Surprise Yankees trade could quietly wreck Astros' deadline fallback plan

The Houston Astros are in pretty desperate need of a left-handed bat at the trade deadline and everyone knows it. Astros general manager Dana Brown has made his intentions clear especially in the wake of Isaac Paredes getting hurt and with Yordan Alvarez out for the foreseeable future. One option that had been circulated as a strong possibility for Houston was third baseman Ryan McMahon.

McMahon wasn't really on experts' radars as an option for the Astros until Paredes got hurt which opened up the trade market a bit for them. While McMahon was never a perfect fit, he is a lefty bat with some (expensive) team control who is a good defender and can hit for power. Most thought that if McMahon got moved, the Astros would be right in the middle of it.

Well, that plan is out the window now because the Yankees just struck a trade for McMahon themselves. New York is sending LFP Griffin Herring and RHP Josh Grosz to the purgatory that is Colorado in exchange.

Yankees trade for Ryan McMahon just shrank the pool of viable Astros trade deadline targets

Just like that, one option that Houston probably viewed as a fallback plan is off the table and one of the Astros' chief AL rivals was the beneficiary. McMahon's hit tool is not great, but he does provide some real pop from the left side and in the worst case scenario, he would provide real value as a defender while Paredes is out and could be traded during the offseason.

Now, the Astros have to really buckle down and focus on their top trade targets. Ryan O'Hearn and Cedric Mullins are still available and if Houston is smart, they are getting on the phone with Baltimore to see if they can get a deal done before they are gone, too.

The good news is that the price the Yankees paid for McMahon probably helps the Astros' cause. Neither of the pitching prospects that the Yankees are sending are particularly highly ranked (though Herring does have his supporters) and it just feels like, in general, the prices for trades are strangely reasonable at the moment. If the Astros can act fast, they might be able to get a decent deal themselves.

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