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Four Under The Radar Bullpen Targets the Astros Could Acquire Before The Deadline

The Astros need some pitching help. Landing Dylan Cease would be a dream, but a some under the radar targets could go a long way towards helping their title defense.

By Alec Brown |
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Colorado Rockies v Boston Red Sox / Maddie Meyer/GettyImages
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The Astros need pitching help. Their top four relievers are incredibly overworked, and they've lost three starters due to injury. The soon to return Jose Urquidy should help, but a team can never have too many arms.

Houston has to find a way to keep innings off of Pressly, Abreu, Maton and Neris.

They've recently been linked to Dylan Cease, and while he would be a deadline splash they've not made since landing Zack Greinke, it may be a few smaller moves like the landing of Phil Maton (and Yainer Diaz) in 2021 or Cristian Vázquez in 2022 that push them over the top.

Let's look at four under the radar bullpen targets the Astros may look to acquire.

The Astros should trade for Brent Suter.

Brent Suter is an unrestricted free agent at year's end, so he'd be a rental, but he likely wouldn't be expensive and would be a tremendous help for Houston's bullpen. Across 42.2 innings this year, Suter is 4-0 with a 2.74 ERA.

His Statcast page is a thing of beauty: 100th percentile in average exit velocity, 99th percentile in hard hit rate, 98th percentile in barrel percentages, 97th percentile in xSLG and xWOBA and 88th percentile in xBA.

He's a soft-contact king that has pitched to great success in the cavernous Coors Field. He's a masive upgrade as a lefty over the revolving door of lefties Houston has rolled out the last few seasons. And while he has many suiters, as a reliever on an expiring contract, the cost wouldn't be that high.

Phil Maton, Bryan Abreu, Hector Neris and Ryan Pressly can't continue to be tasked with getting every meaningful out in the bullpen. If the Astros can land Suter, they would immediately be able to keep the workloads of the aforementioned four down.

Contenders are always in the market for relievers and bullpen upgrades. Landing Suter would be a massive win for Houston's bullpen depth the rest of the way.

Detroit Tigers v Seattle Mariners
Detroit Tigers v Seattle Mariners / Steph Chambers/GettyImages

Tyler Holton would be a big get for the Astros bullpen.

Would the Tigers move a reliever with this many years of control? Especially one performing as well as Tyler Holton? That's the question. With the Tigers still a ways away from contention, if they wanted to capitalize and move Holton while his stock is at his highest, Dana Brown should be the first on the phone.

The Arizona Diamondbacks waived Holton after he threw only nine innings in 2022. Safe to say, that move backfired.

Holton has thrown 51.2 innings this year for the Detroit Tigers, posting a 1.74 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. He's also got some really nice Statcast metrics, highlighted by a 93rd percentile average exit velocity and 91st percentile hard hit rate.

He'd by far be the most controllable name on this list, as he won't hit arbitration until 2027.

The Tigers may not be shopping him now, but relievers are so volatile (Rafael Montero, anyone?). If the Tigers decided they're a couple years away and want to continue to load up assets, Holton would be a great addition as this year closes, and potentially in the years to come.

Detroit Tigers v Kansas City Royals
Detroit Tigers v Kansas City Royals / Ed Zurga/GettyImages

Jason Foley would be great in Houston's bullpen.

The Detroit Tigers quietly have some really solid bullpen options. Like Holton, Foley would be a great pickup for the Astros. He debuted in 2021 and has posted a 3.11 ERA in 113 innings since.

This year, he's been especially great. Foley has a 2.13 ERA with a 1.06 WHIP. He doesn't miss a ton of bats (only in the 44th percentile in strikeout rate), but he misses barrels, doesn't walk hitters, and limits damage. He's in the 90th percentile of xwOBA, 89th percentile in walk rate, 86th percentile in barrel rate and 84th percentile in xSLG.

His two-seamer is absolutely disgusting, featuring 22.9 inches of drop and 17.3 inches of run. Just watch what he does to Bobby Witt Jr. here.

The years of team control would be nice with Ryne Stanek and Phil Maton approaching free agency.

It's rumored multiple teams are calling on Foley. The Astros should be one of them.

Kansas City Royals v Cleveland Guardians
Kansas City Royals v Cleveland Guardians / Ron Schwane/GettyImages

Amir Garrett should be on the Astros radar.

There's a reason the word "trade" was left out of the headline. Most moves the Astros make will be a trade, but the veteran reliever was recently released outright by the Kansas City Royals.

On paper, his 3.33 ERA looks like Garrett would be a no-brainer, but his walk-rate is remarkably high. He walked a career high 7.4 per nine before being DFA'd by Kansas City. With his troublesome control, he'd likely slide into a similar role as Ryne Stanek last year. Walks don't play in October, so while he likely wouldn't be trusted to get leverage outs then, he could be great depth for the bullpen now.

Even if his walk rate didn't improve, he's still a better option than Joel Kuhnel. A flier on Garrett wouldn't cost any prospects from an already depleted farm system if they looked to make other moves, and if he regained form throwing for a team actually going somewhere again, he'd be a tremendous asset for the bullpen.

Worst case, he provides needed depth to keep innings down and the lefty Dusty Baker so desires. Best case, he actually can be counted on for leverage outs throughout the regular season. This is a low risk, high reward move the Astros should make.

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