Houston Astros Reportedly Have Expressed Interest in Veteran Star Pitcher

The Houston Astros need pitching reinforcements and are looking at an NL Central pitcher.

Jul 14, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jameson Taillon (50) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning at Busch Stadium. / Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

With the trade deadline fast approaching, the Houston Astros look to be active.

After getting off to a slow start and falling behind the Seattle Mariners in the AL West, they started to gain ground and now sit in first place in the division. Looking to reach their eighth straight ALCS, the Astros need to bolster their rotation to accomplish that.

According the The Athletic, they are "among the teams that have expressed interest" in Chicago Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon.

Houston has dealt with major injuries all season, losing Cristian Javier, Jose Urquidy and J.P. France to surgery with the expectation they'll miss a majority of next year, too. Justin Verlander has only made ten starts and will likely be a free agent this offseason.

While Hunter Brown has pitched well as of late and Ronel Blanco has been a revelation, the Astros still need innings from the rotation.

Enter, Taillon.

The 32-year-old fits the criteria for what they are looking for, being an established starting arm who can wrack up innings. In each of the last three seasons, he has thrown at least 140 frames, including going over 150 in the last two.

So far, even after spending time on the injured list for a back injury, Taillon is up to 100.1 innings this year. He also is having a career season. Through 17 starts, his ERA sits at 2.96 and he has 7.0 K/9, making him one of the most attractive options on the market.

He also comes with the added bonus of multiple years of control. Before the 2023 season, he signed a four year, $68 million deal with the Cubs, so he will still have two more years under contract after 2024.

However, this would put Houston over the second luxury-tax tier, so they would be looking to move on from reliever Rafael Montero in a trade. The struggling bullpen arm signed a three year, $34.5 million deal before last season and has produced a 4.90 ERA since inking that contract.

If a trade for Taillon would work while staying under that threshold, Montero is someone the Astros will look to move on from.

The AL West race is tight.

With the Texas Rangers getting hot and just a one game separation between the Houston and Seattle, the three teams will be fighting to win the division as they bolster their rosters.