Astros should match up with AL rival on trade deadline deal for former All-Star

Eric Cole

Los Angeles Angels v Baltimore Orioles / Greg Fiume/GettyImages

As good as things are going for the Houston Astros, they really need a left-handed bat of note at the trade deadline. The offense has finally shown signs of waking up, but it is hard to ignore the fact that right-handed starters can give this Houston lineup fits; especially with Yordan Alvarez out. However, one option that could help the Astros might be available thanks to the Baltimore Orioles' struggles this season.

In an ideal world, any bat the Astros acquired would be at a position of need — second base clearly sticks out. However, you can't always choose which players are available. For the Astros, one of the better trade deadline targets they should try to pursue is Baltimore outfielder Cedric Mullins.

Cedric Mullins could be a nice fit for the Astros if they decide to move on from Jake Myers

Okay, we're fully aware that the Astros have a strong defensive center fielder who is playing well right now. However, Jake Meyers' performance this season is a clear outlier when compared to the rest of his career, and selling high on him has a lot of merit. In Mullins, Houston would get what they always hoped for out of Meyers while addressing their need for help on the left side of the plate.

Unlike Meyers, Mullins has consistently been an above average hitter in his career. In four of the past five seasons, Mullins has put up a wRC+ north of 100 and the other was a season where he posted a 99 wRC+. For comparison, Meyers did not post a wRC+ above 88 during any of his previous three campaigns.

Mullins has his warts, as his hit tool can leave something to be desired. However, he's a really strong defender in the outfield, has some power, steals a bunch of bases, and his ability to get on-base allows him to remain a productive hitter in a lineup even when the batting average doesn't show it. Meyers cannot make the same claim.

Now, the Astros may prefer to get a more traditionally good lefty hitter instead of one with a weirder profile like Mullins. However, Houston might not find another player that could fill a potential defensive void left by Meyers who also provides value at the plate and shouldn't cost an arm and leg in return.

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Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.