The Astros seem to have overpaid somewhat. Sending two talented young players with big-time MLB experience and another second-tier player to Toronto in exchange for Yusei Kikuchi, a key free agent, seems a bit much given how the market has played out so far at this deadline.
To be clear, the Astros should be looking to win. But that’s not the case here. Houston entered Monday’s game tied with the Mariners atop the AL West. They’ve done a great job of coming out of a slump after a slow start to 2024. And when you have players like Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez, winning the World Series is always a possibility. This team has won seven straight AL titles for good reason.
The Astros also correctly addressed an area of need on their roster: starting pitcher. A series of injuries has significantly reduced Houston’s roster. But the issues here are (1) the player they got and (2) the price they paid.
Yusei Kikuchi is a good MLB starter who should be in Houston’s lineup and play a big role in the remaining games. But will he make a postseason start for the Astros? Unless Justin Verlander, who is still suffering from fatigue in October, probably not. Verlander, Framber Valdez and a pair of quality players, Ronnell Blanco and Hunter Brown, will move ahead of Kikuchi on the roster. The 33-year-old Japanese left-hander has started the season well, but his secondary has taken a hit this year, and considering he’s a free agent at the end of the season, the price Houston has paid seems steep to me.
Jake Bloss, Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner are all either playing in the third division or in the major leagues. This suggests that Toronto is more interested in revamping the team than rebuilding, which makes sense considering that Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are still under contract for next season. So who are these guys?
Ploss has struggled in his first three starts with Houston this season, but take those numbers with a grain of salt. The 23-year-old was drafted out of Georgetown last season and was traded to the majors as a result of Houston’s injury problems. He has a mid-90s weight and excellent ball-carrying ability, giving him a great pitch to be a rotational option in the future. There’s more work to be done here, but he’s under the team’s control until the sun melts.
Physically, Luperfido is a bit like Cody Bellinger. He’s obviously not great, but there’s a lot of physicality in the OF/1B. The former Duke Blue Devil made his debut this year and was more than a disaster, even though he had a shocking strikeout rate. If he can cut down on some of the errors in the zone, he could be a good everyday player.
Wagner, the son of former Major League Baseball pitcher Billy Wagner, is more of a backup than a backup with good swing decisions and limited power.
When you consider that Kikuchi will be on the open market at the end of the season and compare Toronto’s payout to the disappointing return the White Sox got for a more sought-after starter in Eric Fedde, it’s hard not to see this as an overkill on Houston’s part.
