Houston Astros: What if there are no trades?

With ten days before the non-waiver trade deadline, I wanted the readers of CTH to understand that we do hear you and read your comments. I know that there are a vast amount of Astros fans that wish to stand pat at the deadline with your slogan #LetTheKidsPlay. These people have drunk the #Process Kool-Aid and like the idea of building from within while continuing to accumulate prospects for the future. As someone who occasionally gets to interview a prospect or two, I have developed strong ties to several prospects.

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When Jeff Luhnow and Jim Crane made the move to the #Process philosophy, I bought in and started paying more attention to the Astros minor league teams box scores. That’s how I got the knowledge I have now that allows me to write about the team that I have always been a fan of. It allowed me to notice and pay attention to a particular prospect named Brett Phillips who was lighting things up in 2014. I wrote about him when I first started writing for CTH, and he made a five second Tweet that made me want to do more writing.

“Thank you for the great write-up, I appreciate you and everyone who takes the time to write articles like that”-Brett Phillips.

Just that one comment made me strive to become better and work on improving my grammar needed to be the editor of CTH. In terms of Phillips, he is the player he is today because the Houston Astros drafting him. In a conversation I had with him the other day, he told me that he likes being in the Astros organization, “they’ve developed me into the player I am today.” Do the prospects understand that they can be traded? Yes, but Phillips said he doesn’t want to be traded, “I want to be homegrown.”

Why they story, to show that I do understand what most of you are feeling, I don’t wish to trade any of these guys either. However, I do see the possible opportunity to bring the Astros back to the playoffs again in 2015, a decade after the last appearance. The Astros should be good for a while, but what if this is a once in a lifetime shot. I think the Astros need a trade, which is why I’m not one of these people preaching against trade prospects to help us in the future. Jeff Luhnow understands the situation that the Astros are in, but he still wants to build a good farm system. So what if he decides to not make a trade?

The Media

If the Astros decide to stand pat, there will be a big fuss that these are the same old Astros. Everyone sees the holes in the lineup, and people would make a big deal if the Astros don’t address these needs and fall short. The #LoseNow comments will come up that the Astros aren’t doing enough to win and are trying to get the lowest draft pick they can. The National Media already thinks the Astros are a joke, so we will get no respect from there.

Playing time

The Astros have gone through so many prospects the past few year and had to let a few go because they didn’t have space on the roster. Does the name J.D. Martinez and Jimmy Paredes ring a bell? These two players were placed on waivers or just released. With the constant influx of players, you will have some players that slip through the cracks with nothing in return.

Rule V

Prior to the 2015 season, the Astros lost three players in the Rule V; they were Delino DeShields Jr., Jandel Gustave, and David Rollins. There were several other players that they almost didn’t keep, most notable was Michael Feliz, who was almost was not protected because of the 40-man roster. Yes, Gustave was returned, but DeShields has become a semi-regular player with the Rangers. There will be another group of young prospects coming up this year that will become rule five eligible. Luhnow referred to it as a gamble as to protect a player or not, but you can’t keep losing prospects without anything in return.

Team Morale

The Astros are a young team, that could fall apart in the dog days of August. This team could use a little more veteran leadership on the team, plus hopefully the Astros could get a player to get on base more and a pitcher to go deeper into the game. The players on the team could think that the management does not believe that they could win this year and team morale could go down. Bringing the right player to the team could return the excitement to the team until George Springer returns. The right player could lead the team to the playoffs, ala Carlos Beltran or Randy Johnson. But the wrong trade could doom your season, which the A’s saw last year after the Jon Lester – Yoenis Cespedes trade last year.

The Fans

Let’s say the Astros trade for Johnny Cueto or David Price, the energy that will be brought during those home game starts would be crazy. You would win over some more of the fairwater fans who haven’t yet joined the Astros bandwagon parade. The fans are excited about this season, and falling short of the playoffs would turn away some would be season ticket holders for the 2016 season. I’m not saying the Astros have to go to the World Series in 2015, but just making the playoffs will bring a Texans like buzz to the Astros offseason.

With all this being said, I think the Astros make two moves, maybe not both of them will be a big blockbuster move. I think the Astros will trade for a starting pitcher and a first baseman.

Next: Houston Astros Rumors: Do the Stros need Justin Upton?

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