Astros seemingly make trade decisions on Yordan Alvarez, Jeremy Pena

Astros seemingly make trade decisions on Yordan Alvarez, Jeremy Pena originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Despite all the chatter and the outside noise, the Houston Astros are not entertaining a major shake-up of the roster. 

At least not now. The Astros are 2.5 games back of the third and final Wild Card spot with just under 100 games left to play. 

There’s plenty of time for guys like All-Star slugger Yordan Alvarez to push his team back into contention.

Alvarez and shortstop Jeremy Pena have been rumored to be in trade discussions, but that appears to be eyewash at the moment. 

“We’ve had zero discussions about trading (Jeremy Pena or Yordan Alvarez) internally,” Astros general manager Dana Brown told Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle. “We’ve had zero conversations. So we can’t go trading two pillars. Both those guys hit at the top of our lineup.”

That’s certainly disappointing news for interested clubs. Alvarez ranks second in baseball with 22 home runs and is first in the Majors with a 1.066 OPS. 

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Pena is a quality defensive shortstop who hits for a high average and can impact the game with both power and speed. Both he and Alvarez are the type of players who can alter the direction of a season for an organization. 

And that’s exactly why Brown plans to stay the course. 

“To be sellers, for me, it would be like we failed,” Brown told Kawahara. “So I don’t think this team is a team that’s going to be sellers at the deadline. I think we’re good enough.” 

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