The Astros held their annual FanFest event on Saturday. Aside from the autograph sessions and photo opportunities, the main theme was trying to sort out the crowded infield mix. With Jose Altuve, Jeremy Pena, Isaac Paredes, Carlos Correa, and Christian Walker all vying for playing time, not to mention Yordan Alvarez manning DH, it’s a difficult puzzle to tackle.
“We have to be creative,” manager Joe Espada told reporters, including Chandler Rome of The Athletic. “And I have to find ways to get them all in the lineup and keep everyone healthy.”
Altuve, a career second baseman, began last season as Houston’s primary left fielder. The results were about what you’d expect from a 35-year-old playing the outfield for the first time. Altuve posted a miserable -10 Defensive Runs Saved and -5 Outs Above Average in his 47 appearances on the grass. Espada maintained the stance that Altuve would be back at second base in 2026, with only the occasional start in the outfield.
While his batting average dipped, Altuve remained a productive offensive player last season. He swatted 26 home runs and chipped in 10 steals. Perhaps more importantly, he stayed on the field. Altuve appeared in 155 games, his most since 2016.
Altuve won’t be the only Astro getting a chance at second base this season. Paredes and Brice Matthews will get reps at the position, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. Matthews will also get opportunities in center field.
Paredes played strictly third base in his first season in Houston, but he has experience at all four infield spots. The majority of his second base appearances came during his two full seasons with the Rays. Paredes made 44 starts at the keystone from 2022 to 2023. He’s never been a standout defender at any spot, but his work at second base has been passable. Paredes has recorded -1 Defensive Runs Saved in his 456 2/3 innings there.
Getting Paredes’ bat in the lineup, regardless of where he fits, will be key. The righty’s pull-heavy, fly ball-driven approach worked just as expected when he made Daikin Park his home. Paredes launched 20 home runs in just 102 games in 2025. A hamstring injury robbed him of the chance to attack the Crawford Boxes for a full season, but the initial returns were promising.
MLB.com has Matthews as Houston’s top prospect. The 23-year-old was a first-round pick in 2023. He put up 17 home runs and 41 steals at Triple-A last year, earning a brief MLB call-up. Matthews has primarily played second base in his minor league career. He also has experience at third base and shortstop, plus a handful of appearances in the outfield.
Baseball America labeled Matthews the best defensive infielder in Houston’s system. Even with his lack of an MLB track record, he’s likely the best glove the Astros could utilize at the position. Adding Matthews to the infield mix would further muddle a crowded situation. There’s also the question of whether he could make enough contact to earn regular at-bats. Matthews had a 27.9% strikeout rate with Sugar Land last season. It was 31.4% across four minor league levels in 2024. Matthews fanned 20 times in 47 MLB plate appearances.
The infield glut could be sorted out by a trade or two, and general manager Dana Brown told reporters several players are drawing interest. Rome cited Walker and Jesus Sanchez as two names that fall into that bucket. He also mentioned Boston has interest in Paredes, though a deal isn’t believed to be close. In terms of additions, Brown mentioned looking for a left-handed hitter to offset the righty-laden lineup. “If that opportunity presents itself and we can make some sort of trade to do that, it would be intriguing for us to make the team better.”
As Rome points out, the Angels were the only team to have fewer left-handed at-bats than the Astros last season. Victor Caratini accounted for nearly half of those plate appearances, and he’s now a Twin. Alvarez is the only lefty penciled in for regular work, with Sanchez and Zach Cole also factoring into the outfield group.
Steve Adams recently covered Houston’s outfield issues in a Front Office article. The free agent market for lefty-swinging outfielders is barren, especially with Max Kepler missing the first half of the year. Michael Conforto, Adam Frazier, and Mike Tauchman are among the remaining options who earned semi-regular playing time in 2025. The trade market would yield more interesting candidates. Rome tossed out Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu, adding that Houston finds the latter more intriguing than the former.
Brown still has a couple of months to make adjustments to a team that missed the playoffs last year for the first time since 2016. “We’re going to continue to grind all the way up until spring training and maybe even in spring training. We don’t want to leave any stone unturned for making this team a better team.”
Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images
They should bring Valdez back and have Altuve play catcher.
JK approves
“We have to be creative” because our owner hates spending money.
Yes, that’s why they are always in the top 10 payrolls.
12th at the moment. but thanks for the info.
Interested to know where you got your data. All the websites that track this stuff say they have the 7th highest payroll for 2026.
Based on AAV…
Altuve is the 2nd highest paid 2nd baseman.
Correa is the 3rd highest paid 3rd baseman.
Walker is the 7th highest paid 1st baseman.
Yordan is the 3rd highest paid DH.
Hader is the 2nd highest paid reliever.
fangraphs
It’s literally the opposite, they have to get creative because they spent big on Walker and Correa. But go off.
After years of spending a lot of money keeping the team in contention Jim Crane might be running low on what he has earmarked for the Astros roster, at least in the forseeable future. He is not Cohen or Guggenheim rich. They’re paying Altuve a hefty sum for a lifetime contract, took on Correa’s albatross, Hader is making too much for a reliever imo, and they have younger players like Yordan, Paredes, and Pena going through their arbitration years right now/soonish. They probably could spend more but not much more. As a Mariners fan I’m loving them crying poor right now, though. Hope y’all get used to 2nd place, that’s your new home for the next decade!
I agree that the Astros have payroll problems and have a lot of long term contract clogging the books. We have a lot of money coming off after this season, Lance McCullers Jr. (17.7), Bryan Abreu (5.85), 1 million from Correa, Steven Okert (2.325), Enyel De Los Santos (1.6) and maybe Ryan Weiss (2.6 million), Tatsuya Imai (18 or 21)
It’s interesting that everyone thinks the richest ownership in MLB is Dodgers and Mets, when it’s actually the Jays ownership topping the list.
I’m pretty sure the Blue Jays are the 2nd richest.
It’s not the Jays. Cohen is worth more than rogers communication.
Downplay it all you want. The Guggenheim group has the 3rd largest net worth in the MLB and Mark Walter is by far the 3rd richest owner. He’s around 12 Billion. The 4th riches is around 6.
I said 2nd richest.
Hell, I might take an average of 2nd place for the next decade. That would mean quite a few playoff appearances.
Yordan isn’t in arbitration. He’s signed thru 2028. Paredes and Pena both have 1 year of arbitration left after this season. Brown and Diaz have 2 more years.
Yes Crane is not Cohen… no other owner is even remotely close to Cohen. Certainly not the Guggenheim group.
Since you are a Mariner fan you might like to know that Crane and your team’s owner, John Stanton, aare worth around 2.4 Billion. And yet the Astros rank 7th in high payroll and the Marriners 15th.
But hey… they are both the “poorer” owners in the division. John Fisher is worth 3.6 Billion and look how he runs the A’s.
Truth be told none of these guys are “running out of money”. Most owners want to turn a profit. As they should, it’s a business. Some owners want to maximize their profit margins. Some want to win on the field and off.
You never listed the player the Astros should actually extend. Cam Smith.
Walker and Sanchez are getting interest?
I would call on that bluff.
If they cover some salary or add a good prospect, sure.
I could see Sanchez getting interest, but not Walker. I would rather keep Walker than add a prospect to dump him.
Put Altuve back in the OF.
– Mariners
And the Rangers! Heck teach him to play 1st!
Korea has interest in Sanchez…
Altuve should be defending his country from foreign attackers.
I find this not funny.
trade them Jung hoo lee.
Paredes and either Neyens or Janek for Abreu
No.
You got that backwards. The Red Sox would need to throw extras in, not the Astros.
I don’t think Paredes is traded at this point.
Abreu for Paredes makes to much sense for both teams.
Man, with those defensive metrics from Altuve in LF, it’s amazing the Astros won a game when he played there. Except they went 28-19 when he started in LF. And he made only 1 error in LF. And I can’t think of a time last season when I thought “Altuve in left is costing us this game!”
But yeah, those metrics. Whew!
Right? Left field is a bat-first position for a reason. Who cares if he’s bad out there as long as he’s still hitting.
Funny thing is he’s declining there too! Used to be a batting title contender and now he’s a .260-.270 hitter.
He’s not such a poor LF: he just shy
Why would we need Kepler or Confronto? Sanchez is better. Mike Tauchman is an option for me.
Walker gets most of the 1B time, Paredes gets the rest, Paredes also shares time with Altuve when he needs a break, same with Correa and Alvarez. We need to make sure their knees don’t break down.
If Paredes is actually a viable option at 2B then everything works out. This is a pivot from Dana’s comments earlier in the offseason so we’ll see but I hope it works out that way.
Christian Vazquez
Left hand bats? Pass the trash can to the right hand side.