{"id":167937,"date":"2026-03-23T01:36:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T01:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937"},"modified":"2026-03-23T01:36:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T01:36:21","slug":"astros-hidden-logjam-is-about-to-explode-the-one-trade-dana-brown-must-make-before-opening-day-to-unlock-a-left-handed-bat-fix-the-infield-chaos-this-move-could-save-houstons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937","title":{"rendered":"Astros&#8217; Hidden Logjam Is About to EXPLODE\u2026 The ONE Trade Dana Brown MUST Make Before Opening Day to Unlock a Left-Handed Bat &#038; Fix the Infield Chaos \u2013 This Move Could SAVE Houston&#8217;s 2026 Season! \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udd25"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overflow-hidden\" data-lead-image=\"true\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full\" title=\"Houston Astros hat and glove.\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_254,w_5121,h_2880\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_astros\/01km9p6v1dpchtrrmrqp.jpg\" alt=\"Houston Astros hat and glove.\" width=\"5121\" height=\"2880\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex items-center gap-4 mt-4 text-grey font-group-tiny\" data-lead-image=\"true\">Houston Astros hat and glove. | William Purnell-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\">The Houston Astros had a solid offseason, especially when it came to their starting rotation, where all their moves have paid off.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">The position players are overflowing with talent, and an early injury to Jeremy Pe\u00f1a doesn\u2019t require Houston to make a trade \u2014 for now. As for the bullpen, the hope is that Josh Hader and Bennett Sousa will be back soon.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">The outfield is a work in progress. But the trade the Astros could make to start the season involves someone who could also be one of their starters come opening day.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-3\"><strong>The Trade the Astros Could Make<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_6227,h_3502\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_astros\/01km9p7v63q4qjv5z37q.jpg\" alt=\"Houston Astros center fielder Jake Meyers jogs off the field between innings.\" \/><\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Houston Astros center fielder Jake Meyers. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">Recently, center fielder Jake Meyers told the Crush City Territory pod that he felt great about his offseason and is focused on staying healthy and bouncing back at the plate. Last season he missed more than a month with a calf strain and returned as Houston was trying to stay in the playoff picture. Still, he slashed .292.354\/.373 with three home runs and 24 RBI.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\">He\u2019s a great defender. Per Statcast, he has a career run value of 33 on defense, with 42 outs above average since he made his MLB debut in 2021.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">So, why attempt to trade him? Two reasons. First, he\u2019s in his arbitration years. He has two more years of team control before he becomes a free agent in 2028. With a new collective bargaining agreement coming in 2027 \u2014 barring a strike or lockout this offseason \u2014 that could change the Astros\u2019 rights to Meyers, though it\u2019s unlikely. But, with two years of team control, that can bring a higher return in trade.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\">Second, Houston has young players it\u2019s trying to get into the lineup and, thanks to its logjam in the infield, it\u2019s not possible. The Astros have started cross-training infielder Brice Matthews as an outfielder late in spring training. He played a smattering of games in center field in the minor leagues in 2025. Houston also has a Gold Glove finalist in right field in Cam Smith, who has the speed and tools to play center field.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\">Houston has tried making a deal to improve their outfield and lineup this offseason. At one point, the Astros were rumored to be pursuing Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, with Isaac Paredes the likely return for Boston. But the deal never happened and with Pe\u00f1a\u2019s minor injury Paredes has more value to Houston for now.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\">Houston general manager Dana Brown has sought to add a left-handed hitting outfielder this offseason, and even though he landed Joey Loperfido in a deal in February the sense is that he wasn\u2019t done yet. If there\u2019s a move to be made to add one more left-handed hitter, Meyers may be the cost paid to get the deal done before opening day because of his control status, his production and his defense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Houston Astros hat and glove. | William Purnell-Imagn Images The Houston Astros had a solid offseason, especially when it came to their starting rotation, where all their&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Astros&#039; Hidden Logjam Is About to EXPLODE\u2026 The ONE Trade Dana Brown MUST Make Before Opening Day to Unlock a Left-Handed Bat &amp; Fix the Infield Chaos \u2013 This Move Could SAVE Houston&#039;s 2026 Season! \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udd25 - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Astros&#039; Hidden Logjam Is About to EXPLODE\u2026 The ONE Trade Dana Brown MUST Make Before Opening Day to Unlock a Left-Handed Bat &amp; Fix the Infield Chaos \u2013 This Move Could SAVE Houston&#039;s 2026 Season! \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udd25 - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Houston Astros hat and glove. | William Purnell-Imagn Images The Houston Astros had a solid offseason, especially when it came to their starting rotation, where all their...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-23T01:36:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-34-5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"XuanTan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"XuanTan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937\",\"name\":\"Astros' Hidden Logjam Is About to EXPLODE\u2026 The ONE Trade Dana Brown MUST Make Before Opening Day to Unlock a Left-Handed Bat & Fix the Infield Chaos \u2013 This Move Could SAVE Houston's 2026 Season! \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udd25 - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-34-5.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-23T01:36:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-23T01:36:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-34-5.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-34-5.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Astros&#8217; Hidden Logjam Is About to EXPLODE\u2026 The ONE Trade Dana Brown MUST Make Before Opening Day to Unlock a Left-Handed Bat &#038; Fix the Infield Chaos \u2013 This Move Could SAVE Houston&#8217;s 2026 Season! \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udd25\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06\",\"name\":\"XuanTan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"XuanTan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Astros' Hidden Logjam Is About to EXPLODE\u2026 The ONE Trade Dana Brown MUST Make Before Opening Day to Unlock a Left-Handed Bat & Fix the Infield Chaos \u2013 This Move Could SAVE Houston's 2026 Season! \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udd25 - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Astros' Hidden Logjam Is About to EXPLODE\u2026 The ONE Trade Dana Brown MUST Make Before Opening Day to Unlock a Left-Handed Bat & Fix the Infield Chaos \u2013 This Move Could SAVE Houston's 2026 Season! \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udd25 - NEWS USA","og_description":"Houston Astros hat and glove. | William Purnell-Imagn Images The Houston Astros had a solid offseason, especially when it came to their starting rotation, where all their...","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2026-03-23T01:36:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-34-5.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"XuanTan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"XuanTan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937","name":"Astros' Hidden Logjam Is About to EXPLODE\u2026 The ONE Trade Dana Brown MUST Make Before Opening Day to Unlock a Left-Handed Bat & Fix the Infield Chaos \u2013 This Move Could SAVE Houston's 2026 Season! \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udd25 - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-34-5.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-23T01:36:21+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-23T01:36:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-34-5.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rinrin-34-5.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=167937#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Astros&#8217; Hidden Logjam Is About to EXPLODE\u2026 The ONE Trade Dana Brown MUST Make Before Opening Day to Unlock a Left-Handed Bat &#038; Fix the Infield Chaos \u2013 This Move Could SAVE Houston&#8217;s 2026 Season! \ud83d\ude31\ud83d\udd25"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06","name":"XuanTan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"XuanTan"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=167937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167942,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167937\/revisions\/167942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/167941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=167937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=167937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=167937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}