Is Roy Oswalt Right To Be Excited About Houston Astros Return in Tucker Trade?

The Houston Astros may have gotten a gem in the Kyle Tucker trade, at least according to one team legend.

Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros sent shockwaves through the MLB world at the Winter Meetings when they sent away arguably their best player in superstar outfielder Kyle Tucker to the Chicago Cubs.

It made a lot of sense for an Astros team that seems to be on the cusp of entering a rebuild to trade away a star who is likely due to sign a $400 million contract when he hits free agency next offseason.

But not everyone was happy with the return Houston got for Tucker, which included third baseman Isaac Paredes, pitcher Hayden Wesneski, and star prospect Cam Smith.

In reality, the return is fairly solid for a player with only one year left under team control and with the team trading him having fairly little leverage.

Count at least one Astros legend as someone who really likes the value the team got in return for their star.

Roy Oswalt took to social media this week to give his two cents on the blockbuster his former team made.

"Looking back on the Kyle Tucker trade, I like it and think it makes a lot of sense for the Astros," Oswalt posted. "Isaac Paredes fits perfectly at Daikin Park and Wesneski has a lot of potential."

It's not the first time Oswalt has weighed in this offseason, previously sending the Houston fan base into a frenzy by suggesting team ownership should bring back star free agent third baseman Alex Bregman, a possibility that seems even less likely after the Tucker trade.

Oswalt could be correct in asserting that Paredes is a perfect fit at the newly named Daikin Park with a powerful right-handed bat that should be able to launch a ton of home runs to left field.

In an interesting statistical piece of information, Sarah Langs revealed an overlay of Paredes' career home run spray chart over Daikin Park, and the results are staggering.

Already a solid power hitter with 19 home runs in 2024, Paredes would have had 26 of them had him home ballpark been in Houston.

Isaac Paredes hit 19 HR last season

if all his games had been at the Astros’ home park, he would have had 26, per Statcast

Crawford Boxes, hello

his career HR spray chart, overlaid there pic.twitter.com/EC4smW7qrA

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) December 13, 2024

If Paredes continued at the same rate, he would have actually had the same amount of home runs in 2024 at Daikin as the man he is presumably replacing in Bregman.

Paredes is likely going to be the new third baseman for the Astros and is six years younger than Bregman. In 2023, his 31 home runs and .840 OPS eclipsed Bregman in both categories.

In other words, Paredes could be due for an absolute explosion of home runs.

Wesneski on the other hand made just 28 appearances with seven starts in 2024, but statistically it was probably the best season of his three-year career when he was on the mound.

With a 3.86 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 67.2 innings pitched, the 27-year-old Wesneski has potential to take the next step with his new team.

Nobody would know potential in a starting pitcher for the Astros better than Oswalt.

In five of his first six years in Houston, Oswalt finished top-five in Cy Young voting and was named an All-Star three times during his career with the Astros.

The franchise legend's assertion doesn't even account for Cam Smith either, who has the makings of a future superstar infielder and instantly became Houston's top prospect the moment he stepped into the organization.

In all likelihood, this was the best the Astros were possibly going to do when it came to dealing Tucker, and it's really pretty dang good.

It's a tough pill for the fan base to swallow that the run of dominance - at least the way they knew it - could be over, but Houston is still building for both the present and the future with this deal.

Oswalt is spot on in praising the return, and fans have every right to be upset about trading Tucker, but should be equally as excited about the players the Astros are getting in the league-altering trade.