Houston Astros Could Be Inclined to Pursue Tigers All-Star
On Monday, the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers started their heavyweight fight for supremacy in the AL West.
It's gone the way of the Astros early, winning the series' first two games to inch one game back of the division leading Rangers. They have now won three games in a row and seven out of their last 10.
Even during this run of form, general manager Dana Brown has not wavered on what his targets are for the team before the MLB Trade Deadline.
He's been clear that he would like to upgrade their starting pitching and bullpen depth as Houston gets ready for another deep playoff run.
The player on the Detroit Tigers getting all the trade headlines has been Eduardo Rodriguez, however, the Astros are more interested in the Tigers' All-Star Michael Lorenzen.
The Athletics' Eno Sarris wrote an article about why that could be the case.
He mentions Houston's pitching staff has the best Stuff+ in the MLB according to FanGraphs. Out of the potentially available starters at the deadline, Lorenzen is one of eight with above-average stuff according to those metrics.
Max Bay, one of the creators of Stuff+, is now employed by the Astros. He could be advising Brown that Lorenzen fits perfectly into the staff that they've built.
The right hander is also entering free agency after the season, so it wouldn't cost a lot to get him from Detroit.
Without a farm system flush with prospects like they've had in the past, this would be an ideal trade partner. Brown mentioned they'd prefer to use their big league players to get a deal done, which could be the case for a rental player.
Lorenzen has experience as both a starter and coming out of the bullpen, so he could fit into any role that the team needs going forward.
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