What Positions Should the Astros Address in the Offseason? Insider Breakdown

What Positions Should the Astros Address in the Offseason? Insider Breakdown

But as you look, maybe a way too early look at the off seasonason. What are some of the areas you’d like the Astros to address? Yeah, I don’t it’s not that too early because I today they had Joe Espatada and Dana Brown at the press conference. So those guys had to address some of the same things. Uh obviously you have a lot of guys for four positions on the infield with uh Kareah being traded over here at the deadline. So you got Kareah likely the left side of the infield. Then you have Alibbe Walker and Kus on the right side of the infield. So, uh, it’s hard. Five spots to four positions doesn’t really work. So, I don’t know if they’re still looking at Albe as an outfielder. That’s something Job Spot said they wanted to talk to Jose about. Uh, but that’s something they have to decide on this off season. I think there’s probably some some opportunity for a job in the outfield, whether it’s one of the young guys, Cam Smith or Zack Cole, earning those uh corner jobs. Jake Meyers would be the incumbent in center field, you would think. Uh, but I also think they might be on the lookout for a left-handed stick uh to be able to play in the outfield. I know they thought they had that in Jesus Sanchez. Uh, he had a couple of he had four home runs, I believe, but was very wildly inconsistent in his time with the Astros after the trade. So, I I wouldn’t be shocked if they add another outfielder somewhere that can play 100 to 140 games and be a left-handed stick. kind of like like with the infield, there’s also seems to be on the back end of the rotation. There seems to be a bunch of guys for, you know, the backend spot there. Who do you like going to the offseason currently of, you know, who’s going to who you think right now would win a spot? Is it Alexander and, you know, you got Blanco and these guys potentially coming back? Just how do you view the back end of the rotation going into the offseason? Yeah, to me that’s the biggest question mark going into 2025’s off seasonason is how do you fill out your rotation and not just with the five that are going to be with you on March 26, but who are going to be the 10 to 12 that are going to be possibly starting for you when you need backup help along the way. Right now, I think they’re in dire need of arms, but it’s not easy to find arms. They tried to make a deal deadline and it didn’t work out. Um, but you have a lot of injuries. you have, you know, you mentioned when are we going to see some of these guys coming back, whether it’s a Renaell Blacko or Luis Garcia or Spencer Eric Getti or Hayden Weski. Uh these are all questions that we’re kind of uncertain about. So, um until you can count on one of them, you basically got Hunter Brown for sure. You got Christian Javier for sure. I would think Jason Alexander’s in the mix somewhere just based on what he did most of the year. I know the last start and a half did not go quite as well as he would have liked. Um, and then you’ve got a lot of young guy. Well, you got Lance McCulla still in the mix, assuming he’s going to uh fight for a job next year in that rotation. Then you got a bunch of young guys, whether it’s an AJ Blue Ball, whether it’s Colton Gordon, whether it’s guys at the minor league level, Miguel Ulola or Ethan TCO. Uh, but there are still a lot of jobs to be won in that rotation. I think through trade or free agency, more than likely than a trade, the Astros have to go out and find somebody that can be a 30 start guy in your rotation because they they’re likely going to lose Framber. Um and and that’s another hole because at the end of the year, they basically had four starters including Frober and they were mixing and matching with that fifth spot. Todd Callus joining us on the HR&P guest line. I I wasn’t sure if I was going to watch the uh the playoffs because I’m a little sad, TK. I’m a little sad that I’m not watching Astros baseball in the postseason. Postseason baseball is so much fun. How much postseason baseball will you watch? That’s a good question. I didn’t watch much. I watched a little bit of the Guardians Tigers game today, but I didn’t even see the finish of that one, which I heard was great uh with a guy on third and nobody out and Best was able to pitch around it. And I haven’t really watched any of the Cubs Padres. So, to answer your question, at least today, not much, but I’m sure I I’ll watch them. I mean, there’s still a lot of ex Astros out there and and obviously you’re curious how the Mariners do since they’re representing the AL West, but um it’s a little different. I the first time around in my nine years here that I haven’t seen the Astros in the postseason. So, I will watch some, but probably not as much as you might think. I I I watch a lot more in the regular season and probably in the postseason. Uh when you look at this team next year, what how are you feeling about Cam Smith? because you mentioned him earlier like had a hot start, kind of slowed down a little bit. What’s your feeling on Cam Smith going into next season? For me personally, I would like to see him be the everyday right fielder. I don’t know if that’s in the plans or not. I think he has to probably earn his way on to that uh starting spot, but I I think this guy has incredible upside. Um didn’t play as much in September as maybe he would have liked or certainly I would have liked. I thought Cam uh basically got starts against left-hand pitchers and and that was about it down the stretch. I I really think this guy has unlimited potential. Uh the power stroke’s going to come. I know he only hit nine home runs this year. He really proved to be a very good defensive outfielder even though he had never played there before. Uh so for me, he’s my everyday starting right fielder. Uh but I will make those decisions. I think he’s going to have to go out there and earn that there. There’s no way that calling him up too soon could have stunted his development, right? I mean, we we hear that in baseball. You call them up too quickly, speed them up through the system, it it could stunt their growth. Uh, did you see any of that? I didn’t think so. Well, I mean, if you look back at the team’s high water mark when they were 55 and 35, I mean, Cam was batting second and fourth during that stretch, and he was basically uh one of the top two or three candidates for rookie of the year before Nick Kirks came out of nowhere to kind of steal that away. So, at that point in July, nobody said, you know, there was a reason for him to come up or there was reason to say he came up too quickly. I think if the if it would have the season would have been reversed and he struggled early, he would have been sent down. Instead, he did what he did going through July and then he kind of fell off after that. He never had played anywhere close to as many games as he did this year. So, that’s a learning curve for a kid this first year, but uh the flashes he showed in the first half were legit. It wasn’t like he did it for a month. He did it for three months and then just kind of uh hit a little bit of a wall. Yeah. Yeah. TK, we appreciate you joining us all season long. A little bittersweet. Uh but we appreciate the insight. always enjoy our conversations and uh hope you have a terrific off season and get some rest and relaxation. I appreciate it, guys. Always good talking to you. I look forward to uh hopefully catching up or crossing paths this off season somewhere. That sounds great.

“What Positions Should the Astros Address in the Offseason?” is the question on every fan’s mind — and in this episode, we went deep with Todd Kalas to get his take.
We explore:
Which infield / outfield roles are unsettled (Cam Smith, Jake Meyers, left-handed outfielders)
The dire need for rotation depth, especially with Luis García’s injury looming over Houston’s pitching plans
How Christian Walker’s signing at first base plugs one hole — but many more remain
Which free agents, trades, or internal options could realistically fill gaps
What the Astros need to do to rebuild and return to contention

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