Houston Astros GM Dana Brown joined the team's flagship station this week and spoke about how the team will approach the trade deadline.
Brown was asked if any prospect would be untouchable in a trade, Brown said Drew Gilbert would only be made available if the trade was for a player with a few years of team control. In other words, they're not trading Gilbert for a rental.
In the past, Astros GM Jeff Luhnow treated Kyle Tucker and Forrest Whitley as untradeable prospects. And that certainly worked out in the case of Kyle Tucker. Forrest Whitley, however, was drafted in 2016 and still hasn't made an appearance in the big leagues.
Finally, is there a scenario in which the Astros would be sellers at the trade deadline? The team would have to be out of contention and/or suffer another huge injury to the pitching staff. Also, if the club can't get Cristian Javier back on track, making a deep playoff run would seem very unlikely this season.
If this scenario did play out, the Astros would have some quality pitchers in the bullpen to trade that are set to be free agents next season. Ryne Stanek (2024 FA), Phil Maton (2024 FA), and Hector Neris (player option for 2024 if he makes six more appearances this season) would definitely be in demand for teams looking to add to their depth for a postseason run.
But at the end of the day, the Astros will likely be in striking distance of making the playoffs when the trade deadline arrives on August 1. However, Houston's upcoming series with the Rangers could have a huge impact on how this season plays out.
Be sure to check out the video above as we break it all down.
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Jake Meyers scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch, Isaac Paredes drove in an insurance run and the Houston Astros defeated the Cleveland Guardians 5-3 in 10 innings on Saturday.
Yainer Diaz had a two-run homer in the sixth as the Astros won for the fifth time in six games.
Cleveland's José Ramírez had two hits, including a two-run homer in the seventh inning, and extended his on-base streak to a career-best 33 games.
Steven Kwan added three hits, but the Guardians lost their third straight.
Meyers was the automatic runner in the 10th. He advanced to third on Jeremy Peña's grounder to first and scored when a slider by Hunter Gaddis (0-1) on an 0-2 count was low and outside.
Paredes then drove in Jacob Melton with a base hit to right field.
Cleveland had runners on first and second with two out in the 10th but Bennett Sousa struck out Jhonkensy Noel to end the game for his first save of the season.
Josh Hader (2-0) got the win.
Houston starter Hunter Brown, who was trying to become the first pitcher in the majors to reach nine wins this season, went 5 1/3 innings and allowed one run with nine strikeouts.
Key moment
Kwan led off the seventh inning with a walk before Ramírez tied it at 3-3 when he lined Shawn Dubin's changeup into the right field stands for his team-leading 12th homer of the season.
Key stat
Peña extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI infield single in the fifth inning. His career long is 14 games, which he had earlier this season.
Up next
Cleveland right-hander Tanner Bibee (4-6, 3.89 ERA) is 2-0 in day games this season. Left-hander Brandon Walter (0-0, 0.00), added to the taxi squad on Saturday, goes for Houston.
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