Astros: All Quiet on the trade front right now.

It’s a little too quiet for those Astros fans expecting a trade.

When the trade deadline passes on August 1st, don’t be surprised if the Houston Astros have not made a deal. With all the moves the Astros have made over the past two years, the front office is confident that they have the pieces needed to win. As we have seen after the injuries to Luis Valbuena and Carlos Gomez, you can never have enough depth. While it is unknown how active the Astros will be, let’s look at a few names we can eliminate.

The Astros were rumored to be interested in Jonathan Lucroy, but according to Jerry Crasnick, “Their reported pursuit was overblown, according to one source.” As I was writing about the possible trade, I thought it would be counterproductive with Jason Castro and Evan Gattis on the team. Lucroy’s bat would have been great in the lineup, but we have Yulieski Gurriel mid-August.

There was some rumored interest in Andrew Cashner, but according to Jon Heyman, they called and talked to the Padres. They felt that he wasn’t much of an upgrade over Mike Fiers. They made the right call there. I wouldn’t want to invest too much in that bearded pitcher. 

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I know Astros fans are clamoring for Jay Bruce, but don’t expect them to make a trade for him. Yes, Jeff Luhnow has bad blood with Jocketty, but I just think there will be many teams involved driving up the price. Alex Bregman could develop into that type of player. However, we are waiting for his first hit.

The Astros are probably after a lefty reliever in the trade market, with the names Will Smith and Hunter Cervenka linked to them. I can see the Astros and Braves hooking up on a deal because the Braves are looking towards the future. Cervenka has a 3.00 ERA with 33 strikeouts in 30 innings. Smith has a 3.72 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 19 1/3 innings. Smith was predicted to be the closer out of spring training, but injuries slowed him down.

Next: Astros Recall Tyler White with Injuries to Gomez and Valbuena

The Astros could use another starter, but as shown by their lack of interest in Cashner, they are not going to pounce unless it’s a good deal. The Astros could make a blockbuster deal to get Chris Sale, Chris Archer, or Sonny Gray because they have seven prospects in the Top-100 prospects from MLB Pipeline. But with Lance McCullers recent dominance and Dallas Keuchel returning to form, they may not need to upgrade. We will see soon what’s going on with the Stros soon.

***Stats from Baseball-Reference***