Astros: Once Altuve, Springer & Co. return, who stays and who goes?

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The Astros will have some big decisions to make when Jose Altuve, George Springer, Carlos Correa and the rest of the injured return.

As I discussed yesterday, the Astros currently have seven players on the 10-day Injured List. Altuve and Springer are nearing their return, with Max Stassi and Collin McHugh closely behind. Then, hopefully, not too far down the road, Carlos Correa, Aledmys Diaz, and Joe Smith will be back on the active roster.

There will be a lot of roster shuffling in the very near future and A.J. Hinch and the front office will have to weigh out all of their options. Speaking of options, with players like Tony Kemp, Tyler White and Jake Marisnick all out of options, that could factor heavily in any decisions to be made.

The first thing that has to be ironed out is how many pitchers does Hinch want to go with in the upcoming schedule. If you’ll remember, Reymin Guduan was sent back down to make room for Yordan Alvarez. That shifted the balance of the 25-man roster to 12 pitchers and 13 position players, dropping the pitcher compliment by one, for the time being.

I would imagine, the two recent days off on the June schedule helped Hinch in his decision to drop that extra pitcher. But going forward, the Astros have only one off day out of the remaining 16 games left in June. But then, they have two quick days off in the first week of July and the All-Star break shortly following.

ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – MARCH 30: Collin McHugh #31 of the Houston Astros throws a pitch in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on March 30, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) /

For the sake of the remainder of this article, I’m going to assume one thing. Yordan Alvarez is here to stay. With all of the hype preceding his call-up and the results thereafter, I have a feeling he isn’t going anywhere. I don’t think they waited to call him up safely after that “Super 2” date for nothing.

Now, we have to make room on the roster for seven returning players, barring they all return to health, with no setbacks, and no other injuries occur in that time frame.

I think the first group of players that are most likely to leave are the recent call-ups, other than Yordan Alvarez. That would be Myles Straw, Jack Mayfield, Derek Fisher, and Garrett Stubbs. That still leaves three spots to clear on the roster.

I feel the powers to be will have no choice but to go back to the 13 pitcher count on the active roster before Guduan was optioned down. Mainly due to the fact that the most likely pitchers to go would be Cionel Perez and/or Framber Valdez, both lefties. Returning pitchers Smith and McHugh are both right-handed and swapping these to with Perez and Valdez would leave the pen void of any left-handed relief.

My scenario plays out like this. Collin McHugh returns to the starting rotation. Framber Valdez goes back to the bullpen for long relief and to keep a lefty available. That leaves Cionel Perez left to be the pitcher returning to the Minors.

HOUSTON, TEXAS – JUNE 12: Jake Marisnick #6 of the Houston Astros catches a line drive by Ryan Braun #8 of the Milwaukee Brewers in the ninth inning at Minute Maid Park on June 12, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

That leaves us with two position players too many. Those two spots to vacate will have to come from Jake Marisnick, Tyler White, and/or Tony Kemp. This is where the toughest decision is going to lie. As mentioned before, all three are out of options and are at the risk of losing them to another team.

I think the best choice out of the three is to keep Marisnick. White simply gets edged out due to the numbers, there just won’t be room in the infield. Now it’s just down to Marisnick and Kemp for the outfield spot. I feel Marisnick has the better bat and the better defense between the two of them.

There are always completely other ways the front office could go. The trading deadline is getting closer every day. Who’s to say, maybe a package deal of a few these players could be sent elsewhere in exchange for a pitcher, to solidify the starting rotation. But that would be a whole other article to write.

Next. Astros: Seth Beer advancing quickly through minor leagues. dark

These are just my thoughts on how the Astros could make their roster moves to allow room for our returning stars. I’m sure you all have your own ideas of what the roster may look like. There are many options available and I won’t hold my breath until the front office asks my opinion. But GM Jeff Luhnow has done pretty well up to now and I trust he’ll continue to do what’s best for the team.

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The Astros will have some big decisions to make when Jose Altuve, George Springer, Carlos Correa and the rest of the injured return.

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