Astros precarious swap with AL rival feels like a trade they're destined to lose

There are just some teams that are dangerous to make deals with. Some are particularly good at hiding negative aspects about their own players until it is too late to do anything about it. Others are just sneaky smart about the players that they target and can take advantage of adjustments that other organizations cannot. The Houston Astros have to be hoping they are the latter with their latest trade.

The Astros have a multitude of injury concerns at the moment all over their roster. One of the more recent additions to Houston's IL was Nick Allen, who was acquired in a trade for Mauricio Dubon in what was very clearly a salary dump move. All of these injuries have forced Houston to think outside the box a bit and one example came on Wednesday with they traded for infielder Raynel Delgado in exchange for cash considerations. Unfortunately, that trade came with a team that is notorious for not losing trades in the Rays.

Astros strike minor trade with Rays for Raynel Delgado, but it is truly a lottery ticket move

Now, it is hard to lose a trade where you only give up cash so badly that one has actual regrets. On paper, this is a very minor move that didn't cost Houston much at all. The only real outstanding question that matters is whether or not that Delgado had some sort of opt-out in his deal with Tampa that will require the Astros to put him on their 40-man roster. However, the Rays are smart and if they are giving up on him already, there is probably some sort of real reason for it.

While Delgado isn't likely to save the Astros' season, he does have some things going for him. HIs .682 OPS in 61 games at Triple-A probably means that he won't be hitting near the top of the order anytime soon, but Delgado does have 24 steals over that same span and he can play all over the infield. If his defense is even passable, that is hard to pass up for a bargain price.

Again, this seems very much like a depth move that will likely not amount to much when the dust settles. However, it is good to see that Dana Brown is staying vigilant and opportunistic at this point of the season. Given where the Astros are right now, they are going to need it.

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