Houston Astros Boss Reveals Why He Traded for Yusei Kikuchi

The Houston Astros boss defended the trade he made for Yusei Kikuchi.

Aug 2, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (16) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Minute Maid Park / Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

When the Houston Astros traded for Yusei Kikuchi, it was considered a major overpay.

Unfortunately, it was the price they had to pay for a pitcher of his caliber. While other arms went for much lower prices around Major League Baseball, the Astros wound up shipping out maybe more talent in one deal than anyone else.

Many evaluators have questioned the move due to the prospects they traded, but if Houston ends up winning a World Series, nobody's going to look back on this deal in a negative light.

Prospects are always awesome and fun to have, but at the end of the day, they're exactly that. Until they can prove that they're above-average players at the big league level, they don't have the same type of value that proven players do.

Astros general manager Dana Brown seems to be hearing some of the concerns about the trade he made, and some have even called for his job if this doesn't work out. It's an outrageous ask, given the success that he's found throughout his career, but fans certainly aren't happy with the move he made.

He defended the trade, though, pointing out one reason for why he went after Kikuchi.

"It's very important to a rotation when you get a guy who can give you innings, he can get strikeouts when he needs strikeouts, and the fact that he has power stuff," Brown said, according to Josh Criswell of The Houston Chronicle. "Those are guys you want in your organization, especially when you're making a run for the division ... and you're trying to go deep back into the postseason. You can't always go on earned run average. Swing and miss is a big part of what we do. We have a really good defense, so I know our defense is really good."

Kikuchi's ERA was a bit concerning, as his number was at 4.75 before joing his new team. His 1.34 WHIP also doesn't bring much excitement, but he does have 130 strikeouts in 115 2/3 innings pitched.

His swing-and-miss stuff has been some of the best in baseball for a starting pitcher, which is the highlight of his game.

That was on display during is first outing with Houston.

In 5.2 innings, he struck out 11 batters and completely shut down the Tampa Bay Rays following the opening frame where he allowed his only two runs of the game.

Only time will tell if this was the right move or not, but if he can build upon this outing and continue to showcase this type of strikeout stuff, he could be the sneakiest pickup of the trade deadline, despite what others have said.