Why the Astros should have these priority trade targets in their sights

Astros Jim Crane, Jose Altuve, Dana Brown
The Astros need another starting pitcher. Composite Getty Image.

With three and a half weeks to Major League Baseball’s July 30 trade deadline, the Astros’ stampede from 10 games back to within two games of impotent and staggering Seattle in the American League West obviously changes their approach. The Astros were a couple of bad weeks from needing to enter sell mode but that is delightfully completely off the table. As in, gone is any notion of getting what you can for Alex Bregman before losing him for nothing but a compensatory draft pick. General Manager Dana Brown will have failed if he does not add a starting pitcher. Just remember, Brown could fail at the deadline but still have his team win the West or nab a Wild Card spot. Meanwhile, if Mariners’ cheapo ownership doesn’t authorize taking on significant salary for some hitting and/or GM Jerry Dipoto doesn’t acquire same, they should be run out of the Emerald City.

The Astros should be in hard for a decent starter such as Colorado’s Cal Quantrill. Counting on Luis Garcia to come back and pitch very well is hope, not smart expectation. Counting on Lance McCullers to come back at all should probably be regarded as hope, not expectation. Justin Verlander’s status is very up in the air. Unless Spencer Arrighetti’s command makes a sudden leap in quality, he is not a quality starter. Ronel Blanco and Hunter Brown are carrying the rotation. Imagine uttering that sentence in March! Both guys are on course to blow past previous professional highs in innings pitched. Does their excellence hold up? Framber Valdez is yielding too many big innings, but overall remains a critical contributor.

A bunch of other playoff hopefuls have much better farm systems than the Astros and can dangle more highly regarded prospects as trade bait, but we’re not talking about Justin Verlander or Zack Greinke level acquisitions. If the White Sox are to deal Garrett Crochet, who is under team control through 2026, the Astros don’t have the goods to make a winning offer. For the ChiSox’ Erik Fedde? Make an offer and see what happens. Fedde is signed for next year at seven and a half million dollars. I mentioned Quantrill earlier. He makes just over six and a half mil this year and is arbitration eligible for 2025.

Yordan is on fire!

It seemed impossible at the time that Yordan Alvarez mustered just two home runs and four runs batted in for the entire month of May. In June he exceeded those totals on the third, and basically hasn’t stopped pounding away since. In his last 27 games the Cuban Missile Launcher is batting .367, has mashed 10 homers, and driven in 27 runs. That’s easy math to extrapolate over 162 games: 60 homers and 162 runs batted in. Not coincidentally the Astros’ offense has taken off with him. After what he did in Toronto this week it would be understandable if the Blue Jays tried to have Yordan’s passport temporarily voided next season to keep him out of Canada. Having just turned 27 last week, Alvarez is on an early Hall of Fame track. Yet amazingly, in this his fourth full season in the Major Leagues, Aaron Judge has been better than Alvarez in all of them. Of course, Astros fans can giddily taunt Yankees fans by asking “Would you like to compare their postseason performances?”

Speaking of amazing, that fairly summarizes Jose Altuve’s career, which has another banner season in progress and a ninth All-Star selection to show for it. Altuve is within three of the record for most All-Star teams made as a second baseman. Hall of Famers Nellie Fox and Roberto Alomar were each picked 12 times, Joe Morgan and Ryne Sandberg 10. It should be noted that the All-Star game didn’t come into being until 1933, so all-time greats like Rogers Hornsby and Eddie Collins couldn’t rack up selections. Back to Altuve. He last reached 170 hits in a season in his 2017 Most Valuable Player Award campaign. He is on pace for 203 hits this season. Still, Joe Espada needs to be mindful of giving Altuve some days off through the dog days of summer. Somewhat bizarrely, after two strikeouts to go with two hits Thursday, Altuve is on pace to strike out a whopping 137 times this season. Altuve’s career high in strikeouts is 91. I say somewhat bizarrely in that it is explainable. Altuve swings harder much more frequently than he did in his younger days. That brings more swing and miss. Also, at 34 years old while still fabulous, Altuve is more vulnerable to whiffing on breaking balls. Jeff Bagwell’s career-worst strikeout season was 135, Lance Berkman’s 125, Carlos Lee’s 94. It’s a different era.

No Tucker, no problem

Kyle Tucker has now missed more than a month since not suffering “major damage” when he fouled a ball off his right shin. I wouldn’t call the best player on the team being out more than a month “minor damage.” Anyway, it makes the Astros’ offensive surge much more impressive that it has occurred with Tucker not a part of it. The time lost probably cost Tucker a first time selection as an All-Star Game starter. Judge and Juan Soto were two obvious American League outfielder choices. Tucker had been the obvious third, but missing what is now 30 percent of the Astros’ schedule played to date ended that. His overall numbers are still stout enough that Tucker should be named a reserve for a third year in a row, though there is zero chance of him playing in the game. Cleveland’s Steven Kwan has been outstanding and won the vote for the third slot, though he has actually played only 59 games vs. Tucker’s 60. Boston’s Jarren Duran clearly should be the third AL outfield starter.

*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The Texans will look to get back on track this Sunday against the Colts. Composite Getty Image.

C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans are looking for answers after their passing game couldn’t get going in a loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Houston’s passing attack had been a strength all season, and the Texans ranked fifth in yards passing per game through their first six games. But on Sunday at Lambeau Field, Stroud was limited to a career-low 86 yards in the 24-22 loss, which snapped a three-game winning streak.

Stroud was 10 of 21 and didn’t have a touchdown pass for the first time this season. The second-year player was under duress for much of the day and was sacked four times and hit seven other times.

“We have to go back to the drawing board and see what those issues were,” coach DeMeco Ryans said. “As we watch the film, we’ll see what happened, starting for me the communication and just guys being on the details of the job.”

The Texans scored a season-high 41 points in a win over New England a week earlier in which Stroud threw a season-best three touchdown passes despite being without star receiver Nico Collins.

They were unable to replicate that success Sunday with Collins out for the second of at least four games after a hamstring injury landed him on injured reserve.

Stefon Diggs led the team with five receptions against the Packers, but they only amounted to 23 yards. Tank Dell, who the Texans expected to step up with Collins out, was targeted four times but didn’t have a catch.

Stroud discussed the importance of getting Dell more involved in the offense.

“We have to find a way to try and get him the rock early and often and then go from there,” he said. “It has to be a focus for us, not only just him, but the whole offense clicking early. That is really my job to get the ball out on time and to where it is supposed to go. So yeah, that definitely has to be fixed.”

Ryans spoke about his confidence is getting Dell going.

What's working

The Texans have forced seven turnovers combined in their last two games after they hadn’t caused any in their previous three games.

Houston scored 16 points off three turnovers Sunday. The Texans had two interceptions and recovered a fumble on a punt. In their win over the Patriots, they scored 17 points off a season-high four turnovers.

What needs help

The Texans won’t get to where they want to be this season if Stroud doesn’t get back on track. Before Sunday, last year’s AP Offensive Rookie of the Year was averaging more than 262 yards passing a game, giving the team confidence that the problems in the passing game are fixable.

Ryans knows the line must give Stroud more time to throw and said the coaching staff will focus on improving in that area this week.

Stock up

RB Joe Mixon continued to shine Sunday in his second game back after missing three games with an ankle injury. Mixon, who is in his first season in Houston after a trade from Cincinnati, had 25 carries for 115 yards and two touchdowns against Green Bay.

Mixon is confident the Texans will rebound this week if they quit making mistakes.

“Does it look I’m worried? I’m not worried at all,” he said. “Like I said, we got a ... good football team. At the end of the day, we are our own worst enemy.”

Stock down

Dell was unable to help Stroud get the passing game going. The second-year player had a solid rookie season with 709 yards receiving and seven touchdowns in 11 games before breaking his leg. But he hasn’t been able to build on that success this year and has just 194 yards receiving with one score in six games.

Injuries

LB Azeez Al-Shaair (knee), LB Henry To’oTo’o (concussion), CB Kamari Lassiter (shoulder) and S Jimmie Ward (groin) all missed Sunday’s game and it’s unclear if any of these starters can return this week.

Key number

3 — Safety Calen Bullock had his third interception Sunday to tie Dunta Robinson and Jumal Rolle for most interceptions by a rookie in franchise history through the first seven games. He leads NFL rookies in interceptions this season and is tied for third-most among all players.

Next steps

The AFC South-leading Texans (5-2) return to division play Sunday when they host the second-place Colts (4-3), who have won two in a row and four of five.

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