Astros' outfield turmoil has another wrinkle after Jacob Melton exits with injury

The Houston Astros' roster situation is pretty messy right now. While Isaac Paredes' hamstring injury does not appear to look too serious after an update from Joe Espada before Friday's game, the discussion during the initial aftermath exposed what appears to be a very fragile balance Houston is trying to strike.

The Astros have no desire to move Cam Smith out of the outfield which is probably correct as you don't want to mess with such an important young player too much. They don't seem quite as sure as to what to do with Jose Altuve and there is also the matter of trying to make room for Jake Meyers as well as the newly arrived Jacob Melton.

There seemed to be a coming roster crunch once Yordan Alvarez returns (which does not seem overly close), but the Astros have a new problem now as Melton exited Friday's game early with what appeared to be a non-contact ankle injury.

Jacon Melton leaves Friday's game against Twins with unfortunate ankle injury

The Astros are calling this right ankle soreness to start with, but the video of the play where Melton got hurt is pretty ominous. He was running towards a ball, came up lame all of a sudden, and dropped to his knees in pain. It is truly impossible to know what happened with this less that ideal angle, but something with his Achilles tendon could easily be in play here.

For Houston, this is pretty much the last thing they need. Their offense has already been very inconsistent this season and while Jose Altuve is finally hitting again, losing Melton after Paredes just got hurt and Alvarez is still on the shelf is pretty problematic.

We should know more soon, but this does not look like a minor injury at first glance and that could cause the Astros more roster headaches soon.

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