12:18 pm: The Orioles will receive right-hander Miguel Padilla from the Astros, the Orioles announced. Per their announcement on Twitter: “Padilla, 18, was originally signed by the Astros on November 26, 2018, as an International free agent out of Carora, Venezuela. He appeared in 19 games for the DSL Astros in 2019, pitching to a 4-1 record with a 2.08 ERA (6 ER/26.0 IP) and 26 strikeouts.“ As noted below, the move isn’t likely to affect the Orioles’ 40-man roster.
7:26 am: The Orioles are close to completing a July 29th trade that sent Hector Velázquez to the Astros for a player to be named later, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com.
The funny thing about this trade is that Velázquez never appeared in a game for the Orioles, and he hasn’t appeared in a game for the Astros either. The Orioles claimed Velázquez off waivers from the Red Sox in March. He was part of the O’s original 60-man player pool, though he had been outrighted off their 40-man roster just before Opening Day.
The trade was a depth move for the Astros, but Velázquez never got the call. Still, they’ll be sending something back to Baltimore in the near future. The deal still makes some sense for Houston, as with just 2.017 days of service time, the Astros now control the right-hander’s rights for another four seasons.
In parts of three seasons with the Red Sox, Velazquez showed flashes of promise, including a 3.18 ERA over 85 innings during the Red Sox’ 2018 championship season. The swingman has never produced thick-enough strikeout rates, however, and when his walk rate rose from 2.8 BB/9 in 2018 to 4.5 BB/9 in 2019, his ERA rose with it to a 5.43 ERA. By Fielding Independent Pitching, however, his 2018 season (4.15 FIP) was neither as good as it seemed, nor was his 2019 season (4.74 FIP) quite as bad as it seemed. He’ll be an option for Houston’s bullpen in 2021.
Both teams are trying to finalize their 40-man roster additions before Friday, at which point any players eligible for December’s Rule 5 draft will be left unprotected. It’s likely that Baltimore’ return won’t feature a player in that field, but it’s certainly possible, in which case Baltimore would surely prefer a resolution in the coming days.
2.017 days of service time is very specific.
It’s how they indicate 2 years and 17 days
I understand. It was supposed to be a joke because it should be listed as 2.017 years, not days.
The only thing better than news is an article about news that hasn’t happened yet
The Player to be Named Later will be Hector Velazquez……it’s happened before.
the Phillies should try and pick him up as swing depth
Hector will be with Houston’s team in Troy. New York.
I doubt Astros play in Troy again after re-alignment. Corpus AA is more likely, and still with the impending R5’s Astros have to choose from, not sure HV makes it. Those being Whitley Nova Solomon Solis Ivey and Rivera, so HOU has to cut some guys from 40-man; Mayfield, Armenteros/Sneed perhaps…
Where else would Hector play if not in Troy. He can become a real horse…..
Well played, cap’n
The only way Velázquez ever plays in the mlb again is if 60-70 percent of some teams bullpen is injured. He does not strike many people out, his whip is high from both hit and walk, so the bases are always jammed, and watching him makes you want to turn the TV off.
He was fortunate in 2018 that his base runners did not score. He left a lot of runners on that other relievers stranded for him keeping his era low. I would be shocked if he came anywhere close to repeating 2018.
Yeah, I’ve got to agree for the most part. I mean I may not quite be as aggressively anti-Velasquez as you seem to be… but he really isn’t all that talented. I mean he’s got a fastball that sits around 90 MPH, barely strikes anyone out and allows too many walks on top of it all. There were times when he was pitching for Boston that it literally looked like batting practice the opposing teams would string together so many hits! Maybe he can catch on somewhere as a mop-up/long-reliever type — as he does have the ability to go several innings at a time (actually he can start — at least stamina wise) And he has had success in the past in both the minors and majors — so obviously at one point he was capable of solid ML innings. It’s just that even when he is pitching “effectively” they certainly aren’t pretty innings — as you said… he always seems to have guys on base and has to ‘wiggle-out’ of situations inning after inning. But who knows maybe if he cuts down on the walks, he could actually be effective, of effective enough, to mop up some innings somewhere.
Velazquez was very effective in 2017 in AAA with an era of 2.21 and whip 1.00 in 102 innings, and pitched well for the RS in a short stint. In 2018 he was 7 – 2, because he usually entered games when the RS were trailing, but a whip of 1.44 (lots of base runners). He has to avoid BB to be effective and that is now his problem.
Bring him back to Baltimore
Padilla seems like a pretty solid return for Velasquez. I mean I realize an 18/19 year old kid whos only pitched 26 career professional innings is obviously a wild-card. But his 26 innings were good ones! And to be honest Velasquez is really just a guy who ought to be claimed off waivers, not traded for. So that Baltimore got anything at all is a bonus… that it’s a kid who’s actually had some professional success is just icing on the cake.
Astros higher on 7 other guys in DSL; Batista, Pacheco, Melendez, Beltre, Molero, Pereira, Tamarez
I’d have Mezquita and Beltre ahead of Padilla too.
Then you go to next tier of those invited to Fall Instructionals.