Vitriol between the New York Yankees and Houston Astros seems lower than usual this season. Is it low enough for the two sides to consider a trade?
The story has been well told: Yankees fans feel strongly that the Astros cheated them out of a World Series appearance and that José Altuve robbed Aaron Judge of a Most Valuable Player Award thanks to the sign-stealing scandal going on that year that shook Major League Baseball upon revelation in 2020.
However, most of the Astros’ perpetrators (really, all except Altuve) are gone now. The Yankees, meanwhile, have a strong enough need for starting pitching to consider all potential sellers.
Could Houston send the Yankees their most decorated starting pitcher? Though he admits it’s unlikely, one former MLB general manager wishes it would happen this summer.
On Thursday, MLB Network analyst and former Colorado Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd named Framber Valdez to the Yankees as one of the blockbuster deals he’d like to see happen before the Jul. 31 deadline.
“These two teams don’t make deals,” O’Dowd said. “So it probably is never going to happen, but he (Valdez) complements the Yankees’ rotation really well. Strike-thrower, heavy sinker-ball guy. Another lefty in their rotation to go with Fried and Rodon.
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“I do think they need to add a starting pitcher to their rotation. But the American League West is not a dominant division. The Astros should be able to stay around forever.”
Valdez, 31, has a 3.57 ERA through 63 innings across 10 starts this season. He’s making $18 million in his final year of arbitration and likely hopes to clear the $100 million mark in free agency.
After shipping out Kyle Tucker this winter, the Astros initially held onto Valdez, which would suggest they’d have to be out of the playoff race to let him go. Never say never, but that’s not something the Yankees should count on, considering Houston hasn’t missed the playoffs since 2016.
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