The Houston Astros are still in first place two days before the July 31 trade deadline, but it's not as though they have an insurmountable lead. Instead, the Seattle Mariners, who have been chasing the Astros for most of the season, are three games back. But one team that has skyrocketed up the division standings are the Texas Rangers, who have won eight of their last 10 games entering Tuesday. Now, they are just four games back of first place.
Now, the Astros have more reason to worry about the surging Rangers.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic provided some notes heading into the trade deadline, and mentioned that the Rangers could be a team that is aggressive at the deadline.
"Winners of six straight games and nine of 10 entering Monday night, the Rangers were still day to day in determining how aggressively they should buy," writes Rosenthal. "If ownership gives the front office the flexibility to exceed the threshold, the Rangers might as well go significantly past the number. It would make little sense to end the season, say, $1 million over."
Rangers being aggressive at trade deadline could be Astros' worst nightmare
The Rangers being aggressive would be a dire scenario for the Astros because that would be another rival looking to go all-in at the deadline. Let's not forget that the Mariners are heavily linked to Eugenio Suarez of the Arizona DIamondbacks.
As for who the Rangers could target, Rosenthal mentions the team wanting to land a "high-leverage reliever" like Ryan Hesley of the St. Louis Cardinals and David Bednar of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rosenthal also mentions that the Rangers could also target a right-handed hitter.
The Astros had to worry about the Mariners for most of the season, but now with the Rangers on an incredible run, they will have to be more aggressive at the deadline themselves. They have a need at third base with Isaac Paredes out with a hamstring injury. Not to mention, their starting rotation has been hammered by injuries. But addressing their offense is a key area of need, as they've only knocked in 435 runs this year, ranking 19th in the majors entering Tuesday night.
The urgency should absolutely be high for general manager Dana Brown. Since there are very few sellers at the deadline, that means there are only so many players on the block.