Jeremy Peña injury could quietly solve Astros problem fans were worried about

When Jeremy Peña was hit by a pitch on March 4, the hope was that it was nothing serious. The next day, we learned that wasn't the case. Peña fractured his finger, leading to panic all around the Houston Astros' world. The injury harkened back to Jose Altuve's fractured thumb during the 2023 World Baseball Classic and was a bitter blow to a fanbase that's still shellshocked from last season's endless wave of injuries.

There is a small silver lining, though. All offseason and throughout training camp, one of the top storylines was how the Astros would manage their treacherous infield logjam. There seemed to be no great solutions. It really comes down to trading a player the club really would have preferred not to in Isaac Paredes, or hanging on to everyone and hoping for the best. Now, though, there's an easy solution. Move Carlos Correa to shortstop and insert Paredes back at the hot corner. Problem solved. For now.

Jeremy Peña's injury alleviates the Astros' infield glut, but the solution will be short-lived

In a near-perfect world, Peña is out long enough that either Paredes or (even better) Christian Walker can show out over a long enough period of time for their trade values to rise, and some other team gets desperate enough to make a move.

Of course, there are a few problems with losing their star shortstop for any period of time. First, Peña is a really good player, and the Astros are better with him than without him. You love to get Paredes into the lineup, but if it weren't for the injury, the least effective way to do that would be at Peña's expense. Second, Correa, his replacement, has been a negative defender at short over three of the last four seasons by outs above average, while Peña has established himself as an above-average glove.

More importantly, Peña might not be out for all that long. Chandler Rome of The Athletic is reporting that Peña has already begun throwing and will start swinging a bat over the weekend. If the star isn't out for more than a couple of weeks, this really doesn't do much to help bring about a permanent resolution. It's really just shuffling the chairs on the deck, with the idea that everything will return to its previous place sooner rather than later.

The unfortunate reality is that the Astros have put themselves in a situation where losing one of their best players to injury is considered a good thing. Unfortunately, the lack of foresight involved in many of their past moves has put them in a position where this is the reality. The bottleneck will get some relief, but it might not be enough to really matter.