4 players the Astros should have traded before their trade value tanked

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The trade deadline has come and gone and it is fair to say that the Houston Astros were quite aggressive. Despite public attempts to convince the world that they weren't in the market for a starting pitcher because prices were terrible, Dana Brown went out and got the biggest name dealt at the deadline period when the Astros traded for Justin Verlander.

The timing of trades is often key and it is easy give up too quickly on a player. The Astros' own history of trades is littered with guys that Houston traded away only to see them blossom with their new organizations. However, it is also true that teams, including the Astros, can hang on to players for too long only to watch their trade value die on the vine.

Here are 4 players the Astros should have traded before their trade value tanked

Trading players always comes with some risk especially when that player has both talent and some team control. No one wants to be responsible for sending a guy that turns into a star somewhere else. However, it is important to recognize what types of players have more risk than others and to also realize when to move on from a player. Hindsight is often brutally 20/20 in these situations, but all four of the players on this list had some warning signs that could have been picked up by the Astros before things were too late.

Let's take a look at four Astros players that Houston held on to for too long and saw their trade value come crashing down.

Martin Maldonado

Martin Maldonado is a tough case where an organization's loyalty to a player and his previous contributions clouded the reality of his decline. Maldonado was never a good hitter. The only season he ever posted a better than average wRC+ was 2020 and his slash line was still just .215/.350/.378 which isn't exactly awe inspiring. However, Maldonado was an excellent defender who managed the pitching staff well, so he was serving the role as a bridge to the future for Houston at catcher nicely.

The problem, of course, is that wasn't a bridge for Houston....he just turned into their guy who got the bulk of the starts at catcher. His defensive numbers weren't as strong as they were during his time with the Brewers and Angels and his offensive game got more and more abysmal. Fast forward to this year and Maldonado has not only been terrible at the plate with a 50 wRC+ which is impressively bad, but his defense has left him as well. Houston just hung on too long to a guy with very limited upside here.

Forrest Whitley

Pitching prospects are among the most likely types of players to bite you in this sort of way and Forrest Whitley is a classic example. There was a time not that long ago where Whitley was considered one of the absolute best pitching prospects in all of baseball. The Astros picked him 17th overall in the 2016 draft and very quickly climbing the minor league ladder thanks to having a ton of above average to plus pitches when he is on. All he needed to do is take that one last step with his commanand he had a chance to be a front of the rotation starter in the big leagues.

Unfortunately, that did not happen. First, Whitley got hit with a suspension for violating MLB's drug prevention and treatment policy which cost him 50 games. Then there were the injuries and there were not a small amount of them as he had some kind of injury issue every single season leading up to having Tommy John surgery in 2021. Instead of moving him at the peak of his value, Whitley's value has cratered to the point where if he makes it to the majors at all, it is likely going to be as a bullpen arm as he hasn't shown the durability or consistency to cut it as a starter.

David Hensley

This is kind of a weird one and honestly, one kinda gets why the Astros didn't move Hensley as he never got a lot of press as a prospect and his value wasn't ever particularly high. He was never really a top 30 prospect on any of the big national media lists and it was more a pleasant surprise than anything else that this 26th round pick from the the 2018 draft out of San Diego State was doing anything at all in the minors.

When Hensley was posting .800+ OPSes in 2021 and 2022 is when Houston should have found a way to include him in a trade. Coming off a nice short stretch in the big leagues in 2022, Hensley could have fetched a nice return. Even when he was hitting well, there wasn't a lot of power and while he did draw walks, there were a lot of strikeouts to go along with him. Those red flags didn't push Houston down that path, though, and he was exposed in 2023 when he played poorly in a 29 games in the big leagues and he hasn't been much better down at Triple-A this season.

Ryne Stanek

Ryne Stanek is a prime example of why bullpen arms are the most volatile asset in baseball. On the surface, keeping a bullpen arm around that posted a 1.15 ERA in 2022 makes all the sense in the world especially when he is also still in the arbitration years of his contract. He misses bats at a high rate and his stuff is pretty enticing. However, trouble has always been brewing underneath in Stanek's peripherals.

During Stanek's entire career, he has had to deal with the fact that he walks too many guys. The best walk rate he has ever posted was back in 2018 with the Rays at 3.66 BB/9 which is still only just "fine" and that walk rate has been around 5 his entire time with the Astros. The stuff can be really good, there is no denying that. However, the Astros would have been better served trading Stanek to a bullpen-hungry team last offseason when his value was highest. Instead, the Regression Monster came to claim in him 2023 where he now boasts a 4.62 ERA in 40 appearances this season.

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