Houston Astros: The sticking point in targeting pitcher Matthew Boyd

Count the Houston Astros in on the plethora of teams targeting starting pitcher Matthew Boyd. A deal could be done but what’s the sticking point? Look.

The Houston Astros have just a few weeks before the trade deadline is a reality, currently set for July 31. The rumors will be hot and heavy and you better believe this team will be immersed in a bunch of them as they try to tweak every facet of this roster to ensure that they have the goods to go the distance.

It’s clearly obvious that the Houston Astros biggest needs are on the pitching front. A starter, as well as a reliever, could certainly serve as a boon to the team’s success. This team currently does not have a lefty reliever in the bullpen and they’ve been getting it done with lefty “specialists” like Will Harris.

It would be nice if the team had another left-handed starter but Wade Miley has been holding the fort down for the team throughout the entire season. He’s no Dallas Keuchel by any means but he has had some formidable performances, including Wednesday’s terrific outing. Miley struck out six and allowed just one earned run in 6.0 innings of work in a 4-2 win over the Colorado Rockies.

But he has been up and down this season and it’d be nice to bolster the starting lineup with a lefty that has been consistently solid, through and through.

According to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi, the Houston Astros are interested in Detroit Tigers’ starter Matthew Boyd. He has pitched well for them this season and with the Tigers not looking to contend for anything for a while, he’s going to be targeted by a multitude of teams.

The Houston Astros want to be in that bunch but Boyd is definitely going to be expensive, considering that he does have club control for the next two seasons, making him a cost-effective option for the franchise.

But what’s the sticking point?

Other than that it’s still early in the month, Morosi reportedly has indicated that the Tigers want top prospect Kyle Tucker in a trade package for Boyd. I’m sure this is something that the Houston Astros have balked at doing because although he stunk up the joint last season in his MLB debut, the guy still has a lot of promise to be a great ballplayer.

He’s still ranked 10th among MLB prospects and has been hitting .277/.350/.597 for a .947 OPS along with 24 homers and 63 ribbies for Triple-A Round Rock this season. He’s tied for 4th in Triple-A in home runs this season.

However, it still remains to be seen if he’s rebounded from what was an abysmal showing while batting .141 through 72 plate appearances last season with the team.

The Houston Astros have been cautious about this and I think they’d deal Tucker for the right guy

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and I’m sure they feel that Boyd is not it. I wish that teams could trade draft picks like in football and basketball because I’d definitely would want a top pick from the Tigers and they’ll have many with their 28-54 record so far.

But since that point is moot, I’d be willing to make either J.B. Bukauskas, Freudis Nova or Ronnie Dawson available as a sole centerpiece of a trade package in exchange for Boyd’s services.

Boyd has been solid enough — he has a 6-6 record, a 3.87 ERA while tossing 142 strikeouts to 46 earned runs with an incredible 3.57 FIP and formidable 1.12 WHIP through 107.0 innings of work in 18 starts. His 11.9 K/9 off 1.7 BB/9 already has me drooling and I’d love to see the Houston Astros try to land him.

Will Houston Astros land Boyd? That’s definitely something we’ll have to monitor. The team tends to not land the big names thrown around in trade rumors as of late, with the unique exception being Justin Verlander back in 2017. We all know how that trade panned out.

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I think this will be a fun period of trade rumor of news as the Houston Astros keep making minor tweaks to the goal of being invincible.

Onward to July 31 — let’s go Houston Astros!

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