Houston Astros Urged To Consider Signing Former Cy Young Pitcher

The Houston Astros are being urged to consider pursuing a former Cy Young winner.

Apr 22, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Shane Bieber (57) reacts after giving up a home run in the sixth inning against the Miami Marlins at Progressive Field. / David Richard-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros ended up making an impressive run last season to get into the playoffs and win the American League West division.

Despite all of the injury issues that they had to deal with, they remained competitive.

Unfortunately, they ended up getting swept quickly out of the playoffs by the Detroit Tigers.

Because of that result, it has become clear the Astros need to add more talent this offseason. Bringing back some of the players who were injured will be a nice step in the right direction, but Houston needs more help in a couple of key areas.

First and foremost, they need to figure out if they can bring back star third baseman Alex Bregman.

After that is figured out, they need to find more talent for their starting rotation and could use another productive bat as well.

Speaking of their rotation, the Astros just saw Yusei Kikuchi leave and sign elsewhere in free agency, while Justin Verlander has also hit the open market.

They could absolutely use some help from a pitching standpoint this offseason.

Eric Cole of FanSided has urged Houston to consider one specific intriguing option. He thinks that Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Shane Bieber would be an ideal target.

"While a lot of teams would love to take a chance on the Bieber lottery ticket, few teams can match the Astros' current postseason prospects and organizational ability to improve pitchers. At this stage of Bieber's career, that could be a key advantage in Houston's favor."

Bieber is one of the most intriguing names this offseason in free agency. He is coming off of an injury that required him to undergo Tommy John surgery.

There is no way to project how any player will bounce back from this procedure, so he could end up being just fine and getting back to being a dominant ace pitcher, or he could he could begin to regress because of this injury.

Whoever ends up signing him will be taking that risk.

When it comes to the Astros, they should be willing to take that risk.

If things worked out and Bieber gets back to full health, he could be the piece that powers them over the hump and back into being World Series contenders.

It will be interesting to see what Houston ends up doing this offseason.

They're not terribly far away from being a contender again, but they need to make the right moves.

Bieber could end up being one of those additions if they choose to pursue him.