Astros right-hander AJ Blubaugh has become a popular ask from other clubs who’ve engaged in trade talks with the Astros, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. Houston general manager Dana Brown has fielded interest in Blubaugh and other relievers as he looks to walk a fine line; the ‘Stros have played much better since a disastrous April, and Brown at this point surely plans to approach the deadline as a buyer. However, the Astros have one of baseball’s worst farm systems, so clubs peddling win-now pieces are understandably looking at controllable big leagues like Blubaugh as an alternative.
Blubaugh, who’ll turn 26 on Saturday, has gone from a fringe rotation prospect in Houston to a valuable member of the bullpen. He’s pitched not just a team-high but a major league-high 56 1/3 innings out of the bullpen and recorded a tidy 3.36 earned run average.
The Astros shouldn’t expect quite that level of run prevention moving forward. Blubaugh’s 22.5% strikeout rate is average for a reliever, while his 12.3% walk rate is considerably worse. He’s benefited from a .236 average on balls in play, a 76.2% strand rate and a 6.8% homer-to-flyball ratio. All of those numbers skew to the fortunate side, to varying degrees. Metrics like SIERA (4.39) and FIP (3.98) suggest there’s some regression in store.
Even if that’s the case, however, Blubaugh stands as an intriguing target for clubs seeking pitching help in any capacity. He’s working in relief with the Astros right now but has primarily been a starter throughout his career. There are surely rotation-needy clubs who like the idea of prying Blubaugh loose and stretching him back out for a starting role, whether this season or in subsequent years. The right-hander posted an unsightly 5.27 ERA out of the Triple-A rotation in 2025 but sat at 3.83 in 124 2/3 Triple-A frames as recently as 2024. He’s never had great command, but Blubaugh has typically missed bats at an above-average level in the minors.
Whether clubs view Blubaugh as an option in his current multi-inning relief role, a potential leverage option late in games or as a viable candidate to return to starting, his age, club control and option status stand as the sources of greatest appeal. He’s in his first full big league season, meaning he’ll have at least five years of club control remaining. It could technically be a full six seasons, as Blubaugh is still 35 days shy of a full year of service, but his performance leaves him at no risk of being optioned anytime soon. It’s extremely likely that he’ll reach a full year of service in 2026.
That said, the fact that Blubaugh can be optioned is another point in his favor — particularly if another club does have eyes on stretching him back out. Blubaugh burned his first of three option years in 2025. He hasn’t yet been optioned this season and as such has two option years left. A new club that wants to stretch him out would have the ability to do so in the minors in theory, though he’s already somewhat built up. Blubaugh tossed 47 pitches in his most recent outing (2 2/3 innings) and has topped out with 59 pitches in a 3 2/3-inning relief appearance this season (back on May 3).
Earlier this year, it would’ve sounded borderline insane to think of the Astros shipping out a rare effective reliever from the bullpen. Houston’s early malaise in 2026 was in no small part due to a dreadful bullpen, but the veteran group has rebounded in recent weeks. Josh Hader‘s return from the injured list one month ago reinstalled one of the generation’s great relief arms as manager Joe Espada’s preferred endgame option. Bryan Abreu has gotten his command back on track and is adjusting to pitching with lesser velocity — though his heater has picked up nearly a full mile per hour over the past month (during which time he’s perhaps uncoincidentally posted 1.86 ERA). Steven Okert has shaken off a slow start, and Bryan King has been terrific all season. Rookie Miguel Ullola has impressed with four shutout innings (two hits, no walks, seven strikeouts) to begin his big league career.
A Houston ‘pen that once stood as one of the struggling Astros’ most prominent flaws suddenly looks like a strength. It’d be overly simplistic to attribute the turnaround solely to Hader’s return, but since his reinstatement from the IL, Houston relievers rank third in the majors with a 2.63 ERA and second with a 3.31 SIERA.
Blubaugh’s emergence has been a key factor in that improvement, of course. He’s pitched 19 1/3 innings in that span and held opponents to a 1.37 ERA with a huge 31.6% strikeout rate and improved (but still worse-than-average) 10.1% walk rate. Subtracting him from the group would be risky, but Blubaugh’s emergence could potentially help the Astros add the sort of left-handed bat that has eluded Brown for more than a year now. The Astros could always leverage his breakout into that sort of lefty slugger, then use their thin farm to replace some of those lost bullpen innings with a cheap rental reliever. (The prospect price to add a short-term bullpen arm, naturally, would be much lower than the cost to add a legitimate left-handed bat in the outfield.)
Further reinforcements figure to be on the horizon for Houston. Lefty Bennett Sousa pitched in a simulated game yesterday, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. If he feels good in the aftermath, a minor league rehab stint could be next. Sousa notched a 2.84 ERA in 50 2/3 innings with the Astros last year. Longtime starter Cristian Javier is set to join the bullpen this weekend, too, and Kai-Wei Teng is bullpen-bound once he returns from his current knee injury. The Astros also hope to get starters Ronel Blanco and Hayden Wesneski back from last year’s UCL surgeries at some point in the second half. Either could be a bullpen option, but if they join the rotation, that could potentially push a rotation arm back into the ‘pen, too.
Suffice it to say, the bullpen outlook is suddenly much rosier than it was during the team’s horrific 8-18 April performance. Blubaugh has been a big part of that, but in doing so he’s made himself attractive to other clubs at a time when the rest of his ‘pen-mates are showing the potential to carry the group even if he’s dealt. It’s a tough balance to strike, but such is life for Brown and the Houston front office. The Astros are a perennial win-now club that’s had plenty of success. That tends to lead to low draft picks, and the Astros’ annual status as deadline buyers has only further thinned out the minor league system. It stands to reason that even as they continue aiming to contend in 2026, they’ll field interest not only in Blubaugh but in rental arms like Okert, Abreu and Enyel De Los Santos.
