Proposed Houston Astros Trade Would Be a Disaster From Front Office

The Houston Astros need to avoid making a deal like this in the offseason.

Aug 6, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Colorado Rockies right fielder Kris Bryant (23) hits a double in the eighth inning against the New York Mets at Coors Field. / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

The Houston Astros have to better their roster in the offseason, but that doesn't mean they should make trades or sign players just for the sake of doing so.

It was a rough ending to the Astros season, and while losing is never acceptable, there shouldn't be any panic from the front office just yet.

Sure, one could make the argument that their dynasty looks like it could be coming to an end in the near future, but if they make the right moves and sign the right players, they should be in an acceptable position for at least the next four to five years. 

There are some rough contracts on Houston's roster. If they want to move on from some of them, it could be tough to facilitate them in trades. That's one of the few issues in improving the team.

Of those players includes Lance McCullers Jr.

When McCullers is healthy, he's thrown the baseball at a high level. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case since 2022, and he's still being paid handsomely by the Astros to be in the dugout.

Drew Koch of FanSided put together a few trade packages for Houston, with McCullers as the headliner.

While his reasoning made sense, he proposed a trade that would move him for Kris Bryant.

"Now this would an intriguing option. The Colorado Rockies shocked nearly everyone throughout Major League Baseball during the 2021-22 offseason when they signed Kris Bryant to a seven-year, $182 million contract. Bryant is owed $108 million over the next four seasons, so this type of contract swap would definitely force the Astros to take on a lot more salary...

"The question surrounding this type of contract swap involves salary. Colorado, who's undergoing a rebuild, has virtually no incentive to take on McCullers' contract. But if it got them out from under the final two years of Bryant's contract, that could motivate the Rockies to make such a move."

Trading for Bryant would be one of the worst moves this front office could make.

If they want to worry about saving money, trading for a guy who makes more than McCullers wouldn't make sense.

That's without factoring in that he's been one of the worst players in Major League Baseball throughout the past few seasons. In 2024, he only played in 37 games, so that's also an issue.

Over the past two campaigns, he's posted an OPS+ of less than 80 in both showings, a major indication of his decline. He isn't the player he once was, and because of that, the Astros should avoid him at all costs.