{"id":396469,"date":"2026-08-03T15:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/396469\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T15:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T15:03:13","slug":"one-unexpected-houston-astros-trade-could-change-everything-at-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/396469\/","title":{"rendered":"One Unexpected Houston Astros Trade Could Change Everything at Deadline"},"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\">There isn&#8217;t a team riding higher than the Houston Astros right now, who just swept their in-state and division rivals, having won 11 of their last 12, taking sole ownership of the AL West as the lone team above .500 at 58-55. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">So, it is more than safe to say this team has been pinned as buyers, and they will make a splash by 6 p.m. ET on Monday when the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/the-houston-astros-just-signaled-their-trade-deadline-intentions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">trade deadline<\/a> officially comes, but what is their biggest concern? Well, the glaring hole in the starting rotation after Tatsuya Imai was moved into the bullpen.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">It isn&#8217;t shocking that Imai received his demotion after not making it out of the first inning on three separate occasions this season, but with his struggles and Lance McCullers Jr. no longer a member of the roster, they need another starter. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7b\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/houston-astros-mlb-trade-deadline-tracker-rumors-targets-updates\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">USA Today<\/a> reported that they were in talks with the Detroit Tigers regarding Tarik Skubal, but nobody was able to outdo the Los Angeles Dodgers, and while they are not linked to anybody else from that organization, they should be \u2014 Casey Mize. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7e\">The front office from the Tigers has been fairly vocal about their willingness to part from their No. 2 man in the starting rotation, and if the Astros go after him, they will receive an elite arm, and fully take Detroit out of the running for the postseason. <\/p>\n<p>A Look at Casey Mize This Season in Detroit<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/01kz281jjqv4nbkjz00y.jpg\" alt=\"Casey Mize throws a baseball in a grey Detroit jerse\" title=\"Casey Mize throws a baseball in a grey Detroit jerse\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7r\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Tigers starting pitcher Casey Mize (12) pitches against the New York Yankees  | 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\">There is a reason that Mize is one of the hottest names on the market despite spending time on the dreaded injured list with some minor injures. He is that good. <\/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 is posting a 2.70 ERA to complement a WHIP under 1.00. There is no starter on the Astros posting numbers as strong as those. <\/p>\n<p>Astros Starting Rotation Begging For Another Arm<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"84\">While Houston is rolling right now, they ultimately cannot find success without someone who can come through in the big moments. Ultimately, it is truly hard to fathom that the Astros are even where they are, as outside of Peter Lambert and Hunter Brown, they have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/joe-espada-postgame-tatsuya-imai-quote-shows-astros-dire-need-starting-pitching\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">no starter<\/a> with a sub-4.60 ERA.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"87\">If Mize were to step into the clubhouse, he not only would provide reinforcements to a battered pitching staff. But he would be, statistically, the ace for the ballclub as Brown has battled injuries this season. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8a\">The Astros are entertaining right now, but the offense cannot carry the team to a World Series, and without a starting pitcher or two, there is no shot that they make a run in October. Mize doesn&#8217;t fix all of their problems, but he sure helps take a load off. <\/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":"There isn&#8217;t a team riding higher than the Houston Astros right now, who just swept their in-state and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-396469","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\/396469","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=396469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}