Opening Day is finally here after the Astros\u2019 longest offseason in nearly a decade. Following a disappointing 2025 season that ended after Game 162, the Astros remade a significant portion of their roster and coaching staff in an effort to reclaim their spot atop the American League West. Here are the four biggest questions I have as they head into the first of 162 games.<\/p>\n
Can they make their infield logjam work?<\/p>\n
The Astros have five infielders who have made All-Star teams, earn significant salaries, and expect to play every day. The problem is, you can only start four on any given day. That means someone who believes they belong in the lineup will be left out every single day. Managing those expectations\u2014while keeping everyone sharp\u2014may be Joe Espada\u2019s toughest challenge of 2026.<\/p>\n
Some of that could sort itself out. Jeremy Pe\u00f1a suffered a finger injury during the lead-up to the World Baseball Classic and won\u2019t be ready for Opening Day. Carlos Correa played more than 140 games last season for the first time since 2021, so it\u2019s reasonable to expect he\u2019ll miss a little time during his age-31 campaign. And, of course, the Astros could always trade from their infield surplus.<\/p>\n
But what if everyone stays healthy? And what if no trade materializes? Things could get uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
Did Dana Brown bring in the right starting pitchers?<\/p>\n
The Astros remade their starting rotation after missing the playoffs in 2006. Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens departed, and then-GM Tim Purpura tried to replace them by trading for Jason Jennings and signing Woody Williams in free agency. Both moves were disasters, and Purpura was fired before the 2007 season ended.<\/p>\n
This past winter, Dana Brown watched Framber Valdez leave and replaced him by trading for Mike Burrows and signing Tatsuya Imai in free agency. Both have had terrific springs, but joining the Astros is a major adjustment. Burrows is coming from Pittsburgh, where expectations and pressure were minimal, while Imai is transitioning from Japan to the United States\u2014an adjustment that can be challenging both on and off the field.<\/p>\n
The Astros gave up two prospects from a barren system to acquire Burrows, who is under team control for five seasons. They need him to be good not just in 2026, but well beyond. Imai signed a three-year, $54 million deal that includes opt-outs after the first two seasons. If he\u2019s good, he\u2019ll likely opt out and pitch elsewhere next year. If he struggles, he becomes another burdensome contract for a team that can\u2019t afford many more.<\/p>\n
Is the bullpen good enough behind Josh Hader and Bryan Abreu?<\/p>\n
With Hader and Abreu slated for the eighth and ninth innings, the Astros have one of the best one-two bullpen punches in Major League Baseball. But do they have the depth behind them to get through the season?<\/p>\n
That depth is already being tested, with Hader set to begin the year on the IL, along with Bennett Sousa, who authored a brilliant 2025 before getting hurt. The Astros will need Bryan King and Steven Okert to replicate last season\u2019s success in roles known for volatility, while also hoping that pitchers like Roddery Mu\u00f1oz, Kai-Wei Teng, Ryan Weiss, and Christian Roa emerge as reliable options, at least early in the season.<\/p>\n
Is Cam Smith still the future of the team?<\/p>\n
Late last February, I sat in Dana Brown\u2019s West Palm Beach office and asked him who had impressed through the first two weeks of spring training. I think Brown said Smith\u2019s name before I could even finish the question.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve rarely heard a GM talk about a prospect the way Brown talked about Smith, whom he acquired in the Kyle Tucker trade. General managers usually try to temper expectations for young players, but Brown seemed to raise them every chance he got.<\/p>\n
Smith made the Astros\u2019 Opening Day roster out of spring last season despite having played just 35 games in the minors with the Cubs in 2024. That only heightened expectations. It looked like he might meet them after raising his OPS to .805 during the Astros\u2019 18\u20131 win at Dodger Stadium on July 4, but over his final 60 games, Smith slashed just .155\/.248\/.232 and found himself on the bench for much of September.<\/p>\n
Brown said early in the offseason that Smith would have to earn a spot on the 2026 Opening Day roster, and he responded with an impressive spring. Smith, who turns 23 on Friday, remains under team control for another five seasons. And with no other impactful position-player prospects in the upper levels of the Astros\u2019 system, they need him to live up to the billing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Opening Day is finally here after the Astros\u2019 longest offseason in nearly a decade. Following a disappointing 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,139,54,64940,65265,65394,4522,32124,3211,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-645212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-astros","8":"tag-astros","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-astros","12":"tag-houston-astros-analysis","13":"tag-houston-astros-discussion","14":"tag-houston-astros-injuries","15":"tag-houston-astros-news","16":"tag-houston-astros-roster","17":"tag-houstonastros","18":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116297371698526498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645212","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=645212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}