Today\u2019s 12-3 loss to the White Sox ended the Astros\u2019 five-game winning streak with a thud, but the win streak at least helped reverse some of the damage done by Houston\u2019s 1-6 record in its previous seven games.\u00a0 The Astros remain under .500 at 52-55, but with a 32-24 mark over their last 56 contests.<\/p>\n
With the Astros two games back of both the AL West lead and a wild card berth, GM Dana Brown reiterated again today on the Astros\u2019 pregame radio show that \u201cwe would anticipate that we\u2019re going to be buyers\u201d at the trade deadline.\u00a0 \u201cThe division is wide open.\u00a0 The wild card is wide open.\u00a0 There\u2019s some parity there.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of teams bunched up.\u00a0 I think the team that gets hot is going to be the team that takes the run,\u201d Brown said.\u00a0 (Hat tip to The Athletic\u2019s Chandler Rome<\/a> for the partial transcript of the interview.)<\/p>\n This has been Brown\u2019s stance for close to two months now<\/a>, even when things looked still looked a lot more dire for the Astros in the wake of their ugly 20-31 start.\u00a0 Brown has also been open about the team\u2019s desire to add both outfield depth and left-handed hitting balance to a largely right-handed lineup, but Sunday\u2019s comments included a desire for \u201cwhatever production we can get,\u201d even if it\u2019s another right-handed bat as an upgrade.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking for some type of offensive bat that can play the outfield,\u201d Brown said.\u00a0 \u201cIf it\u2019s a left-handed bat, great, but any type of offensive upgrade that can help lengthen the lineup would be our focus.\u201d<\/p>\n Any number of outfield candidates could be available if Houston expands its focus to right-handed bats as well, but sticking just to lefty swingers, the Astros are known to have already explored<\/a> Rockies outfielders Mickey Moniak<\/a> and Jake McCarthy<\/a>.\u00a0 With the collapsing Blue Jays now looking like deadline sellers, Daulton Varsho<\/a> or former Astro Jesus Sanchez<\/a> are rental players who could on Houston\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n How much financial flexibility Brown has in making deadline additions is an open question, as the assumption is that ownership would prefer to duck under the luxury tax threshold after two years of paying the tax.\u00a0 As per MLBTR\u2019s Payroll Tracker<\/a>, the Astros\u2019 estimated tax number is roughly $235.6MM, providing only a bit of space under the $244MM threshold.<\/p>\n Houston already shaved $2.5MM off the books in the salary dump trade<\/a> that sent Lance McCullers Jr.<\/a> to the Brewers, with southpaw Colton Gordon<\/a> added as a sweetener to convince Milwaukee to absorb a chunk of the $6.67MM remaining on McCullers\u2019 deal.\u00a0 Rome speculates that the Astros might need to move money in order to properly address their deadline needs, and suggested that Cristian Javier<\/a> or Christian Walker<\/a> could be trade candidates in this context.<\/p>\n Javier is owed the remainder of his $21MM salary for 2026 plus another $21MM in 2027.\u00a0 Like McCullers, Javier\u2019s last few seasons have been an injury-marred mess, so trading Javier would probably require Houston to eat most of the contract.\u00a0 Walker is owed the rest of his $20MM 2026 salary and $20MM more in 2027, but since the first baseman has been hitting decently well, the Astros might be able to get some kind of okay return while getting some more significant payroll savings.\u00a0 As Rome notes, however, moving Walker also creates another lineup hole that the Astros would need to address.<\/p>\n Perhaps due to salary alone, Walker might be the only somewhat major name the Astros would consider trading.\u00a0 Naturally the club isn\u2019t moving any of its bigger names in the middle of a playoff push, as the Red Sox reportedly found out\u00a0 \u2014 7 News\u2019 Ari Alexander<\/a> writes that the Sox \u201cwere shut down immediately\u201d after inquiring about Jeremy Pena<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since Pena is only under arbitration control through 2027, there was offseason speculation that he could be the player moved when the Astros were dealing with an infield surplus.\u00a0 Some of that trade buzz rose again when the Astros were off to their dreadful start, and seemed to be on the way to being deadline sellers.\u00a0 Of course, there is now no way Houston are moving a player who has been as hot as hitter in baseball over the last six weeks.<\/p>\n