MLBTR Podcast: Jesús Luzardo’s Extension, Atlanta’s Depth, And Zack Littell
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Phillies and Jesús Luzardo signing an extension (1:55)
- Johan Rojas reportedly testing positive for a PED and how that impacts the Phillies (16:55)
- The Braves losing Jurickson Profar to yet another PED suspension and Joey Wentz to a season-ending injury (22:15)
- The Nationals signing Zack Littell (36:25)
- The Pirates trading Kyle Nicolas to the Reds for Tyler Callihan (43:40)
- The Rangers signing Andrew McCutchen to a minor league deal (48:45)
- The Astros dealing with a Jeremy Peña injury and how that impacts the ongoing Isaac Paredes trade rumors (53:30)
Check out our past episodes!
- Max Scherzer, The Red Sox’ Lineup, Spring Extension Candidates, And More! – listen here
- Twins And Orioles’ Injuries, The Guardians And Angels’ Quiet Offseasons, And Chris Sale’s Extension – listen here
- The Tigers’ Rotation, A Brewers-Red Sox Trade, And Late Free-Agent Signings – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Kyle Ross, Imagn Images
Jeremy Peña Diagnosed With Finger Fracture
March 6: General manager Dana Brown said this morning that it’s “too early” to tell if Peña will be ready for Opening Day (via Kawahara). Peña himself added that Opening Day is the goal, but he’s not yet sure how the injury will heal. That Peña and the team are even leaving the door cracked for the shortstop to be on the roster is a welcome development for Astros fans, however.
Kawahara writes that moving Correa over to shortstop would be the top option if Peña misses time, though slick-fielding utilityman Nick Allen could also get a few extra innings there. With regard to potential trades involving the Astros’ collection of infielders, Brown suggested that he’ll remain open if other clubs come calling but didn’t sound motivated to actively pursue trade scenarios while Peña is banged up.
“Right now, we like where we are,” said Brown. “We have a good club. We have pretty good depth.”
March 5: The Astros announced that shortstop Jeremy Peña has a fracture in the tip of his right ring finger. He will be reevaluated in two weeks. Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle was among those to relay the update.
Peña was playing for the Dominican Republic team yesterday in an exhibition contest against the Tigers in advance of the World Baseball Classic. In the third inning, he fielded a grounder from Wenceel Pérez behind the second base bag. Peña was able to make the play and throw out Pérez but was seen looking at his finger. He was later removed from the contest.
Yesterday, Dionisio Soldevila of Grandes en los Deportes reported that Peña had suffered a fracture. The Astros initially pushed back on that report, saying that Peña had cracked his fingernail and was still undergoing testing, but a fracture is the diagnosis after all. The WBC final is on March 17th, so it appears that the D.R. team will have to proceed without Peña at shortstop for the whole tournament.
As for the Astros, time will tell if Peña can get healthy in time for their season opener or not. They will start their campaign on March 26th, three weeks from today. Perhaps Peña will have enough time to heal up. If not, injured list stints can be backdated by three days, so there’s a potential scenario where he makes a quick trip to the IL and is back in a week.
At least temporarily, this alleviates the logjam the Astros have been facing on the position player side. For most of the offseason, trade rumors have swirled due to the club seemingly having one more infielder than necessary. Isaac Paredes has been the guy most often at the center of that trade speculation. He was Houston’s third baseman for most of last year but he suffered a significant hamstring strain which prompted the Astros to acquire Carlos Correa to replace him.
With Paredes now healthy going into 2026, the infield is a bit cluttered. On paper, the Astros have Peña at short, Correa at third, Jose Altuve at second and Christian Walker at first. Yordan Alvarez can play left field but will be the designated hitter most days. Paredes could bounce around the infield with some time in the DH spot when Alvarez in left.
It’s a bit inelegant, which has led to all the rumors, but this Peña injury also demonstrates how quickly the surplus could evaporate. If he has to miss some time, the Astros could slide Correa over to short, which would allow Paredes to have a regular playing time at third.
This Peña injury doesn’t appear to be major, so things could get tight again fairly quickly, but another injury at some point is likely. Correa and Alvarez have both had some notable injury troubles over the years. Altuve and Walker have been more reliable but Altuve will be turning 36 soon and Walker is approaching his 35th birthday. The logjam is only really a problem is everyone is healthy at the same time.
Perhaps the odds of a Paredes deal have decreased somewhat with this development. On the other hand, the Astros still want to add another lefty bat into their outfield group and appear to be against their budget limit, so there could still be a case for a Paredes trade if the right offer comes along. More information on Peña’s status and the club’s plans should be forthcoming as Opening Day gets closer.
Photo courtesy of Cary Edmondson, Imagn Images
Astros Receiving “Minimal” Interest In Christian Walker
The Astros kicked off the offseason by downplaying the idea that they would consider dealing away either third baseman Isaac Paredes or first baseman Christian Walker to clear the infield logjam the summer’s Carlos Correa trade created, but more recent reporting has suggested at least some discussions involving Paredes with the Red Sox. Chandler Rome of The Athletic discussed situation in Houston with more detail yesterday, noting that the club’s plans to use Yordan Alvarez as a regular DH and Jose Altuve at second base more frequently in 2026 leave the club with limited options to squeeze both Paredes and Walker into the lineup on a regular basis. That would seemingly indicate that a trade is likely to be in the cards, but Rome added that the club has received little interest in Walker’s services this winter.
That’s not exactly shocking news, given the lackluster inaugural season Walker put together with the Astros. In 154 games with Houston, Walker slashed just .238/.297/.421 with a wRC+ of 99 and 1.1 fWAR. The season wasn’t all bad, as Walker did hit .250/.312/.488 after the All-Star break. That second half performance saw him swat 15 homers in 263 plate appearances and post a 120 wRC+ that was exactly in line with what he had done in Arizona from 2022-24, offering some reason for optimism headed into the veteran’s age-35 season in 2026.
Even with that optimism, however, it’s easy to see why rival clubs wouldn’t be especially excited about taking on the final two years and $40MM owed to an aging first baseman who posted numbers just a tick below league average last year alongside his highest strikeout rate and lowest walk rate since becoming an MLB regular. Walker’s declining discipline would surely make it hard for the Astros to get a significant return for his services, which could leave the team better off hoping for a return to form and instead listening to offers on Paredes.
That would be a real blow to the team’s lineup, as Paredes delivered a .254/.352/.458 (128 wRC+) performance in 102 games before being sidelined by a hamstring injury shortly before the trade deadline. Losing that sort of offensive impact from a lineup that posted a pedestrian wRC+ of 100 last year would be difficult, but a healthy season from Alvarez would surely help to make up for the loss of Paredes even if quality regulars like Walker, Correa, and Altuve don’t bounce back. That could make a trade that ships out Paredes in exchange for pitching help sensible for the Astros, especially given the team’s logjam around the infield.
With star shortstop Jeremy Pena just two seasons from free agency and the market for quality shortstops this winter extremely thin, there’s been some speculation about his own availability in trades. While a trade of Pena could allow Correa to slide back to shortstop while Paredes reclaims his native third base, Rome reports that GM Dana Brown firmly shut that notion down. When asked if he was discussing Pena in trade talks, Brown was emphatic in his denial.
“No,” Brown said, as relayed by Rome. “His name has not come up and I think teams understand if you’re a winning team and you’re trying to go back to the postseason, there’s no way you can trade your starting shortstop.”
The team’s apparent plans leave increasingly limited options for the team to keep both first base options in the fold, and Rome suggests that Paredes learning left field could be the only way to fit both Paredes and Walker in the lineup on a regular basis next year. That assumes Alvarez will be an everyday DH and Altuve will return to second base on a regular basis, as comments from Brown and manager Joe Espada have suggested. That would leave room for occasional starts for Paredes at second base or DH on days off or during rare cameos for either player in left field, but it hardly seems likely to be a significant number of at-bats.
Rome’s suggestion of Paredes trying left field comes with real obstacles. The 26-year-old has zero experience anywhere in the outfield as a professional, which makes the possibility of a move to left seem fairly remote. Altuve had never played the outfield prior to picking up the position last spring, but moving to the outfield could come with additional considerations for Paredes so soon after a major hamstring injury. Perhaps playing time could be juggled between six players for five spots in the lineup even without Paredes spending time in left, though Rome noted that the players themselves might not be content with being asked to sit regularly.
Turning back to Walker, if the Astros were motivated to move him Rome suggests that he’s not unmovable. Walker’s track record, veteran presence, and strong second half were surely be enough to find a take for his services on the trade market in at least some capacity, though Houston would surely have to eat a chunk of his salary and/or accept a fairly minimal return in order to facilitate that sort of deal. The Red Sox, Mets, Yankees, Marlins, Diamondbacks, and Padres are among the teams who could theoretically use help at first base this winter, though many of those clubs may prefer their internal options to swinging a trade for Walker.
Jeremy Pena Dealing With Oblique Strain
Imaging has revealed a left oblique strain for Jeremy Pena, the shortstop told reporters on Thursday. Chandler Rome of The Athletic was among those to relay the update. Pena had been out of the lineup for the past four games. He was initially in Sunday’s starting nine before being scratched due to the injury. Houston was swept at home by Seattle and has dropped the first two games of the series against the Athletics.
Just a few days after GM Dana Brown said Pena’s oblique injury “could be just a two-day thing,” Pena is now facing what could be an extended absence. While no roster move has been made regarding Pena, oblique injury timelines are typically measured in weeks, not days. It’s the second time this season that Pena has dealt with a left side issue, as he missed 27 games with a broken left rib.
It’s brutal news for a Houston team that just lost Yordan Alvarez to an ankle sprain. The Astros ceded their spot atop the AL West over the weekend and are now in danger of missing the postseason altogether. They entered Thursday’s action one game behind the Tigers for the final AL Wild Card spot. Given that the season is hanging by a thread, perhaps there would be some temptation to put Pena out there even when he’s not 100%. However, they are also doing that with Isaac Paredes, who was rushed back from a hamstring injury and is using the designated hitter spot at the moment.
The oblique injury could cut short a breakout 2025 campaign for Pena. The 28-year-old posted a healthy 135 wRC+ while slashing .304/.363/.477. He matched a career high with 20 steals. Pena’s 17 home runs fell short of the 22 he hit as a rookie, but he exceeded his total from 2024 in 107 fewer plate appearances. It was quite the bounce-back season after Pena put up below league-average offensive numbers the past two seasons. He equaled his career-best strikeout rate from 2024 at 17.1%, while pushing his hard-hit rate up over 40% for the first time, per Statcast. Pena was able to combine the improved plate discipline from 2024 with the power he showed in his debut MLB season, turning him into one of Houston’s most potent offensive threats.
The Astros have turned to Mauricio Dubon at shortstop for three of the four games without Pena. Carlos Correa slid over from third base to cover the spot on Wednesday. He certainly has plenty of experience playing up the middle for Houston. The versatile Ramon Urias is also an option at shortstop, though he hasn’t appeared in a big-league game at the position since 2022. It’s hard to imagine any of the potential replacements matching Pena’s offensive prowess, but Dubon is at least a viable defensive fit. While Pena had an excellent defensive season, ranking seventh among shortstops in Outs Above Average, Dubon is actually eighth on that list.
Astros Notes: Pena, Alvarez, Rodgers, Polanco
6:16PM: During the Astros’ pregame radio show, GM Dana Brown said that Pena’s oblique injury “could be just a two-day thing. It’s minor based on the initial evaluation of it.” Pena will still get some testing done out of due diligence. (Hat tip to Chandler Rome).
5:40PM: As the Astros head into a critical matchup with the Mariners tonight, Houston will be without one of its key players for at least this game and perhaps beyond. Jeremy Pena was included in the initial lineup but has now been scratched due to left oblique soreness, according to an announcement from the team.
Needless to say, losing Pena would be devastating to the Astros’ chances of winning the AL West, or even making the postseason given how the standings have narrowed. The Astros trail Seattle by two games in the division race after losing the first two games of this weekend series, and another loss tonight would put Houston out of the playoff picture entirely, as the surging Guardians would have a matching 84-72 record and the tiebreaker edge.
Because the Astros don’t play on Monday, it provides some extra time to evaluate Pena’s condition. If it is just a matter of soreness and tonight’s scratch was more of a precautionary move, it’s possible the shortstop could be back in action as soon as Tuesday. Oblique issues are notoriously hard to project, however, so even if Pena remains short of an actual oblique strain, there might still be enough discomfort that the Astros don’t want to risk putting him into a game.
Pena is having the best of his four Major League seasons, hitting .304/.363/.477 with 17 homers and 20 steals (in 22 attempts) over 543 plate appearances. Each of those slash categories is a new career high for Pena, and he has also matched his personal best in stolen bases. Between his big numbers and excellent defense, Pena has been worth 5.7 fWAR this season, even though he missed all of July recovering from a rib fracture.
Injuries have been the biggest problem of Houston’s season, as it is rather remarkable that the Astros are still in the race given how many key players have missed substantial amounts of time. Yordan Alvarez is one of those figures, as the slugger has been limited to 48 games due to a hand injury that included a finger fracture, and most recently a sprained ankle that sent him back to the IL on September 16.
Alvarez provided media (including the Houston Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara) with an update on his status today, saying that he has yet to begin baseball activities since the inflammation in his ankle hasn’t fully settled. On the plus side, Alvarez is no longer wearing a protective boot, and he feels he is healing a little quicker than expected. In the absolutely best case scenario, Alvarez would be eligible to be activated off the IL on Friday, when the Astros visit the Angels in the opener of their final series of the year.
One player who won’t be an option is Brendan Rodgers, as manager Joe Espada confirmed to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and other reporters that Rodgers’ season is officially over. The news is no surprise, as Rodgers hasn’t played in a big league game since June 14. Initially sidelined by an oblique strain, Rodgers suffered a concussion and a nasal fracture after an on-field collision in his first minor league rehab game in July. He returned to play one more minors game in August but was then sidelined by back problems.
Signed to a minor league deal in February, Rodgers made the Opening Day roster, and thus locked in a $2MM salary for the 2025 season. He hit .191/.266/.278 over 128 PA and 43 games before his injuries prematurely ended his season, and Rodgers will surely have to settle for another minor league contract with Houston or another club this winter.
Rodgers was brought aboard to add second base depth due to Jose Altuve‘s planned move to left field, and he may have been a fallback plan after Houston missed on signing Jorge Polanco. The Astros were the runners-up to the Mariners in signing Polanco, as the veteran infielder told Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times that Houston was “very close. They made a good offer, but Seattle came back with a better offer.”
The Mariners were also given the chance to counter, as Divish writes that Polanco’s agent gave Seattle a last chance to top the Astros’ offer. The end result was a one-year, $7.75MM guarantee plus a mutual option for 2026 that has now vested into a player option. Missing out on Polanco might well end up being the difference for the Astros in the AL West race, as Polanco rebounded in a huge way from a lackluster 2024 season to hit .265/.325/.489 with 24 homers for the M’s this year.
Astros, Twins Reportedly Discussed Christian Walker In Carlos Correa Trade
5:17PM: Nightengale clarified his earlier report, saying that it was the Twins who first floated Walker’s name and the Astros who passed on moving the first baseman.
2:56PM: The Astros and Twins pulled off a shocking move in the final hours before the deadline that brought three-time All-Star infielder Carlos Correa back home to the team that he spent the first seven seasons of his career with. The deal sent Correa to Houston in exchange for pitching prospect Matt Mikulski, with the Twins retaining $33MM of the $103.4MM remaining on Correa’s contract. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale provided additional details on the Correa negotiations this morning.
Most notably, Nightengale writes that the sides talked about including veteran first baseman Christian Walker as part of the return headed to Minnesota in exchange for Correa’s services. He adds that while the Twins “had the opportunity” to acquire Walker as part of the deal, they passed on taking the final two years and $40MM of his contract on. That’s not exactly a shocking decision. Given that Mikulski is a 26-year-old who has not yet even reached the Double-A level, it’s fair to view the Correa deal as a pure salary dump for Minnesota. Previous reporting has indicated that the Twins are more than $400MM in debt, and Nightengale writes that the club has lost $40MM this year.
That would make adding a larger contract like that of Walker counterproductive in most scenarios. Perhaps there was a version of the deal where the Twins retained less of Correa’s salary while taking on Walker’s contract, but given his mediocre 2025 campaign (96 wRC+, 0.6 fWAR) and the fact that he’s already 34 years old it’s understandable that the Twins wouldn’t be too interested in adding him at the beginning of a rebuild that might not end until Walker has already hit free agency.
There’s at least an argument to be made that he would’ve been a worthwhile addition to the club based on their lack of a long-term solution at the position, however. Kody Clemens is currently serving as the club’s first baseman and has blasted 12 homers in 65 games since landing in Minnesota, but is a career 82 wRC+ hitter in 222 big league games who seems unlikely to sustain that sort of production. Edouard Julien and Jose Miranda are both capable of playing the position and have past big league success but poor performance has relegated them to the minors for much of the year.
That could make the veteran consistency Walker could provide quite attractive in theory, especially after the loss of Correa and others from the clubhouse could leave a dearth of veteran leadership in the clubhouse outside of franchise face Byron Buxton. On the other hand, Walker lacks much upside; even his best seasons with the Diamondbacks saw him peak at a wRC+ of around 120, and the Twins could likely find a younger, cheaper alternative who has more of a chance to develop into a middle-of-the-order force if they were interested in doing so this offseason.
While the Twins may not have been a fit for Walker’s services, Nightengale suggests that the veteran might get shopped by the Astros this winter in a bid to make room for infielder Isaac Paredes as first base next year. That’s a sensible assumption based on the composition of the club’s roster. While the idea of Paredes moving to second was briefly floated last offseason, there’s been a great deal of skepticism since then about his viability as a defender at third base. Yordan Alvarez must be penciled in as the club’s DH even after a 2025 season that has been mostly lost to injury, and with a former Gold Glove shortstop in Correa who’s eager to move to third base in deference to fellow Gold Glove shortstop Jeremy Pena there isn’t room for Paredes on the left side of the infield anymore.
At the same time, Paredes’s bat is much too important to lose from the lineup. The two-time All-Star has hit an impressive .259/.359/.470 with 19 homers, 15 doubles, and triple in 96 games for the Astros this year. The third baseman is expected to miss the remainder of the 2025 season at this point, so fitting him into the lineup is not a concern in the short-term. First base seems like by far the most logical fit the slugger for the 2026 season, however. Paredes is under team control through the end of the 2027 season, so he’ll need to find a new long-term home in Houston with Correa set to take over the hot corner.
That will likely make Walker expendable this offseason. He’s certainly not had the season either side was hoping for when he signed with the Astros on a three-year, $60MM deal this past offseason. Back in June, MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk wrote about the lackluster start Walker had to his Astros career. He’s begun to turn things around since then, with a strong .288/.352/.466 (129 wRC+) slash line in 186 plate appearances since that article was published, but the concerns discussed in that piece still ring true. Walker is an aging, pricey veteran on a multi-year contract who has begun to show signs of decline.
It’s not the easiest profile to find a suitor for, but perhaps there will be a team in need of help at first base this winter with whom the club can work out a trade—particularly if they’re willing to pay down some of Walker’s remaining salary. The veteran’s play over the season’s final two months and into the postseason figures to have a major influence over how feasible an offseason trade will end up being and how much money, if any, the Astros would have to retain in order to move him.
If Houston’s front office doesn’t find an offer they deem acceptable for Walker, there are other avenues to working out the infield logjam, though each presents some issues. Perhaps Paredes could see some time at second base despite defensive questions. It’s possible that Walker could get some playing time at DH on days Alvarez plays the outfield, with Jose Altuve at second base. A trade of Paredes could even theoretically be considered, especially if a similarly well-regarded and controllable outfielder was available in return. As the Astros demonstrated for Jose Abreu, they’re also not opposed to simply cutting ties with a struggling veteran who no longer fits the club’s needs, though Walker would surely need to take an extreme turn for the worse in order for that option to be on the table.
Astros Announce Several Roster Moves
The Astros announced a lengthy slate of post-deadline moves Friday. Houston reinstated shortstop Jeremy Pena from the injured list and designated infielder Zack Short for assignment. The Astros also activated newly reacquired Carlos Correa and fellow trade acquisitions Jesus Sanchez and Ramon Urias, adding all three to the active roster.
In corresponding roster moves, Infield prospect Brice Matthews and outfield prospect Jacob Melton were optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land. The ‘Stros also recalled righty Nick Hernandez to take the roster spot of righty Ryan Gusto, who was traded to the Marlins in the Sanchez deal. Finally, right-hander Nick Robertson was outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers. He’d been designated for assignment earlier in the week.
Pena wound up missing more than a month due to a fracture in his ribcage. He was in the midst of a breakout, MVP-caliber season prior to landing on the injured list. The 27-year-old has slashed .322/.378/.489 (143 wRC+) with 11 homers, 18 doubles, a triple and 15 steals in 350 plate appearances. He was also playing Gold Glove-caliber defense at shortstop, generating plus marks from Defensive Runs Saved (7) and Outs Above Average (4). He’ll return to his customary shortstop, while the newly reacquired Correa will slide over to third base in deference to the young shortstop who he mentored during the pair’s prior overlap in the Astros organization.
As for Short, he’ll be placed on waivers within the next five days now that the trade deadline has passed. He’s appeared in 22 games and taken 56 plate appearances with just a .220/.291/.380 output to show in that small sample. The 30-year-old Short has appeared in parts of five big league seasons and is a .172/.271/.296 hitter in 594 trips to the plate as a major leaguer. He’s a solid defender at multiple infield positions but is out of minor league options, so he’ll either clear waivers or have to stick on the major league roster of another club that claims him.
Astros Notes: Peña, Matthews, Smith
The Astros placed star shortstop Jeremy Peña on the injured list due to a fractured rib, leaving them without their team’s most valuable player for at least a period of 10 days. A firm timetable for Peña’s return wasn’t provided by the team, and based on general manager Dana Brown’s comments regarding the injury, it sounds as though the club is taking an optimistic approach but doesn’t have a concrete idea of just how long he’ll be sidelined.
Via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, Brown called Peña’s injury a “pain tolerance thing” and left a rather open-ended window when discussing his shortstop’s potential return date. “If he feels like he’s fine after a week, we’ll start some baseball activity,” said Brown. “We can give him some things to do, and he might be able to play through it as it heals.”
Brown noted that there’s still a good bit of inflammation at the site of the fracture, but if that clears up in a timely manner, it’s possible Peña could return “soon after the 10 days” — provided he can tolerate the discomfort. Of course, there are plenty of factors to consider. Swinging with a fractured rib would presumably impact Peña’s productivity at the plate, and the prospect of him laying out for a grounder at shortstop or taking another errant pitch off the ribs could exacerbate the matter. There’s also no telling when the inflammation will calm down and he’ll feel well enough to swing; Peña was originally plunked on Friday night and missed the next two games due to ongoing pain before follow-up MRI and CT scans revealed a fracture that initial x-rays failed to detect.
Now that Peña is out for at least a short spell, Leah Vann of Chron.com argues that the Astros ought to take their first big league look at 2023 first-rounder Brice Matthews. With utilityman Mauricio Dubón likely to slide over to shortstop, an already weak point in the lineup (second base) could become that much more compromised. Matthews has played 52 of his 67 games this season at second base and turned in a robust .285/.403/.492 batting line (135 wRC+) in 298 Triple-A plate appearances.
Houston doesn’t need to protect Matthews from the Rule 5 Draft before the 2026-27 offseason. Selecting him to the 40-man roster more than a year prior to that point runs the risk of prematurely burning through some of his option years. However, given his production at the top minor league level, Matthews is making a clear case for a promotion, and if the Astros are confident he’s going to be in the majors for the long haul anyway, concern over those option years would be rendered moot. It’s possible Houston trades for a veteran second baseman, but talks along those lines — not just for the Astros but for the whole league — probably won’t pick up in earnest until later this month.
With both Peña and Yordan Alvarez sidelined, Houston’s lineup is missing two of its most talented hitters. They’ll need to rely more heavily on the rest of the bats for the time being, including touted rookie Cam Smith. Smith has been on absolute fire at the plate lately, slashing .367/.433/.617 over his past 16 games. As he’s heated up, he’s also climbed the batting order. Smith was batting seventh, eighth and ninth for much of May but has been plugged into the fourth or fifth spot in the lineup each game since June 19.
The Astros are bullish on Smith’s ability to be a fixture in their long-term lineup, of course, and the manner in which he’s taken to right field from a defensive standpoint only bolsters that optimism. A former third baseman, Smith is learning right field on the fly, but Brown said on the Astros’ pregame radio show this week that even dating back to the draft, he believed Smith would benefit from a move off third base and into the outfield.
“I didn’t feel like, as a scout evaluating him, that he was going to be this piece at third base,” Brown said (via Chandler Rome of The Athletic). Brown personally scouted Smith on multiple occasions despite knowing he had no real chance to fall all the way to the Astros at No. 28. Those in-person looks paid off when the Kyle Tucker trade discussions began with the Cubs, however, and once the Astros pried Smith loose, Brown recalled advising his staff: “I don’t feel we took this guy for him to play third base, my vision for him is right field.”
Smith has taken to right field like a duck to water. He’s made just two errors in 597 innings at the position while generating a whopping +9 Defensive Runs Saved and +4 Outs Above Average. Statcast pegs Smith’s range in the 91st percentile of big league outfielders and credits him with 82nd-percentile arm strength. There’s still some learning to do when it comes to throwing, as Statcast actually grades his throwing as a negative despite that plus arm strength — likely a reflection of Smith still honing his accuracy on those lengthier throws and on developing instincts for hitting the cutoff man, throwing to the proper base, etc. For a converted infielder, however, the plus range, sure hands and strong arm set the foundation for a Gold Glove ceiling.
Unsurprisingly, Rome suggests that Smith’s long-term home is in right field and that there’s no infield return planned. With Isaac Paredes hitting well and controlled two more seasons beyond the current campaign, that seemed like a given anyhow, but Brown’s comments only further reinforce that long-term outlook for Smith.
Astros Place Jeremy Peña On Injured List With Fractured Rib
The Astros announced Monday that star shortstop Jeremy Peña has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a “small” fracture in one of his left ribs. The team has not yet provided a timetable for Peña’s expected return. A corresponding move will not be announced until later in the day, the team added.
Peña was hit with a pitch in the ribs by Cubs rookie Cade Horton this past Friday. He exited the game, but initial x-rays came back negative. Peña was out of the lineup both Saturday and Sunday, and he was clearly still feeling discomfort, as the Astros indicated that follow-up MRI and CT scans were performed, which revealed the fracture.
It’s an awful injury for the Astros. Peña is enjoying a full-fledged breakout this year, turning in a performance that could well make him an American League MVP finalist. The 27-year-old shortstop is hitting .322/.378/.489 with 11 home runs, 18 doubles, a triple and 15 steals (in 17 tries) — all while playing plus defense at shortstop. FanGraphs ranks him third in the majors with 4.1 wins above replacement, tied with Shohei Ohtani and trailing only Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh. Baseball-Reference has Peña tied with Raleigh for second in baseball, behind only Judge.
Peña’s breakout has in part been fueled by some good fortune on balls in play (.360 BABIP, up from .308 in his three prior seasons), but that’s only part of the tale. He’s upped his walk rate, and while it’s still below league average, his 5.7% mark is a notable improvement over last year’s paltry 3.8% clip. His 15.7% strikeout rate is down from last year’s 17.1% mark. Peña’s batted-ball profile doesn’t necessarily look all that different upon first glance, but while his overall average exit velocity is nearly unchanged from 2024, his exit velocity on balls hit in the air. specifically, is up nearly three miles per hour. Statcast’s “expected” metrics still feel there’s some regression in store, but there are tangible changes to his underlying statistical profile that suggest he’s not simply going to fade back to his pedestrian offense from 2022-24.
Replacing the type of production Peña has provided simply isn’t feasible. Mauricio Dubón has stepped up at shortstop over the past couple days and can at least be expected to provide solid glovework, but he’s a career .259/.294/.379 hitter who’s batting .239/.278/.390 in 2025. Prospect Brice Matthews, Houston’s pick at No. 28 overall in the 2023 draft, is currently in Triple-A and slashing .285/.403/.492 with a huge 15.4% walk rate but also a weighty 28.5% strikeout rate.
Matthews is not yet on the 40-man roster and wouldn’t need to be added this winter to protect him from the Rule 5 draft, but his performance nonetheless puts him in the conversation for a look with Peña shelved. Presumably, the longer Peña is expected to miss, the more seriously the organization would consider Matthews an option to step in for him. Alternative options within the organization who have some shortstop experience include Shay Whitcomb (already on the 40-man roster), Zack Short and Greg Jones. Neither Short nor Jones is on the 40-man, however. Whitcomb has barely played shortstop in 2025 but does have a bit more than 1800 career professional innings at the position.
AL West Notes: Severino, Pena, Langford
The Athletics are playing all of their games for the next few years at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento while they wait for their stadium in Las Vegas to be constructed. It’s been expected from the very beginning that playing in a minor league stadium would be an adjustment for the players, and before the season began there were issues raised by the MLBPA that resulted in a brief scuffle over whether the park would have grass or synthetic turf. Even with concessions such as the use of grass, however, some players were bound to find the change jarring.
According to Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, Luis Severino is one such player. Severino has performed much better on the road this year, with a 2.27 ERA in seven road starts as compared to a 6.79 ERA in ten starts at Sutter Health Park. When asked about the discrepancy, Severino was quick to attribute it to the fact that the team gets to play in a traditional MLB stadium when on the road.
“We don’t have that at home right now,” Severino said, as relayed by Kuty. “It’s not the same. It’s not the same atmosphere. We don’t have a lot of fans. Our clubhouse is in left field. So, when we play day games, we have to just be in the sun. There’s no air conditioning there, too. It’s really tough.”
The A’s are expected to remain at Sutter Health Park through the end of the 2027 season, so conditions aren’t likely to change in the short-term. Severino signed with the A’s for three years and $67MM over the winter, and while his deal comes with an opt-out clause after the second season he’s still locked into that contract through the end of the 2026 campaign.
Given Severino’s displeasure with his home ballpark and the Athletics’ lackluster 34-51 record, it’s easy to speculate about the possibility of a trade benefiting all parties. The righty was floated as a possible trade target for the Cubs earlier this week, but there’s plenty of reason to think the A’s might be reluctant to part with Severino considering the struggles they’ve had luring high-dollar free agents into the organization previously. While most clubs would expect to be able to replace a high-dollar veteran they part with in trade via free agency the following winter, it’s not hard to imagine the A’s ballpark situation making free agent pitchers reluctant to sign there.
More from the AL West…
- Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena was out of the lineup today after getting hit by a pitch in the ribs during yesterday’s game against the Cubs, but manager Joe Espada told reporters (including Chandler Rome of The Athletic) that Pena came in today feeling better after being considered day-to-day yesterday. Espada added that Pena would receive treatment and do light baseball activities but be held out of tonight’s game. That creates reason for optimism he could be back in the lineup for the series finale on Sunday, which would be a huge boost given that Pena has put himself into the MVP conversation with a blistering first half. Mauricio Dubon has filled in at shortstop in Pena’s absence.
- Rangers outfielder Wyatt Langford was placed on the injured list due to an oblique strain yesterday, but MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry writes that both Langford himself and Rangers brass have suggested the issue isn’t a serious one. President of baseball operations Chris Young told reporters that the team having two upcoming days off on the schedule played a role in the decision to send Langford for what the club expects to be a minimum IL stint, and added that the injury was “right on the cusp” of being something they’d just rest Langford on the bench for a few days for. Langford has struggled to a lackluster .224/.286/.342 in June this year, so perhaps a ten-day reset could benefit the 23-year-old in more ways than one. Alejandro Osuna has joined Evan Carter and Adolis Garcia in the regular outfield mix while Langford is out of commission.