{"id":609771,"date":"2026-03-06T13:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/609771\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:28:17","slug":"astros-star-injured-at-wbc-will-a-familiar-face-take-over-for-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/609771\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros star injured at WBC, will a familiar face take over for him?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Pena took over for Carlos Correa and put him out of a job. Correa departed for the Minnesota Twins, but he returned to the Houston Astros at the trading deadline last summer. Now, will Correa return to his former home in 2026? Someone needs to start at shortstop on Opening Day for the Astros, and it doesn\u2019t appear that it will be Pena.<\/p>\n

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Correa\u2019s Return:\"Sep<\/p>\n

Sep 24, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa (1) hits a double against the Athletics in the ninth inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

When Correa agreed to the trade, it was with full knowledge that he would be playing third base. Ultimately, he just wanted to be back in Houston, and the Astros needed him for both his bat and leadership abilities. Last year was also difficult for Houston as Yordan Alvarez dealt with injuries and Isaac Paredes was sidelined at the time of the trade.<\/p>\n

Now, with everyone healthy, there are one or two more strong options than there are lineup spots. Initially, it seemed as if Paredes was going to be the casualty, but he\u2019s also too good a player for the Astros to simply discard at a discount. The other consideration is that things like this generally work themselves out. Unfortunately, it\u2019s not always for the better.<\/p>\n

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Depth Could Prevail:<\/p>\n

In this case, it\u2019s an injury driving the discussion. Ultimately, they are a part of the game, and it\u2019s also the perfect example of why retaining depth is so important.<\/p>\n

Granted, it could have happened anywhere at any time, but there are going to be more eyes on it because it happened during a WBC exhibition game. Pena was fielding a ground ball and injured the tip of his finger. It wasn\u2019t enough to force him from the game, but it\u2019s not an ideal situation, and that\u2019s often not going to tell the full story.<\/p>\n

Pena\u2019s Injury:\"Jun<\/p>\n

Jun 17, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Pe\u00f1a (3) during the game against the Athletics at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Not only was there an injury to the tip of Pena\u2019s finger, but also to the fingernail. The shortstop figures to have a delayed start to his 2026 season, as the X-Ray did, in fact, result in a fracture. At this point, Pena will be sidelined for the next two weeks until he is reevaluated. That means he\u2019ll likely be behind to start the season.<\/p>\n

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Houston does have Nick Allen as a backup shortstop, but they need to get Correa and Paredes into the starting lineup. The path that makes the most sense is Paredes at third base and Correa at shortstop.<\/p>\n

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The post Astros star injured at WBC, will a familiar face take over for him?\u00a0<\/a> appeared first on The Big Lead<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeremy Pena took over for Carlos Correa and put him out of a job. Correa departed for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,3225,54,893,5828,813,60,4,2270,8980,1949,2264],"class_list":["post-609771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-baseball","tag-carlos-correa","tag-houston-astros","tag-isaac-paredes","tag-jeremy-pena","tag-jurickson-profar","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-nick-allen","tag-sutter-health-park","tag-the-athletics","tag-yordan-alvarez"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116182471725247538","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}