The Houston Astros are currently sitting at the top of the American League West as the second half of the 2025 season begins. At 56-40, they lead the Seattle Mariners by five games and hold the second-best record in the Junior Circuit.
They lost Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman last offseason, but added Christian Walker and Isaac Paredes and remain one of Major League Baseball’s top teams.
They are going to need some help at the trade deadline though. Their starting rotation has been hit hard by injuries.
When listing trade candidates for the Miami Marlins, Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter listed the Astros as a potential landing spot for right-hander Edward Cabrera.
“The Astros could use a quality No. 3 starter to slot behind Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez in the rotation, but with one of the thinner farm systems in baseball, a high-reward target like Cabrera could be at the top of their wish list,” Reuter wrote.
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Cabrera is 3-4 with a 3.61 ERA and 1.7 WAR in 16 starts with the Marlins. He has also struck out 86 batters over 82 1/3 innings of work.
The Astros farm system was stretched thin last summer when they traded for Yusei Kikuchi and also gave up three of their top prospects, those being Joey Loperfido, Jake Bloss and Will Wagner.
However, Cabrera shouldn’t cost too much as a mid-rotation rental starter, even though rental pitching does tend to come in high demand. He could easily plug a hole for Houston while they wait for some of their injured starters to make progress towards returns.
Houston already has Hunter Brown and Framber Valdez at the top of their rotation, but adding another arm should help them cement themselves at the top of the AL West for the rest of the year.
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