Jeremy Peña getting healthy creates Astros roster problem they finally can’t ignore

For all the talk that surrounded the Houston Astros' infield logjam during the offseason and early days of spring training, the team reached Opening Day without it being a problem.

The caveat being that shortstop Jeremy Peña was recovering from a finger injury, and Houston easing him back into the starting lineup created the flexibility for Joe Espada to pencil both Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker into the starting lineup with ease. It was a temporary fix, and it may have already reached its expiration date.

During the Astros' weekend series against the Athletics, the plan is for Peña to play back-to-back days for the first time this season. This is the final bar for Peña to clear, and assuming he does, the Astros will be faced once again with the problem that has been staring them in the face since the end of last season.

At first, the answer seemed to be a timeshare between Paredes and Walker at first base. At the moment, Walker has turned back the clock. He's hitting velocity, and looks to be the slugger the Astros initially expected him to be when they signed him before the 2025 season. As crazy as it would have seemed last summer, we've reached the point where Walker can't be taken out of Houston's lineup.

Isaac Paredes was always going to be on the outside looking in for the Astros

The Athletic's Chandler Rome (subscription required) worked through all potential options for the Astros, and the result was trying to sprinkle some games in left field for Yordan Álvarez, allowing Paredes to be the team's designated hitter. Given the importance of Álvarez's bat in the Astros' lineup, it's a result that likely isn't sustainable.

The sobering reality facing the Astros is that Paredes is likely going to move to a bench role, with a start or two during the week. Not exactly the follow-up to an All-Star campaign that Paredes or the Astros would have mapped out

As was the impression during the offseason, Paredes is clearly the odd man out on the Astros' roster. This isn't ideal considering he's one of the team's better bats, but there's no place to play him. The first week of the regular season was a reprieve, but Astros fans are back dealing with the reality that a trade is the only outcome to this gridlocked roster.