Houston Astros: Why the Francisco Liriano trade was disappointing

The trade deadline came and went for the Houston Astros and it ended up with the team doing much of nothing.

You can obviously tell with my lead-in that I’m not necessarily pleased with the Houston Astros performance at the trade deadline. With all of the talent that was available, this franchise wasn’t willing to take a small risk on a guy that could improve the team upon no end. If the trade hadn’t worked out, I wouldn’t have criticized but happy that my hometown team swung for the fences.

But they didn’t. They just got a base hit hoping that they’ll get an opportunity to run the bases to score big…EVENTUALLY. Guys like Justin Wilson, Yu Darvish and Sonny Gray are now off the board and that could’ve been the Houston Astros being able to seize those guys. But instead, the team went with the safe deal and added Francisco Liriano to their bullpen. I still continue to have my full faith and confidence in Jeff Luhnow but I just felt taken aback a bit to see this.

My partner-in-crime here at House of Houston, Joe Fernandez, wrote about this earlier when the news was broken and then the franchise quickly announced that the deal was official. We ended giving up Teoscar Hernandez and Nori Aoki for Liriano which is a fair price to pay for a player of his stature.

More from House of Houston

I’m not being hard on the deal itself but I just wish the Astros brass could’ve done more to keep this team on a trajectory path to have a successful playoff run possibly leading up to a World Series appearance/win. It’s just that Liriano’s stuff as a starter hasn’t been all that great but he’s expected to go right to the bullpen as we’ve had a definite need for left-handed pitchers.

No offense to James Hoyt but he had some many opportunities and he just couldn’t get it done. There’s no doubt the effort was there. He’ll stay in Triple A where his numbers will likely see a nice boost. And Tony Sipp? I don’t know what’s going on but the rent. He’ll have a healthy check for $6 million off a season that has been quite underwhelming to say the least.

So let’s hope his 93 mph, two-seam, grip sinker is what the doctor ordered to strike guys out. We’re going to need him because lately our starters haven’t been able to make it past five innings. Hell, it has been even less than on many occasions.

But this move being made definitely indicates that the Astros did not want to give up front-line prospects like Derek Fisher, Kyle Tucker and Francis Martes. They also are signaling that they like what they have now and feel this team can go the distance. Let’s hope, by jove, that they’re right. In a sense, I wouldn’t have given the all but I think one to include would be a fair price for somebody.

Next: Astros vs. Rangers: A renewed battle for ultimate pride

But nonetheless, welcome to Houston Francisco, I’m rooting for your success because that will only rub off on our Astros.

Liriano, 30, posted a 6-5 record, a 5.88 ERA, 74 strikeouts and a horrible 4.72 FIP and 1.62 WHIP through 82.2 innings pitched in 21 starts for the Toronto Blue Jays. But it’s because of his 8.1 K/9 as far as the main reason that he’s here.

Go Astros.

Home/Houston Astros