Houston Astros Rumors: Team’s interest in Robbie Ray is an important signal

The Houston Astros are reportedly interested in the services of lefty starter Robbie Ray. What does this signal? Let’s take a look and find out more.

It’s January and the Houston Astros still have a ton of vacancies to fill on the roster that have been voided by free agency.  It’s certainly not easy to find replacements for guys like Dallas Keuchel, Marwin Gonzalez and Charlie Morton, of which the latter has revived his once-bleak professional career until he joined the Houston Astros.

Before you know it, Spring Training will be upon us and we’ll be talking about what type of an impact this 2019 will be able to make.  The team has made moves to trade for the multi-faceted, yet promising standout Aledmys Diaz and being able to sign talented outfield Michael Brantley to a deal.

It remains to be seen how much of a quick impact Diaz will make with this team but I’m definitely going to just trust the process and hope it works out.  Hopefully, if the team played its cards right, Diaz may be household name in H-Town and the potential blow of losing MarGo to free agency won’t be as tough.

But here’s the deal — the Houston Astros need to fill at least three starting positions outside of Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole as Lance McCullers Jr. had Tommy John‘s surgery and will be out for 2019.

It’s expected Keuchel will fetch a lucrative deal elsewhere and with some reports indicating that he wants a deal around five years and nine figures, that’s certainly going to keep the Houston Astros out of the bidding war for his services.  The team will have to seek more cost-effective options and it’s apparent they already have one on deck.

According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, the Houston Astros — along with the Philadelphia Phillies — have notable interest in the services of Arizona Diamondbacks’ lefty starter Robbie Ray.

This certainly signals that the team has already started to prepare for life without Keuchel and Ray could be a suitable replacement, especially if his health remains stout, which is of some level of concern.

Cafardo indicates that Ray hasn’t necessarily been made available by the D-Backs but I think with the right offer, the Houston Astros could get general manager Mike Hazen to pick up the phone.

What will it take?  The Houston Astros have already made it clear that their prospects could be

used as bargaining chips and I think a Top 30 prospect like J.J. Matijevic coupled with a lower-level prospect should be able to get a deal done.

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Ray currently is under club control until 2021 and his estimated arbitrated salary — according to MLB Trade Rumors — for 2019 will be approximately $6.1 million.  That’s a tremendous buy considering the amount of production that one will get out of him.

Although he has yet to pass the coveted 200-inning mark for starters, he certainly brings a lot to the table considering that he still averaged 12.0 punch outs per nine innings last season which is right on target with the numbers he netted back in 2017, the year he was nominated as an All-Star.

Try this on for size — Ray posted a 2.89 ERA, a 3.72 FIP, a 1.15 WHIP, 12.1 K/9 through 162 innings pitched in 28 starts during his All-Star campaign.

Whether it’s getting hit in the head by a line drive or struggling with an oblique strain, this guy is no stranger to the injury bug.  But when he’s healthy, he’s absolutely lights out and would be a welcomed addition to the Houston Astros.

His four-seam fastball is truly a gem to behold — it usually sits at about 94 mph.  That coupled with his sinker and curve ball wildly indicates that he can generate a lot of swing and a misses.  Voila!  We have a replacement for Keuchel!

We’ll have to see but it’ll be interesting to see how this development goes.  Regardless, this signals that the team is okay with moving on from whom I refer to as the Bearded Wonder.

Ray, 27, posted a 6-2 record, a 3.93 ERA, while tossing 165 strikeouts and a close to gaudy 4.31 FIP and 1.35 WHIP through 123.2 innings pitched in 24 starts last season.