Offseason: Should the Astros make a trade for Chris Bassitt?

It’s safe to say that Oakland Athletics’ pitcher, Chris Bassitt, had an interesting 2021 season. He threw his first complete game in the bigs on May 27, made his first All-Star team, then was struck in the face by a line drive on Aug. 17.

Bassitt was stretchered out, only to return to the mound little over a month later on Sept. 23. Talk about a tough guy.

The most intriguing thing Bassitt did in 2021, to Astros fans at least, would be the comments he had on The Chris Rose Rotation podcast, where he said that the Houston Astros were not the only team cheating in and around 2017.

He also mentioned the Astros were just who the blame fell on. Again, talk about a tough guy.

Chris Bassitt sounds exactly like the kind of pitcher the Astros should trade for, especially considering the numbers he put up in 2021.

The right-hander went 12-4 with a 3.15 ERA during the ’21 season. With Justin Verlander most likely leaving and Lance McCullers Jr.’s health questionable over a 162-game season, it might be the perfect, somewhat cheap move to make.

It makes even more sense as the A’s are “willing to listen to trade inquiries on their veterans, including pitching stars Chris Bassitt”, according to Jon Heyman on twitter.

What would the Astros have to give up for Bassitt?

One option is giving Jeremy Pena straight up, or giving up Chas McCormick and requesting a little extra in return. The latter option assumes that either Jake Meyers or Jose Siri are ready to become the everyday center fielder, or maybe a combo of the two.

Besides those scenarios, the only trade left to get Bassitt is offering a mixed bag of prospects, as one can assume that there’s no chance Houston offers Korey Lee, as he seems to be the catcher of the future. With Forrest Whitley’s value unsure at the moment, I doubt he would be a primary piece of the trade either.