With the All-Star break this week and the trade deadline looming just weeks away, the Astros, who have had a near complete reversal of fortunes after their rocky start, have plenty of questions to be answered as they get deeper into the summer. Here are five key decisions they will need to make in the next month.

What to do about Rafael Montero?

The Astros have clearly been working around the struggling reliever. When he finally did get an opportunity on Sunday, he gave up his eighth homer of the season, essentially putting the game out of reach. Montero is in the second year of a huge three-year deal that made him the highest paid no-closing reliever in baseball. He has not come close to living up to that money. Now, the Astros are actively having to work around his spot in the bullpen begging the question: Should they just cut him? It would be the second such move after Jose Abreu, another signing prior to the hiring of

GM Dana Brown but after former GM James Click was fired, was released earlier this season. Montero is taking a spot that he doesn’t deserve. It may be time for owner Jim Crane to eat another contract for the good of the team.

Should Lance McCullers, Jr. shut it down for the season?

McCullers has not pitched since game three of the 2022 World Series when he gave up seven runs in four-and-a-third innings. He had only played in eight regular season games that year. In his career, he has pitched more than 150 innings just one, in 2021. Prior to that 162.1-inning season, his career best was 128.1 in 2018. After rehabbing from another surgery this offseason, he was

expected to make a comeback this year, but had a setback that has pushed him back until at least August, maybe later. At what point do the Astros just shut him down entirely? That will be most of 2022 plus all of 2023 and 2024 lost to injury. It will also mean that nearly three of his five-season extension he signed before 2021 will be paid despite him not throwing a pitch. He will be a free agent after the 2026 season.