Overall, the Houston Astros had a decent trade deadline. But it could have been better.
Unlike a few other playoff-contending teams, the Houston Astros actually made some moves to make their team better at the trade deadline.
They made a trade with the Baltimore Orioles for first baseman/designated hitter Trey Mancini and they traded with the Boston Red Sox to get catcher Christian Vázquez, who is one of the best catchers in the sport. They also traded outfielder José Siri to the Rays and they traded starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi to the Atlanta Braves.
So, like a few other contending teams, they made some moves to add to their MLB team at the trade deadline but they also subtracted from their MLB team at the deadline as well.
Here are three mistakes that the Astros made at the trade deadline.
Houston Astros trade deadline mistakes
1. Not getting more catching depth
The Astros did address their catching depth by getting Christian Vázquez from the Red Sox … but it’s still a little thin.
He and Martín Maldonado have split catching duties thus far but Vázquez has been the superior offensive and defensive catcher on the year. Vázquez has -1 Catch Framing Runs and 6 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) compared to Maldonado’s -2 Catch Framing Runs and -4 DRS.
So despite the Astros front office and pitching staff loving Maldonado, he has not been good on either side of the ball this year.
Their third catcher (in Triple-A with the acquisition of Vázquez) is Korey Lee. Lee is the Astros’ No. 2 prospect but he is not having a good year. In 12 games in the majors, he has hit .160/.192/.240. In Triple-A, he has played in 68 games and hit .218/.281/.414. In those 12 games in the majors, he already has -4 DRS.
Both Maldonado and Lee have been disappointments on the seasons and the Astros still don’t have much depth, even with them.