{"id":109276,"date":"2025-08-01T03:55:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T03:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/109276\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T03:55:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T03:55:23","slug":"astros-add-balance-to-lineup-by-acquiring-jesus-sanchez-from-marlins-trade-grades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/109276\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros add balance to lineup by acquiring Jes\u00fas S\u00e1nchez from Marlins: Trade grades"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston Astros continued an active deadline day, following their stunning trade for Carlos Correa<\/a> with a move to get outfield depth in the way of Jes\u00fas S\u00e1nchez.<\/p>\n

No lineup in baseball has received fewer at-bats from left-handed hitters than Houston\u2019s. S\u00e1nchez solves that dilemma \u2014 and will provide balance until designated hitter Yordan Alvarez returns after fracturing his right hand.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez could also spell rookie Cam Smith in right field. Smith, who has struggled since the All-Star break, is reaching a workload he\u2019s never played before. The Astros have had no choice but to keep playing him given their rash of injuries.<\/p>\n

A league-average hitter and adequate defender, S\u00e1nchez could raise Houston\u2019s floor as a corner outfielder and designated-hitting option. The 27-year-old has hit double-digit home runs in each of the past four seasons, and he is striking out less often than ever in 2025. He has experience at all three outfield positions, and while not a fast runner, he has emerged as a serviceable base-stealer.<\/p>\n

S\u00e1nchez had been the rebuilding Marlins\u2019 most expensive position player. He is earning just $4.5 million this season, with two remaining years of control. He may not possess the highest ceiling, but his combination of skills and affordability should continue to make him a useful player.<\/p>\n

The Marlins received right-handed pitcher Ryan Gusto, minor league infielder Chase Jaworsky\u00a0and minor league\u00a0outfielder Esmil Valencia in the deal. Gusto, 26, is 7-4 with a 4.92 ERA in 24 appearances for the Astros this season. Jaworsky, 23, was the Astros\u2019 fifth-round pick in 2023 and has spent the entire season in High-A while Valencia, 19, was hitting .263 with a .682 OPS in Single-A.<\/p>\n

Trade grade<\/p>\n

Astros:<\/strong> B-
Marlins:<\/strong> C+<\/p>\n

Tyler Kepner:<\/strong> Basically, this is a league-average position player for a starter who might be league average, but has more club control.<\/p>\n

The Astros desperately needed a left-handed bat and they got it in S\u00e1nchez, who in over six years in the majors has hit .243\/.310\/.426 \u2013 for a 100 OPS+. The good thing is that he\u2019s squarely in his prime, at 27, and under club control through 2027. If there\u2019s more upside in that bat, the Astros will find it.<\/p>\n

For now, the question remains who is going to replace Gusto in the rotation. He hasn\u2019t been great, but he\u2019s been healthy enough to make 14 starts \u2013 and only Framber Valdez and Hunter Brown have made more for the Astros this year.<\/p>\n

Gusto beat the Nationals Wednesday with six strong innings, so he can slide right into Miami\u2019s rotation. A 26-year-old rookie, he has a good strikeout rate (9.1\/9, basically the same as he had in the minors) and a 4.92 ERA. Feels like Miami should have gotten a prospect as a throw-in for an everyday player, but this one\u2019s mostly a push.<\/p>\n

(Photo: Carmen Mandato \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston Astros continued an active deadline day, following their stunning trade for Carlos Correa with a move…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":109277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,2382,1286,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-109276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-houston-astros","10":"tag-miami-marlins","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114951495709064830","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}