Astros: Shouldn’t count out Luhnow getting Sonny Gray

Rumors are that the Astros aren’t in serious discussions for Sonny Gray.

Many of you may not remember this offseason, right before the Astros made the Brian McCann trade. Ken Rosenthal wrote that the Stros and Yankees were at an impasse over the money in a trade. The next day, the Astros ended up trading for McCann and signing Josh Reddick.

Teams can leak information out to try to drive up the price. This could have been the case to get the better prospects for McCann and could be the case now. Yesterday, there were early reports by Jon Morosi that the Astros were pushing for Sonny Gray. It made sense after all. They have chased him for a while.

Later in the evening, Jon Heyman tweeted that there are no serious talk going on with Astros for Gray. Heyman even said the Stros seem to be moving on. As my Talking Stros co-host says, that’s Negotiation 101. The Athletics want more from the Astros, so other teams get rumored to be involved.

Trying to hold onto two prospects.

The bottom line is the Astros want to hold onto Forrest Whitley and Kyle Tucker, but the A’s probably wants one or both of them. The two teams could have a framework for a trade worked out. The Athletics could be seeing if they can get better.

Where there is smoke, there is normally a fire. There were too many people talking about Gray yesterday. The Astros will try not to back down until they feel that they have to before the deadline.

While Gray could be the best available pitcher left, he does come with some warning signs. He has struggled with injuries the past few seasons and got off to a bad start in 2017. In Gray’s last five starts, he was 4-1 with a 1.62 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 33 1/3 innings. Talk about getting hot at the right time.

Next: Astros: Key Factors of a Verlander/Wilson Trade

The Houston front office knows that other teams can sweep in there, so expect a deal soon if it is to happen. Gray would fit in perfectly with this young squad. However, Jeff Luhnow probably has a certain price they will pay for him. Nothing new from yesterday, now we wait.

***Stats from Baseball-Reference***