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While people are wondering what the Houston Astros will do at the trade deadline coming at the end of the month, ESPN's MLB insider Jeff Passan had an idea for a deal with a caveat. As the Astros are going through injuries to Yordan Alvarez and other players, Passan addresses the major concern that the team is going through and where to fill it.
In Passan's latest column about the top moves for each contender in the MLB, he said that the biggest weakness for Houston is starting pitching and left-handed hitters. Speaking about the first weakness, he would say that the team should look to get Kansas City Royals starter Seth Lugo, though he would mention how the price could be high and how Houston has a “farm system that's among the worst in MLB.”
“So even if the cost is heavy and eats into a farm system that's among the worst in MLB, targeting a pitcher of Lugo's ilk would give them among the nastiest postseason rotations in the game and further entrench the Astros as a force,” Passan wrote. “Lugo's peripherals suggest he's in line for regression, but even if his ERA does jump from its current 2.67 mark, Lugo's nine-pitch mix gives him the flexibility to adjust in-game — a luxury shared by only a handful of starters in the game.”
Despite major obstacles, the Astros have found a way to overcome
With the Astros dealing with injuries and missing key players from their immediate past, Passan would write that he is in some ways surprised by the success that the team has had. The team is currently 55-38, which puts them at the very top of the AL West, saying with all the obstacles in their way, “they should not be this good.”
“The Astros lost Alex Bregman to free agency, traded Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs, have spent most of the season without Yordan Alvarez, their best hitter, and currently sport a rotation that includes 26- and 28-year-old rookies,” Passan wrote. “There is no reason they should be this good. And yet they are.”
Looking at Lugo, though, he sports a 2.67 ERA to go along with 88 strikeouts and a 6-5 record and could help fill the hole in the Astros' starting pitching rotation. At any rate, Houston has one more series before the All-Star break, which is a three-game stint against the Texas Rangers that starts on Friday night.
