Houston Astros Trade Mark Appel To The Phillies; Acquire SS Jonathan Arauz
It’s already that time again for the Houston Astros.
The Winter Meetings last week allowed baseball’s top executives to gather together to talk turkey.
During the season, a lot of communication is done by phone and e-mail but this is the largest single gathering of the who’s who of those who are running pro baseball and the perfect time for executives to meet face-to-face.
As expected, the Astros are going to be quite active as they make some tweaks to a roster that was just a heartbeat away from qualifying for the ALCS.
There will be all kinds of rumors that will be flying about this team but we’ll be waiting and watching to see if any of them actually pan out.
The Astros certainly have an idea of what they and want and what they need.
But I have no doubt the Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow knows the stark difference between the two.
By the way, has he hired an assistant yet?
To my knowledge, that position is still open — maybe he feels it’s not a high-priority right now at the moment.
But as we know, the Astros struck a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies to get Ken Giles but the exact players involved had not been hammered out yet.
We know now.
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In addition to Ken Giles, the Astros have acquired shortstop Jonathan Arauz and will trade away top-pitching prospect Mark Appel along with Vincent Velasquez, Thomas Eshelman and Brett Oberholtzer.
Meghan Montemurro of the Wilmington News-Journal (Delaware) reports:
Phillies officially announce the Giles trade. Phillies acquire RHPs Velasquez, Mark Appel, Eshelman & Arauz as well as LHP Brett Oberholtzer
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) December 12, 2015
Here’s what Jeff Luhnow had to say about trading away his former No. 1 pick as per the Chron’s Evan Drellich:
“I believe Mark Appel’s going to be a good starter in the big leagues … there’s no question he has value” — Jeff Luhnow
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) December 12, 2015
This is essentially a five-for-two deal that I wonder if it was just a bit too much to begin with.
Although Appel has had his struggles with giving up the runs, I still had a feeling that he’d be pitching on the mound regularly at Minute Maid Park in the near future.
But this move certainly demonstrates that Luhnow feels Appel isn’t untouchable and that he had good enough value to deal.
Arauz is a 17-year-old minor-leaguer with some value and could be a nice bargaining chip in the future if he blossoms.
We’re already set at that position for years to come so I doubt I’d ever see that guy don an Astros uniform.
Next: Summing Up The Winter Meetings
Appel, 24, earned a 10-3 record, posted a 4.37 ERA and tossed 110 strikeouts to 51 walks in 131.2 innings pitched through 25 starts for the Corpus Christi Hooks and Fresno Grizzlies in 2015. His lackluster 1.413 WHIP may have been one of the reasons the Astros brass felt he was expendable.
Arauz, 17, a second baseman and shortstop, had a slash line of .254/.309/.370 along with 44 hits, 18 ribbies and two home runs with the rookie-league GCL Phillies back in 2015. His OPS was a less than desired .678.
We’ll have to see how this pans out — go ‘Stros.