Astros Should Have Two Top Priorities To Address at MLB Trade Deadline

It has been a great season for the Houston Astros, who are currently in first place in the American League West and seeking another division crown.

While the Astros have had a lot of impressive campaigns in recent years, this season has been one of the best.

After trading away Kyle Tucker and losing Alex Bregman in free agency, it would have been easy to understand the team taking a step in the wrong direction. However, things have gone well despite some injuries impacting both the starting rotation and the lineup.

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As the trade deadline approaches, Houston will once again be buyers, and they have a couple of areas that make sense to try and upgrade. With other contenders likely to be aggressive, the Astros must also try to find ways to improve.

Fortunately, the bullpen likely won’t be one of those areas with the Astros featuring one of the best units in the league. Houston also shouldn’t need to pursue a front-end starter with two aces at the top of their rotation.

Where it does seem logical to seek improvements is in the lineup. The Astros rank in the middle of the pack in terms of runs scored, and with injuries piling up, upgrading here makes sense.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the top priority for the Astros at the deadline being to either add a second baseman or a left fielder.

“The starting rotation gets questionable in a hurry beyond Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown. However, with Spencer Arrighetti, Cristian Javier, and Luis Garcia all likely to return from the IL within the next month, maybe they set their trade deadline sights elsewhere?”

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For much of the season, these two positions have been an area of need for Houston. Jose Altuve has bounced back and forth a bit, but a recent call-up might throw a bit of a wrinkle into their deadline plans.

Even though the sample size is extremely small, Brice Matthews looks really good so far. As one of the top prospects in the system, there is certainly reason to believe that he could be the solution at second base.

In a perfect world, Matthews ends up being the answer at second base, allowing Altuve to stay in left field. However, getting some insurance for their offense would make a lot of sense with multiple key players on the injured list right now.

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The need for a middle of the rotation starting pitcher is certainly legitimate, but the top priority being to improve the offense does make sense.

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