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With the MLB season beginning to kick into full gear, teams are beginning to realize strengths and weaknesses and general managers could possibly already be thinking about potential trades that could be made to upgrade their teams for a playoff run.
A weakness so far this season for the Houston Astros has been their starting pitching. The starting rotation for Houston has combined for a 3.78 ERA, good for 14th best among starting rotations.
Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller has listed Miami Marlins right-handed pitcher and ace, Sandy Alcantara, as a potential trade target for the Astros at some point during the season.
Alcantara is in his first season back from Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for all of last season. Before his injury, Alcantara was among one of the game's top pitchers, as showcased by his Cy Young award in 2022.
This season, Alcantara has looked similar to his old self, as he has posted a 3.72 ERA across two starts and 9 2/3 innings pitched. It is unlikely Alcantara will ever return to the form that he showed in 2022 when he won his Cy Young and pitched 228 2/3 innings with six complete games and 207 strikeouts.
He can, however, still be beneficial to the Houston rotation and provide it with valuable innings for another postseason push that has become so common with the Astros. With the playoff rounds being shortened to a best-of-three in the first round, a 1-2 punch of Alcantara and Framber Valdez would be frightening for any team to match up against.
Getting Alcantara off a bad Marlins team and straight to a competing team could light a fire under him that could help propel the Astros to their ninth straight postseason appearance.
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About the writer
Andrew Wright is a Newsweek contributor based in Lancaster, South Carolina. His focus is MLB content. Andrew has been with ... Read more