Astros Showing Interest In Michael Conforto

The Astros have been seeking a lefty-hitting outfielder for much of the offseason and have shown some recent interest in Michael Conforto, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. McTaggart adds that Houston’s chances of trading infielder Isaac Paredes have “diminished” recently. Houston has reportedly been exploring the possibility of adding another lefty bat by way of a Paredes trade.

Conforto, 33 on March 1, is coming off a career-worst season with the Dodgers, wherein he slashed .199/.305/.333 in 486 trips to the plate. It’s the first decidedly below-average offensive performance in the big league career of the 2014 first-round pick and 2017 All-Star. That said, Conforto’s career has been on a downward trajectory since a shoulder injury caused him to miss the 2022 season.

Since returning from surgery, Conforto has played in three seasons with the Giants and Dodgers, hitting a combined .225/.316/.390 in 1444 plate appearances. He still draws plenty of walks (10.5% in that time) but hits more grounders and weak fly-balls than he used to, and his line-drive rate has dipped considerably (22.4% from 2015-21; 17.8% since). Conforto has generally hit righties well and been closer to average in left-on-left matchups, but he’s been better against lefties in each of the past two seasons (albeit in a small sample of 184 left-on-left plate appearances).

Given the lackluster overall performance since Conforto’s shoulder surgery and last season’s career-worst showing, the price tag to sign him won’t be prohibitive. At best, he’d command a low-cost one-year deal, but given that spring training is underway and interest doesn’t appear to have been robust throughout the winter, Conforto could also simply sign a minor league deal and head to big league camp with the Astros.

Yordan Alvarez is the only established left-handed hitter in Houston’s lineup. Young outfielders Zach Cole and Joey Loperfido are in the mix for Opening Day roster spots but have minimal major league experience. Broadly speaking, the outfield in Houston is rather unsettled, regardless of player handedness. Jake Meyers is locked into center field, but the rest of the picture seems fairly up for grabs. The team wants Alvarez to spend more time at DH than in left field this year. Cam Smith had a huge spring last year and a big start to his rookie season before fading considerably as the year went on. Cole struck out at a 35% clip in the minors. Loperfido posted roughly league-average offense with the Blue Jays’ Triple-A club (before being traded back to Houston last week).  Former first-rounder Brice Matthews is a middle infielder by trade but has begun a transition to the outfield due to Houston’s crowded infield mix.

The Astros have explored trades of Paredes throughout the winter. His status as the starting third baseman was upended when they reacquired Carlos Correa at last year’s trade deadline. Paredes can also play first base, but that’s manned by Christian Walker in Houston. He’s owed $40MM over the next two seasons and unsurprisingly has not garnered much trade interest at that rate. An ideal situation might see the ’Stros find a trade that sends Paredes out in exchange for a veteran corner outfielder, but they’ve come up empty despite considerable effort, so it’s not especially surprising to see them looking at some low-cost free agent alternatives in their quest to add a left-handed bat.