Michael Conforto Draws Astros Interest as Trade Options Fade

Brian McTaggart of MLB. com said the Astros have shown recent interest in michael conforto, a development tied to dwindling trade options and an unsettled outfield as spring training is underway.

Michael Conforto as a low-cost option for Houston

The club has been seeking a lefty-hitting outfielder much of the offseason and has explored adding another left-handed bat by way of an Isaac Paredes trade, but McTaggart said Houston’s chances of trading Paredes have "diminished" recently. With that avenue narrowed, Conforto has emerged as one of the low-cost alternatives the Astros are considering.

Where Conforto stands statistically

Conforto, 33 on March 1, is coming off what was described as a career-worst season with the Dodgers, when he slashed. 199/. 305/. 333 in 486 trips to the plate. He was a 2014 first-round pick and a 2017 All-Star; the recent drop follows a shoulder injury that cost him the 2022 season.

Since returning from surgery he has played three seasons with the Giants and Dodgers, hitting a combined. 225/. 316/. 390 in 1444 plate appearances. He still draws walks—10. 5% in that span—but has produced more grounders and weak fly-balls, and his line-drive rate has fallen from 22. 4% (2015–21) to 17. 8% since. Conforto has generally hit right-handed pitching well and was closer to average in left-on-left matchups, though he has been better against lefties in each of the past two seasons in a small sample of 184 left-on-left plate appearances.

Contract expectations and roster fit

Given the lackluster performance since his shoulder surgery and last season’s numbers, Conforto’s price tag is not expected to be prohibitive. The coverage says he would likely command, at best, a low-cost one-year deal; with spring training underway, michael conforto could also sign a minor league deal and head to big league camp with the Astros.

Outfield questions that pushed Houston toward free agents

Yordan Alvarez is the only established left-handed hitter in Houston’s lineup, and the team wants Alvarez to spend more time at DH than in left field this year. Jake Meyers is locked into center field, but the rest of the outfield picture is unsettled regardless of handedness. Young outfielders Zach Cole and Joey Loperfido are in the mix for Opening Day roster spots but have minimal major league experience.

Other roster notes cited: Cam Smith had a huge spring last year and a big start to his rookie season before fading; Cole struck out at a 35% clip in the minors; Loperfido posted roughly league-average offense with the Blue Jays’ Triple-A club before being traded back to Houston last week; and former first-rounder Brice Matthews, a middle infielder by trade, has begun a transition to the outfield due to Houston’s crowded infield mix.

Why the team has struggled to trade Isaac Paredes

The Astros have explored trades of Paredes throughout the winter. His role as the starting third baseman was upended when Houston reacquired Carlos Correa at last year’s trade deadline. Paredes can also play first base, but that position is manned by Christian Walker in Houston. Paredes is owed $40MM over the next two seasons and has not drawn much trade interest at that rate. An ideal outcome, the coverage says, would have been sending Paredes out in exchange for a veteran corner outfielder, but those efforts have come up empty and the team has turned to low-cost free agent alternatives.

Criticism of the roster strategy and other alternatives

A separate piece argued Houston has been shopping players on its major league roster all offseason, naming Isaac Paredes as the most valuable of the players often mentioned and adding that Christian Walker and Jake Meyers have also been on the market. That analysis noted reports of high interest in Paredes and Meyers and faint interest in Walker, and it questioned whether GM Dana Brown overplayed his hand by holding on to infield pieces instead of addressing roster holes.

That criticism extended to potential fallout if the team fails to reach the postseason: the piece said such an outcome could cost Dana Brown his job and very likely could cost manager Joe Espada his job as well, even though it said Espada would again be forced to work with a roster the coverage called flawed and decimated by injury over the past two seasons.

The same analysis called Conforto "a shell" of his former self—still showing some power but making less contact and graded below average in the field—and noted his last strong full season was 2019 and that he had shoulder surgery after 2021. It also said the Astros could have pursued Mike Tauchman, who signed a minor league deal with the Mets, and evaluated Starling Marte as probably the best available hitter among remaining free agents, while noting Marte is 37, had a balky right knee, and was a part-time player with the Mets last year.

The piece concluded that the remaining free-agent crop is "slim pickins" and that a trade may be the only way for Houston to acquire an impact outfield bat unless Zach Cole, Cam Smith or Zach Dezenzo becomes that player. It added, bluntly, that coming into camp with an infield logjam was a miscalculation and that there may not be a way out at this point.

One line in the coverage captured fan frustration directly: "They are sinking to new lows please don’t get conforto Not since Andruw Jones has a healthy, "

Spring training is underway; the next concrete milestone for any potential Conforto move would be a one-year deal or a minor league contract that would bring him to big league camp with the Astros.