The Houston Astros will have a decision to make in the offseason. With the addition of Carlos Correa at the trade deadline, the Astros’ infield has all of a sudden become very crowded.
Correa, Isaac Paredes, Christian Walker, Jeremy Pena, Jose Altuve, Ramon Urias, and others make up a crowded infield in Houston. With four spots and at least five viable starters, the Astros need to make a decision.
Chandler Rome of The Athletic wrote in his recent mailbag about the infield conundrum, which will need to be addressed in the offseason. There, he opened the door to three of these players being trade chips, including Pena.
Astros Could Strangely Trade Jeremy Pena
Houston will need to clear some space in their infield, and if it wants to move someone with the most value, that player would be Pena. Rome goes into detail about why such a deal might occur, referencing the Astros’ trade of Kyle Tucker in the offseason.
“The Tucker deal last winter set a precedent that Brown and his baseball operations team will listen to offers for players they do not believe can be signed to long-term extensions.” Rome writes. “The club tried to lock up Pena this season before he hired agent Scott Boras, who often encourages his clients to test free agency instead of signing an extension.”
With the Astros failing to extend Pena, thanks in part to Boras encouraging Pena to wait until free agency before signing a deal, the Astros might be better off trading Pena for a haul instead of letting him walk.
This thought process makes some sense, but the issue then becomes who takes his place and how Pena is around for the next few seasons, rather than Tucker’s one year of control.
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Keeping a player like Pena would elevate their World Series chances, and after their trade for Correa, there’s no reason for the Astros to move on from a player as talented as Pena amid their World Series window.
The Tucker deal was different, as there was speculation that Houston would regress this season. But, they’re atop the AL West with a little over a month left of the season to go.
Joe Espada has managed the team well, as they’ve dealt with injuries all across their roster. While the Astros could get a huge return for Pena, the loss of his presence in the lineup would be too much to part ways with.
Not only that, they’d lose a good defensive shortstop without a clear top-tier replacement. Walker and Paredes are the much more reasonable players to trade to clear up their infield structure.
Houston may consider moving Pena in the offseason, as Rome alludes to, but as he also mentioned, his situation is different from Tucker’s, which could have the Astros front office decide against trading him in the offseason.
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