Astros’ trade market goals are only going to make their biggest problem even worse

Houston Astros fans are tired of hearing about the team's payroll problems at this point, especially considering those problems were of their own making. In an ideal world, Dana Brown would go out and sign some bullpen help, add a middle of the rotation starter, and secure an actual second baseman.

Unfortunately, Astros owner Jim Crane is averse to the luxury tax and Houston made some questionable moves that glutted their roster and their books. As a result, the overwhelming sentiment right now is if the front office is going to make big moves, it will likely come on the trade market, not through free agency.

In a vacuum, this strategy makes sense. When in doubt, trade from areas of depth to upgrade other parts of your roster by adding cost-controlled players instead of overpaying for free agents. Easy enough, right?

The problem with that plan, however, is that unless the Astros find a sucker to take on one of their bad contracts (anyone interested in a lightly used Christian Walker?), making trades to address the big league roster is very likely to compound what is already a brutal prospect depth problem.

Astros trading for their roster needs is only going to accelerate their prospect depth problem

Contrary to popular belief, the Astros have talent in their farm system. The team's 2025 first-round pick Xavier Neyens has special power, Brice Matthews opened a lot of eyes with his play last season and is close to big-league ready, and Walker Janek is quietly becoming one of the better catching prospects in baseball.

However, there is no denying that the prospect talent pool drops off considerably once you get past the top names. If the Astros want a rotation arm worth having, they're either going to have to exclusively target pending free agents (which every team would love to trade for) and hope lower level prospects can get a deal done, or they're going to have to trade at least of their precious few top prospects.

Exactly what does that accomplish? Even if the Astros uses Jake Meyers as their trade chip instead, they would just be shuffling one need for another and losing the opportunity to actually add some young talent with Meyers. There are real consequences for not maintaining the talent pipeline to the majors, and unfortunately, Houston is finding that out in more ways than one.