Quote:
Originally Posted by SirGreatWhite
And after his first game back with the Astros in almost a month, closer Roberto Osuna has been injured again! This time it is an elbow strain in his throwing arm. The initial diagnosis will keep him out of action for 5-6 weeks!! It's still July 31st in my game, so we will explore options for bullpen/closer help, but will likely shuffle our bullpen around and promote a AAA player.
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With the injury to closer Roberto Osuna having occurred on July 30th, the Astros made a late deadline day move on July 31st. They acquired hard throwing right handed reliever Michael Kopech from the Chicago White Sox for minor league pitcher Yohan Ramirez (25 years old), minor league 1B Jose E. Alvarez (20 years old), and cash. The Astros have several prospects ahead of Ramirez and Rojas at their respective positions, so they were both expendable. Kopech gives the Astros the hard throwing reliever type they prefer as a possible option. With Roberto Osuna to miss most of the rest of the regular season, this will be a viable option in case he cannot return to form. He will also serve as a possible playoff roster spot in case Trevor May doesn't sharpen his command the last 60 games of the season or if another one of our main right handers (Feltman, Giles, Kimbrel, Pressly) gets injured... [knocks on wood]
Worst case scenario, May improves his command, Osuna returns to form from injury in 6 weeks, and Kopech isn't on the playoff roster, but does give the Astros a 24 year old right hander with a 97-99 MPH four seam fastball and a hard breaking ball that they covet in their bullpen arms. He could replace Craig Kimbrel's spot in the bullpen next year since Kimbrel is a free agent at the end of the season and the Astros likely won't afford his $15M asking price and will want to use that money towards a contract extension for either George Springer or Michael Bradley.