The Houston Astros bullpen has been elite this season, which has now allowed them to trade away one of their minor league veterans.
Robert Murray of FanSided reported that the Astros would be shipping veteran relief pitcher Miguel Castro to the Chicago White Sox.
The return is not yet known, but the most likely outcome is going to be cash considerations, given that this was a minor league reliever on a one-year deal.
Castro signed a one-year, minor league contract with a spring training invite this past offseason. In 10 outings this spring, he posted a 3.72 ERA with a 1.45 WHIP and six strikeouts. It was not good enough to make the Opening Day roster.
The 30-year-old has appeared in 17 games for Triple-A Sugar Land and has pitched well. He has a 2.29 ERA with a 1.169 WHIP and 9.2 K/9.
It’s not surprising that there is a team that is willing to take a chance on him, but it is a bit shocking that it is the White Sox. They are 14-30 and have no chance at competing this season.
With this move, they’ll be allowing Castro to eat up some innings in the bullpen and potentially play himself into being flipped at the deadline.
He was last in the MLB with the Arizona Diamondback a year ago when he had a 5.93 ERA thorugh 11 outings.
As for Houston, this deal doesn’t signal much more than them willing to ship away a veteran that likely wasn’t going to play in the Majors, at least for now.
They sit with a 22-20 record and more trades could be on the way if things start to go south. There is no telling whether they will be sellers or buyers when the deadline comes around.
