Houston Astros May No Longer Have Top 10 Offense in Major League Baseball

The Houston Astros have been a powerhouse in MLB for years, but may have fallen out of the top 10 after their latest trade.

Apr 16, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros right fielder Kyle Tucker (30) celebrates with third baseman Alex Bregman (2) after hitting a home run during the ninth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Minute Maid Park. / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros will look fairly different next season, with a couple of star players missing from the lineup.

The Astros have already traded away Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs and don't seem to be racing to bring Alex Bregman back around.

That is a lot of production gone from one season to the next.

ESPN's Bradford Doolittle recently did a ranking of the top 10 offenses in MLB. Houston came in at No. 4. That, however, was done before the trade. Doolittle still had hopes of them keeping both Tucker and Bregman.

The best trait of the Astros offense listed by Doolittle was the combination of Tucker and Yordan Alvarez.

It was one of the best one-two punches in the league and and Houston is now short half of it.

The worst trait mentioned was the, at the time, rumor that the Astros were looking to trade away Tucker. With the trade pulled off, that scenario has come to light.

In a positive turn of events, though, the deal wasn't as detrimental to the offense as once thought.

Replacing both Tucker and Bregman in one offseason is a tough task for any front office, but they could have done it. At least, there is a future where they did it.

Getting Isaac Paredes and Cam Smith back from the Cubs is a near-best-case scenario.

If everything goes Houston's way, Paredes will slot into third base and Smith will become the new rising star infielder in a year or two.

Defensively, there is almost no hope that Paredes will be as valuable. Offensively, though, there might be little drop off.

Over the last three seasons, Bregman has posted a .260/.349/.449 slash line with 74 home runs and 266 RBI compared to Paredes' .234/.338/.437.

While the OPS is a little bit lower, he is a batter that will translate perfectly to Daikin Park thanks to the Crawford Boxes.

The 25-year-old has one of the highest pull rates in the league. He has a .914 career OPS on the Astros' home field, with two home runs in just five games played there.

Given that he is young, it would be foolish to think he is a finished product.

He will continue to grow over these next few years in Houston and could realistically become a star in his new park.

Replacing Tucker's production will be a much tougher task.

He has been on fire over the past few years, with a .286/.382/.539 slash line and average of 26 home runs and 81 RBI. That's after missing over half of the 2024 campaign.

The good news is that Smith has been on fire to start his professional career and projects as someone who can realistically become a future star.

He is a .313/.396/.609 slash line with seven home runs and 24 RBI over his first 32 games in the minors.

So while the Astros offense certainly took a hit this offseason, and could be outside of the top 10, they have set themselves up to get back there in the future.