Grading Each Move the Astros Made at the Deadline

Assigning a letter grade to each trade that the Houston Astros made at the 2022 trade deadline.

The 2022 MLB trade deadline has now officially come and gone after weeks of anticipation. The Houston Astros didn’t make a trade on deadline day itself, getting all their business done the day before instead. During the 48-hour flurry of moves that was the 2022 trade season, they made 3 deals, acquiring 3 players for their MLB roster and 1 prospect while trading away 2 major leaguers as well as an additional 3 prospects. All the prospects they traded were in the top 30 in their system according to MLB.com.

Going into the deadline, the Astros’ most pressing needs were at first base and catcher. While they did not acquire the marquee name at first base in Josh Bell, who went to the Padres in the Juan Soto deal, they did manage to trade for the best catcher that ended up getting moved in Christian Vazquez. They also acquired a left-handed pitcher for their bullpen (which previously featured all righties) in Will Smith. Despite the lack of trades on the actual deadline day, GM James Click hinted at the fact that they had conversations about plenty more players they didn’t end up acquiring.

A common theme that made the deadline somewhat underwhelming for plenty of fans was the fact that the price for trade candidates on selling teams seemed to be at an all-time high. The Cubs’ Willson Contreras and Ian Happ ended up not being traded. Neither did San Francisco’s Joc Pederson and Carlos Rodon. Detroit opted to keep key relievers, Andrew Chafin and Gregory Soto. That left many buyers with a smaller haul of players than they would have liked; the Mets and Blue Jays being the most prominent.

That said, the Astros still addressed most of their needs, and GM Click was able to personally address the media after the 5:00 PM (CST) deadline had passed. On the following slides, you’ll find letter grades on each trade the Astros made at the deadline, and details about each one that you may have forgotten.

Full Trade –
To HOU: Christian Vazquez
To BOS: Enmanuel Valdez, Wilyer Abreu
ASTROS GRADE: C+

The Astros were never chasing Cubs star Willson Contreras, but seeing as he didn’t get traded due to Chicago’s lofty asking price, Vazquez definitely ended up being the right player to trade for at catcher. He owns a slash line of .282/.327/.432 for an OPS+ of 108, making him one of the better hitting catchers in the game, and he grades out roughly as average in terms of pitch framing (more on his defense, and the trade itself, here).

Vazquez, a Red Sox lifer up to this point, isn’t completely replacing Martin Maldonado on the roster. Part of the reason that the Astros never sought an all-star to improve their offense at the position is because they felt Maldonado had earned playing time for what he contributes to the team aside from his bat, so the two figure to split duties the rest of the way, as expected when news first broke that the Astros asked about Vazquez. The exact percentage of playing time Vazquez will get is unknown at this time.

To get him, the Astros gave up 2 position player prospects that were ranked 28th and 29th in their system before the trade. Enmanuel Valdez, a swiss army knife in the field, is destroying the ball in the minors with an OPS over 1.000 and 21 home runs between AA and AAA. He will slot in with the Red Sox AAA affiliate and at age 23, he quickly becomes one of the most exciting young hitters in their pipeline. Wilyer Abreu, also age 23, has been no slouch himself at AA with 15 home runs and an .858 OPS in 89 games.

That seems like an enormous overpay for a rental catcher at first, but there is some logic to it. Since both those prospects signed in their mid-teens as international signings, and more than 5 years have elapsed since then, they are now eligible for the rule-5 draft that happens in the offseason. With the way Valdez is hitting at AAA, he almost certainly would’ve been taken, so the front office likely felt that they were going to lose at least one of them anyway and got something in return while they could. They had to sacrifice two talented prospects to get Vazquez, but there’s sound reasoning behind it, and the Astros got a much-needed offensive boost at the catcher position.

Full Trade –
To HOU: Will Smith
To ATL: Jake Odorizzi
ASTROS GRADE: C

The Astros’ bullpen has limited left-handed hitters to a batting average just a smidge over .200 this year, so it’s not as though they needed a left-handed reliever, but the front office took a chance on Will Smith regardless. James Click implied that the trade was made not because the Astros needed him but because manager Dusty Baker would prefer to have at least one lefty in the bullpen anyway.

Smith is tough to evaluate. He has had some dominant years and has an established track record as a reliever, but is in the midst of a tumultuous season in which he has a 4.38 ERA, 5.22 FIP, and 5.1 BB/9 through 37 innings. This comes less than a year after he repeatedly shut the Astros down in the 2021 World Series. However, his quality of contact numbers aren’t any worse than expected for him, so at least the walks are the only significant problem. Smith also has a career 1.47 ERA and 0.76 WHIP in 20 postseason appearances, which means that he pitches almost flawlessly under pressure, regardless of how good or bad his regular season goes. At his best, he’s a high-quality weapon, but it’s also easy to see why this is giving many fans pause given his control issues.

To get Smith, the team gave up Jake Odorizzi, who ended up being the odd man out in the rotation after all. A trade involving a rental starter and a reliever with a buyout option after this year between two contenders is rarely seen, and while Odorizzi will provide more value to his team than Smith by default because he’s a starter, someone from the rotation had to go eventually. Lance McCullers Jr. completed another strong rehab start on Tuesday and is closer to a return, which means that a trade was necessary or else Houston would have had 7 starters on their roster.

Another thing that makes this trade look good for Houston is the fact that they acquired a first baseman, a catcher, and a left-handed reliever without giving up any young pitchers on their major league roster. They’re still very much in “wait-and-see” mode on Smith, but he still has the potential to be a quality piece in the bullpen, and they managed to get him by subtracting from an area of surplus (more on the Smith trade here).

FINAL GRADE: B

In sum, the Houston Astros did what they had to do at the 2022 trade deadline. They upgraded at multiple positions, and while they didn’t make a move to upgrade at center field over the struggling Jake Meyers (Click said the team will continue to try to work with him), it was announced that the team is optimistic about Michael Brantley returning at some point this season.

Just because they didn’t get the best players on the market doesn’t mean this deadline shouldn’t be viewed as a success from Houston’s perspective. They gained strength in areas where they had a competitive disadvantage, kept all of their top prospects, and also managed to hold onto their controllable major league talent. The top-seed Yankees made more moves and it’s tough to say the Astros gained ground on them, but they were still an excellent team going into this week and they came out of it even better. They didn’t get it done in the flashiest way, but at first glance, it appears to be “mission accomplished” for the Houston Astros this trade deadline.