Astros GM discusses trade-deadline priorities as team eyes wild-card spot

The Astros are among a number of teams in the thick of a tightly contested American League playoff picture. Six games back of the Rangers in the division but jockeying for position in the wild-card race, the defending World Series champions enter deadline season looking to add to the roster.

General manager Dana Brown has already expressed a desire to add a left-handed bat, preferably one who can play multiple positions. In an appearance on the "Sean Salisbury Show" on 790 AM on Wednesday, Brown reiterated that adding to the offense is the priority. He said that while the front office is “always open to acquiring an arm,” the club is “focused right now on a bat.”

It doesn’t seem anything is imminent. Brown suggested the trade market has yet to really heat up, in large part because of the number of clubs that have yet to pick a direction. With the 12-team playoff format and only a few organizations at the nadir of a rebuild, most front offices can still see a path to contention. The Nationals, Rockies, Royals and A’s are the only teams that are double-digit games out of a playoff spot.

Brown expressed a general openness to being aggressive in the pursuit of short-term help. Asked if there were any prospects the front office deemed “untouchable,” the GM said they were willing to consider moving anyone. Brown did specifically say the Astros wouldn’t deal Drew Gilbert — last year’s first-round pick and arguably the top prospect in a middling farm system — for any impending free agents. He left open the possibility of moving Gilbert for an MLB player with multiple seasons of club control, however.

That’s not to say the Astros are likely to move Gilbert so much as an acknowledgement the front office will consider various ways to push for a seventh consecutive playoff appearance. Houston’s offense has been surprisingly pedestrian, entering play Wednesday tied for 14th in MLB in run-scoring. Yordan Alvarez has been down for a couple of weeks with an oblique strain and seems unlikely to return before the All-Star break. Michael Brantley still hasn’t played as he works back from last summer’s shoulder surgery.

Those injuries have pushed Yainer Diaz and Corey Julks into regular playing time in the left field/designated hitter mix. Diaz has hit seven home runs in 139 plate appearances but has walked only three times. Julks has a .257/.297/.393 line in 60 games. José Abreu has had a disastrous initial season in Houston at first base, but he has hit a homer in two of his last three games as he looks to find his form.

Brown has generally seemed more comfortable with the club’s rotation outlook even as he’s acknowledged an overarching need around the league for pitching depth. Houston has had to lean on J.P. France and Ronel Blanco after losing Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia for the season and José Urquidy for a couple of months.

The GM acknowledged to Salisbury that any other starting pitching injury would spur more urgency to look outside the organization. Houston’s top three of Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and Hunter Brown has been excellent. France has done a decent job preventing runs despite a middling strikeout rate. Blanco has a 4.70 ERA with 11 walks over four starts. Getting Urquidy back from shoulder discomfort not long after the Break would go a long way toward stabilizing the staff.