So late Thursday night the Astros traded Peyton Battenfield and Cal Stevenson to Tampa Bay for RHP Austin Pruitt.
Pruitt, 30, was born in The Woodlands (aka Fenway/Yankee Stadium Southwest) and went to the University of Houston. In 199.2IP for Tampa from 2017-19, Pruitt has allowed 222H/108ER, with 147K:50BB, for a 4.87 ERA / 1.36 WHIP. Is it impressive? No. Is it projectable? Sure.
Peyton Battenfield was the Astros' 9th Round pick in 2019. At Tri-City this season Battenfield threw 39.1IP, 23H/7ER, 46K:15BB (1.60 ERA / 0.97 WHIP). He'll be 23 next August.
Cal Stevenson was acquired by the Astros on July 31, 2019 in the trade that brought Joe Biagini and Aaron Sanchez from Toronto for Derek Fisher. Aaron "Not The Guy From Chopped" Sanchez threw the first 2/3 of a no-hitter and was never heard from again, and Biagini was funny and was also never heard from again. This closes the book on the Derek Fisher trade. Long may it remain in our collective amnesia.
Austin Pruitt, whose first name I have initially typed as "Jeremy" on no fewer than three occasions already in this post, is out of options. So, as McTaggart notes, he will either make the back end of the rotation, or he will go to the bullpen. Luhnow:
We're going to give him a chance to compete. He's started in his Major League career, so he's capable. He's got two different breaking balls, a good fastball and really good command, which means he should be able to get through some innings.
Tags also notes the spin-rate on Pruitt's curveball, which ranks 9th in MLB. Keep in mind Pruitt is also coming over from Tampa, who is really good at this sort of thing, and not the trash-ass Pirates, who didn't know how to use Gerrit F. Cole. That said, he only threw his curve 13% of the time in 2019. That's probably going to go up.
Dean Deetz was DFA'd to make room on the 40-Man Roster.
*The Astros avoided arbitration with Carlos Correa, who signed for 2020 for $8m. They also avoided arbitration with Chris Devenski, who will make $2m in 2020. At the time of writing, there's no word regarding the arbitration cases of George Springer, Roberto Osuna, Brad Peacock, and Aledmys Diaz.
*Alex Bregman is MLB.com's pick to still be an Astro in 2030.
*FanFest isSaturday, January 18. And Altuve, Bregman, Yordan, Kyle Tucker, Forrest Whitley, Aledmys Diaz, and others are scheduled to attend.
*FanGraphs' Craig Edwards: How winning and financial power affect free agent spending.
*125 Essential Movies according to Martin Scorsese.
*Charles Pierce: Parchman State Prison is like the vestibule of hell. It's not alone in Mississippi.
*Smithsonian Magazine: The Charlatan of the Ozarks still looms over the haunted Crescent Hotel.
*Medium: I body-hacked for 10 weeks to try to live forever.
*A Musical Selection:
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith