With the trade deadline looming on August 1, the Astros sprung into action by acquiring right handed reliever Kendall Graveman from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for catcher Korey Lee in a one-for-one swap. The White Sox are one of the few teams in full-on sell mode as the deadline approaches and the Astros managed to scrape at least one reliever from them — they’ve traded five pitchers in two days.
For the Astros, Graveman represents another arm for a very taxed bullpen, something GM Dana Brown had at the top of his wish list. Here are some thoughts on the deal and where the Astros stand heading into next week.
Graveman makes his second stop in Houston.
Some of you may remember that the Astros traded for Graveman and Rafael Montero from Seattle in 2021 in exchange for pitcher Joe Smith and infielder Abraham Toro. Graveman spent the rest of the year with the Astros before signing a deal to join the Sox in the offseason. The righty’s time in Houston was a mixed bag. He had a 3.13 ERA in 23 games during the regular season but lowered that to a 1.64 ERA in nine appearances in the postseason.
The bullpen really needs the help.
On Friday night, Cristian Javier turned in his best outing in recent memory giving up three runs on three hits and striking out nine in six innings of work. The bullpen was solid with Hector Neris and Bryan Abreu going two innings of shutout work with just one hit and two Ks. But, Ryan Pressly gave up the go-ahead run in the ninth inning of a tied ballgame. It’s not the first time he has done that this season, save situation or not. The ‘pen, which had been one of the best in baseball, is beginning to show the wear and tear of too many innings. Graveman should help alleviate that to a degree.
Graveman’s contract is helpful for the ‘Stros.
The Astros have two members of their bullpen heading into free agency this offseason. Getting a guy who is under team control for one more season will certainly help to mitigate those circumstances, particularly a high leverage reliever like Graverman. Brown acknowledged that his contract status was part of the equation in making the move and the reason they were willing to part with a high prospect like Lee.
The Astros probably aren’t done, but don’t expect fireworks.
Brown has said he would still like to find a starting pitcher and a left-handed bat. There is no question the team will be aggressive in the market, but how much of a market is the big question. As many as 20 teams consider themselves buyers or, at minimum, trade neutral. That leaves a pretty small group of teams selling and whole bunch of teams bidding for their assets. Brown alluded to the fact that the talent pool has shrunk and the demands for those pieces have gotten high. In his meeting with the press before the game Friday, he repeated several times that the return of Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez, plus the return likely next week of Jose Urquidy, leaves the feeling fine about where they are, trades or not. It’s a bit of a different tone than he took even just a week ago and may be, at least in part, the reality of the difficulty of making deals under the current circumstances.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
