Astros: 5 players who won’t be on the roster by August 1

Astros rumors: Shawn Dubin will be replaced before the deadline

Shawn Dubin put together an impressive start on Sunday against one of the best offenses in the entire league in the Texas Rangers. He put together four competitive innings where he allowed three hits, two walks and one earned run. Dubin also plunked a batter. All in all, against a lineup with four AL All-Star starters, the righty was incredibly effective in his first career start.

But Dubin won’t last on the Astros major league roster this year. Houston has bigger aspirations than he could contribute to this year, where they will likely acquire a big-time starter to replace their injured starters Lance McCullers, Jose Urquidy and Luis Garcia. This trade acquisition would correspondingly replace Dubin in the Astros rotation.

Dubin doesn’t have the track record, statistics, or talent to replace any of the Astros’ top four starters this year and if they add a fifth at the deadline, his spot in the rotation is gone. He likely won’t shift full-time to the bullpen either, as the Astros bullpen has been incredible and will likely also see trade deadline acquisitions in order to strengthen it even further.

Houston will be one of the most active teams at the deadline and this could spell the end of Dubin’s 2023 time with them.