Astros: 3 trades Houston can make to replace Luis Garcia

Astros should trade for Matthew Boyd

Although previously plagued by injury in his career, the veteran left handed starter has been making his regularly scheduled starts every five days. In 30.2 innings in 6 starts thus far, he is playing up to a 5.28 ERA, but I strongly believe the Astros can reinvent the veteran southpaw.

The Astros have had a reputation of reinventing pitchers who spin the fastball well and get good results off of it, and who struggle with secondary pitches. Boyd fits that description. Although not a flamethrower, his BA on the sinker is .167 with a slugging % also at .167. The pitch drops 23 inches and moves horizontal 17 inches. That is fair movement on both sides of the axis. However, he’s only thrown the pitch 23 times. As successful as the pitch has been in short sample, he should throw it more and see how it goes.

His secondary pitches are what the Astros would have to develop in Boyd. All of his secondary pitches have batting averages of .270 or above and a slugging % of .320 or above, and that is where most of his earned runs coming off of those pitches. The secondary pitches have a combined run value of 4 runs, while his fastballs have a -2 run value (negative is better in this scenario). His most used breaking ball, the slider moves 4 inches horizontally, and 43 inches of drop. Similarly to the way they reinvented Gerrit Cole, finding a way to add more spin can do Boyd wonders to increase the spin on that pitch, and will hopefully lead to Boyd being able to avoid more barrels.

A possible package for Boyd would not be too hefty, as he is still an injury prone starter climbing up the age ladder.