With the clock ticking on the July 31 trade deadline—a deadline this year that was the final word on deals a team can make—the Astros made it clear that it’s not the American League West they are focused on winning
It is the World Series.
The Astros made it clear they know that their window is closing.
Houston packaged three of its top 10 prospects—right-handers Corbin Martin and J.B. Bukauskas, both near big-league ready, though Martin is recovering from Tommy John surgery; and sweet-swinging first baseman Seth Beer, who hits for both average and power— and sent them to the Diamondbacks for the impactful right arm of Zack Greinke.
Statement made: the Astros’ future is now. But that’s 35-year-old Zack Greinke.
The D-backs were excited to add four prospects from Houston—they also acquired 25-year-old utility man Josh Rojas—but, as with all trades today, money played a significant role. The D-backs agreed to kick in roughly $24 million of the $77 million owed Greinke through 2021.
But the Greinke trade isn’t about what might happen down the road. This was a deal designed for immediacy. This was a deal made by an Astros team that knows that in order to make an October statement, the time is now, with a possibility for 2020, too.
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