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Houston Astros ‘have about a month to right the ship, if not’

The struggling Houston Astros desperately need to make an effort over the next few weeks to keep them in contention. They’re still on track to land at least a playoff bid, currently 7.5 games into the American League West and 4.5 out of a Wild Card berth.

31-37 on the season, it’s been a strange season to say the least.

If things don’t change for the Astros before the trade deadline, the front office will be in an interesting position. Dana Brown has made it known that he has no plans to sell, but things can always change.

With Alex Bregman hitting free agency at the end of the year, Houston could consider moving him. It would be tough to see one of the best players in franchise history get dealt, but Bregman has struggled this season and there’s a chance they lose him in free agency.

ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle wrote about what all 30 MLB teams need to do before the deadline, writing that they “have a month to right the ship.”

“Simply put, the Astros have about a month to right the ship, otherwise they will have no choice but to shuffle a roster that is aging in several spots.

“Houston halted its initial slide but never really got hot, and only the mediocrity of its division thus far has kept the Astros from being buried.”

There are a few factors that cause them to get hot, as Doolittle alludes to. Injuries have been an obvious problem all season, especially on the mound. The situation doesn’t seem to be improving in the near future, so perhaps one or two steps will be taken to resolve this issue.

This lineup has been one of the best in baseball over the past few seasons. While he hasn’t been as dominant as he used to be, there’s certainly a scenario where they start using him like everyone knows they can.

The problem, though, is that nearly 70 games into the season, they haven’t proven they can do it. At some point, this might just be who the Astros are this year.

“But we need to see it, and soon, because the Astros haven’t looked this lifeless for so long before their current window of contention opened nearly a decade ago,” Doolittle wrote.

If this core wants to stay together, it needs to start playing like it before the July trade deadline.