Corbin Burnes injury just opened the door for Astros to make a bold move

Corbin Burnes exited the Diamondbacks win against the Nationals on Sunday night, and there's growing concern that the former Cy Young Award-winner may have suffered a season-ending injury. If Burnes is indeed headed to the injured list, the Houston Astros need to pounce on the opportunity to upgrade their starting rotation.

Though it may seem a bit heartless to take advantage of a team's injury woes, that's the business-side of baseball. If Burnes' is declared out for the season, the D-backs have two legitimate trade candidates who could become this year's most sought-after targets — Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen.

Kelly has been the better of the two starters this season. The 36-year-old veteran is 5-2 with a 3.78 ERA in 12 starts for Arizona. Kelly has a 110 ERA+ on the season and is in the final year of an affordable $24 million deal. Gallen is two years removed from a third-place finish in the NL Cy Young race. While Gallen's league-leading 32 walks are somewhat problematic, he posted a 14-6 record with a 3.65 ERA just last season. Like Merrill, Gallen will be a free agent after this season.

Corbin Burnes injury should thrust Merrill Kelly and Zac Gallen onto the Astros's radar

You won't get much sympathy from Astros fans. The Houston faithful have already watched there rotation fall apart this season with the likes of Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneksi, and Spencer Arrighetti all on the IL. Those injuries came after Houston was already without Christian Javier, Luis Garcia, and J.P. France.

According to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, the Astros are on the lookout for starting pitching. Houston is unlikely to find a bigger value than Merrill, though Gallen would be a fine No. 3 behind Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown. Both pitchers would cost some prospect capital, but that has never stopped Houston in the past.

The Astros have shown a penchant to go all-in this season. GM Dana Brown rolled the dice ahead of Opening Day by adding Cam Smith to the roster. The Astros have since added a number of rookie contributors to the roster, including top prospect Jacob Melton.

The D-backs won't just give Merrill away, and could be inclined to wait until closer to the MLB trade deadline. Arizona, however, is in a tough division and having lost eight of their last 10 games, may be willing to go ahead and throw in the towel on the 2025 season. If that happens, Houston needs to act quickly.

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