MAKE ROOM IN THE TROPHY CASE

Another award-filled offseason could await the Houston Astros

Astros Justin Verlander, Jose Altuve
Several Astros are in contention for awards. Composite image by Brandon Strange.
verlander (2)

All you have to do is look at the American League standings to see how good the Astros are. They are cruising towards a top-seed finish in the AL and are playing some of their best baseball; plus, they're getting healthy at the right time.

So, with a few weeks left of the regular season, it's not too early to start talking about what hardware members of the team could be bringing home this offseason.

Another Cy Young for JV?

Before his injury in late August, Justin Verlander was miles ahead of the competition in the race for this year's Cy Young award. During his stint on the IL, though, Dylan Cease has made up ground and, at some books, is the current favorite. Verlander will return to the mound Friday night against the A's, and as long as he can string together 3-4 more starts at the same level he was before the IL stint, he should regain control of being the odds-on favorite.

If he pulls it off, it will be his third time winning the award, with two under his belt from his 2011 MVP season and his 2019 season with the Astros. Even if not, Verlander has completely outperformed expectations for a 39-year-old returning from Tommy John surgery, which should make him a shoo-in for Comeback Player of the Year.

Other than Verlander, the Astros have another pitcher at least in the top 5-10 as potential candidates, though not quite to the level of Verlander or Cease. Framber Valdez is having a storybook season this year, as evidenced by his current streak of 24 consecutive quality starts, one away from setting a single-season record.

Among qualified starters, Valdez's ERA sits sixth-best in the AL with a second-best win total (15 compared to Verlander's 16), seventh-best strikeout total, ninth-best WHIP, and though not necessarily a performance metric, far and away the highest ground-ball percentage. He probably won't grab the award this season, but if he takes another step forward next year, he'll be more in the conversation.

Potential Silver Sluggers

The Astros have a few players at or near the top of their respective positions in terms of offensive value. At second base, Jose Altuve is in what shapes up to be a three-man battle with Cleveland's Andres Gimenez and Minnesota's Luis Arreaz. Arreaz leads the trio in average with his AL-best .320 by a healthy margin but is only two points (.380 vs. .378) ahead of Altuve in on-base percentage, and with Altuve's leading slugging, he leads the other two in OPS (.889), homers, and several advanced metrics.

Once in the conversation for AL MVP along with Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, Yordan Alvarez has fallen out of those projections as it appears that the race has dwindled to the two aforementioned contenders. Still, he remains in a prime position to challenge Ohtani for the Silver Slugger at DH, which the two-way star won last year. Ohtani currently leads qualified batters at the position in homers (34 vs. Alvarez's 33) and RBI (88 vs. 85). However, Alvarez has healthy leads in average, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS, and advanced metrics.

Potential Gold Gloves

At catcher, a notoriously difficult position to judge due to their dependency on other players (pitchers throwing catchable pitches, infielders catching and tagging attempted steals), Martin Maldonado should at least be in the conversation with a high fielding percentage and other metrics. Kyle Tucker will be another Astro in contention, with a defensive WAR of 0.9, the highest among qualified right fielders in the AL, and the most defensive runs saved (DRS) and fielding percentage according to Fangraphs.

Of course, if you ask any of these players, they will tell you that individual accolades are not their focus right now. There's only one trophy that matters while baseball is still being played, and that's the Commissioner's Trophy. In addition to some personal awards that may come later, they're in fine shape to bring that back to Houston as well.

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The Rockets are in it to win it this year. Composite Getty Image.

While the rolling Astros have a week of possible World Series preview matchups against the Phillies and Cubs, it’s the Rockets who made the biggest local sports headline with their acquisition of Kevin Durant. What a move! Of course there is risk involved in trading for a guy soon to turn 37 years old and who carries an injury history, but balancing risk vs. reward is a part of the game. This is a fabulous move for the Rockets. It’s understood that there are dissenters to this view. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, including people with the wrong opinion! Let’s dig in.

The Rockets had a wonderful season in winning 52 games before their disappointing first-round playoff loss to the Warriors, but like everyone else in the Western Conference, they were nowhere close to Oklahoma City’s caliber. While they finished second in the West, the Rockets only finished four games ahead of the play-in. That letting the stew simmer with further growth among their young players would yield true championship contention was no given for 2025-26 or beyond.

Kevin Durant is one of the 10 greatest offensive players the NBA has ever seen. Among his current contemporaries only Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic make that list. For instance, Durant offensively has clearly been better than the late and legendary Kobe Bryant. To view it from a Houston perspective, Durant has been an indisputably greater offensive force than the amazing Hakeem Olajuwon. But this is not a nostalgia trip in which the Rockets are trading for a guy based on what he used to be. While Durant could hit the wall at any point, living in fear that it’s about to happen is no way to live because KD, approaching his 18th NBA season, is still an elite offensive player.

As to the durability concern, Durant played more games (62) this past season than did Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith, and Tari Eason. The season before he played more games (75) than did VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Alperen Sengun. In each of the last two seasons Durant averaged more minutes per game (36.9) than any Rocket. That was stupid and/or desperate of the Suns, the Rockets will be smarter. Not that the workload eroded Durant’s production or efficiency. Over the two seasons he averaged almost 27 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor, 42 percent from behind the three-point line, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Awesomeness. The Rockets made the leap to being a very good team despite a frankly crummy half-court offense. The Rockets ranked 21st among the 30 NBA teams in three-point percentage, and dead last in free throw percentage. Amen Thompson has an array of skills and looks poised to be a unique star. Alas, Thompson has no credible jump shot. VanVleet is not a creator, Smith has limited handle. Adding Durant directly addresses the Rockets’ most glaring weakness.

The price the Rockets paid was in the big picture, minimal, unless you think Jalen Green is going to become a bonafide star. Green is still just 23 years old and spectacular athletically, but nothing he has done over four pro seasons suggests he’s on the cusp of greatness. In no season has Green even shot the league average from the floor or from three. His defense has never been as good as it should be given his athleticism. Compared to some other two-guards who made the NBA move one year removed from high school, four seasons into his career Green is waaaaaay behind where Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Devin Booker were four seasons in, and now well behind his draft classmate Cade Cunningham. Dillon Brooks was a solid pro in two seasons here and shot a career-best from three in 2024-2025, but he’s being replaced by Kevin Durant! In terms of the draft pick capital sent to Phoenix, five second round picks are essentially meaningless. The Rockets have multiple extra first round picks in the coming years. As for the sole first-rounder dealt away, whichever player the Rockets would have taken 10th Wednesday night would have been rather unlikely to crack the playing rotation.

VanVleet signs extension

Re-signing Fred VanVleet to a two-year, 50 million dollar guarantee is sensible. In a vacuum, VanVleet was substantially overpaid at the over 40 mil he made per season the last two. He’s a middle-of-the-pack starting point guard. But his professionalism and headiness brought major value to the Rockets’ kiddie corps while their payroll was otherwise very low. Ideally, Reed Sheppard makes a leap to look like an NBA lead guard in his second season, after a pretty much zippo of a rookie campaign. Sheppard is supposed to be a lights-out shooter. For the Rockets to max out, they need two sharpshooters on the court to balance Thompson’s presence.

For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!

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