Yankees Trade Caleb Ferguson To Astros

The Astros have acquired lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson from the Yankees in exchange for minor league pitcher Kelly Austin and international signing bonus space, according to an announcement by New York. Houston is reportedly sending $750K in bonus room.

New York acquired Ferguson from the Dodgers over the offseason. He has had a difficult season, pitching to a 5.13 ERA over 42 appearances. That’s in part because of poor sequencing, as he has only stranded 62.2% of baserunners. Yet Ferguson has also been somewhat homer prone and is issuing walks at an elevated 10.3% clip.

Ferguson is still missing a decent number of bats. He’s striking out 26.5% of opponents behind an 11.5% swinging strike rate. Those are each in line with his career marks, although his 93.7 MPH average fastball speed is a bit below the 95-96 MPH range he’d posted over the previous two seasons.

Over parts of five seasons with the Dodgers before last winter’s trade, Ferguson turned in a 3.43 earned run average. He had an identical mark across 60 1/3 frames last season. Ferguson doesn’t have much in the way of a platoon split for his career, so he’s not an ideal fit as a situational specialist, but he’s only a year removed from being a solid overall middle reliever.

The Astros have been light on left-handed relief for the past few seasons. They signed Josh Hader to a five-year contract last winter, but he’s obviously holding down the ninth inning. Houston hasn’t had much in the way of a middle innings option for manager Joe Espada, though that generally hasn’t been a priority for their front office. Aside from Hader, only rookie Bryan King and Parker Mushinski have logged any action out of the bullpen as southpaws.

New York is similarly light on left-handed bullpen options, though they might take a bigger swing on the trade market in the next three hours. Tim Hill stands as the only southpaw in their current relief mix. The Yanks could be involved on top rental lefty Tanner Scott or a less exciting target like Tanner Banks or old friend Justin Wilson.

Ferguson is making $2.4MM in his final year of arbitration. There’s a little less than $800K in salary for the stretch run. The Yankees are paying a 110% tax on salary, so offloading Ferguson saves them around $2MM. Houston is in the second luxury tax bracket, so they’re paying a 32% tax — around $250K — to pick him up. He’ll be a free agent next offseason.

Austin, 23, is a former undrafted free agent out of UCLA. He has worked out of the bullpen in the low minors this season, turning in a 2.21 ERA across 36 2/3 innings. The 6’0″ righty has dominated low minors competition, striking out 31% of opponents while issuing walks at a meager 4.7% clip.

Jack Curry of the YES Network first reported the Astros were acquiring Ferguson for a minor leaguer and international bonus pool space. Chandler Rome of the Athletic identified the player as Austin and reported the $750K figure.