Houston Astros: Suggestions for the second half of 2017

1. Address the Arms Situation

June saw the pitching staff plagued with injury. The only member of the original starting rotation that did not see any time on the DL was Mike Fiers. At the time, he was considered the weak link in the rotation chain.

But what a difference a month makes! Fiers shrunk his ERA from a whopping 4.86 in May down to a 2.32 in the month of June. Overall, that’s a decrease from 5.11 down to 3.84 in that same span.

Arguably, he was considered by some to be the ace in the absence of lefty ace, Dallas Keuchel. The beard threw a bullpen session on Sunday, according to CBS Sports, and should rejoin the rotation at the end of the month.

The first series for the Astros back from the break will be at home against the Minnesota Twins. Charlie Morton, Joe Musgrove, and Mike Fiers will be apart of that 3 game lineup.

Pitching Padding a Plus!

Additionally, even though the spacemen pulled through the injuries, they could still use another starting arm. The most popular names being thrown around are Sonny Gray, Jose Quintana, Chris Archer and Marcus Stroman.

However, the most likely rumored name to join the spacemen is Pirates starter, Gerritt Cole. Though he is only 7-7 on the season with a 4.43 ERA, adding him to the Astros rotation could prove beneficial for both Cole and the organization. Sometimes, one does just need a change of scenery, after all.

It would take a nice haul to land him, but you have to sacrifice some of your future to compete in the present. For Jeff Luhnow and company, that may mean parting ways with some top prospects down in the farm system. Realistically, that will be necessary to get any of the aforementioned pitching names.

Either way, you can never have enough good arms. Especially, if you want to be hoisting up that World Title trophy at the end of October/early November! The team would do well to add some more in the second half.