A deal has officially been reached, and the Houston Astros have been named the “ideal landing spot” for a $160 million seven-time All-Star trade target.

Max Fried had a great start against the Marlins, will that continue against the Astros

Max Fried and the Atlanta Braves are set to take on J.P. France and the Astros in the final of the three-game series this afternoon at Minute Maid Park.

There is no sugar coating it, Max Fried has had a rough start to his season. In his first start of the season against the Phillies, he got lit up for three earned

runs and three walks while throwing forty-three pitches in only 0.2 innings against the Phillies. In his next start it was more of the same. In 4.1 innings he gave up seven earned runs, although he only walked one batter. He did give up ten hits, showing he was not missing many bats.

He seemed to settle down against the Marlins in his third start in which he only threw eighty-one pitches in 6.1 innings of work. In this game he only had one earned run, and one walk while allowing a manageable four singles.

Of course, this was a Marlins team who is in the bottom four in runs scored in the NL. Still, it was good to see Fried be his dominate self once more.

Fried will go into this game against the Astros who currently sit at sixth in the AL in runs scored. Even though this is Fried’s eighth season at the MLB level, no Astro on the current roster has had more than six at bats against him in the regular season. Of the eight players on the current Astros Roster who have faced him, five of them have yet to record a hit against him.

Jose Abreu, who has struggled this season, does have a .333 average against Fried in six at bats, and Kyle Tucker has a .500 average with a 1.167 OPS in two at bats. It is hard to gauge if this Astros roster should struggle or have success against Fried due to the tiny sample size, but they have not had much success to date.

J.P. France has also started this season off poorly with an 8.11 ERA in 15.1 innings of work over three starts this season. Unlike Fried, he is trending in the opposite direction. In his first two starts he had quality outings giving up three earned runs in 5.2 innings a piece. In his latest start, he gave up eight earned runs in 4.0 innings against the Rangers.

Last season J.P. France had a solid year in terms of preventing runs. He had a 3.83 ERA over 136.1 innings. However, his other numbers did not look great. He had a 4.66 FIP, 1.357 WHIP, and only a 2.15 SO/W ratio. His expected ERA (xERA) was in the bottom 24.0 percent of MLB at 4.86.

Only Duvall and Kelenic have faced France before. Kelenic has one at bat with a .000 average and a walk, and Duvall has faced him five times with a .600 average and one HR. Both these players will not face him today since they platoon. Odds are Kelenic will get the start since France is a RHP, but it will be interesting to see if Duvall will play since he has had recent success against France.