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.
We need pitching badly but please not a guy like Sonny Gray. It's not even about the money and age (36). He is 4ERA pitcher now and if the control is even bit off he will get smacked. This seasons surge is build on Red Sox throwing handfull of solid lefties at teams and then this one righty who spins it other way. Trade from roster for SP in other teams farms if you still trust Millers bunch. We don't need more FA's like Mize allthough I like Mize much more than Gray.
His FIP the last 3 seasons before this one was 2.83, 3.12, and 3.39. Trade for SP in other teams farms…what?
It might be an overpay but I still think Robert and Williams are good targets for the Astros; a way to potentially acquire difference making talent without giving up any of their few elite prospects. Williams in particular is still elite at getting Chase/whiff/k. He’s had really bad batted ball luck for going on 2 seasons. His FB velo is down from his peak but I still think he can be a really really good setup man and he complements Hader/King. Robert is a flier. Elite talent. Mediocre track record. Maybe swap in Nezuh for Blubaugh.
It can also be other teams SP 4-5 with some control if possible but ofcourse Im not a scout. I said farm because everybody is looking for pitching and better give Miller younger hand to work with 3-4 seasons than go all out on has been like Gray. We should not be buying tradiotional way. If Red Sox are wise they will make out like bandits from Contreras, Gray, Duran etc....let team in real contention be silly instead of us. I have seen Gray pitch like 10 games this season. Stuff is not there. He is competitor, I'll give him that. We can't be saying "well just get in" when we know team is mid as fk and even worse in future if we buy short term expensive crap. We have some chips too which are not staying like Pena & Brown and if you ever gonna get great value it's now. Not many games left and if you go past emotions, how much those two even are now helping us to win? Agree with this below but know we haven't much there to waste afterall . On Astros Postcast Michael Connor: "This team is not worth unloading farm for."
Yeah, his advanced numbers are still solid but some of it has been his own doing. I remember him blowing that game against us last season where he walked the bases loaded. He’s walked them loaded twice this season already. Doing that 3 times in that short of a span is crazy to me. All that said, don’t get me wrong, I’d happily take him but I just don’t feel like sending out resources on bullpen arms is smart given the rotation and OF. Especially given there is some risk with Williams. If they want to take a flier on Robert and he’s cheap prospect wise, then by all means go for it. Assuming the Mets eat some money that is.
Trying to think realistically of what trades I would make if I was the GM and the owner told me “if you don’t make it to the ALDS this season you are fired, and I demand you to make all moves necessary to that end even if it means decimating the future of the franchise”. Astros get: SP Tarik Skubal $12M Tigers get: OF Cam Smith P Ethan Pecko Astros get: OF Jake McCarthy RP Antonio Senzatela $3M Rockies get: P Jackson Nezuh P Cole Hertzler C/1B Jason Schiavone Astros get: OF Taylor Ward SP Trevor Rogers Orioles get: P Bryce Mayer P Mike Burrows OF Anthony Huezo OF Joseph Sullivan Playoff roster: SS Pena DH Alvarez 3B Paredes RF Ward 1B Walker CF McCarthy 2B Altuve C Diaz LF Wade Bench: Allen, Vasquez, Matthews, Trammell SP: Skubal, Brown, Rogers, Lambert RP: Hader, King, Senzatela, Okert, Abreu, De Los Santos, Javier, Blanco, Imai Optioned: Arrighetti, VanWey, Ullola, Santa, Gordon, Teng, Wesneski, Blubaugh, Price, Delgado, Whitcomb, Cole, Dezenzo, Loperfido DFA: Pearson, Shewmake, Alexander, Meyers IL: Correa, McCullers, Walter, Sousa
Honestly, I’d do all of that. Give it one last run and if it doesn’t work just blow it up. Who knows what the new CBA will look like anyway.
One interesting potential twist the new CBA could throw is if it sets some kind of “franchise player” designation in which a team can trap one of their own pending free agents. That would let Houston keep Brown and Pena another year each which would be very significant. Who knows how all that will eventually play out. Regardless, I think the plan should be to compete as much as possible between now and 2028 while preserving all meaningful prospects on track to debut 2029 or later.
