The White Sox have acquired Brett Myers from the Astros, a source tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Houston announced that they will receive right-hander Matt Heidenreich, left-hander Blair Walters, and a player to be named later for the pitcher. The Astros will also send cash to Chicago, according to the White Sox.
The White Sox are on the hook for just $1MM of the $4.45MM still owed to Myers this year, according to Dan Hayes of CSNChicago.com (via Twitter). Chicago also received money to go towards Myers' salary or possible buyout for next sesaon.
Myers, 31, has a $10MM option for 2013 that will vest if he finishes 45 games and doesn't end the season on the disabled list. To date, the closer has finished 29 games with 35 appearances in total. Rosenthal notes (via Twitter) that Myers has a $500K bonus in his contract for being traded, but it's not yet known which team will pick up the tab.
The veteran has been linked to a handful of clubs recently including the Cardinals and the Mets but the White Sox weren't among the teams rumored to be interested. The right-hander has posted a 3.52 ERA with 5.9 K/9 and 1.8 BB/9 for the Astros this season.
Astros GM Jeff Luhnow has extremely busy this week, having just completed a ten-player swap with the Blue Jays. That deal brought six players to Houston including four minor leaguers and a player to be named later. In total, Luhnow has replenished the Houston farm system with eight prospects through these two deals.
Heidenreich, 21, has a 3.95 ERA with 5.7 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 in 18 Single-A and Double-A starts this year. Houston announced that the former fourth-round pick in the 2009 draft will be assigned to Double-A Corpus Christi. The 6'5" right-hander boasts a fastball in the low-to-mid 90s and will likely fill out in the years ahead as he weighs in at just 185 pounds.
Walters, 22, has split time between Single-A and Advanced-A this year, posting a 3.96 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9. Prior to this season, Baseball America had the left-hander ranked as the No. 26 prospect in the White Sox organization.
Interesting. They already have a pair of closers so I guess they’re hoping Myers can fit in nicely as a middle innings guy? One would think his history as a starter would mean he could give them multiple innings.
We need all the veteran bullpen help we can get rolling out a bunch of kids is getting old
I only know the White Sox bullpen based on the recent four games they were in town for, but I’m inclined to agree that it looked pretty shaky and I was going “who?” a lot.
Your assessment is accurate…it has been shakey as of late due to injuries and having a bunch of rookies out there,.
I do really like the name “Septimo” though. Please keep him around so I can say his name.
lol I bet you like a relief pitcher that serves up a three run homer to AGON after walking two guys
I had a ball with that! I was at that game and had just been doing like 10 minutes of a Septimo-as-a-saturday-morning-cartoon-villain thing with my friend so it was really primo comedy material. And also the lead.
Closing?
I doubt it Reed has been good over all and has the talent to be a very good closer…I suspect he will be a setup guy but we will see
I imagine the lefty/righty Thornton/Reed thing isn’t going to be upset. I see Myers as more of a 6-7 (i.e. both of those innings) guy in Chicago. Maybe setup sometimes too?
is the whitesox farm system deep? Who are some realistic prospects that could be traded? Or any young mlb players being blocked? Myers has an option for next year, so maybe bullpen this year and return to starter next. He also has playoff experience. Could be a very good move for the White Sox. He also does not get rattled over anything so the AL should not shake him in the least.
It’s not a good one. Most of the experts consider it one of the worst. That said, this is an excellent move by Chicago. They need vets in the bully for the Playoff push.
Our farm system isn’t deep but isn’t as thin as some people think
I disagree. Not trying to be rude, but outside of Miami, the White Sox have the worst farm system in baseball. This was clearly a salary dump by the Astros and as an Astros fan, I’m fine with that.
The Sox have no one in the ball park of even just Christian Yelich.
this is true we do not have beasts of prospects, we have a few good players down there in the minors and they get better the lower in the minors we go. The sox will not be able to make a block buster, unless some other team values our prospects more than kenny and his staff, but we dont need a block buster they need a legit 5th starter and a vet presence in the pen, Myers and crain come back solve the pen issue they just need a real 5th starter, which ever requires a blockbuster anyway
This statement shows little understanding of what a good farm system is. The White Sox have had some role guys called up, mostly in the pen, that have had a little success.
EVERY system has guys like that. What the White Sox don’t have are a lot of guys with the potential to be MORE than a dime a dozen role player, but rather an everyday starter to all-star level talent. Most systems have a dozen or more guys like that. Bad systems have half a dozen or so. The White Sox system MIGHT have one guy like that, and he was drafted this year.
You put words in my mouth who said I was crediting the sytem for bringing up role players? You might want to read before posting.
Providing us with Quintana, Dayan Viceido, and Addison Reed in one year is pretty good
Viciedo will hit 30 bombs, reed has the talent to be an All Star closer at some point…and Quintana has done a really nice job as a starter
Our system also won’t get credit for the fact that Sale was pro ready in a month down there so that was good drafting.
All I said was it hasn’t been as thin as some people thought I never said it was loaded
Quintana was a waiver pick up, Viciedo graduated from rookie status and has the ceiling of a Jeromy Burnitz and Reed is a future closer who is your #1 prospect. If a reliever is your #1 prospect, it’s generally a bad system.
Sale doesn’t count. He’s been graduated for a long time.
How can you say what Viciedo’s ceiling is when he is only 22? I expect at least Carlos Lee type of production out of him by the next couple seasons. And you didnt mention Nate Jones throwing that 98 mph heat out of the bullpen. Also that CF Jared Mitchell is suppose to be a stud in the vein of Andrew McCutcheon.
Wait a second, Mitchell has 30% K-rates in the minors and hasn’t performed AT ALL for more than a month. How you put him in the same sentence as Andrew McCutcheon baffles me.
Carlos Lee? Viciedo is a free swinger who will have to power his way to anything close to a .900 OPS. Burnitz fits him perfectly. Average defender with power and some contact ability.
mitchell is working his way back froma torn Achilles has a .368 OBP with a.442 SLG while hitting 10 hrs and stealing 20 bases thats not too shabby considering what he is working his way back from none of that is too shabby for a guy who is 23, is only now in his 3rd year of FULL TIME BASEBALL, former football player and coming back from a potential career ending injury,….
also VICEDIO IS 22 he has time to work on his OBP…
Not too shabby isn’t Andrew McCutheon. It’s nothing near him.
Where at all did I or anyone say anything about Cutch?
Windy City Warrior, like 4 posts up. Not to mention, we’re talking about a guy who projects to be a fringey starter and possibly a 4th outfielder.
you cant pick and choose either they all count(anyone with less than a year of service time in the minors) or no one counts, waiver claims are all over the place in the bigs, some guys get to a system and get told to do something different….
No they don’t all count. When you’re trying to evaluate the situation of a current minor league system you don’t get to pick graduated players and waiver acquisitions that are on the MLB team.
please explain why they dont count if our orginization saw potential and fixed them or coached them enough to become very good MLB players? I have a hard time understanding why they shouldnt count
He spent 50 innings in the Sox system before being promoted and was a depth acquisition off waivers.
so then it does not count when teams trade their top prospects to other teams by that logic….by that logic the Padres farm system couldn’t have gotten better after the gonzo deal, the cubs farm system could not have gotten better after getting rizzo by that logic..
Waiver acquisitions have been given up on. They lose the whole “prospect” designation and become depth guys. Hitting on one, like the Sox have on Quintana, is pure luck. Not to mention, Quintana, at least at this point, is a non-factor in the Sox minor league system. Even now, he doesn’t provide much impact. His future status is a sea of question marks as it is highly unlikely he keeps this up.
you know his ceiling because youre a scout? most true scouts who i have read since the day he was signed have all said he is a true middle of the order 30+ hrs year in and year out power bat, my guess is he eventually turns into a true 3 outcome player which would be 100% fine with 99% of all sox fans and i agree with the other poster he is 22 and on pace for 30+ home runs and 100+ RBIS…his avg and ops could use an increase but again he is 22 most top prospects are still in AAA at this time…
So wait, because you can’t refute my comments to revert to a straw man attacking my character. Great.
Take a look at Burnitz’ career averages. 30 Hrs, just short of 100 rbis, .253/.345/.481. What about that doesn’t scream Viciedo?
if you would have said floor then yes, its hard to see what his ceiling is at this point
Floor? His floor is a 4th outfielder.
Quintana of course came from a different system…
So just because he was not drafted or signed as an international free agent he should count as a sox prospect? Our scouts saw him liked him signed him developed him, promoted him, same with De Aza we took a cast off and turned him into a legit MLB player.
Yes, pretty much.
Yes, Quintana is not a prospect but rather a reclamation project. Also, Quintana has also pitched like crap the last month.
Viciedo has an OBP lower than .300. The guy is homer or nothing. His
plate presence reminds me of Jose Guillen, only Guillen made contact
more. Oh, and had speed. And played defense. If Viciedo did all that,
he’d be a borderline regular, like Guillen was his whole career. As it
stands, he’s probably the worst everyday left fielder in baseball, and
will be out of the league in a few years.
Why would the system get credit for Sale? He’s been in the league for
more than two years. We aren’t rating the system’s prospects two years
ago, we’re rating it now.
Reed isn’t really that great. He gets hype because, before the season,
he’s the only real prospect the White Sox had. Kids got an era above 4
and control issues that really don’t translate to marquis closer.
It is as thin as people thought. Your reasoning is based on stretching the truth. The White Sox farm system is the worst in baseball. If they added the top two prospects in baseball to it, they’d still have the worst farm system in all of baseball. That you can sit here and write otherwise shows little understanding of what constitutes a good minor league system, as well as even the most basic ability to evaluate talent.
I’m not sure why u replied this to me.
ha….hit the wrong name, sorry
The Sox have one of the worst systems in baseball, Kenny Williams traditionally drafts high ceiling guys so they can be traded, Sox prefer to use the minor league system to stock the team with veterans. Some times this works out like the Youk trade, and other times you trade Gio Gonzalez for 3 months of Nick Swisher.
finally some action
It should be what the Astros will receive in return
I love Jeff Luhnow so much right now… Lol
Great, I lose a closer.
i have lost axord, bailey, madson and now myers this year. unbelievable
Hopefully Axford will be back closing soon(I have him in most leagues). But Myers didn’t actually hurt me because Ryan Cook and Tom Wilhelmsen were both available so I added Cook.
I dig your avatar….”Mighty Blow,Mighty Blow!!”
I thought it was “body blow! body blow!”
I don’t want to sound mean, but drafting Myers this year, you had to know this was coming…
I think you mean, “not known what the ASTROS will receive in return.”
Nah, it’s what the White Sox will receive in return for taking the burden of Myers and his contract 😉
impressive move by the White Sox. I was hoping that the Phillies would bury the hatchet and make an offer to get him, but Amaro and the Phillies front office are more intent on over paying a select few that they consider to be All-Stars. The Sox are in 1st place; the Phillies are crumbling
It is not yet known what the White Sox will receive in return.
You mean the Astros there methinks.
One of the players is Blair Walters LHP,
Had 2.88 ERA, 8.6 K/9 in 13 Low-A starts
Astros get White Sox RHP Matt Heidenreich, LHP Blair Walters and a player to be named later in Myers deal The PTBNL must be a 2011 draft player who signed late. Wonder who the 2011 player would be.
How do you figure it is a 2011 draft pick?
well a player to be named later is usually a player that has to be in an organization for 1 year after drafted, since last year players could sign through August. It is a guess, however with the 10 player trade yesterday the player is definately a 2011 drafted player. Toronto pretty much confirmed that.
Not really any other reason for a PTBNL unless they are getting a pool of players to choose from and are going to send scouts to see them over next few weeks.
PTBNL doesn’t have to be a draft pick, often it is a list of 3 or 5 names the astros can scout and pick the 1 they want before 6 months.
I went and took a look at the list of guys who didn’t sign till late…not a super appealing list. I imagine its like he said. Astros will be given a list and given their pick. Thats how we ended up with Domingo Santana
Does newly-acquired Fransisco Cordero become the favorite for (very few) saves in HOU now?
Yes.
Honestly, if Cordero starts getting save opps and manages to handle them well (possibly responding well to getting out of the AL East; though admittedly, he wasn’t a stud in the NL Central by the end, either)) I won’t be surprised if Luhnow flips him during waiver trades month for yet more minor leaguers.
Trade all the closers!
(which is entirely the right move).
White Sox BP will no longer be full of rookies, with Myers and Crain coming off the DL
Kenny Williams is such a bold general manager. Never afraid to go out and get what he wants. Youkilis and Myers is a deadline well done for the White Sox!
He seems to make deals out of minor league system seen by many as barren.
That’s because the guys he just traded for have little value.
We’ve solved 3B and a veteran bullpen arm…only piece left is a SP.
I really like what the tigers did as well in the central. Props to Dombroski, another great al central GM. Turner has really dropped in velocity since being drafted. I wonder if he has some on going elbow or shoulder issues. Good move for both sides, especially if Sanchez resigns.
I assume the PTBNL is the centerpiece for this deal? The Astros sending money and eating most of the contract for 2 guys who don’t even rank in the White Sox top 20 doesn’t seem like Jeff Lunhow
Couple of solid pitchers, Astros system just got a real nice shot in the arm in young pitching depth this weekend, nice.
I imagine the 3rd player is a 2011 draft pick
considering crain is due back any day now, my guess is Brett goes back to starting. He will be the 5th starter untill Danks comes back then move to the pen for the playoffs.
He would need time to get his arm in shape
Someone feals the Tigers breathing down their neck. Youk wasn’t enough and I have a felling Meyers isn’t going to be enough either.
FYI, to White Sox fans — Myers pitched really well in April and May but has really fallen off in June and July….had a couple of major 9th inning meltdowns – got clubbed twice for 6 or 7 runs in the 9th. Maybe the trade will rejuvenate him. As an Astros fan, it isn’t relevant to us whether we had him or not, as the major league team is bad. The objective is to continue to stock the farm system, which is what Luhnow is doing. For the 1st time in a very long time, every one of our farm teams from class A to AAA has an over .500 record, and this has happened in the 6 months Luhnow has been GM. His draft this year was called the best in MLB by Keith Law and other analysts, and his trades have been focused on prospects. So, best of luck to Brett Myers – hopefully he can give the White Sox a few good innings during the rest of the year.
I dont think anyone is counting on him to be some sort of savior just an arm in the pen. Thats what the Sox need a veteran in there instead of a parade of rookies. Thanks for the well wishes though most people from the other team likes to put the player they are sending down. This means you Red Sox fans with your anti Youkilis talk even though you would give your left feet for him to hit DH right now with Ortiz out of commission.
Myers does bring a good veteran presence and a great work ethic. Two years ago he started 35 games, and in 34 of them went 6 innings or more. He’s a good pitcher, just wanted to let you guys know that he has not been effective lately as a closer. But the move from last to first may rejuvenate him.
Good move.