Astros predicted to make tough trade decision at deadline after disastrous start

There are plenty of teams around Major League Baseball that are going through some major struggles despite being top contenders coming into the year.

The New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies' struggles might be the two taking center stage, but the Houston Astros' issues this year are just as, if not more, concerning.

Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller, after such a disastrous start to the year, is predicting that the Astros will conduct a trade plan at the deadline, which will feature a big sell-off of a lot of their players to contenders to recoup some value in a disaster season.

Astros predicted to trade away players at deadline

"Houston Astros will be trade deadline sellers," Miller writes. "... It wouldn't be a full-blown fire sale a la the 2021 Chicago Cubs, but they do have a few desirable expiring assets."

The 11-19 Astros are the worst team in the American League, and it's thanks to some brutal pitching performances this season. While the pitching staff might be hard to trade from, there are some names offensively to keep an eye on.

Yordan Alvarez, if he were to be on the trade block, would get a massive return that could rival some of the best hauls of any player trade in MLB history. But, Houston should not trade him if they want to be competitive in the near future.

Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker are two realistic trade candidates for the Astros this season at the deadline. Paredes has a .687 OPS this season and would be a nice pickup for a team needing right-handed power.

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Walker has a .956 OPS this season, and would surely draw interest from teams seeking more power at the first base spot. A team like the Pittsburgh Pirates would make sense in a deal for Walker.

Miller points to Lance McCullers Jr., Bryan Abreu, Steven Okert, and Enyel De Los Santos as a few pitchers who could be on the move as well.

Even if Houston does end up trading away some of their players at the deadline, as Miller predicts, it might not be a full-scale fire sale.

Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, Jeremy Pena, and Hunter Brown are a core this team can get excited about next year, even if 2026 is a full-blown disaster.

Trading one of those stars would cement the end of this era of Astros baseball and would kick off a likely lengthy rebuild. That's not likely to happen, so if the Astros do sell off some players, it will likely be trades of expiring players or those in crowded rooms.

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