Say it ain't so, Daddy! You'll be a Texican??
Here's what I admire about the Astros and their "all in" philosophy: They were willing to get their young guys to the bigs in a blur, buying into the philosophy that they'll get better faster facing big league pitching. Springer, Altuve, Bregmann and Correa were hurried to Houston. All were good in the minors (and very high draft picks), but they moved up quickly, and with a rolling momentum. Houston stuck to a philosophy. It was all in, because they were all in on their young talent and all in on building a team that had the chops to win for a long time.
We can trade Cruz and still be pretty dang good next year, all things going right....but that same equation exists WITH Cruz.
I absolutely love James Paxton, but if his greater value is in the stuff he can bring in return, stuff that can help us win right now, then we absolutely consider trading him. We are likely a year from that action, but it wouldn't hurt to look at it right now. Paxton topped out at 170 total innings (MiLB and MLB) in '16 and had about 140 last year. Fair enough, let's figure he gets 155 this season. What is the current opportunity cost that goes with Paxton?
We should consider trading him, too. Explore the idea, if nothing else.