Houston Astros Trade Rumors: Sonny Gray And A Reliever On Team's Radar?

The Houston Astros might be among the more active teams ahead of Monday's trade deadline. No first-place team in baseball has a more comfortable lead than Houston, who are ahead of the Seattle Mariners by 17 games, but the Astros could probably use another starter to strengthen their chances in October.

After 100 games, the Astros are a respectable No. 7 in earned-run average (3.98), but bolstering the rotation could be crucial in the final two months of the regular season and into the postseason as starters have battled inconsistency and injuries.

Star lefty Dallas Keuchel will be back on the mound Friday after suffering a neck injury in early June and has just 11 starts this season. In three July starts, Lance McCullers has allowed 15 earned runs over 13 and two-third innings after several strong outings. Collin McHugh made his season debut Saturday to poor results, conceding four earned runs over four and two-third innings.

Reliever-turned-starter Brad Peacock has been a pleasant surprise but he has lasted beyond six innings just once this year.

A bright spot has been Mike Fiers. The 32-year-old right-hander has a 2.36 ERA over his last 10 starts. But there might be some concern about how he performs in September. In five starts in September 2016, Fiers had a 5.47 ERA and he didn't fare much better in five starts in September 2015, posting a 4.45 ERA.

Reports suggest that general manager Jeff Luhnow, who had previously stated that the Astros have enough pitching depth, is in the hunt for Sonny Gray of the Oakland Athletics.

There will be plenty of competition to land Gray, as Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals had all scouted the right-hander.

However, Slusser points out the Astros are still among the frontrunners.

Gray, 27, is under team control for two more seasons after 2017. The native of Nashville, Tennessee, has a career 3.42 ERA and is enjoying another solid season. After struggling in April, Gray has shown marked improvement since June 25, posting a 1.37 ERA over his last six starts.

Another name that has been floated around is 34-year-old Justin Verlander, though it is hard to envision a deal between the Astros and the Detroit Tigers coming to fruition. The six-time All-Star has a 4.50 ERA this season, but he is coming off an excellent 2016 season. Verlander is signed through the 2020 season and is owed $105 million, so Luhnow would probably prefer to hold on to top prospects and not take on such an expensive hit to the payroll.

Luhnow is no doubt also interested in a left-handed reliever. On July 14, Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports posted on Twitter that the Astros were interested in the Tigers' Justin Wilson and that the two sides had previously discussed a deal for the reliever at the winter meetings. The 29-year-old, who has 55 strikeouts in 39 and one-third innings, is a free agent at the end of the season.

The Colorado Rockies are also reportedly interested in Wilson.