Astros Acquire Yusei Kikuchi Astros Acquire Yusei Kikuchi

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發表於 2025-10-26 12:17

The Astros are paying up to get one of the top pitchers on the market. Houston and Toronto announced a trade sending to the Astros for rookie righty , outfielder/first baseman and minor league infielder . Toronto already had ample 40-man roster space to accommodate the move. Kikuchi is behind as arguably the second-best rental starter on the market. Houston was tied to Flaherty as well as more controllable pitchers like , and last week. There was never much doubt that the Astros would bring in a starter, as general manager Dana Brown hasnt been shy about the teams need for a mid-rotation arm. The asking price on Seth Halvorsen Jersey Flaherty always seemed like it might be beyond Houstons comfort zone, making Kikuchi a sensible fallback. The 33-year-old Kikuchi has had mixed results this season and throughout his career more broadly. Over 115 2/3 innings this year, he carries a 4.75 ERA thats right in line with his 4.72 mark in parts of six MLB campaigns. Kikuchis strikeout and walk profile is quite a bit more impre sive than that run prevention figure suggests. He has punched out 26.2% of opposing hitters while walking only 6% of batters faced. Among pitchers with 100+ innings, Kikuchi ranks 19th in strikeout percentage and 16th in strikeout/walk rate differential. Hes getting swinging strikes at a 12.4% rate that places him among the top 30 in that group. A .340 average on balls in play and modest 70.6% left on base rate have neverthele s pushed his ERA close to 5.00. Those marks were nearer to league average in 2023, when the Japanese southpaw turned in a 3.86 ERA over 32 starts with similar strikeout and walk rates as hes posted this season. Houston is betting on positive regre sion in those sequencing and batted ball results. Teams have long been intrigued by Kikuchi, who boasts some of the best raw stuff of any left-hander in baseball. His fastball sits north of 95 MPH and he has the ability to mi s bats with all four of his offerings (four-seam, curveball, slider, changeup). Kikuchi has had a difficult time keeping the ball in the park throughout his MLB career, though. Hes allowing homers at an elevated 1.32 clip per nine this season and has given up more longballs than the average pitcher in every full season of his major league tenure. Right-handed batters have generally given him trouble, though hes holding them a more manageable .280/.323/.441 slash in 409 plate appearances this year. While Kikuchi isnt without flaws, hes a plug-and-play option for the middle of a Houston rotation that certainly needed one. The Astros have been hit hard by starting pitching injuries all year. They lost and to Tommy John surgery. Depth starter went down with a season-ending shoulder i sue. has had two injured list stints and has been shelved since the middle of June because of neck sorene s. has hit continued snags in his effort to return from a flexor tendon surgery. They had to slow down in his work back from Tommy John surgery, though hes again throwing bullpen se sions after being pulled off a minor league rehab stint earlier this month. is leading the rotation and has a 3.43 ERA over 18 starts. has bounced back from a disastrous April and pitched like a top-of-the-rotation arm for the last three months. has been a godsend after injuries pushed him into the fifth starter role out of camp. He carries a 2.95 ERA acro s 119 frames. While thats a decent top three, the depth is questionable. has a 5.58 ERA over his first 19 MLB starts. Houston had pushed Blo s to the majors within a year of drafting him, largely reflecting their lack of alternatives in the upper minors. The Astros are hoping to get Verlander and Garcia (and potentially McCullers) back at some point, but theyve also pushed Blanco to new workload heights. The 30-year-old righty had never thrown more than 88 innings in a major or minor league campaign before this year. Hes already 31 innings beyond that. Kikuchi, who hasnt mi sed a start in two years, has provided the kind of durability that the Astros have generally lacked. Theres injury risk with any pitcher, of course, but the Astros are no doubt thrilled to land a pitcher who is tied for fifth in MLB in starts going back to last years Opening Day. Doing so comes at a cost. Blo s is arguably the top pitching prospect in a fairly thin Houston farm system. A third-round pick out of Georgetown last summer, the 63 righty quickly pitched his way towards the top of the prospect pipeline. recently ranked him the #2 prospect in the organization, while hes in the overall Top 100 (and second in the organization) at . BA suggests hes likely to fit at the back of a rotation, while FanGraphs credits him with mid-rotation potential. Both outlets write that his mid-90s fastball plays especially well at the top of the strike zone because of its backspin and Blo s deceptively low release height. He has a pair of solid breaking pitches, while his changeup is a work in progre s. Opponents have hit him hard over his three big league starts. He has given up nine runs on 16 hits (including five homers) over 11 2/3 innings. Were it not for Houstons injury woes, he probably wouldnt have made his MLB debut yet. Blo s has pitched very well in the minors this season, working to a 1.64 ERA with a 25.6% strikeout rate acro s 66 innings. Yet hed made all of eight starts at Double-A and one Triple-A appearance before being pushed to the big leagues out of nece sity. A more typical development path would probably still have him at Double-A right now. Blo s has all three options remaining. The 23-year-old is under control for at least six seasons beyond this one and could stick around even longer if the Jays send him to the minors for further development. Blo s could factor into next years rotation as the Jays try to quickly return to contention, maybe slotting into the rotation spot vacated by Kikuchis departure. Getting Blo s alone wouldve been a strong return for a half-season of Kikuchis services. Loperfido, 25, ranked as Houstons #5 prospect on BAs latest update. A seventh-round selection out of Duke in 2021, he hit his way to the big leagues earlier this year. Loperfido combined for a .278/.370/.510 slash between three minor league levels last season. He was obliterating Triple-A pitching early this season and owns a .272/.365/.568 mark with 13 homers over 39 games in the Pacific Coast League this year. Of course, the PCL is an extremely favorable environment for hitters. BAs scouting report credits Loperfido with above-average but not elite power. He was striking out an elevated 28% clip against Triple-A pitching. The whiffs have carried over in his first look at MLB arms. Loperfido has fanned in 36.4% of his 118 MLB plate appearances to date. Hes hitting .236/.299/.358 in 38 games. Loperfido isnt a great athlete or defensive player. He was drafted as a second baseman but hes moved off the position entirely this year. Houston has divided his time between the outfield and first base in Triple-A. They havent given him any major league starts at first base, which is a bit of a surprise considering the mediocre production theyve gotten out of the position from and the since-released . Wagner is the third piece in the deal, but hes a prospect in his own right. The son of seven-time All-Star Billy Wagner, Will ranks 19th in the Houston system at Baseball America. A former 18th-round pick out of Liberty, Wagner has outperformed his draft stock and is posting huge numbers in Triple-A. Hes hitting .307/.424/.429 with a ma sive 16.2% walk percentage against a tiny 10.2% strikeout rate acro s 324 plate appearances. The left-handed hitting Wagner is old for the level today is his 26th birthday but he has little more to prove in the minors. He has divided his time between first, second and third base this year. Hed be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter if not selected onto the 40-man roster but could get a look in Toronto before the end of this season. Thats three controllable players at or near the MLB level. The Astros were fine giving them up while theyre in a tight battle with the Mariners and Rangers for the AL West crown. Beyond the prospects, theyre adding salary to what is already a franchise-high payroll. The Astros had a competitive balance tax estimate around $256MM before the deal (as calculated by ). Unle s there are cash considerations involved, theyll take on roughly $3.33MM remaining on Kikuchis $10MM salary. That pushes them beyond the $257MM threshold that marks the second tier of luxury penalization. Theyre taxed at a 32% rate on spending up to $277MM, so theyll take on roughly $1MM in taxes on top of the money they owe Kikuchi. Toronto sheds some money from its tax ledger more than the Astros are taking on. Kikuchis three-year, $36MM free agent deal was frontloaded to pay him $16MM in the first season. Torontos competitive balance tax hit was neverthele s the contracts $12MM average annual value, so Kikuchi had a higher CBT hit than actual salary this year. When a player on a guaranteed contract is traded, the CBT ledger is recalculated based on the salary remaining at the time of the trade. The Astros a sume the prorated amount of a $10MM salary while the Jays drop the prorated portion of the $12MM for which Kikuchi had counted against their books approximately $4MM. That could aid them in trying to slip below the $237MM base threshold this year. Their exact CBT number is pending the reporting of the amount of cash they included in the trade with Seattle . first reported the Astros were nearing a deal for Kikuchi that would send Blo s to Toronto. confirmed a Kikuchi trade was in place. reported that the Jays were acquiring two other prospects. first reported Loperfido and Wagner were in the deal. Images courtesy of USA Today Sports. Juan Mejia Jersey

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