Jake Meyers 2025 injury may have ruined the Astros’ offseason (no, seriously)

While he had no shortage of doubters entering the season (including this lowly author), Houston Astros outfielder Jake Meyers did a lot to boost his stock in 2025. He looked like a completely different hitter all of a sudden in the first half, where Meyers slashed .308/.369/.405. While Meyers' near-total lack of power continued, he was still an extremely productive hitter, which was an added bonus given his defensive value in the outfield. Unfortunately, July is where things went sideways and where the Astros' chances of trading Meyers for a quality return took a turn.

When Meyers suffered a calf injury in July, there was some mild alarm, but nothing too crazy. The timing was not ideal with the trade deadline approaching, but he was still being mentioned in trade rumors, and there seemed to be some motivated suitors for his services.

However, the Astros rushed Meyers back; he ended up aggravating the injury, and he missed the next two months. Not only did that cause issues for the Astros at the trade deadline as both a buyer and a potential seller, but it may have set the stage for Houston's offseason to be put in jeopardy as well.

Jake Meyers got hurt at the worst time, and now the Astros have to convince teams his limited 2025 was real

There was certainly a good bit of interest in Meyers at the start of the offseason, and it is probably true that there are trade discussions happening in the background right now. However, if you are a potential suitor and see that the Astros are asking for a real return for Meyers, it is understandable why they would have some hesitation and explain why Meyers' market seems so quiet.

Before 2025, Meyers was a net-negative on offense that Houston couldn't seem to give away despite his Gold Glove-caliber defense. Now, you have the Astros trying to sell the idea that the Meyers we saw in the first half of 2025 (who was great) is who he will be without a full season of data to even look at. On top of that, you also have a guy coming off a soft tissue injury that may or may not recur once you trade for him.

Had Meyers stayed healthy and also played well, the Astros argument in trade talks would have been much stronger, and we probably would have seen Meyers moved already. Instead, you now have a situation where the Astros have a very obviously crowded roster with few viable solutions other than trading Meyers, and other teams know that. It is a mess that could have potentially been avoided had they not rushed Meyers back, but it is what it is now.