Gone are the days when the Houston Astros were so good and so deep that they were consistently raided in the Rule 5 draft. Let’s hope the days are also gone when their normally competent GM protected Ronald Torreyes and left Delino Deshields, Jr. to get snapped up by a divisional rival (he’s produced 5 WAR in his career; that move was dumb and the time, remained dumb in retrospect, but was hardly a disaster).
To understand Friday evening’s moves, it’s helpful to put the 40-man roster in perspective. The 26-man roster = the big league club in Houston.