The Astros re-signed reliever Miguel Díaz to a minor league deal, tweets Chandler Rome of the Athletic. He has been assigned to Triple-A Sugar Land.
Díaz elected free agency yesterday after being outrighted off Houston’s MLB roster. It didn’t take long for his camp and the team to circle back on a new deal that’ll keep him in the organization. Díaz had previously made all of one appearance in an Astro uniform. Houston had only claimed him from the Tigers last week. He tossed a scoreless inning in his lone outing but was pushed off the roster when the Astros called up Blair Henley for a spot start. Díaz is out of minor league options, so a DFA was the only way to remove him from the big league team.
A former Rule 5 pick of the Padres, Díaz logged the majority of his MLB time with San Diego between 2017-21. He struggled early on, which isn’t surprising for a player who had never pitched above the High-A level before the Friars selected him. Díaz found more success in a minuscule sample of work with Detroit between 2022-23, tossing 17 2/3 frames of two-run ball. That he nevertheless went unclaimed on waivers suggests teams view those numbers with a fair amount of skepticism.
Díaz tallied 57 frames with a 5.05 earned run average for Detroit’s top affiliate last season. While that’s not an eye-catching number, his 28.6% strikeout percentage was a few points better than the league mark. He’ll look to build off that work with Sugar Land and get back to the majors in short order. Houston has leaned heavily on its bullpen this week, so it’s possible they’ll need to bring up more fresh arms in the next few days.
Per the Rome tweet, it’s a minor league deal.
Hardly shocking. Astros pitching staff is in shambles. Need as many able (no matter how questionable that “able” might be) arm they can get right now.
*Even if it’s a minor league deal. Need that pitching depth badly right now.
The performances are shockingly bad, as every pitcher is finding ways to lose games or get knocked out of the game early. It’s tough to enjoy as a fan.
Is it time to trade Verlander ? He’ll qualify for next year, so why not save that money too ? Will he miss a month next year too ? If he could have started the season with the team it may be a different situation. He can help some team, and perhaps it’s time to move other guys as well.