Houston Astros Skipper Offers Strong Take About Reliever Acquired Via Trade

Houston Astros manager Joe Espada opened up about Caleb Ferguson, who was acquired at the trade deadline.

Apr 13, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Caleb Ferguson (64) delivers a pitch in the the sixth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Astros made a couple of moves ahead of the 2024 MLB trade deadline. One was to acquire starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi from the Toronto Blue Jays. Clearly, that was the biggest move of the deadline for the Astros.

Houston backed that up with another move for a pitcher. This time, they targeted the bullpen.

Caleb Ferguson, a 28-year-old relief pitcher from the New York Yankees, was acquired by the Astros.

While his numbers this season have not been great, Houston believes that they can turn him around.

Joe Espada, the Astros' manager, opened up about Ferguson. It's clear that Houston is excited about him and are excited to get to work with him.

“We like the arm. He’s really good against lefties and righties. We have seen things in his execution that we can help him with, so I’m excited to get him here and get him with our pitching guys and kind of walk him through a couple of things we think can help him be a more effective pitcher against both righties and lefties.”

During the 2024 season thus far, Ferguson has appeared in 42 games. He has compiled a 1-3 record to go along with a 5.13 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP, a 2.6 K/BB ratio, a save, 10 holds, and a blown save.

Many fans expected to see the Astros acquire a bat before the deadline. Dana Brown, the team's general manager, revealed that the front office tried to get one, but the price didn't make sense.

“Ultimately, our biggest goal at the Deadline was to meet some needs with pitching. We felt like getting a starter was very important and adding to the back end of the bullpen was another big thing because we rode those guys pretty hard in the first half. We did have some discussions about position players, but nothing materialized.”

It will be interesting to see what kind of impact both Kikuchi and Ferguson can make down the stretch of the season. They both have the potential to help Houston contend for a spot in the playoffs.

Even though they had to pay a hefty price to acquire the talent they did, it could pay off. Both pitchers are piece that the Astros are excited about and who could step in and immediately make the team a more serious contender.