There are a handful of MLB teams that must come out of the All-Star break beginning on Friday night with a strong start to avoid being sellers at the August 3 trade deadline. One of those teams is the Houston Astros.
After a start to the season that saw them get decimated by injuries, the Astros were heading down a road of being a seller at the trade deadline. However, a watered-down American League West Division and wild-card race give Houston some hope they can still get into the postseason.
If they are going to do that, then the next couple of weeks are going to be big for manager Joe Espada and his team. They already made one big move. They sent right-handed pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. to the Milwaukee Brewers on July 15. However, Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report dropped a bold prediction for each team after the All-Star break. He predicted that general manager Dana Brown would make a bold trade.
Houston Astros Predicted To Trade First Baseman Christian Walker
Reuter predicted that Brown will trade three-time Gold Glove winner with the Arizona Diamondbacks, first baseman Christian Walker. Walker was the subject of trade rumors over the offseason, but Houston held onto him and Isaac Paredes. Reuter believes that the Astros are going to move on from him in the next couple of weeks.
Walker is in the second season of a three-year, $60 million deal. He hit 27 home runs last season and drive in 88 for Houston. He slashed .238/.297/.421 with a WAR of just 0.3 in 154 games. That was during an Astros collapse in September that saw the miss the playoffs.
“The final two seasons of his three-year, $60 million deal were shaping up to be a financial drain, but instead he has logged a 115 OPS+ with 20 home runs to rebuild his stock. In a thin market for impact bats, the Astros now have a chance to move a contract that looked like a sunk cost,” wrote Reuter.
His offensive outburst this season has saved Houston. Without his 20 home runs and 58 RBIs in 96 games, who knows where they would be. However, he’s just slashing .237/.313/.462, but a contender looking for a first baseman with power, Walker is someone they would consider taking from Brown.
Houston Astros Are an Intriguing Team Heading Into the Trade Deadline
Houston hosts the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night to kick off the unofficial second half. They are three games behind the first-place Texas Rangers. The Astros are just 1.5 games back of the final AL wild-card spot. Given how the rest of the AL is playing, they have a shot to make the postseason in two different ways. The same can’t be said for other teams.
There are going to be a lot of teams with eyes on how thing go for the Astros the next couple of weeks. Brown moving McCullers Jr. shows that he is open to talking about anyone. Walker could bring him a return that could be better than it was over the offseason. However, decisions are going to depend on how the next couple of weeks play out on the field.
Houston Astros Predicted To Trade Three-Time Gold Glove Winning Infielder