Dana Brown’s latest comments hint Astros' pursuit of a starter isn’t what it seems

Well, things certainly escalated quickly down at the Winter Meetings for the Houston Astros. What started as a waiting game for Alex Bregman and a little bit of potential for a signing or two quickly turned into a full-on bidding war for a Kyle Tucker trade. Few had such a move on their bingo cards this offseason, but here we are.

Setting the Tucker trade buzz aside, one bit of gossip that came out of the Winter Meetings was that the Astros are in the market for starting pitching. This would make some sense, as Justin Verlander is a free agent and Yusei Kikuchi recently signed with the Angels, leaving a pair of potential openings in the rotation to fill.

While all general manager Dana Brown said was a lot of the usual stuff executives say when talking about always needing more pitching and exploring that market, a closer look at some of his other comments suggest that the level of urgency in Houston's search for rotation help may not be particularly high.

Astros may want another starter, but it doesn't sound like they are in any hurry to pay for one

When Brown spoke to the media at the Winter Meetings, he was pretty explicit about being interested in adding a starter when he said, "If we have an opportunity in different trades or anything to acquire a starter, I’m always in the business for a starter. I don’t think you can ever have enough.” Given the number of injuries Houston dealt with in 2024 to their pitching staff, he certainly has a point.

However, Brown also went on to talk at length about the Astros' current pitching depth. “If we can sign someone and it’s Gusto, Gordon, Blubaugh and potentially Ullola, if that’s your depth, I think you’re in a good spot," he continued. "If you get Garcia, and he turns the corner like we think he can, that would be a nice shot in the arm for the rotation, because now you’re getting a guy with postseason experience back.”

That feels like a pretty strong sell on the Astros' current starting options, especially when factored in with Brown talking up the comebacks of both Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. as starting options as well. Would Brown like to add a reliable rotation arm? Absolutely, he would be crazy not to. However, there are some tea leaves worth reading here, given how much faith he seems to have in Houston's internal options.

Right now, the market for quality starting pitching is nuts, with even mediocre guys getting north of $20 million a year on multi-year deals. With Alex Bregman's contract negotiations and all of the Tucker trade stuff going on, throwing the kind of money required at a starter just doesn't really track. Perhaps trading Tucker could allow for the addition of a big league-ready (or close to it) starter as a bonus. Anything more than that probably isn't in the cards unless none of the offense-first chips fall Houston's way.

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