The Houston Astros entered Tuesday’s action with a 12-22 record and seven games out of first place in the American League West. They fell to New York in the Bronx by the score of 10-3.
It has been a disastrous season for a team that many believed would be World Series contenders. A lot of that has to do with injuries that have impacted Houston’s starting rotation. J.P. France and Cristian Javier are currently sidelined. Framber Valdez and Justin Verlander have also missed time on the injured list.
Despite all of this, Houston is pretty much in desperation mode. Simply put, it can’t afford to fall further back in the American League standings before going on some sort of run.
General manager Dana Brown was just recently asked about what he sees with his team and whether the Astros will be sellers ahead of the July MLB trade deadline. He did not hold back in his response.
“I don’t see any chance of us becoming sellers. I think the team is too good. If guys start to turn a corner, good things will happen.”
Houston Astros general manager Dana Brown, via MLB Network
The Astros have roughly three months to make headway in the standings. The good news here is that no one is pulling away in the AL West. Following their win over the Oakland A’s on Tuesday, the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers sit in first place with a 21-16 record.
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“I think the key here is, win this series, win this series, win this series, get back to .500,” Brown said. “Once you get back to .500, and you start to roll, you get a winning streak of five here, seven here, ten there, before you know it you’re eight to ten games over .500.”
The key is getting healthy and seeing the lineup start to produce.
Houston headed into Tuesday’s game against the New York Yankees boasting a .259 team batting average. Alex Bregman (.202 average) has struggled. Jose Abreu was sent to the minors after hitting .099 in 71 at-bats.
The Astros are built to win right now. It makes no sense to blow the roster up. Though, the larger question here is the status of manager Joe Espada. He’s firmly on the hot seat.