Why a Juan Soto Trade Makes Sense For the Astros

The Astros are once again contenders for a World Series title, but every contender could always use an upgrade to bolster their team towards October.

The Houston Astros yet again have a deep lineup one through seven with Jose Altuve, Michael Brantley, Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez, Yuli Gurriel, Kyle Tucker and Jeremy Peña.

But it could never hurt to lengthen that lineup, especially with an on-base machine like Juan Soto.

The Washington Nationals are cellar dwellers with no hope of coming out of that spot, which means they will assuredly be sellers come deadline time. And with the added two wild card spots, there will be less teams you can expect to be looking to trade at the deadline, limiting options on the market.

While it would cost the Astros a fortune in prospects, there are a few reasons why a trade for Soto would make sense. We’ll start with the obvious one here.

With Michael Brantley’s free agency looming, Juan Soto would provide insurance in the outfield should he leave.

Brantley is still a great all-around hitter, but he’s not getting any younger and his contract is up next season. While he’s remained with the Astros for four years, there’s no guarantee another team won’t poach him away as the Toronto Blue Jays almost did two years ago.

If the Astros trade for Soto it would solidify the outfield of Alvarez, Tucker and Soto for three years, with Alvarez and Tucker not up for free agency until 2026.

Soto would make for a great insurance policy giving the Astros financial flexibility to spend on a 1B/DH or a starting pitcher should Justin Verlander or Yuli Gurriel leave next year. And with the way Verlander’s pitching, he almost assuredly will opt into free agency and command a contract possibly in the Max Scherzer range of $40 or more million a year for two or three years.

And the final reason a Soto trade makes sense for the Astros.

The Astros have a deep starting rotation with two solid prospects who otherwise would be untouchable if it weren’t for the fact that Soto comes with three years of control.

While it would be painful to let some combination of Hunter Brown, Pedro Leon, Korey Lee, Forrest Whitley and/or potentially Cristian Javier and Jose Siri go, the Astros still have a strong rotation with Verlander, Framber Valdez, Luis Garcia and the soon returning Lance McCullers Jr.

Those would be a great one through four in your starting rotation for the post season. Toss in the bullpen of Ryne Stanek, Phil Maton, Hector Neris, Ryan Pressly and Rafael Montero should any of those starters not last past the fifth inning not to mention Jose Urquidy and Jake Odorizzi for long relief and that is a stacked pitching staff to go with a monster one through eight.

The Astros are now past their punishment from the 2017 sign stealing scandal, so they’ll return to bringing in first and second round picks and can focus on replenishing the farm system while Soto, Alvarez, Tucker, Bregman, Altuve and Peña maintain a strong one through six offensively for the next three years.

It would be betting a lot on this year, but the Astros are already in a great position to be one of the top-two seeds which now looms even larger avoiding a best two out of three wild card series where anything can happen.

The longer a series is, the more likely the better team can avoid a bad bounce here or there changing the outcome of their post season hopes.

The Astros need to shoot for the best record in the American League, if at least not the two seed and the sooner they pounce on getting Soto for as much of the season as possible the better.

No time like the present to plan for the future.