The Astros are currently 31-39 and in fourth place in the AL West, but the mediocre state of the American League has them only four games out of a Wild Card spot. Earlier this week, general manager Dana Brown pushed back hard on the idea of trading Jeremy Peña or Yordan Alvarez. Brown shared more details about the Astros’ deadline strategy with Brian McTaggart of MLB.com, saying the team will be looking to upgrade their outfield and bullpen.
“If we could find some offensive outfield help at the Deadline, that would be great,” Brown said to McTaggart. “If we could find some bullpen help, that would be great. Those are two big things.” The GM went on to say that the rotation will stabilize when Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and other injured starters return, so that won’t be as much of a focus as the outfield and rotation.
Nearly every club wants to add to their bullpen, but Dana Brown’s comments on outfield additions are more notable. Houston’s 102 team wRC+ is middle of the pack, but their outfielders are a Bottom-5 unit with just an 86 wRC+. Of their outfielders, only Cam Smith has made enough plate appearances to qualify, and he is 9% below average by wRC+, although his stellar defense makes him valuable overall.
The current lineup includes Joey Loperfido in left field, Taylor Trammell in center, and Smith in right. Loperfido is striking out 29.2% of the time in a small sample. Trammell has a 98 wRC+ in 76 plate appearances but is running a .452 average on balls in play that will eventually come back to earth. LaMonte Wade Jr., who’s currently on the 10-day injured list, had a 119 wRC+ in 2024 but struggled so badly last year that the Giants designated him for assignment. Wade will be out until the second half per the team’s injury report, and he won’t be a difference maker when he returns.
With so many fringe contenders and few obvious sellers, it’s difficult to tell which outfielders will be available to Houston via trade. In addition, the Astros have a weak farm system with only two Top-100 prospects according to MLB.com. That could limit them to looking at rentals and complimentary pieces in the outfield.
At present, the Tigers, Red Sox, Royals, and Angels are the four teams behind the Astros in the Wild Card standings. The Tigers and Red Sox’ outfielders all have several years of control left and would require a substantial return, so they’re not likely to move. Perhaps the Angels could make Jo Adell available with just a year and a half of control remaining. Adell is hitting below-average this year but has a 146 wRC+ against lefties, so he could complement Loperfido and Trammell, both of whom hit from the left side. In any case, some kind of outfield upgrade is needed if the Astros want to secure a Wild Card spot.
The same goes for upgrading the bullpen. At this point in the season, Houston’s relievers have a 4.82 ERA that ranks seventh-worst in the Majors. Enyel De Los Santos, Bryan King, and Steven Okert have ERAs between 2.51 and 3.07, but the latter two are outperforming their SIERAs by at least a full run and are candidates for regression. AJ Blubaugh and Bryan Abreu are struggling mightily. The recent return of closer Josh Hader helps a lot, but the ‘pen needs more than one or two dominant arms to be an effective unit overall.
As with potential outfield upgrades, the club may not have the prospect capital to pull off a deal for a top-tier reliever. That said, it might be easier to package several mid-level prospects together to acquire bullpen pieces. Fifteen of the club’s Top-30 prospects on MLB.com are right-handed pitchers, so perhaps Houston could look to trade from that depth in exchange for more established bullpen arms.
Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images
