Astros could have a choice to make within the offseason. With the addition of Carlos Correa on the commerce deadline, the Astros’ infield has impulsively change into very crowded.
Correa, Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker, Jeremy Pena, Jose Altuve, Ramon Urias, and others make up a crowded infield in Houston. With 4 spots and a minimum of 5 viable starters, the Astros have to decide.
Chandler Rome of The Athletic wrote in his latest mailbag in regards to the infield conundrum, which can must be addressed within the offseason. There, he opened the door to 3 of those gamers being commerce chips, together with Pena.
Astros May Unusually Commerce Jeremy Pena
Houston might want to clear some house of their infield, and if it needs to maneuver somebody with probably the most worth, that participant could be Pena. Rome goes into element about why such a deal would possibly happen, referencing the Astros’ commerce of Kyle Tucker within the offseason.
“The Tucker deal final winter set a precedent that Brown and his baseball operations crew will take heed to provides for gamers they don’t imagine will be signed to long-term extensions.” Rome writes. “The membership tried to lock up Pena this season earlier than he employed agent Scott Boras, who typically encourages his purchasers to check free company as a substitute of signing an extension.”
With the Astros failing to increase Pena, thanks partly to Boras encouraging Pena to attend till free company earlier than signing a deal, the Astros could be higher off buying and selling Pena for a haul as a substitute of letting him stroll.
This thought course of makes some sense, however the problem then turns into who takes his place and the way Pena is round for the following few seasons, moderately than Tucker’s one 12 months of management.
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Preserving a participant like Pena would elevate their World Sequence probabilities, and after their commerce for Correa, there is no cause for the Astros to maneuver on from a participant as proficient as Pena amid their World Sequence window.
The Tucker deal was totally different, as there was hypothesis that Houston would regress this season. However, they’re atop the AL West with somewhat over a month left of the season to go.
Joe Espada has managed the crew effectively, as they’ve handled accidents all throughout their roster. Whereas the Astros may get an enormous return for Pena, the lack of his presence within the lineup could be an excessive amount of to half methods with.
Not solely that, they’d lose defensive shortstop and not using a clear top-tier alternative. Walker and Paredes are the rather more affordable gamers to commerce to clear up their infield construction.
Houston could take into account shifting Pena within the offseason, as Rome alludes to, however as he additionally talked about, his scenario is totally different from Tucker’s, which may have the Astros entrance workplace determine in opposition to buying and selling him within the offseason.
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