February 24, 2025 • 8 mins
With the exit of key pieces in Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, the Astros are adapting to potential lineup changes. The infield will feature new faces with the acquisition of first baseman Christian Walker and third baseman Isaac Paredes, in addition to second baseman Jose Altuve working in left field, but Jeremy Peña is expected to remain at shortstop. Last season, Peña recorded a .266 batting average and an OPS of .701. The Astros concluded their 2024 campaign with a disappointing loss to the Detroit Tigers in the AL Wild Card Series, which ended a run of seven consecutive trips to the American League Championship Series. As the Astros enter a new era, what can Peña do to become a feared member of the lineup?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Astros. Today we're supposed to play a spring training game.
It has been rained out. Renel Blanco was supposed to
start that game. I don't know if they're gonna push
everybody back a day, or he'll throw in the backfields,
whatever the case may be, but he will not start
two day's game. Mcculor is thrown their side session. It's
good for him looking good. We're waiting to see joseel
(00:20):
TV playing left field. It is going to be and
you and I have been out enough spring training to
know this. Anytime anything, even the smidge changes from the
normal routine, it becomes a storyline because you're always trying
to find storylines. Maybe he makes his left field debut
and a game during our time slot, so we have
amazing listeners. Thousands of people want to catch how Jose
(00:43):
are going to do in left field. I'm trying to
temper my expectations because, as you mentioned last week, and
it's worth noting, when you get in and around it,
you go, man, this is there's a there's a buzz,
the energy, there's a wow, can't wait factor, And then
you come back to Houston and you deal like, are
they gonna put else? TV? Out and left field, all
these games. I've never done it before. Yeah, are they
(01:04):
really gonna be as good as because everybody every nobody's negative,
and no, no, they shouldn't be. Start a spring training be negative.
Everybody's got the greatest swing, they've added a pitch, they're stronger,
they're in the best shape of their life. And it's
like you get around that for like a few days
and you're getting those breathing in all those fumes of positivity.
It gets in your you're thinking, not only are they
gonna win the West by ten games, but they're gonna
(01:26):
maybe not even lose a single postseason game. Exactly. They're
gonna take down the Orioles, and they're gonna take down
the Yankees, and they're gonna beat the Dodgers in the
World Series. Yeah, and you're gonna realize they're doing the
same thing in redscamp. Yeah, exactly. Everybody's positive everywhere. Meanwhile,
Marlins camp Man, we're gonna shock the world. Love it,
and then reality sets it. Reality will set in at
(01:47):
some point and the the Astros twenty twenty five water
will find its level. It's just a matter of where
that level is, all right, So let's do a little
guessing on the some players, and I'll go in no
particular order, in no particular position. Let's go to some
The number one surprise last year to me, where's Ronelle Blanco? Okay,
(02:08):
not even on the radar at all. For the Astros
had to kind of back door his way in the
rotation out for the injuries in the original starting five.
Nobody had him as a high end starter. For that matter,
nobody really thought he was going to be much of
a starter at all. I know the Astros were trying
to push him in that direction, yes, and Wan not
(02:31):
being what the most consistent pitcher of the group hired
a little bit towards the second half of the year.
He slowed down somewhat at the end of the year,
but I was still ended with great numbers. So is
was that the first sign of him turning the corner
in his professional career or was that a one off?
(02:54):
I think, well, he's not as good as he was
all of last year in all likelihood, but at least
he can be ninety percent of that. That's going to
be a huge help to this team. I didn't really
I'm just looking this up. His era was two eighty
the whole year and he didn't get He didn't even
finish in the top ten of the cym Man twenty
(03:21):
nine starts two eighty eram. Is there a possible act
rate with it from the baseball gods to say, can
we get the exact same Renelle Blanco that the Astros
got last year in twenty twenty five. Now, according to
a field independent pitching, he did get a little lucky.
They're actual best starters on that metric are Farber Valdez
and Hunter Brown. Well, let's let's face and that's okay.
(03:43):
If he can be your three guy, you're losing a
goal glover at third, but you're getting a goal glover
back at first. Yeah, and I do believe that Dubon.
Now we always talked about his hitting being a little
bit more than a slap hitter, but I do believe
his glove at second base, You're going to see not
remarkable improvement, but I would say sizable. The field that
(04:07):
Dubai will be able to cover will be greater than
the field that Jose L Tuve would have been able
to cover at second base. This year. That's correct. I
do need a I knew did a step up in
Jeremy's payin his overall game. That's that's kind of a storyline.
We was on the back burner, but yeah, what about
(04:28):
getting his back going because you need to be better offensively.
Where the caller's saying that they're going to be barbecue chicken. Yeah,
it's not that, but it's also not one of the
most feared formidable lineups in all of baseball, which it
has been for a lot of this run that they've
been on. Jeremy Payne went from a phenom because they
replaced a fellow phenom and had an incredible first season
(04:48):
and an incredible postseason to the becoming just a guy literally,
just a guy with the bat and the gloves sometimes
let you down. He'd have some of those not brain
dead but mind numbing drop balls. Didn't need to make
it a difficult play, but made it a difficult play. Yeah.
We talked about ops plus with average being one hundred.
His ops plus last year was one hundred. The average bat. Yeah,
(05:12):
and I think for now, for value, you're not spending
any money on him, right, that's good. And if you
have an average bat and a premium glove, it's short
that's a good player. It's a plus player, right, but
can we get a little above average home run totals
twenty two to ten back up to fifteen, but there
was a two month stretch where it didn't leave the
(05:33):
ball yard, right right. I don't envision him ever being
a twenty five guy, but I could see him between
seventeen and twenty two with a lot of doubles. He's
strong though, he could get to twenty five. He just
needs to lay off the sliders down in a way,
which everybody knows that, and it's not that easy. And
(05:55):
he talked about it in camp. One of the things
he said is he's thinking too much in there and
he just got to let it go. Well, the reality,
here's the thing that troubles me a little bit, is
that he can't hit them. Now. He's hit a few,
but selling, but largely when you throw a slider to him,
if it's a good play slider and it's got movement,
Jeremy's gonna swing at it and miss. But wouldn't you
(06:16):
think at some point, if you're a great athlete ross
and you continue to see the same type of pitches,
that it would be able to be a little easier
to identify no, or do you say, if you if
a guy can't hit free throws, he can may try
to practice a hundred free throws a game. If he's
still a bad free throw shooter. Is a bad free
throw shooter? Yeah, I mean it's a sight thing and
(06:38):
it's different pictures. It comes out of their hands different
ways and every you know, if if twenty pitchers throw
you a slider, they're gonna have twenty different shape. Because
here's the here's the thing that we got to start
dealing with. Round. If he if his batting average against
pitches the slaughters doesn't dramatically improve, he's going to be
nothing more than just a guy at shortstop because the
(06:59):
slaughter is too picalarly the second pitch thrown by most
really good starting manjor league pitchers. That's the reason why
even though it puts a lot of pressure on your
elbow in your forearm, today's youth are still throwing it
because it does have a nasty bite that does confuse hitters. Yeah,
I mean I can't. I've never heard of a complete
(07:20):
baseball player that go, yeah, man, that Jeremy, that X
y Z baseball player is great. He has the fastball
five hundred feet. He can wait on a curveball and
smack it, change up, no problem. Cannas slider. Guys that
Canna sliders are making great major league hitters. Yeah, that's
it happens. I mean, it's it's a trouble with a
breaking ball. Is he wouldn't be he would be the
only one. But I'm saying it's happened. But my expectations
(07:42):
of him, and I'm sure his own expectations of himself are,
I want to be a feared member of this Astro lineup.
And if your sixth place hitter can't hit sliders seven,
eight nine, not gonna have much anybody on base. I
hit two. If are those guys get you know, are
successful in getting getting spaced. Is his fourth year. He's
still twenty seven. He can get better. He's young. You're
(08:06):
Florida Glassful. Let's go
Astros. Today we're supposed to play a spring training game.
It has been rained out. Renel Blanco was supposed to
start that game. I don't know if they're gonna push
everybody back a day, or he'll throw in the backfields,
whatever the case may be, but he will not start
two day's game. Mcculor is thrown their side session. It's
good for him looking good. We're waiting to see joseel
(00:20):
TV playing left field. It is going to be and
you and I have been out enough spring training to
know this. Anytime anything, even the smidge changes from the
normal routine, it becomes a storyline because you're always trying
to find storylines. Maybe he makes his left field debut
and a game during our time slot, so we have
amazing listeners. Thousands of people want to catch how Jose
(00:43):
are going to do in left field. I'm trying to
temper my expectations because, as you mentioned last week, and
it's worth noting, when you get in and around it,
you go, man, this is there's a there's a buzz,
the energy, there's a wow, can't wait factor, And then
you come back to Houston and you deal like, are
they gonna put else? TV? Out and left field, all
these games. I've never done it before. Yeah, are they
(01:04):
really gonna be as good as because everybody every nobody's negative,
and no, no, they shouldn't be. Start a spring training be negative.
Everybody's got the greatest swing, they've added a pitch, they're stronger,
they're in the best shape of their life. And it's
like you get around that for like a few days
and you're getting those breathing in all those fumes of positivity.
It gets in your you're thinking, not only are they
gonna win the West by ten games, but they're gonna
(01:26):
maybe not even lose a single postseason game. Exactly. They're
gonna take down the Orioles, and they're gonna take down
the Yankees, and they're gonna beat the Dodgers in the
World Series. Yeah, and you're gonna realize they're doing the
same thing in redscamp. Yeah, exactly. Everybody's positive everywhere. Meanwhile,
Marlins camp Man, we're gonna shock the world. Love it,
and then reality sets it. Reality will set in at
(01:47):
some point and the the Astros twenty twenty five water
will find its level. It's just a matter of where
that level is, all right, So let's do a little
guessing on the some players, and I'll go in no
particular order, in no particular position. Let's go to some
The number one surprise last year to me, where's Ronelle Blanco? Okay,
(02:08):
not even on the radar at all. For the Astros
had to kind of back door his way in the
rotation out for the injuries in the original starting five.
Nobody had him as a high end starter. For that matter,
nobody really thought he was going to be much of
a starter at all. I know the Astros were trying
to push him in that direction, yes, and Wan not
(02:31):
being what the most consistent pitcher of the group hired
a little bit towards the second half of the year.
He slowed down somewhat at the end of the year,
but I was still ended with great numbers. So is
was that the first sign of him turning the corner
in his professional career or was that a one off?
(02:54):
I think, well, he's not as good as he was
all of last year in all likelihood, but at least
he can be ninety percent of that. That's going to
be a huge help to this team. I didn't really
I'm just looking this up. His era was two eighty
the whole year and he didn't get He didn't even
finish in the top ten of the cym Man twenty
(03:21):
nine starts two eighty eram. Is there a possible act
rate with it from the baseball gods to say, can
we get the exact same Renelle Blanco that the Astros
got last year in twenty twenty five. Now, according to
a field independent pitching, he did get a little lucky.
They're actual best starters on that metric are Farber Valdez
and Hunter Brown. Well, let's let's face and that's okay.
(03:43):
If he can be your three guy, you're losing a
goal glover at third, but you're getting a goal glover
back at first. Yeah, and I do believe that Dubon.
Now we always talked about his hitting being a little
bit more than a slap hitter, but I do believe
his glove at second base, You're going to see not
remarkable improvement, but I would say sizable. The field that
(04:07):
Dubai will be able to cover will be greater than
the field that Jose L Tuve would have been able
to cover at second base. This year. That's correct. I
do need a I knew did a step up in
Jeremy's payin his overall game. That's that's kind of a storyline.
We was on the back burner, but yeah, what about
(04:28):
getting his back going because you need to be better offensively.
Where the caller's saying that they're going to be barbecue chicken. Yeah,
it's not that, but it's also not one of the
most feared formidable lineups in all of baseball, which it
has been for a lot of this run that they've
been on. Jeremy Payne went from a phenom because they
replaced a fellow phenom and had an incredible first season
(04:48):
and an incredible postseason to the becoming just a guy literally,
just a guy with the bat and the gloves sometimes
let you down. He'd have some of those not brain
dead but mind numbing drop balls. Didn't need to make
it a difficult play, but made it a difficult play. Yeah.
We talked about ops plus with average being one hundred.
His ops plus last year was one hundred. The average bat. Yeah,
(05:12):
and I think for now, for value, you're not spending
any money on him, right, that's good. And if you
have an average bat and a premium glove, it's short
that's a good player. It's a plus player, right, but
can we get a little above average home run totals
twenty two to ten back up to fifteen, but there
was a two month stretch where it didn't leave the
(05:33):
ball yard, right right. I don't envision him ever being
a twenty five guy, but I could see him between
seventeen and twenty two with a lot of doubles. He's
strong though, he could get to twenty five. He just
needs to lay off the sliders down in a way,
which everybody knows that, and it's not that easy. And
(05:55):
he talked about it in camp. One of the things
he said is he's thinking too much in there and
he just got to let it go. Well, the reality,
here's the thing that troubles me a little bit, is
that he can't hit them. Now. He's hit a few,
but selling, but largely when you throw a slider to him,
if it's a good play slider and it's got movement,
Jeremy's gonna swing at it and miss. But wouldn't you
(06:16):
think at some point, if you're a great athlete ross
and you continue to see the same type of pitches,
that it would be able to be a little easier
to identify no, or do you say, if you if
a guy can't hit free throws, he can may try
to practice a hundred free throws a game. If he's
still a bad free throw shooter. Is a bad free
throw shooter? Yeah, I mean it's a sight thing and
(06:38):
it's different pictures. It comes out of their hands different
ways and every you know, if if twenty pitchers throw
you a slider, they're gonna have twenty different shape. Because
here's the here's the thing that we got to start
dealing with. Round. If he if his batting average against
pitches the slaughters doesn't dramatically improve, he's going to be
nothing more than just a guy at shortstop because the
(06:59):
slaughter is too picalarly the second pitch thrown by most
really good starting manjor league pitchers. That's the reason why
even though it puts a lot of pressure on your
elbow in your forearm, today's youth are still throwing it
because it does have a nasty bite that does confuse hitters. Yeah,
I mean I can't. I've never heard of a complete
(07:20):
baseball player that go, yeah, man, that Jeremy, that X
y Z baseball player is great. He has the fastball
five hundred feet. He can wait on a curveball and
smack it, change up, no problem. Cannas slider. Guys that
Canna sliders are making great major league hitters. Yeah, that's
it happens. I mean, it's it's a trouble with a
breaking ball. Is he wouldn't be he would be the
only one. But I'm saying it's happened. But my expectations
(07:42):
of him, and I'm sure his own expectations of himself are,
I want to be a feared member of this Astro lineup.
And if your sixth place hitter can't hit sliders seven,
eight nine, not gonna have much anybody on base. I
hit two. If are those guys get you know, are
successful in getting getting spaced. Is his fourth year. He's
still twenty seven. He can get better. He's young. You're
(08:06):
Florida Glassful. Let's go
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