When Major League Baseball made July 31st a hard trading deadline this year, most expected that it would be an active deadline with many big names switching teams. Starters like Madison Bumgarner, Noah Syndergaard, Zach Wheeler, and Robbie Ray were all being tossed around as likely trade candidates, but when it 
was announced that all were staying put, the consensus was that this trading deadline was not going to live up to the hype.
Then the Astros dropped a bigger hammer than Thor the God of Thunder and sent shockwaves throughout baseball during the waning seconds of the deadline by acquiring Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke. The Astros didn’t stop there, picking up Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini from the Blue Jays, while also reacquiring Martin Maldonado in a trade with the Cubs. Let’s discuss the top 5 burning questions about the Astros in the wake of the trades:
Did the Astros give up too much of their future to get Zack Greinke?
The Astros traded several of their top prospects in the trade for Zack Greinke, but managed to keep their top 2 prospects, OF Kyle Tucker and RHP Forrest Whitley. According to MLB Pipeline rankings, the players sent off are ranked as the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 22nd best prospects in the organization (OF/1B Seth Beer, RHP J.B. Bukauskus, RHP Corbin Martin, and IF Josh Rojas). While it hurts to lose depth and top prospects, the Astros have built up the system in order to make these types of trades to help the Major League roster win a championship.
Zack Greinke is a former Cy Young Award winner and was still pitching like an ace for the Arizona Diamondbacks this year, with a 10-4 record, 2.87 ERA, 155 ERA+, and a 0.943 WHIP. Of the players traded, only Corbin Martin had been up in the majors to this point. While he had a great debut on Mother’s Day, the rest of his stint was mixed. He finished with a 5.59 ERA and he’s out all of next season after Tommy John surgery.
J.B. Bukauskus was a former 1st round pick, but has been up and down this year at AA Corpus Christi with a 5.25 ERA. Seth Beer has put up really good 
numbers in the minors, but he is mostly known for his bat and Yordan Alvarez’s performance made a hitter like Beer more expendable.
This trade shows that the Astros owner Jim Crane and GM Jeff Luhnow are committed to winning championships, and while prospects are the future of the organization, this team went for the jugular when an opportunity to win presented itself.
How will Zack Greinke be used with the Astros?
It’s a great problem for Astros manager A.J. Hinch to have. The Astros had been searching for a starter to add depth to their rotation, because even with the sensational efforts of the top 3 of Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Wade Miley, the rest of the rotation has struggled with Brad Peacock’s injury and Colin McHugh’s 
return to the bullpen. Greinke may have lost some velocity on his fastball over the years, and since the Astros have him through 2021, that will be something to watch. However, Greinke is a real student of the game and has shown how he can effectively use his fastball while tossing his breaking pitches around the zone, as evidenced by his strong numbers in Arizona this season.
The Astros now have a former Cy Young winner in Greinke who cannot only help them during the regular season, but gives them arguably the best starting 3 for the postseason. When you factor in lefty Wade Miley’s consistent performance this season, the Astros can now turn to 4 legitimate quality starters for a postseason series, even if we know there is more mixing and matching in October with relievers and starters than ever before.
What did the Astros get in Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini from the Blue Jays?
When talking about one of the greatest mysteries around baseball, it’s what has happened to Aaron Sanchez since 2016, when he finished with a 15-2 record, a 3.00 ERA and 7th in Cy Young voting. This season, Sanchez has a 3-14 record and a 6.07 ERA, so he is now a 
reclamation project.
Can the Astros salvage his career? Perhaps the change of scenery can help, as Sanchez can either be a 5th starter or an arm out of the bullpen. He still has an above average fastball and a curveball with a good spin rate, so if the Astros organization and pitching coach Brent Strom can mine that talent, then the Astros will have made a very underrated pickup. If not, the Astros gave up a player that probably was not factoring into the Astros’ future plans (OF Derek Fisher) for the chance on a pitcher with real upside.
With Ryan Pressly and Josh James on the IL, the Astros also added a good bullpen arm in Biagini that can help them in the late innings. He has made 50 appearances out of the pen in 2019, with a 3.78 ERA and 9.00 K/9 rate, utilizing a four-seam fastball, sinker, cutter and curveball.
Why did the Astros bring back Martin Maldonado?
Hollywood loves a good sequel, so maybe the Astros do too. The Astros have been looking to strengthen the catching position because of Max Stassi’s low output offensively (an anemic .167 average this year with 1 HR in 90 ABs) and the increased workload on C Robinson Chirinos. The Astros had entertained a contract with Martin Maldonado in the offseason, but ended up signing Robinson Chirinos instead. Then when Maldonado was shipped off to the Cubs a few weeks ago, the door to reacquire him had apparently closed, but the Cubs recently activated Wilson Contreras which made him available again.
Maldonado is a really good defensive receiver with an excellent throwing arm who manages a pitching staff well, so he is a good complement to Chirinos, who is the better offensive player. Astros fans may look to the foibles of last year’s postseason with Maldonado and his below average offensive stats, but overall, he provides an upgrade over Stassi, who was traded to the Angels for two minor league outfielders.
Are the Astros the favorites now?
In a word – yes. Nothing is guaranteed in a 5 or 7 game postseason series, but the Astros made several moves to bolster their roster and put themselves in a position to win it all, while their major rivals did not make significant additions. The 
Yankees were expected to make a trade for a starter, since they do not have a shutdown ace like a Verlander or Cole at the front of their rotation. At the end of the day, Yankees GM Brian Cashman did not make a move for a starter or more arms in the bullpen, so the New York media and Yankee fan base will surely be critical about it if the team falls short of a title.
The defending champion Red Sox also did not make a deal, and they have been searching for a Craig Kimbrel replacement at the back end of the bullpen all season long. Even a potential NL World Series team, the Dodgers, did not make a significant splash with their main acquisition being lefty reliever Adam Kolarek from the Rays.
The Twins did help themselves in their AL Central race with the addition of reliever Sam Dyson, but if any team in the AL did the most to help themselves at the deadline, it was the Astros. The shocking Zach Greinke trade as the minutes were counting down to zero is very reminiscent of the way the Jeff Luhnow made a deal to pick up Verlander in 2017. The Astros would very much like the ending to be the same as it was that season.
