This is a clown show the Astros are marching out there on the mound most days recently. Other team will probably try to use that to their advantage and try to milk the Astros more than otherwise. If Luhnow can prevent that then great but I wouldn't be surprised if the team has to pay more than they want to at the trade deadline for pitching.
It's a multi-team market for both buyers and sellers. If a team tries to make the Astros overpay, the Astros would just go trade with someone else. There's no incentive for the first team to do it if they are trying to move that player. The only thing sellers will do is play buyers against each other to get the best deal. Buyers will similarly play sellers against one another to get the best deal.
Agree we are marching a clown show to the mound But when other teams trade they take the best offer they feel they can get. Multiple teams are involved. They don't take a lesser offer from a different team because the Astros pitching situation is so bad they feel they should be able to squeeze them for more. It's all based on what teams are willing to offer for what they want to sell. Our current situation doesn't allow teams to get more from us. Now, if we had a GM that was prone to split second decisions he might be more likely to panic and offer something stupid for someone, but Luhnow has never been one to work that way. What I would like to see is this. Maybe Luhnow thinks it's best to wait out trying to get a 3rd top of the rotation guy till the end of the month. But seeing as we need 2 starters right now, let's move a guy like Kemp, or Fisher, or someone in that range. A guy with a little value for a team who can afford to just let them go play and see what they have, for a back end starter who can just eat innings. Not someone we think can start a playoff game, but someone we think can save our pen right now, and give our offense a chance to win some mid to high scoring games