Astros rumors: Ditch Correa connection, Justin Verlander injury, Alonso off table

The Houston Astros have found themselves in quite an unfamiliar spot. They sit on the outside of the playoff picture, looking in at the rest of the league. Not just out of the playoffs, but seven games out and nine games back in the AL West.

Baseball Reference gives the Astros a 22 percent chance to make the playoffs, down from nearly 50 percent a month ago. Their nightmare season has truly been worse than they could have imagined.

But there's still time to turn it around. They'll need to get active in the trade market and be proactive with their roster if they want a shot at the playoffs in 2024.

Astros lose Carlos Correa connection, release his brother J.C. Correa

The Houston Astros have announced that they've recently released minor leaguer J.C. Correa, the younger brother of Astros legend Carlos Correa.

This should put to bed any potential rumor that Carlos could end up back in Houston if his brother were able to make it to the big leagues. While that story would have been a good one to follow, it never really held true value because of how much of a longshot it was.

Brad Wakai of Inside the Astros touched on this, making a few good points for why Houston released the younger Correa brother.

"After looking like a solid hitter in the earlier stages of his career, Correa struggled at the higher level, failing to produce a batting average over .250 while only hitting eight home runs and producing 62 RBI across 142 games in Double-A," Wakai wrote.

The Astros have looked like a shell of their former selves in 2024. They certainly don't look like the Astros teams in which Correa was a key piece of. Those teams never struggled to stay over .500, they never struggled in the AL West, and they never struggled to make the playoffs.

Justin Verlander scratched due to neck pain, expected to avoid the IL

The Houston Astros have struggled with their pitching staff as much as any team in recent memory. They have seen injuries to nearly every member of the staff, including Jose Urquidy and Cristian Javier, who underwent UCL surgery within a week of each other.

Now, their 41-year-old veteran, Justin Verlander, has missed a start due to neck discomfort. This injury has nagged on him for the last few weeks, but Verlander has opted to pitch through it. Now, he's being scratched from a start which raises major concerns for how serious this injury is.

While he's expected to avoid any time on the injured list, not having JV at 100 percent is a crushing blow to the Astros. He's likely avoiding the IL because of how thin the Astros' pitching depth is, not because of the severity of the injury.

The Astros can't afford to lose another starter this year. They're already facing an uphill battle to make the playoffs. This battle would be made that much harder if they're forced to try to replace yet another starting pitcher.

Dream Pete Alonso trade beginning to fizzle out

The Astros recently ended the Jose Abreu experiment at first base. They tried and they tried but Abreu never came around and was never able to put up major league quality production anymore.

That left the Astros with the dream of trading for the Mets slugger Pete Alonso. Alonso would be the perfect piece to help turn their season around for good, pushing their offense in the right direction. And it made sense a month ago, when the Mets were horrid.

But New York has turned their season around. According to Baseball Reference, they have a 41 percent chance to make the playoffs, up 29 percent in the last week. If the Mets are looking to make a playoff push, which they very well could with how well they're playing right now, Pete Alonso is there to stay.

This idea kind of crushes the souls of the Astros fans that wanted a slugging first baseman in their lineup. The other options, Christian Walker and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., are quite unlikely to be moved because they're also on competing teams.

Houston is going to have to get back to the drawing board when it comes to filling out their lineup at first base. The current situation isn't working and Pete Alonso is likely off the table for the time being.