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Astros strike surprise trade with the Yankees as roster woes and injuries mount

Well, that came out of nowhere.
Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Climbing Tal's Hill

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders infielder Braden Shewmake (23) fields a hit during the fourth inning of Game 3 of an MiLB International League Championship Series at VyStar Ballpark Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025 in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp defeated the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 7-4 and took home the title in a best-of-three game series. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Houston Astros are in the middle of the roughest stretches the franchise has seen in several years. They have lost three straight games and eight of their last 10, injuries are plaguing them on both sides of the ball, and their pitching staff has imploded. Even Christian Walker, who looked great at the start of the season, has gone from one of the league's hottest hitters to one of the coldest. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

The Astros' infield depth is in a very odd place at the moment. Isaac Paredes is having to move around all over the place to accommodate absences, while Zach Dezenzo and Jeremy Peña are on the shelf with injuries. It feels like most of the infield alignments Houston have employed recently have been imperfect at best, with the loss of Peña being particularly problematic to cover for. In hindsight, trading Mauricio Dubon may have been a crucial error.

However, the Astros are not going down without a fight. In fact, they turned to one of their most bitter rivals for an assist as Houston struck a trade with the Yankees for shortstop Braden Shewmake.

Astros push bitter rivalry aside with trade with the Yankees for Braden Shewmake

Shewmake is an interesting player, although the odds that he provides much more than a modest impact are very low. The former first-round pick has proven to be a very strong defender at short, but his bat hasn't performed anywhere close to his college days. After the Braves eventually moved on from him, Shewmake ended up landing with the Yankees, where he was stashed on their 40-man roster as a depth piece before being designated for assignment back in February.

The Astros have to be viewing Shewmake as organizational depth and little else, because his numbers at Triple-A this season don’t inspire the most confidence. In 36 plate appearances so far in 2026, Shewmake has only managed a .250/.314/.313 with just two extra-base hits. At least Shewmake could be a capable defensive option until Peña returns from his hamstring injury.

It is certainly odd to see the Astros turn to the Yankees for reinforcements, but they put themselves in this position. Houston is not a good baseball team right now, and they have been absolutely savaged by injuries to key players like Peña, Hunter Brown, and Josh Hader. They just have to figure out how to survive until they get healthier, and others turn things around. Shewmake at least gives them another option to try and do just that.

Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.