Expect Astros to go star-hunting at trade deadline
BALTIMORE With a week before the Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline, the Houston Astros held a commanding 17-game lead on the American League West on Monday morning.
Having led the division for the bulk of the season, they have had the luxury of preparing for October since well before spring turned to summer, which is why the only question left regarding the Astros is this: Is the AL’s regular-season juggernaut built to win in the postseason?
Even as they were winning two of three games against the Baltimore Orioles on the weekend, improving their mark to 65-33 — a 107-win pace over 162 games — the answers were not readily apparent. Two of those three games featured meltdowns by the Astros’ bullpen. On Friday, the Astros entered the eighth inning ahead by six runs but barely held on for an 8-7 win. On Sunday, the bullpen turned a onerun lead entering the seventh into a 9-7 loss.
Jeff Luhnow certainly doesn’t believe the Astros are a finished product. The Astros’ general manager has been laying low, but is known to be on the hunt for pitching this month. That means his only targets would be a highend starter who could start a Game 2 or 3 of a post-season series, or an elite reliever who could lock down a late-inning game-on-the-line situation — or both.
With ace Dallas Keuchel expected to return from a neck injury as soon as this week and with veteran right-hander Collin McHugh having made his season debut on Saturday, the Astros’ rotation no longer appears to be in critical condition. The bullpen is another story. While the Astros possess a capable closer in Ken Giles and a multi-inning, high-leverage monster in all-star right-hander Chris Devenski, there aren’t many other arms that manager A.J. Hinch has shown complete trust in of late.
It is also a bullpen that has been heavily taxed. Astros relievers have thrown the fifth-most innings in the AL, and Devenski has thrown more innings, 581/3, than any reliever in the majors, going into Monday’s game.
Most glaringly, the Astros don’t have a dependable left-handed specialist, with Hinch sometimes bypassing Tony Sipp, his lone lefty, in favour of one of a right-hander.
“We just keep throwing righties at them,” Giles said of the Astros’ lack of left-handed options. “All of us can get lefties out. That hasn’t been a problem. “We’re more prepared for lefties than for righties in some ways. Even if we’re dead tired, we’re going to go out there and grind it out for our teammates.”
Added Devenski: “We’ve got guys from the right side who have the kind of stuff that plays well against lefties. We’re all different as pitchers, but we have a good plan and approach against lefties.”
But it’s telling that the Astros’ stud relievers did not disagree when it was suggested they could benefit from an additional arm or two for the stretch run.
“If the front office feels like they’d be more comfortable adding someone else, the more, the merrier,” Giles said. “There’s never any hard feelings over asking for more help.”
Said Devenski: “I’m always in favour of anything that makes us better.”
Everyone knows what happened at last year’s deadline. The Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs, both already in possession of solid bullpens, made deals that pushed them over the top, with the Indians acquiring lefty Andrew Miller and the Cubs getting closer Aroldis Chapman, both from the New York Yankees.
As currently constructed, the Astros may be the AL’s best regularseason team since the 116-win Seattle Mariners of 2001. But nobody wants to be remembered for that ( just ask those 2001 Mariners, who lost in the ALCS).
All that matters now is October, and what happens by the end of this month will go a long way toward determining what sort of team the Astros will be in the post-season.