The 2010 Major League Baseball trade deadline is just under a month away with the deadline being its customary date of July 31st on a yearly basis.

Over the next month I will try and tackle every Major League team as the deadline approaches to see if they will be buyers, sellers or stick to their current roster.

I will be basing my assumptions on the direction the team is going, their record as of the date I post the article, possible roster injuries and so on and so forth.

I will provide the information about each team by division.

I began with the National League East’s Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Florida Marlins & Washington Nationals.

I began my look at the NL Central last week with the Cincinnati Reds, St.Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers.

Today I will move onto the Houston Astros.

Coming into the All-Star break the Astros sit in fifth place in the NL Central with a record of 36-53, twelve and a half games behind the division leading Reds.

The Astros had a busy off-season acquiring numerous pieces such as closer Matt Lindstrom in a trade with the Marlins, as well as expensive bullpen piece Brandon Lyon (three year, $15 million), third baseman Pedro Feliz (one year, $4 million) & starting pitcher Brett Myers (one year, $5.1 million deal), as well as a new coaching staff to go along with new manager Brad Mills.

The team added to an already big payroll of $92, 605, 500 which contains the immense contracts of Roy Oswalt (five years, $73 million), Carlos Lee (six years, $100 million) & Lance Berkman (six years, $85 million).

The additions along with Oswalt, Lee & Berkman as well as star players Hunter Pence & Michael Bourn and 2009 pitching standout Wandy Rodriguez were in owner Drayton McLane’s mind enough to win the division.

The polar opposite has been occurring throughout the first half of the 2010 season.

The Astros got off to a terrible start, with only the Baltimore Orioles getting out of the gates slower.

The team was without Berkman for a long period of the first half, losing one of their most potent offensive weapons.

The team has struggled to score in ball games (only the Pittsburgh Pirates score less runs in the NL) while also relying on a mediocre starting pitching staff led by Oswalt (6-10, 3.08ERA) and featuring Myers (6-6, 3.41ERA), Rodriguez (6-11, 4.97ERA), Bud Norris (2-6, 5.97ERA) and a mix of Felipe Paulino (1-8, 4.40ERA) & Brian Moehler (1-4, 4.92ERA).

The pitching staff has pitched better than their records indicate, but when a team cannot score runs the ability to win ball games drastically lowers.

The team made an in-house decision to part ways with underachieving second baseman Kazuo Matsui releasing the player after a poor offensive start, but the run production did not improve after the decision.

The Astros have huge question marks at third base with Feliz not living up to expectations (.220, 3HR, 26RBI), at the catcher’s position with Humberto Quintero (.233, 3HR, 10RBI) & Jason Castro (.170, 1HR, 1RBI) currently sitting behind the plate and at the shortstop position with the youngster Tommy Manzella (.212, 1HR, 16RBI) struggling before going on the disabled list with a fractured left index finger. Manzella is out of action until at least early August with Oswaldo Navarro (.053, 0HR, 0RBI) & Angel Sanchez (.200, 0HR, 0RBI) splitting duties at the position.

The team does possess bright spots in first time All-Star Bourn (.255, 1HR, 20RBI, 28SB) & Pence (.263, 12HR, 40RBI) in their outfield along with the power hitting Lee (.240, 12HR, 45RBI). Bourn is a 2009 Gold Glove winner and stolen base champion while Pence looks to have all the tools of an every day Major League caliber outfielder.

Berkman is always a big threat in the Astros line-up with a career batting average of .297 with 325HR & 1084RBI and is starting to pick up some steam (.255, 12HR, 43RBI) despite missing the beginning of the season as well as being a name mentioned in numerous trade rumours.

The Astros bench consists of the above mentioned catcher Castro and infielder Navarro, veteran outfielder Jason Michaels (.242, 5HR, 14RBI) who is providing some excellent bench production, outfielder Jason Bourgeois (.316, 0HR, 1RBI, 3SB) and third baseman Chris Johnson (.282, 0HR, 8RBI).

The bullpen has seen a fantastic season from the closer Lindstrom (2-1, 2.80ERA, 21SV in 25SVO) while veterans Lyon (5-3, 3.66ERA), Tim Byrdak (1-0, 4.50ERA), Gustavo Chacin (1-1, 4.57ERA) & Chris Sampson (1-0, 5.47ERA) combine with Wilton Lopez (3-0, 4.05ERA) & Casey Daigle (1-1, 7.00ERA) to form the current bullpen, which is half decent.

The team has some huge decisions to make as the trade deadline approaches as Oswalt has approved a trade with team management.

With Cliff Lee being traded to the Texas Rangers over the weekend Oswalt is currently the top pitcher on the trading block despite the fact that he possesses a hefty contract ($7.5 million left for 2010 plus $16 million in 2011 and a $16 million club option for 2012 with a $2 million buyout). Oswalt must approve any trade having a full no-trade clause in his contract and has made it known that he does want to be traded to the Detroit Tigers or Chicago White Sox according to reports.

Oswalt is durable having never made less than 21 starts in his career, has two twenty win seasons under his belt, is a three time All-Star, the 2005 NLCS MVP and is always good for a low earned run average. Even at thirty two years of age the addition of Oswalt to any contending squad will immediately benefit the rotation, but more importantly the team as a whole.

The big deal breakers for teams interested in acquiring Oswalt is the hefty return of his contract as well as the amount of talent that will be expected by the Astros in return for their franchise player.

With Lee off the market teams could use the trade as a possible measuring stick in acquiring Oswalt with the New York Mets being one of the more interested parties. The Astros initially stated that they would eat some of Oswalt’s salary if it meant that they would acquire better talent for the pitcher, but recent reports have stated that the team wants all of Oswalt’s salary paid for as well as to receive three Major League ready players in return, which could be far too much of an expectation if they want to move him.

For the Mets to match the current expectations of the Astros they would most likely have to give up the likes of outfielder Fernando Martinez, pitcher Jenrry Mejia & infielder Wilmer Flores, the three being some of the Mets top prospects. That kind of a deal plus adding all of Oswalt’s salary would be a crazy move for the Mets to make.

Another possible destination could be the Reds, who showed a ton of interest in Lee before being outbid by the Rangers and the New York Yankees with their high budget are always a possibility in any trade scenario. The Reds could offer a package fronted by first baseman Yonder Alonso or third baseman Juan Francisco, while the Yankees could offer up catcher Jesus Montero.

Oswalt will surely be courted by numerous teams as the trade deadline approaches and I fully expect to see a move made, especially if the Astros continue to fall out of contention.

Along with Oswalt the Astros also have Berkman on the trading block. Berkman, like Oswalt is a lifetime Astro with an impressive resume, but a high price tag. He has been one of the most consistant first baseman in the NL over the last ten years with six seasons with over 100 runs batted in to go along with five All-Star appearances. The 34-year old switch hitting Berkman is in his last year of his current contract with a 2011 club option worth $15 million. $7.25 million remains on his contract for 2010.

Berkman could easily go to numerous contending American League clubs in need of designated hitter help.

The White Sox come to mind, although they seem focused on the Washington Nationals Adam Dunn.The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are in need of a first baseman and despite rumours of the team being interested in the Chicago Cubs Derrek Lee; Berkman could be an available option. Why not even throw the Tampa Bay Rays name into the Berkman discussion. Tampa has played with both Pat Burrell & Hank Blalock at the DH spot this year with no success and the addition of Berkman would certainly help the club in a massive way as they try to keep pace with the Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the AL East.

The Astros would almost certainly require a large crop of talent for Berkman’s services, but the deal would not compare to the Oswalt deals listed above.

Perhaps Berkman could be acquired from the Rays in exchange for one of their talented young arms such as Jeremy Hellickson or Wade Davis coupled with a young catcher such as Luke Bailey.

It is very doubtful that the Angels would offer outfielder Mike Trout as part of any deal, but they could offer up a catcher such as Hank Conger or one of pitchers Jordan Walden & Trevor Reckling.

The White Sox have catching prospect Tyler Flowers, but his move is doubtful as the team is looking to him as their backstop of the future with AJ Pierzynski most likely gone once the season is complete. The White Sox do have intriguing pitching prospect Daniel Hudson & third baseman Dayan Viciedo, both of whom could be of interest to the Astros.

If the Astros do not start to turn things around and learn how to score some runs the team could easily be a big seller come the trade deadline, trading off lifetime Astros Oswalt & Berkman, which would presumably affect fan attendance in a huge way.

The team needs to do something and if they do not than perhaps a rebuild, which owner McLane has been so against for some time now, will be necessary to return the storied Astros franchise to the top of the NL like the times of past.

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