MLB Trade Rumors broke the ground floor on this one Sunday night: the Marlins are discussing both Liam Hicks and Kyle Stowers in trade talks as the deadline bears down. Stowers is the headliner, and it's easy to see why teams are lining up.
Jon Heyman put some meat on the bone a little under an hour later, reporting that the Astros are among the teams to inquire and are engaged in ongoing discussions with Miami about Stowers specifically. His read: the All-Star with big power might be the exact extra lefty bat Houston needs for October.
The Astros are among teams to inquire about Marlins slugger Kyle Stowers, and they are engaged in ongoing discussions with Miami. Stowers, an All-Star with big power, just might be the extra lefty bat Houston needs.
This isn't a two-month rental play, either. Stowers is controlled through 2029 and doesn't even hit arbitration until this coming offseason, which is the whole reason Miami isn't just giving him away. A hamstring injury delayed his 2026 season into mid-April, but since June 1 he's been mashing — a.249/.336/.540 line with 13 home runs in 218 plate appearances, part of an overall.237/.314/.461 season with 19 homers in 509 trips to the plate. That's the profile of a guy who moved to first base this year but still swings like the outfielder Houston remembers scouting.
For the Astros, the fit is obvious. Houston's lineup has leaned right-handed for years, and a controllable lefty with real thump slots in immediately without costing a rental-sized haul of prospects that vanishes in October. The catch is the price — reports indicate it would take a sizable offer to pry Stowers loose, and Miami's recent hot streak has reportedly nudged the front office from clear sellers toward a team that might buy and sell at the same deadline.
Liam Hicks complicates the picture a bit, since he's drawing interest from Tampa Bay and Boston as a catching target with control through 2030 — a sign the Marlins are fielding calls on more than just their outfield bat. But Stowers remains the centerpiece, and with the deadline landing Monday at 5pm central, Houston doesn't have much time to close whatever gap is left between the two sides.
Worth watching: how far the Astros are willing to bend on a farm system that's already been picked over by years of contention. If this gets across the finish line, Stowers becomes one of the bigger multi-year adds of deadline week — not a two-month patch, but a lefty bat Houston keeps around for the long haul.