Astros insider reminded everyone that Houston may have committed true trade blunder

There are trades that you make to try and improve your team and trades you make to position yourself for the future. The Houston Astros are intimately familiar with both types of trades and have struck multiples of each over the years. The Justin Verlander trade from a few years ago was very much a "win-now" move that proved to be quite costly. However, last offseason's trade of Mauricio Dubon was firmly in the other, forward-looking camp, though it may have been more costly than Houston planned.

While his bat could be frustrating, Dubon's performance with the Astros had little to do with why Houston shipped him to the Braves over the offseason. Dubon was widely considered to be one of the best utility players in all of baseball, and he was a great defender and clubhouse guy. The issue was that the Astros just didn't have any room under the luxury tax, and they were forced to choose between keeping Dubon or improving other areas of the roster. They chose the latter.

Unfortunately, that decision is proving to be costly, as not only is Dubon's versatility missed, but trading him may have unintentionally made their current outfield problems worse if comments from The Athletic's Astros beat writer Chandler Rome is correct.

Astros may be feeling some seller's regret at the moment from Mauricio Dubon trade

In a recent Astros mailbag over at The Athletic, Rome was asked about the Dubon trade, and he raised some interesting points. Importantly, trading Dubon, as well as Jesus Sanchez, enabled Houston to avoid their self-imposed spending limitations and sign Tatsuya Imai and Ryan Weiss. While it may be true that Weiss was a bust, Imai looks like he is finally turning things around, and both signings were highly thought of at the time.

However, Rome did explain exactly where Houston lost out when they moved on from Dubon. The odds are low that Dubon would be pressing for much playing time in the infield despite his defensive excellence there, but the outfield would be a different story. Dubon has been a very different hitter in Atlanta, and there is no guarantee he would have been THAT good if he had stayed with the Astros, but it is extremely likely that he would have been better than some of the outfielders Houston has been trotting out there.

Ultimately, that was a cost that the Astros knew could be in play, and they decided that the risk was worth it. They thought that Cam Smith would start hitting, Jake Meyers could build on his success from 2025, and that Brice Matthews could become a factor. Unfortunately, that hasn't really happened other than some short bursts, and now Houston has to wonder what might have been.

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