{"id":395539,"date":"2026-08-02T13:30:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T13:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/395539\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T13:30:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T13:30:59","slug":"the-houston-astros-just-signaled-their-trade-deadline-intentions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/395539\/","title":{"rendered":"The Houston Astros Just Signaled Their Trade Deadline Intentions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">Friday was a big day for the Houston Astros for a lot of reasons and with their recent success, as well as the dumpster fire the American League has been, this organization is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/should-the-houston-astros-buy-or-sell-the-case-is-becoming-clear\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">for sure buying<\/a>. They are getting healthy, and with the best hitter in the game (Yordan Alvarez), the front office is looking to improve the roster.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">That being said, the series opener against the Texas Rangers was a dominant victory by Houston, which propelled them to the top of the AL West, and now they are looking for a couple of things- an offensive outfielder and a starting pitcher.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">After multiple struggles with the starting rotation, low-lighted by Lance McCullers Jr. and Tatsuya Imai, they need another arm. McCullers Jr. is no longer on the roster, and the organization announced Friday that Imai is moving to the bullpen.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7b\">With Imai heading into a reliever role right before the deadline, that leaves a big hole, but he has been unable to get out of the first inning three times already this season, and he cannot be counted on in high-leverage situations when October rolls around.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7e\">They need an outfielder still, but it doesn&#8217;t look like owner Jim Crane was ready to make that deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Starting Pitcher on the Market, Keep Pursuing Larnach<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01kyzha6dv001baa1vn0.jpg\" alt=\"Trevor Larnac\" title=\"Trevor Larnac\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7r\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Minnesota Twins left fielder Trevor Larnach (9) hits a solo home run.  | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7v\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/astros-continue-pursuit-nl-ace-despite-firm-trade-stance\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">A few arms<\/a> that have been scratched in the last couple of days, hinting that they are on the trade chopping block, one being Casey Mize, who is having an outstanding year for the Detroit Tigers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7y\">Mize has dealt with a few minor injuries this year, but when he has played, he has been excellent, posting a 2.70 ERA and a sub-1.00 ERA. If the Astros could get him, it would immediately bolster their pitching staff.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"81\">Then, there is Larnach, who would be a great get for Houston\u2019s outfield and a player with whom they might still be in talks, but ultimately looking at a different deal. The Twins are after relievers, but Abreu <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/mistake-astros-cannot-afford-make-trade-deadline\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">can\u2019t be the one to go<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"84\">Larnach is hitting over .280 with nearly 40 runners driven home this year. He would 100% be an upgrade for the middle to end of the Astros&#8217; order. Their offense is elite, but there is a weakness at the bottom.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"87\">A lot of action is about to happen in the next 48 hours, and as the Astros have battled to the top of the division, they are definitely in the position to make a run when October rolls around if the front office can address the<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Friday was a big day for the Houston Astros for a lot of reasons and with their recent&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-395539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}