The hits keep coming for the Astros. Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports that third baseman/shortstop Carlos Correa will require season-ending surgery to repair a left ankle injury. Correa was scratched from last night’s game and subsequently reported to have suffered a potentially major ankle injury. He was in the clubhouse today on crutches.
Correa himself told reporters in Houston that he suffered a torn tendon in his left ankle (video link via McTaggart). The requisite surgery to repair the injury will sideline him for the next six to eight months. (Notably, that’s not the ankle that caused enough medical concern to scuttle a pair of major free agent deals a few offseasons back.) As Correa explains, it was a freak incident:
“I was hitting in the cage — normal day, feeling great. I went through my whole routine, took a swing, and felt a pop. It just completely snapped on me, and then I fell to the ground, couldn’t put weight on it. Just a normal swing, but I felt a loud pop. I heard it. I felt it. I knew right away something was wrong.”
With Correa’s season over, the Astros will entrust shortstop to Nick Allen and Braden Shewmake for the time being. Both are light-hitting defensive specialists, though Shewmake took Shohei Ohtani deep for a go-ahead home run last night. Star shortstop Jeremy Peña is on the mend from a hamstring strain and will reclaim everyday shortstop work once healthy. Peña’s return would have pushed Correa back to third base, but the hot corner will now be manned by Isaac Paredes moving forward, with a resurgent Christian Walker at first base, Jose Altuve at second base and Yordan Alvarez at designated hitter.
Correa is the latest in a dizzying line of major Astros injuries. He joins not only Peña but Hunter Brown (shoulder strain), Josh Hader (biceps tendinitis), Yainer Diaz (oblique strain), Jake Meyers (oblique strain), Tatsuya Imai (arm fatigue), Cristian Javier (shoulder strain), Joey Loperfido (quad strain) and Taylor Trammell (groin strain) as Astros to suffer new injuries this season. The ‘Stros are also still without pitchers Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter, all three of whom underwent UCL surgery during the 2025 season.
Suffice it to say, the 2026 season hasn’t gone according to plan. Houston’s 15-22 record is the fifth-worst in Major League Baseball. Long-term absences for key players like Correa, Brown, Hader and Peña have conspired to dig an early hole from which they’ll be hard-pressed to climb out. The pitching, in particular, has been egregiously bad. Houston not only ranks last in the majors with a team-wide 5.65 ERA — they’re 64 points north of the 29th-ranked D-backs, who sit at a collective 5.01. The bullpen’s 6.20 ERA is the highest in MLB by nearly a full run over the 29th-ranked Angels (5.35). The rotation’s 5.13 ERA ranks 29th, narrowly leading Arizona (5.20).
The 2026 trade deadline is still just under three months away, but the mountain of injuries and a dismal pitching performance thus far makes it hard to envision the ‘Stros recovering — even with Alvarez and Walker combining to create one of the more formidable lineup duos in the game. The Astros will face some tough decisions at this year’s deadline, due not only to the current state of affairs but also an increasingly concerning long-term outlook that doesn’t create much optimism.
[Related: The Astros’ Ominous Long-Term Outlook]
As for Correa, he’s still signed for another two seasons beyond the current year. He’ll earn $30.5MM in 2027 and $30MM in 2028, though the Twins are paying $10MM per year (2026-28) as part of the trade that sent Correa and more than $70MM of his remaining contract back to Houston. His six-year, $200MM deal also contains a quartet of vesting club options valued at $25MM, $20MM, $15MM and $10MM, spanning the 2029-32 seasons. Those options can vest based on the total plate appearances Correa logs in the immediately preceding season.
Houston we have a problem. Was bringing him back a mistake?
I wonder if they will trade Yordan at the deadline. cheaters need to rebuild.
No way a Yankees fan is calling someone else a cheater…
On top of that, trading Yordan? A franchise icon?
Don’t make me laugh. He is the only person in the club I respect and fear. (As a Rangers fan)
Orbits—Agreed. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Oh, the irony!
Snake bit team.
They’re currently in a series against the Dodgers, not the Diamondbacks.
I’m sure these comments will all be completely sane. Such a fun player to watch when healthy. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see him (along with many, many other potentially great players over the years) have a full and healthy career.
Never quite reached the lofty A-Rod expectations but a very good mlb career.
Do you mean as a cheater or a player? Or both?
Astros fans, I am genuinely curious–would you get mad at this point if the team just moved guys and got back prospect hauls right now? Not sure how worth it it is to continue to try and make the playoffs if it’s nearly certain that they won’t get far unless some guys start to explode in production. Or do you guys still push chips in for now and see what happens?
Not at all trying to kick you while you’re down, just wondering how you’d be thinking through this. This is a gut punch to you all–it really sucks. Hope he comes back stronger than ever next year for your sakes.
I am torn. Yordan is young enough to be around for the next good team, but he’s obviously the best piece they have and would completely destroy someone else’s farm system while turning the Astros around.
I sat through years of losing after the Killer B’s era. And it was fun watching players get drafted and move up through the organization. I enjoyed watching them build a dynasty and have hated how they have gotten away from that system they had.
It would allow me to be able to go back to games at an affordable cost again. My kids have never experienced bad Astros baseball and part of me experiencing it is what made 2017 and 2022 so great.
I think you have to start entertaining the idea. Most teams don’t have runs this long (that have budgets). But at the same time the injuries have completely destroyed this team and really showed how shallow their pitching is. A semi-healthy Astros team isn’t this bad and I could see a fairly quick turnaround.
Can’t see them selling unless it’s gets really bad. Plus the AL West has not looked great thus far, making things attainable. Owner Jim Crane always preaches “the window is always open.” Will be interesting to follow.
I think this is the nail in the coffin for their playoff hopes this year, and they should at least move their expiring contracts unless they think they have a good chance at extending or resigning them.
That being said, they should still wait until July before throwing up the white flag and becoming sellers, assuming they are indeed out of contention by that point.
Although, I’m not an Astros fan, but that’s my opinion from the outside.
The question needs to be asked but I think you still try to win.
A week from now you have an infield of: Christian Walker, Jose Altuve, Isaac Paredes, and Jeremy Pena with a DH of Yordan Alvarez.
How much worse off are you?
With how terrible the AL is and the talent on the roster and I.L. expected back within a month, you gotta stay the course.
Hunter Brown is the one that will determine if they have any chance. He needs to be back and 100% before mid-June.
Walker’s value is off the charts for him – MOVE HIM!
When Hader comes back – shows he’s healthy – MOVE HIM!
Throw in MATTHEWS as a piece for anyone – MOVE HIM!
When Yanier comes back – MOVE HIM!
I would like to see them trade that guy Yordan simply because of his name. He really should call himself Jordan. Sounds better.
Maybe he does but he has a well hidden speech impediment.
He lasted longer than the guy we got in the trade at least.
Good thing they have Braden Shewmake and his sudden offensive outbreak to replace him….
Between Peña earlier and now Correa, the decision not to move Paredes in a trade looks so obvious now. I remember all the “he doesn’t have a position” talk in ST, now we can clearly see depth is good.
You assume this risk when you bring in Correa. Astros got out before, but came back for more.
Seems like just yesterday he was cheating. Maybe he was.
When was the last time a “Jim” debuted in the Majors
Jimmy Rollins? Jim Edmonds was the last actual Jim.
Jim Jarvis is about to.
what about jim johnson?
I went to BB-Ref and put in “Jim” and it didn’t show him. I guess it just shows players in that search who had longer careers. There are probably several others that didn’t get listed.
Adduci, Henderson and Miller are also recent players.
maybe but he had a 13 yr career including an AS game and votes toward a cy young.
Shrug
While I didn’t like the MN fire sale last year, I will say that offloading Correa the moment they found a buyer was the best move they made. That contract was a huge problem, particularly for a team that didn’t want to spend anything, so ship it out if you get a window of good health.
Save the money & save themselves from a season ending injury! Win-win for MIN
As an M’s fan, (queue up Jerry Seinfeld) that’s a shame.
He kicked the trash can?
If the Astros don’t sell they could be a good change of scenery opportunity for Alec Bohm.
So he hurt himself on a NICE SWING, B—-