MLB Trade Rumors: 5 players Astros should acquire

Jason Vargas, LHP, Royals

One effective starter that Houston could trade for on the cheap is Royals lefty Jason Vargas. As an impending free agent, the Royals are likely to let Vargas go for far less than Quintana or Nova or Cole would require. Purely speculating, it would probably only cost the Astros two mid-level prospects to acquire the 34-year old soft-tosser.

Kansas City may also be motivated to trade Vargas sooner rather than later since he has put up some of the best numbers in the American League to date, but could come back to Earth at any moment and lose some of his value. Vargas is 5-2 with a 2.03 ERA and a major league best 209 ERA+ in eight starts this season, and has 43 strikeouts and 10 walks in 48.2 innings, good for a 1.03 WHIP. He has also allowed only two home runs.

Vargas was absolutely outstanding in his first seven starts, and posted a 1.01 ERA in 44.2 innings through May 11 while holding hitters to a .206/.249/.256 slash over that period, but he was roughed up for six runs on seven hits in four innings in his last start against the Yankees.

Despite a fastball that sits in the mid-80s, Vargas has been very good limiting hard contact. Through Friday, he had allowed hard contact just 27 percent of the time in 2017, which ranked No. 11 in the major leagues. However, his 3.96 xFIP, 3.80 SIERA and 3.26 DRA suggest Vargas hasn’t been quite as dominant as his traditional stat line would indicate. Still good, but not in Clayton Kershaw or Chris Sale territory. Vargas also missed the majority of 2016 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, so health could be an issue.

Nevertheless, Vargas has been great this year, and could be had for a fraction of what it would cost for Quintana, making him a reasonable trade target. The Royals also hold the potential to be a blockbuster trade partner with Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer potentially available as well.