The Rays are acquiring starting pitcher Adrian Houser from the White Sox, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. Infielder Curtis Mead will head to Chicago in return, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Bruce Levine of 670 The Score adds that the White Sox will also receive right-handed pitchers Duncan Davitt and Ben Peoples.
Houser, 32, had a rough 2024 season with the Mets but spent the offseason training at “at PitchingWRX, a facility in Oklahoma City where former Sox pitcher Lane Ramsey is the chief of operations,” according to James Fegan of Sox Machine. Houser landed a minor league deal with the Rangers in December, then inked a Major League one with the White Sox on May 20th. Houser had added over a mile per hour to his fastball due to his offseason training, and posted a stellar 2.10 ERA in 11 starts for the Sox.
Somehow, Houser has had this level of success despite a 17.1 K%. He’s had success preventing barrels, and Statcast’s xERA supports a sub-4 mark. Houser, a free agent after the season, joins a Rays rotation that also includes Ryan Pepiot, Shane Baz, Drew Rasmussen, and Joe Boyle. Houser, a free agent after the season, can serve as something of a replacement for Zack Littell, who the Rays dealt to the Reds yesterday. The Rays optioned Taj Bradley to Triple-A a week ago, but today shipped him to the Twins for elite reliever Griffin Jax.
It’s been an interesting month for Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander, who also shipped out Danny Jansen and Bryan Baker earlier this month. The Rays simply aren’t afraid to make trades (including during a game with their opponent) and serve as both buyers and sellers. The Rays took a painful loss in New York against the Yankees today, with Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, and Chandler Simpson all departing early with injuries. The club still has a fighting chance at 3.5 games out in the Wild Card.
Mead, 25 in October, hasn’t done much with Major League pitching in stints in each of the last three seasons. Nor has he been all that impressive in Triple-A in the last few years. Still, Mead has spent ample time on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list, peaking at #36 prior to the 2023 season. He garnered a 55/medium risk grade at that time, at which point Baseball America considered him “one of the best pure hitters in the minors.” Though the Rays are considered a dangerous trading partner, Mead represents a rare misstep for the club, as they acquired him for Cristopher Sanchez back in November 2019.
Not known for his defense, Mead can fit at first, second, or third base. Those spots are occupied in Chicago by Miguel Vargas, Lenyn Sosa, and Colson Montgomery of late, with Andrew Benintendi taking a fair number of DH at-bats. Mead can likely work his way into the playing time mix. As Jim Margalus of Sox Machine notes, Mead bears some similarities to Vargas.
Davitt, a 25-year-old righty, earned a promotion to Triple-A earlier this month. Eric Longenhagen and James Fegan of FanGraphs described him in February as “a funky low-slot guy at Iowa who has successfully been turned into a backend starter prospect in pro ball.” Peoples, a 24-year-old righty, has spent the entire season as a reliever at Triple-A, posting a 2.65 ERA with a 12.3 K-BB%. The FanGraphs team wrote, “We’re betting on Peoples’ athleticism and delivery here, and still think he has a future as a fastball-heavy up/down reliever who has a chance to entrench himself in a more regular big league role if one of his secondary pitches improves.”