Houston Astros: Seven Major League Trade Assets

Luis Garcia

While he is currently a strong contributor to the Astros pitching rotation, he is still young and would be a great way to pry away more established talent without having to give up much more in the way of prospects.

He finished second in the rookie of the year voting in 2021 and has tons of potential which is why it would be hard to part with him, but the Astros have Hunter Brown waiting in the wings, Cristian Javier in the bullpen and Lance McCullers Jr. coming back from the IL.

The Astros have the luxury of depth at starting pitching most teams wish they had. He could be flipped for a more established pitcher with team control but it would have to be someone top tier to let go of a guy who already has shown he can pitch at the major league level and with so many years of team control.

I don’t see the Astros trading him barring a season ending injury to an impact player causing them to need an upgrade at a fielding position. And any trade involving Garcia would have to be for someone who is more than a rental.

In other words, only if an absurdly talented player with team control is available would the Astros even consider dealing him. But he is only in his second year and it still remains to be seen what kind of pitcher he will be consistently throughout his career. There’s no guarantee that he will continue the pace of his rookie season. One need only look at Randy Arozarena’s struggles this season to see that a young player’s success can be short lived and their value can plummet quickly.

Either way the Astros are fortunate to have so much depth to trade from giving them plenty of options in the way of manufacturing a package for an impact player that could get them to where they haven’t been since 2017.