Astros receive a warranted poor grade on trade deadline moves one month later originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. The Houston Astros didn't exactly have the most exciting set of moves at the MLB trade deadline, but in the lead-up to the deadline, they did trade Lance McCullers Jr. to the Milwaukee Brewers and acquired Daulton Varsho and Max Martin. However, one month later, how have those three deadline deals worked out? The McCullers trade is not a bad one at all, but it doesn't really move the needle much. The same cannot be said for the other moves, as the Astros' moves for Martin and Varsho have not panned out whatsoever. Andy McCullough of The Athletic handed a well-deserved poor "D" grade to Houston for their underwhelming trade deadline. Astros received deserved poor 'D' grade for trade deadline one month later "Trade deadline report card: D," McCullough writes. "... The Astros empire has been in decline for years, and Brown was unable to arrest the slide. He could not make significant additions at the deadline." The Astros might be sitting atop the American League West on September 2, but it's less so thanks to their own success and much more so the weak competition they face from the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners. Houston's additions of Varsho and Martin have not contributed much of anything to the Astros this season. Martin has yet to join the Astros' big-league roster, while Varsho, in 25 games, has posted 0.0 bWAR. Meant to be a left-handed hitting outfielder, something the Astros have failed to address for the past two seasons now, Varsho had an underwhelming but acceptable .682 OPS for the Toronto Blue Jays before being traded. MORE: Astros' Yordan Alvarez has chance to join two MLB legends with very rare history Since coming to the Astros, Varsho has a lousy .539 OPS with a 52 OPS+, which means he's been 48% worse than the league-average hitter since coming to Houston. Considering how badly this team needed more starting pitching, missing out on Foster Griffin was a huge letdown as well. Not landing another starter is also a major mistake. Overall, looking back on the Astros' trade deadline one month later, it's hard not to give it an "F" grade. But McCullough handed Houston a "D" grade that's still incredibly poor. This was a bad deadline for the Astros, and not long afterwards, Dana Brown was fired by owner Jim Crane, with Joe Espada likely next, despite the team holding first place in the AL West. More MLB news:
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