Houston Astros should trade Josh Reddick to the Padres for prospects

Houston Astros outfielder Josh Reddick is going into the final season of his deal. Despite his injury, he can be traded, particularly to the Padres. Why?

The Houston Astros have a lot of work to do this offseason to remain competitive for next season and there will be a lot of shifting around for them to meet that objective. It won’t be too difficult as most of the core of the roster is under contract and there are just some tweaks that have to be made to ensure continuity.

Jose Altuve, George Springer, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, Yuli Gurriel and Michael Brantley are all under contract for next season, so you already know that at least you’ll have those power-bats on deck to help the team win ballgames.

Although Springer is going into his final year of arbitration with an estimated contract worth around $21.4 million next season, the Houston Astros may be more eager to sign him to a long-term deal to reduce that number.

Nonetheless, Springer will be back, it’s just a matter of how much he will making in 2020, depending on how much cash they want to fork over to him either now or later. Along with Altuve, he’s cemented himself as one of the greatest Houston Astros to take the diamond, so it’s not a matter of if but one of when as far as when a deal for him is finalized.

But the Houston Astros have a conundrum at right field at this moment. Josh Reddick is going into the final season of his four-year, $52 million deal that will pay him $13M this season. Whether or not if the Houston Astros decide to retain him remains to be seen.

But if you ask me, with the significant investment that they’ve made in Kyle Tucker, it’s time for the torch to be passed to him and let him get reps out there.

The Houston Astros just announced that Reddick had shoulder surgery today and I think that should have no bearing on his trade value. They expect him to be ready in the Spring so barring any unforeseen setbacks, he should be ready to go in a few months.

I have nothing personal against Reddick as he’s one of my favorite players on this team but the business of ensuring this team is good as all get out, hinges on the fact that must always have their moral compass steered toward the future.

The San Diego Padres have the best farm system in baseball right now and the Houston Astros‘ farm has taken a hit over the past few seasons, trading prospects for players to keep this team in the hunt for a title.

The Padres have been stockpiling for a bit and they have some fine pieces in their system to bring

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up into the fold for their team. I’d love to get my grubby hands on these players, particularly the positional ones, to ensure that the Astros‘ farm can offer all that it needs for this franchise to continue to be successful.

The Padres did invest heavily in Manny Machado when the team signed him to a 10-year, $300 million deal but Reddick’s $13M for 2020 would barely put a dent in the $112 million the Padres have committed to salaries.

They’re still currently ranked 12th in the MLB in payroll while the Houston Astros have sailed to No. 2 ($208.2M) — just slightly behind the Boston Red Sox ($214.9M) — so this certainly would be a cost-cutting move for the future as well.

Could the Houston Astros pry away Joshua Mears, Blake Hunt or Jacob Nix as the centerpiece for a prospect package for Reddick? We’ll have to see about that when their brass descends upon San Diego next month for the Winter Meetings.

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All I’m saying is that the Houston Astros need to at least look into this intriguing possibility as a chess move that keeps them on the right trajectory for the future.

Reddick, 32, slashed .275/.319/.409 along with 14 homers and 56 ribbies through 501 at-bats in 141 games last season.

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