With a pitching staff ravaged by injuries, it isn’t any surprise that the Astros are exploring adding some hurlers at the deadline. Brittany Ghiroli and Eno Sarris of The Athletic (subscription required) report that two of Houston’s targets include Diamondbacks southpaw Robbie Ray and Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes.
Ray has been a popular figure in trade rumors for a couple of years, and the most recent round of speculation has had some teams interested in acquiring him as a relief pitcher due to his rough performance in 2020. Over seven starts, Ray has a 7.84 ERA in 31 innings, due in large part to a 2.6 HR/9 and a major loss of control — Ray has a league-leading 31 walks and six wild pitches. It’s possible Houston could be one of the teams eyeing Ray as a reliever, perhaps the team feels it can fix his control problems and again turn him into a solid starter.
Barnes has also had a tough go of it this season, and for some of the same reasons as Ray. Barnes has a 6.00 ERA over 12 IP out of Boston’s pen, with a 2.3 HR/9 and a career-worst 6.8 BB/9. As per Fangraphs, only 3.2% of Barnes’ offerings have resulted in soft contact this season, as he has a 45.2% hard-hit ball rate and 51.6% medium-hit rate.
The common element between the two pitchers is a lot of missed bats. Ray has a 12.5 K/9 this season and a 12.1 K/9 since the start of the 2017 season; in that same timeframe, Barnes has a 13.2 K/9, which includes an 11.3 K/9 in 2020. After ranking at or near the top of the league in strikeouts from 2017-19, Astros pitchers have combined for an 8.64 K/9 this season, ranked 21st of 30 teams.
Ray is a free agent after the season, while Barnes has one more year of arbitration eligibility before hitting the open market himself in the 2021-22 offseason. This extra year of control might mean Barnes could actually have a higher trade value than Ray at this point, despite Ray’s ability to start games. Astros GM James Click knows Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom well from their time together in the Rays front office, while Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen swung a very notable deal (the Zack Greinke blockbuster) with the Astros at least year’s deadline.
Nah Barnes should go to the blue jays. Then they could have 2 guys in the pen named Barnes use that to confuse the opposing teams
Bit of a reach here.
Thanks bill. Kind of a joke sorry it went over your super genius head
Might work except the Jays don’t have any one named Barnes in this years pitching staff…
kmac, that’s the real humor in bigdaddy’s “joke” :)
Thanks bud he was just optioned earlier this week but you keep telling yourself that
No they didn’t. They haven’t had a guy named Barnes pitch for them this year so I have no idea who you’re talking about
That Barnes was 2 yrs ago and he last pitched in Cincinnati
Does the T stand for “twit”?
Little Daddy I think the verdict is in; your “joke” was a reach. Maybe ban that joke from your setlist.
No offense, but the Astros are simply pretenders if they think they can actually make back to the WS. Losing prospects and holding onto Springer (or resign), Brantley, Reddick, and Gurriel may help the Astros win a couple postseason games, but beyond 2020 they might be in trouble if the don’t make the difficult moves now.
Pretenders? Not quite.
Maybe not on the same level as the Marlins, but you get the point… Point is that this is a crucial point in time for the Astros and Click shouldn’t take that lightly. Giving up prospects for controllable players is fine, but short term pieces just doesn’t seem very smart to me.
I agree with what you’re saying regarding moves to make/not make. I just believe they are very much contenders in 2020 regardless of what they do assuming they have a healthy Verlander.
Barnes is a good trade chip along with Devers.
Devers going nowhere.
The Sox chips with best shot to move: Barnes, Pillar, Moreland, Vázquez.
Longer shots: JD. Bradley, Benintendi, Perez
Devers? First time I have seen his name come up in regards to the trade deadline.
Hoping they deal Bradley and Pillar at least since both will be free agents at the end of the year.
Anyone who watches baseball would want Devers cuz he’s special, but he will never be traded along with Xman, two untouchables. Also most casual fan must think the RS are stupid n would trade him. Nope they need to look elsewhere.
Depends on the return. The right offer and to me trading Devers is a no brainer given their options at the corners in the near future.
The best way to get top pitching prospects Pasha is trade a young bat making little money.
Dewey – “The best way to get top pitching prospects Pasha is trade a young bat making little money.”
The problem is that the return is RARELY worth giving up the star player.
I also think Dwight Evans belongs in the HOF. When you look at 8 gold gloves, his ops, his obp, hr,…. He was one the best players of his era even if he was overshadowed by Yaz, Lynn, and Rice
Devers still a kid…..Bradley wants to go so make it easy.
Maybe trade John Henry he accomplished WS.
Bradley is gone in a month….I do not think they will get much for him, but something is better than nothing
You forgot to add Bradley.
To move Devers you would have to say we don’t plan on competing for at least 4 years considering he is controllable through 2024. I highly doubt the Red Sox plan to tank for 4 more years.
I am sure whomever the Astros pick up will have to go through a rigorous physical and trash can banging training, just in case they need a boost.
Cora is available to train the new Astro players on the act of banging trash cans. Maybe they can hire him back permanently. He is great with Spanish speaking players and can eventually become the Astro manager. His ban only lasts a couple more months…….
Any kidding aside, that would actually make sense. What better situation for both Cora and Houston? Both are forever tainted and would make a perfect fit. Neither one, manager and organization, rates very high on the ethics scale of the game. All you have to say is you’re sorry and all will be forgiven. Baseball.
Yes, I was kidding, but I would not be surprised if both the Red Sox and Astros try to hire him for 2021….
I don’t see that happening since they’ve already exercised Baker’s contract through 2021. Even if they did look to pull someone back it would be Hinch.
Springer is a New Englander–I’d like to see him in the Sox outfield anchoring Duran and Verdugo for years to come. Unfortunately one or two of those prospects would have to go in a trade.
I know it would be odd, but I think the Astros are a really good place for Lance Lynn. He would pair with Greinke very well in that rotation, not to mention he way get EVEN better with the Stros’ player development. There’s just a lack of prospects unless they do a 1 v1 Tucker for Lynn… which I highly doubt. The cons are… well, everything. It would be inter-divisional, he’s a great player, they lack the prospects, and it’s the Astros.
I doubt that trade gets made being inter-divisional.
Oh ya, Tucker for Lynn straight up, that sounds totally fine.
That was sarcasm by the way. Thanks for the laugh though.
yeah, sarcasm! With Tucker finally producing and Alvarez out for the year, it makes no sense in losing offense for pitching.
Had to go back and check the byline. I thought surely this was written by Robbie’s agent.
Robbie Ray is having a terrible year but he is a good pitcher. Maybe not great, but good and he gets a ton of strikeouts.