Houston Astros looking to move Chris Carter

The Houston Astros have yet to be very active on the trade market, but are looking to move Chris Carter before Thursday’s deadline. Joel Sherman of the New York Post adds that the team is willing to listen on a handful of their starting pitchers – including Collin McHugh, Dallas Keuchel, and Jarred Cosart.

Carter brings a mixed bag on the offensive side of things. He’s hitting just .212/.291/.474 on the year, with 111 strikeouts, but he has hit 21 home runs. He hit 29 home runs a season ago, but also led the American League with 212 strikeouts. Carter is also limited defensively. He has experience at both first base and left field, but he’s really best suited to strictly serve as a designated hitter.

He won’t be arbitration eligible until after the 2015 season.

Multiple teams are looking to upgrade their offenses before the deadline and could potentially be fits for Carter, but his limitations do stand out. Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle has heard that the Seattle Mariners are not interested, despite their well publicized efforts to add offense. The New York Yankees could make sense, particularly if Carter were packaged with one of the aforementioned starters, but a deal doesn’t appear likely between the two sides given the defensive limitations. Presumably a move to an American League club would be far more likely in this instance.