3 Astros who don’t deserve to be on the roster past the trade deadline

These three Houston Astros players could be gone from the roster by the trade deadline.

Perennial contenders these days, the Houston Astros have only won a single World Series in the club’s history. They look poised to make a run at another. The next step is to make some big trade deadline decisions.

With those additions the Astros will make, a few players will lose their roster spots.

Past the trade deadline, these three Astros players have no business being on the roster.

1) Astros roster shouldn’t include Mauricio Dubon after the trade deadline

Mauricio Dubon joined the Astros earlier this year in a trade with the San Francisco Giants. A career utility man whose bat has been turned down a notch this year, he is someone we could expect Houston to part with by the trade deadline.

Because he is out of minor league options, Dubon would first have to be designated for assignment and then clear waivers for the Astros to potentially keep him around. It’s hard to say if he would pass through. On some other ball clubs, he might not be such a bad gamble as the 26th man on the roster.

Through 102 plate appearances, Dubon has hit .196/.250/.272 for the Astros. It’s worse than the .239/.245/.391 he posted for San Francisco prior to the trade.

Thanks to how many positions he can play, maybe Dubon even becomes a trade candidate himself. It would be a small transaction but something that could at least bring the Astros a young lottery ticket in the minor leagues. Whatever it is they do decide, he’s not playing all that well.