Houston Astros should target top budget starter on trade market

Despite their terrible start to the 2024 season, it is clear that the Houston Astros will avoid becoming sellers at the trade deadline.

Does that mean they still expect to fight? If that’s the case, they should address their starting rotation and these are dire weeks.

The Chicago White Sox are expected to trade all of their most valuable players before the deadline, which means Erick Fedde is up for grabs.

Fedde has had an interesting career. In his first six seasons with the Washington Nationals, he was okay at best. His best season came in 2019 when he finished with a 4.50 ERA in mixed duty between the starting rotation and bullpen.

After becoming a free agent, the Las Vegas native left for the Korea Baseball Organization where he dominated.

In 26 games, he finished with a 2.00 ERA and 0.954 WHIP en route to winning the MVP award.

Now, with newfound confidence, he is back in the majors where he is having his best season on American soil.

The 31-year-old has a 3.46 ERA with career highs in WHIP, FIP, K/9 and BB/9. The introduction of a splitter and less reliance on his four-seamer transformed his game in MLB. It will generate a lot of interest at maturity and for good reason.

Not only has Houston had numerous health issues throughout its starting rotation, but those who have remained on the mound have mostly fared poorly.

They could desperately need help in place of Spencer Arrighetti and Hunter Brown in the rotation and can’t count on injured arms to stay healthy for the rest of the season when they return.

Fedde will be under contract through next season and should have one of the fairest values ​​among the top starting weapons on the market.