Latest Astros implosion shows team didn’t do enough at the trade deadline

The Houston Astros had quite the turnaround this season. They began the year as one of the worst teams in the league, below the Oakland Athletics in the win column for a good chunk of the beginning of the season. They turned their year around and succesfully chased the Seattle Mariners down in the AL West without the services of their superstar outfielder Kyle Tucker.

When the trade deadline rolled around, the Astros were obviously buyers and they did the job at acquiring a few key pieces. But general manager Dana Brown missed out on a few holes that needed to be plugged for the Astros. These holes are already coming back to bite them just a week after the deadline passed.

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Astros GM Dana Brown didn't do enough at the trade deadline

The biggest holes that the Astros left open were in their starting rotation, their bullpen and at first base. At first base, they have one of the worst offensive productions, per OPS, in the entire league. The options at first base were very limited though, so they can get a pass there.

Pitching wise, the Astros were just stingy. There were plenty of options available at the deadline and the Astros ended up landing Yusei Kikuchi in a massive overpay and Caleb Ferguson from the New York Yankees. Ferguson is already proving why he was a horrible piece to make a move for.

Ferguson has looked horrible for the Astros. And the excuse can't be that there weren't other options on the table. They missed out on the big fish like Tanner Scott, Carlos Estevez and a few others. But there were still top arms like Kyle Finnegan of the Washington Nationals and Chad Green of the Toronto Blue Jays that could have been moved if the price was right.

Instead, the Astros have one of the more injured pitching staffs in all of the league and they are past the point of making a trade to fix these holes. If they happen to lose their season based on not having enough pitching, it will come back on nobody except their general manager, Dana Brown.

Houston has all the potential in the world, but if they can't stay healthy and close games out, their season is as good as over this year.