Astros: Five Replacement Options for Carlos Correa

The Astros could promote prospect Jeremy Pena.

This is the option most think the Astros are going to go with, at least for the time being. Pena was known as a defense-first shortstop through most of his minor league career, but he came back from an injury with a fury, hitting 10 home runs in his last 27 games of 2021.

While it tantalized Astros fans with the idea that Pena suddenly figured out how to hit for power, it’s more likely an anomaly. In the Dominican Winter League, he hit two home runs in 30 games, which extrapolated to 162 is hovering around 10 home runs which is more of a reasonable expectation.

While his defense is exceptional, there’s considerable drop-off offensively from the guy who was second in WAR amongst all MLB position players last year. Not to mention the long history of “Can’t Miss” prospects  “missing.”

People were loathe to give up the Derek Fishers’ and Francis Martes’ of the world. We’d now relish the idea of including them in a package in return for a reliever or strong starter.

While those 10 end of season home runs were exciting, Pena is closer to an Adam Everett who can hit for average. Not terrible, but definitely not Correa.