Interesting trade prospective article on The Athletic today. This is a nice cross section view of the top 10 teams by position, and just look at the greens on some of these teams... I think this sort of assessment from stats and numbers is a bit blind to the Astros real issues, as it's not a Catcher that they need, they just need to start Diaz and bench Maldy. Although, it's hard to believe that there is a statistically worse starting catcher out there besides Maldonado with his .171 average, but apparently there is.
Some of the names they mention that may be traded before the deadline are Joe Kelly, Tommy Phan, Lance Lynn, Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Blake Snell, Eduardo Rodriguez, Marcus Stroman, Jordan Montgomery, Michael Lorenzen, Mark Canha, Randall Grichuk and Tim Anderson. It seems most sports writers think the White Sox are going to have a firesale this week.
https://theathletic.com/4717171/2023/07/26/trade-deadline-deals-contenders-mlb/
If we take a look at FanGraphs’ projected production at each position, a little color-coding can help us readily identify the biggest weaknesses on the top 10 teams by end-of-season projected wins. Just look for the red:
They suggest SP Michael Lorenzen of the Tigers would be a good target for the Astros. He's on a 1 year 8.5m contract, but could probably be a cheap option to replace Bielak in the rotation. If Yordan is healthy, then I would hope the outfield is set with him, Chas and Tucker. Trading for Luis Robert would be a bit overkill, and cost a lot of capital, so a starting pitcher on the cheap is probably the best way to go. The list they link HERE has a good comparison of the available pitchers, and he's rank 6 on their Stuff+ rating. Probably one of the more reasonable options aside from Stroman.