Roster moves Astros must make after 2026 MLB trade deadline

The Houston Astros’ path to improving their postseason outlook doesn’t hinge on new trades so much as reshaping how they use their existing pitchers. Houston has surged from 11 games below .500 to 60-57, winning 13 of 16 and taking a 1.5-game lead in the AL West, but a minus-22 run differential highlights how precarious the advantage still is. After acquiring Daulton Varsho from the Toronto Blue Jays for Spencer Arrighetti to address center field, the Astros still had the MLB’s third-highest team ERA entering Friday. The proposal is to pair Tatsuya Imai and Ronel Blanco in one “rotation turn,” limiting Blanco to three or four innings while having Imai follow for multiple frames. Blanco, rebuilding after Tommy John surgery, has a 6.98 ERA, 7.23 FIP and 13.6% walk rate through 19 1/3 innings, with high home run and barrel-rate numbers, and he has failed to reach five innings in three of four starts.