Kate Upton and Yordan Alvarez Team Up to Make Minute Maid As Drama Happy As Ever — But These Astros Need a Vladimir Guerrero Size Trade Jolt

Kate Upton is as elegant as ever, doing a mini photo shoot on the field before a game for her vodka cocktails line. Yordan Alvarez is as cool as ever, nonchalantly answering questions from reporters after a two home run game that gives hope of a summer of Yordan bombs. The Houston Astros are as close a group as ever with much maligned veteran slugger Jose Abreu gushing about how his teammates stood by him during that demotion.

Minute Maid Park remains just about the best place to spend a summer night (or day) in the nation’s fourth largest city. This forever underrated ballpark has not lost any of its allure or big event feel.

But. . . the Astros’ season lasting beyond their regular season finale at Cleveland on September 29 is now certainly a long shot. That 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins Sunday — another one run loss in a season that already seems full of them — and another series loss delivers an ultra damaging blow.

Yes, baseball is a long season with four months of games remaining. But it’s already growing late fast for Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Co. with first year manager Joe Espada and the team looking like they’re rushing to catch a train that already may have left the station.

The Astros, now back to eight games under .500 at 26-34, hold the 12th best record in the 15 team American League on this early June morning. The rolling Yankees, Orioles and Guardians already all seem like virtual locks to take up half of the six team AL playoff field. The Kansas City Royals (36-25) and those Astros-knocking-back Twins (33-26) are also both well above .500. Only one American League West team making the playoffs is a real possibility this season and the Astros are seven games back of the division leading Seattle Mariners and three and half behind the second place Texas Rangers.

It’s time for the Astros to make a move — preferably a bold one. There are reality stars on a makeover show in less need of a dramatic transformation.

Jose Abreu is a standup guy and a beloved teammate. But he’s still not part of any solution that makes real sense.

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins tried to downplay the trade speculation swirling around his team’s first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who would be an excellent fit and instant jolt for these Astros, in an appearance on MLB Radio Sunday. But Guerrero would certainly regain his power stroke in Minute Maid and help this team. Mets first baseman Pete Alonso is another option with plenty of power and much less of Guerrero’s batting average (and overall) upside.

Alonso also only would be under the Astros’ control for the rest of this season, while Guerrero does not become a free agent until after the 2025 season. That fits much better with the Astros’ prime window with Kyle Tucker also under team control through next season too.

Of course, the Astros sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in three games at Minute Maid to start this week might help prompt Jim Crane to push general manager Dana Brown to make a bold trade – and grab this season while it still can be grabbed. These Astros clearly need something else — some new difference maker to join Altuve, Tucker and Alvarez in the lineup.

“For me, I trust this group of players. We have been through adversity a lot. It doesn’t necessarily show in the wins and losses. Right now the record shows that we’re down. But we’re not out. We fighting. This team’s not going to stop.” — Astros manager Joe Espada

Yordan Being Yordan — and The Need For Help

Even with Yordan showing signs of returning to his dominant self — ripping off that two home run game that pushed the Astros to their one win in the Twins series — Joe Espada’s lineup needs more offensive skill. In the two losses to Minnesota, Houston put up two and three runs. In three losses to the Mariners before that, the Astros scored five runs total.

“I felt like the Yordan that people are accustomed to,” Alvarez says post two home run game, his relaxed words in Spanish relayed by Astros translator Jenloy Herrera.

That is a big step forward. But Yordan and Tucker cannot push this flawed lineup back into contention by themselves. Jose Abreu is a standup guy and a beloved teammate. But he’s still not part of any solution that makes real sense. Since returning from his unselfish trip to the Florida Complex League and Triple A, Abreu is three for 15 with one home run, two RBI and six strikeouts.

His teammates — and seemingly Dana Brown — are rooting like crazy for Abreu to find his old swing. His old mojo.

“All my teammates, everybody in this organization, they’ve given me a ton of respect since the first day I’ve gotten here,” Abreu says when I ask about that support. “And trust me, that respect is mutual. When I went down for that one month, they were always in contact and checking in on me.

“That’s something I feel always indebted to them. And so much respect for them.”

All those encouraging Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve text messages cannot make Jose Abreu an effective MLB hitter again though. These Astros need something more. They need a jolt, a difference maker.

“For me, I trust this group of players,” Espada says. “We have been through adversity a lot. It doesn’t necessarily show in the wins and losses. Right now the record shows that we’re down. But we’re not out. We fighting. This team’s not going to stop. From fighting. And finding ways to win games.

“This is a really good baseball team. And it’s a marathon. It’s not a sprint. . . I’d rather run a marathon with this team than any other team in the league.”

Joe Espada’s confidence is admirable, His lineup construction has never been the problem. Some of the names he has to put there are. This manager needs a new choice too. Even if he doesn’t want to admit it.

Kate Upton making cameos, Yordan being Yordan and Justin Verlander defying father time better than almost any athlete not named LeBron guarantee that Minute Maid Park will remain an entertaining place to be this summer. But the Astros need something else — someone else — to make it another playoff summer.