Houston Astros urged to ‘retool’ ahead of MLB trade deadline

The Houston Astros’ season has been all over the place so far, but the one consistent thing is that they are behind in the playoff race. There’s still time to get back to it, but their roster could use some work.

Bleacher Report’s Tim Kelly traveled around the league to sum up each team’s season in one sentence. Here’s what he had to say for Houston:

“They may still be able to compete in 2024, but retooling is necessary.”

Currently, Houston is 24-32 and 6.5 games in the AL West after losing three straight to the Seattle Mariners. They are also seven games out of the Wild Card race.

The tough years of Seattle and the Texas Rangers opened the door for the Astros to come back with tough years of their own, but they need to take advantage.

There appears to be a lot of roster changes after this season, which could lead to some important decisions being made.

If they want to compete this season, there are some obvious holes to fill.

Houston absolutely needs to add another arm to its rotation before the deadline. Currently, their pitchers rank 27th in MLB with a 4.91 ERA. Poor play combined with constant injuries have made it nearly impossible to trust the staff as it is currently constituted.

The most consistent pitcher has been Ronel Blanco and even he has been suspended. Justin Verlander had a few weak starts, but overall he was still very good.

Some names to keep in mind for starting pitchers would be Erick Fedde or Jesus Luzardo.

They also need to add another bat at first base. Jose Abreu and Jon Singleton just won’t be enough if they want to fight.

The Astros have been connected to Pete Alonso and Vladimir Guerrero as potential additions via trade. Josh Bell makes sense as a higher value player, thanks to his recent surge. Paul Goldschmidt could work if they want to take another risk, but his season is not unlike Abreu’s so far.

Now, if Houston decides they have stopped trying to compete this season, they will still need to be active in the trade market.

Verlander, Framber Valdez, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker are all big names who could very well be wearing new uniforms next season. They could add a lot to their farming system if they decide it’s enough and call to verify their value.

Bregman and Tucker make the most sense to trade and would return the most in terms of future assets.