The Giants and Astros are closing in on a trade that’ll send swingman Kai-Wei Teng to the Astros for minor league catcher Jancel Villarroel, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. San Francisco needed to create a 40-man roster spot in order to finalize their two-year deal with Harrison Bader. It appears a Teng trade will be that corresponding move. Houston will designate J.P. France for assignment to open a roster spot.
Teng, a Taiwanese-born righty, has made 12 MLB appearances over the past two seasons. They haven’t gone well, as he has been tagged for 7.30 earned runs per nine across 40 2/3 innings. Teng has managed a solid 23.7% strikeout rate but has been plagued by a lack of command. He has walked nearly 13% of opponents and plunked eight more (4.1%). That’s far too many free passes around which to work even with decent swing-and-miss stuff.
The 27-year-old has shown a similar approach in the minors, though he’s coming off a much better season in Triple-A. He worked mostly in a relief role and managed a 3.63 ERA behind a fantastic 37.1% strikeout percentage across 57 innings. Teng trimmed his walk rate to 9.2% at the level last season, but he has walked at least 10% of opponents at every other stop since he was in Low-A.
More to come.
aww man – so long partner 🥺🇹🇼
Yo hoo dis?
Thats his brother
Is the clan going too?
Are ya old and dirty? Hope you like Houston!
Wu-Teng-Clan ain’t nothing to mess with.
bummer – the guy has some skill
Puzzling from an Astros perspective. We just lost a catcher; why are we trading a prospect for a starter with a massive ERA, requiring us to send France down. Hopefully they have some advance stats that explain
A 21 year old in A ball? He wasnt playing for the Astros this year.
Teng has electric stuff, why did we trade Brito and Melton for Burrows? Because the Astros liked his stuff. Really excited to see what we can do with Teng.
Giants DFA Teng and then resigned him after going unclaimed.
He can be a serviceable pitcher, throws lots of junk. A new team might be able to unlock something and get a good pitcher
This is clearly not enough for Villarroel. Astros will hopefully get another piece but I’m not too sad because Astros can unlock lots of potential and he is kinda redundant in Astros farm.
Tang was the pitchers equivalent of a three true outcomes batter. He either struck you out, walked you, or gave up a bomb
Hopefully Teng will make the most of his opportunity with the Astros
Teng has electric stuff. Dana Brown trades for guys he likes, and he likes Teng. Crane said he was investing in the Asian market, this helps show it. Really think this will pay off big dividends and unlock a ton of potential. Guessing he has a long leash.