Unconventional buy side trade for improving the roster: Astros get: OF Wilyer Abreu RP Garrett Whitlock Red Sox: OF Cam Smith P Ethan Pecko P AJ Blubaugh P Bryce Mayer Astros get controllable stars for the OF and bullpen and give up their most valuable young pitcher and position player. Resulting roster: SS Pena DH Alvarez 3B Paredes RF Abreu 1B Walker 2B Altuve LF Loperfido CF Meyers C Vazquez Bench: Shewmake, Diaz, Matthews, Cole SP: Brown, Arrighetti, Teng, Lambert, Burrows, Imai RP: Hader, Whitlock, King, Abreu, Okert, Pearson, De Los Santos
The 2025 thread keeps getting bumped and it’s killing my OCD. Here’s my current rough expectation for the Astros deadline. I think Houston will be more aggressive than normal due to various factors (the wide open AL, Brown’s job status, the looming lockout). Astros get: OF Masataka Yoshida $13M ($5M 2026, $8M 2027) Red Sox get: P Brandon McPherson P Michael Knorr Astros get a lefthanded corner OF with another year of control. They add a Japanese teammate for Imai. Yoshida’s contact-oriented profile also complements the lineup. The cost is also very low. Astros get: SP Casey Mize Tigers get: P Cole Hertzler OF Joseph Sullivan Astros get a rental #3 SP. Tigers get 2 decent prospects from the 10-20 range on Houston’s list. Astros get: OF Luis Robert Jr. RP Devin Williams $19M ($10M 2026, $9M 2027) Mets get: OF Jake Meyers P AJ Blubaugh C/1B Will Bush Astros get an upside play in CF and a controllable RH setup man. Mets get Meyers (who Stearns probably likes), Blubaugh, and a prospect. Resulting playoff roster: SS Pena DH Alvarez 3B Paredes 1B Walker 2B Altuve LF Yoshida CF Robert RF Smith C Diaz Bench: Allen, Vasquez, Trammell, Matthews SP: Brown, Mize, Lambert, Imai RP: Hader, Williams, King, Okert, Abreu, De Los Santos, Javier, Blanco, Arrighetti IL: McCullers, Correa, Walter DFA: Shewmake, Pearson, Wade, Alexander Optioned: Sousa, Burrows, Gordon, Santa, Ullola, Teng, VanWey, Wesneski, Delgado, Price, Whitcomb, Dezenzo, Cole, Loperfido
Hard pass on the Mets deal. Robert wasn’t playing well before his injury and has been terrible for three seasons now. Besides that, he’s always been an injury risk and is coming off an injury again. Devin Williams wasn’t good last season and once again isn’t good this season. The bullpen is in good shape as it stands now and I like what I’ve seen from Abreu the past couple of appearances - he’s hitting 99 mph again. Quite frankly, I’d take Abreu over Williams the rest of season. That trade just seems like a waste of a young controllable talent in Blubaugh.
