Nice Pena.

Pena out of the stadium

expect a lot of Ks in the opening series vs Anaheim

8 days ago, when he returned from the WBC, the Dodgers weren't sure where Shohei Ohtani would be in his pitching progression.

He then threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings in his first Cactus League start.

Today he has shut the Angels out thru another 4 innings -- with 11 strikeouts.

— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) March 25, 2026

Yainer bloop

texasaggie2015 said:

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Let's waste no time...

Official Texas Astros Thread Meetup date poll. Which of these four days works best?

A. Thursday, June 4th (vs Pirates) 2 votes
B. Friday, June 5th (vs. A's) 1 vote
C. Friday, June 19th (vs Guardians) 3 votes

Reply with the date (or dates) that work for you and I'll tally them up and pick the date that has the most votes.

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Casting my vote for the 19th only…in FL on the 4th and 5th.

Astros Bingo update: Now up to 54 contestants, this is clearly a case of "be careful what you wish for." I thought Survivor Bingo was tiring

Check your picks here

If you didn't follow the Astros Off-Season Thread and want to play Astros Bingo, here is my post with the entire rule and ballot:


Deadline to enter is before first pitch for Astros/Angels on Thursday, March 26th at 310 PM

Ballots are uploaded for the below players since my last update.
DekkerLentz - still need your tiebreakers, buddy.
superaggie73
LonestarAg09

On LMJ - my media buddy says maybe a month and unless he finds the Fountain of Velocity, he's getting cut.

texasaggie2015 said:

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Let's waste no time...

Official Texas Astros Thread Meetup date poll. Which of these four days works best?

A. Thursday, June 4th (vs Pirates) 2 votes
B. Friday, June 5th (vs. A's) 1 vote
C. Friday, June 19th (vs Guardians) 3 votes

Reply with the date (or dates) that work for you and I'll tally them up and pick the date that has the most votes.

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Not to be picky or anything, but there are only 3 days shown. I am in Ft Worth until late on the 4th and would be coming in from Bastrop, so my only vote is for the 19th.

CharleyKerfeld said:

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On LMJ - my media buddy says maybe a month and unless he finds the Fountain of Velocity, he's getting cut.

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You know big daddy Crane gives washed up players he's way overpaying for months of time to "get it together"… See Captain Lou Abreu.

texasaggie2015 said:

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Let's waste no time...

Official Texas Astros Thread Meetup date poll. Which of these three days works best?

A. Thursday, June 4th (vs Pirates) 2 votes
B. Friday, June 5th (vs. A's) 1 vote
C. Friday, June 19th (vs Guardians) 5 votes

Reply with the date (or dates) that work for you and I'll tally them up and pick the date that has the most votes.

---

19th is the big leader so far.

EABC_AG said:

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Was starting to gain a little optimism for the season, but I didn't fully appreciate how unfavorably viewed our rotation is by projection systems. A bottom third unit in the league. How far our rotation has fallen in 3 years…

Need multiple pitchers to take a massive leap to have a chance at true contention in the division in my opinion

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I actually think the rotation will be one of the stronger units of this team.

HB is a HB and a CY candidate
Burrows has looked really good this spring. Looks like the pitching lab has done their thing and I'll think he surprise some people.
Javier is a big question mark
Imai will have some adjusting to do but his stuff is nasty enough he's gonna end up being #2 pitching in the #4 slot.
LMJ is a big question mark.

When all is said and done there are really only 2 pitchers who are question marks but what rotation doesn't have that?

I think they'll well outperform their projection systems numbers and be a top 1/3 group.

Three bold Astros predictions for 2026 - https://t.co/atI9Pcn6ig

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) March 25, 2026

Not a fan of #2

Preseason Predictions

Record:
Division Finish:
Postseason: Y/N

Team MVP:
Team CY:
Team ROY:

3 Positive Predictions

3 Negative Predictions

Preseason Predictions

Record: 90-72
Division Finish: 1st
Postseason: Y

Team MVP: Yordan Alvarez
Team CY: Hunter Brown
Team ROY: Tatsuya Imai

All 3 of those are boring, but for 90 wins to happen, these guys need to be good.

3 Positive Predictions

• There is an argument for Imai, Burrows, and Brown as team Cy Young. All 3 kill it. Our postseason rotation looks ridiculous.
• Yainer has a nice bounce-back season. Maybe not All-Star good, but slightly improved defensive metrics along with 110+ wRC+ offensively.
• Correa is the best INF bat. He has a season that reminds you of a young #1 at SS. 25-90-90 type stuff.

3 Negative Predictions

• Walker, Paredes, and Pena all kind of fall short of expectations. Walker is fairly similar to 2025 and a league-average player, Pena takes a step back from 2025, and Paredes somewhat struggles (relative term) without a true position and deals with injury.
• Javier and McCullers just don't have it anymore. Not saying they'll be terrible, but both will underperform to their contract.
• The bullpen has major ups and downs. Someone is this year's Taylor Scott. Injuries linger.

Preseason Predictions

Record: 89-73
Division Finish: 2nd
Postseason: Yes

Team MVP: Jeremy Pena
Team CY: Hunter Brown
Team ROY: Tatsuya Imai

3 Positive Predictions
- Diaz takes big step forward and is in all star contention
- Hunter brown finishes top 3 in cy young
- Correa is an all star

3 Negative Predictions
- Paredes has a down year
- we struggle to lock down the 4 and 5 roles in the rotation
- Cam smith doesn't take a step forward

We win the wild card series and lose in the ALDS

Preseason Predictions

Record: 90-72
Division Finish: 2nd
Postseason: Y

Team MVP: Pena
Team CY: HB
Team ROY: Imai

3 Positive Predictions
Yordan plays 150 games and looks like typical Yordan.
Correa hits 20+ HR
Burrows ERA under 3.5

3 Negative Predictions
Javier unable to return to form. ERA 4.2+
Bullpen losses a high leverage arm due to injury
Jake Meyers regresses to 80 OPS+

One. More. Sleep. #ChaseTheFight pic.twitter.com/0VaoZdQpN6

— Houston Astros (@astros) March 25, 2026

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Three bold Astros predictions for 2026 - https://t.co/atI9Pcn6ig

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) March 25, 2026

Not a fan of #2

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This is something that's been discussed behind the scenes for a while now. If the Astros are completely out of it by midseason, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him moved unfortunately.

texasaggie2015 said:

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EastCoastAgNc said:

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Three bold Astros predictions for 2026 - https://t.co/atI9Pcn6ig

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) March 25, 2026

Not a fan of #2

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This is something that's been discussed behind the scenes for a while now. If the Astros are completely out of it by midseason, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him moved unfortunately.

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Might as well move Imai, Paredes, Abreu, & Meyers, too. If we're punting the rest of '26 and '27 then let's do a 1.5 year rebuild.

I can't open that link. Who is this referring to?

Farmer1906 said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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EastCoastAgNc said:

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Three bold Astros predictions for 2026 - https://t.co/atI9Pcn6ig

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) March 25, 2026

Not a fan of #2

---

This is something that's been discussed behind the scenes for a while now. If the Astros are completely out of it by midseason, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him moved unfortunately.

---

Might as well move Imai, Paredes, Abreu, & Meyers, too. If we're punting the rest of '26 and '27 then let's do a 1.5 year rebuild.

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Doesn't yordan's contract end after 27? He'd probably go along with maybe Hunter and Yanier.

Ag_07 said:

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I can't open that link. Who is this referring to?

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Pena

Just give me one more deep/fun playoff run with Altuve, Correa, Pena and Yordan. That's all I want right now

You.

Preseason Predictions

Record: 83-79
Division Finish: 3rd
Postseason: N

Team MVP: Jeremy Pena
Team CY: Bryan Abreu
Team ROY: It better be Imai or we wasted a lot of $

3 Positive Predictions
Jeremy Pena has the best hit and run season by an Astro SS since 1983 Dickie Thon
One way or another, we're finally free of Lance McCullers' godawful contract,
Joey Loperfido spreads joy and happiness every time he plays.

3 Negative Predictions

Josh Hader turns into an oft-injured guy and becomes another payroll sinkhole.
Paredes and Yordan both suffer injuries, but for some reason Christian Walker refuses to.

The season is a carbon copy of 2007, with an unpleasant series of similar circumstances:

• Still just a couple of years removed from being a major contender for the title.
• Aging HOF 2B (Biggio/Altuve)
• One truly great big-time slugger in his prime (Berkman/Yordan)
• One great #1 pitcher (Oswalt/Hunter)
• A formerly dominant closer that you're getting a little iffy on as he passes 30 (Lidge/Hader)
• A bunch of familiar guys who are going to really need to step up, and you're not sure they can.

Preseason Predictions

Record: 88-74
Division Finish: 2nd
Postseason: Y

Team MVP: Pena
Team CY: Brown
Team ROY: Imai

Seems to be the consensus lol

3 Positive Predictions

• Yordan spends less than 20 days on IL
• HB wins 15 games and has an ERA under 3.00
• Christian Walker makes massive improvement from last year and hits 35 HR with 100 RBI

3 Negative Predictions

• Lineup management sucks with logjam at INF
• Yainer doesn't improve on plate discipline resulting in 3x SO than BB
• Astros Social Media team keeps #ChaseTheFight slogan

EastCoastAgNc said:

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Farmer1906 said:

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texasaggie2015 said:

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EastCoastAgNc said:

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Three bold Astros predictions for 2026 - https://t.co/atI9Pcn6ig

— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) March 25, 2026

Not a fan of #2

---

This is something that's been discussed behind the scenes for a while now. If the Astros are completely out of it by midseason, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him moved unfortunately.

---

Might as well move Imai, Paredes, Abreu, & Meyers, too. If we're punting the rest of '26 and '27 then let's do a 1.5 year rebuild.

---

Doesn't yordan's contract end after 27? He'd probably go along with maybe Hunter and Yanier.

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Yordan, Brown, and Yainer are all here for 2028.

Pretty much all the predictions I am seeing from the outside are all Houston around .500 or just a few games above. Pretty much, everyone has us missing the playoffs.

Preseason Predictions

Record: 88-74
Division Finish: 2nd
Postseason: Y

Team MVP: Yordan
Team CY: Brown
Team ROY: Imai

3 Positive Predictions

Yordan finally has a healthy full team and finishes top 3 in the MVP

Imai finishes top 3 in ROY

One of Cole and Loperfido establish themselves as a solid ML player in the OF and goes 20/20.


3 Negative Predictions

The Walker/Paredes deal is a bust and one is gone in July.

Cam Smith regresses massively. He becomes just a platoon RHH OF and we start to label him a bust.

The starting duo of Javier and LMJ are a bust and by June both are out and we are piecing a rotation together.

Giants Yankees tonight in the Arson Judge classic

Mathguy64 said:

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Preseason Predictions

Record: 88-64
Division Finish: 2nd
Postseason: Y

Team MVP: Yordan
Team CY: Brown
Team ROY: Imai

3 Positive Predictions

Yordan finally has a healthy full team and finishes top 3 in the MVP

Imai finishes top 3 in ROY

One of Cole and Loperfido establish themselves as a solid ML player in the OF and goes 20/20.


3 Negative Predictions

The Walker/Paredes deal is a bust and one is gone in July.

Cam Smith regresses massively. He becomes just a platoon RHH OF and we start to label him a bust.

The starting duo of Javier and LMJ are a bust and by June both are out and we are piecing a rotation together.

---

We only playing 152 games this season? That is quite the prediction...

ruxin98 said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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Preseason Predictions

Record: 88-64
Division Finish: 2nd
Postseason: Y

Team MVP: Yordan
Team CY: Brown
Team ROY: Imai

3 Positive Predictions

Yordan finally has a healthy full team and finishes top 3 in the MVP

Imai finishes top 3 in ROY

One of Cole and Loperfido establish themselves as a solid ML player in the OF and goes 20/20.


3 Negative Predictions

The Walker/Paredes deal is a bust and one is gone in July.

Cam Smith regresses massively. He becomes just a platoon RHH OF and we start to label him a bust.

The starting duo of Javier and LMJ are a bust and by June both are out and we are piecing a rotation together.

---

We only playing 152 games this season? That is quite the prediction...

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Username does not check out.

ruxin98 said:

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Mathguy64 said:

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Preseason Predictions

Record: 88-64
Division Finish: 2nd
Postseason: Y

Team MVP: Yordan
Team CY: Brown
Team ROY: Imai

3 Positive Predictions

Yordan finally has a healthy full team and finishes top 3 in the MVP

Imai finishes top 3 in ROY

One of Cole and Loperfido establish themselves as a solid ML player in the OF and goes 20/20.


3 Negative Predictions

The Walker/Paredes deal is a bust and one is gone in July.

Cam Smith regresses massively. He becomes just a platoon RHH OF and we start to label him a bust.

The starting duo of Javier and LMJ are a bust and by June both are out and we are piecing a rotation together.

---

We only playing 152 games this season? That is quite the prediction...

---

Apparently, math isn't his strong suit.

Preseason Predictions

Record: 84-78
Division Finish: 2nd
Postseason: Last WC spot

Team MVP: Pena
Team CY: Brown
Team ROY: Imai

3 Positive Predictions

• Cam Smith figures it out and is top 3 in RBI and xBH
• Walker turns it around and hits >.250 at Daikin
• Correa solidifies the clubhouse leadership role

3 Negative Predictions

• Diaz still can't recognize a breaking ball
• Yordan doesn't play >120 games
• Dana doesn't get extensions done with anybody and can't find the right trade partner at the deadline

NM