When the Houston Astros basically came right out and said that their goal was to target controllable starting pitchers this offseason, there was a fair amount of understandable skepticism. The goal was fine, but the fact that the Astros had neither much room in their payroll nor much depth in the minor leagues made that desire look particularly difficult. However, after the Mike Burrows trade, it looked like Houston had found a path forward this offseason, but that may be short-lived optimism.
Understandably, the Astros have not been mentioned pretty much at all when it comes to the top of the pitching market.