Astros land Kikuchi, send 3 players to Jays

By Brian McTaggart, mlb.com

HOUSTON — The first sign the Astros were on the verge of a deal to add a veteran starting pitcher came roughly an hour prior to Monday’s 5-3 loss to the Pirates at Minute Maid Park when rookie starter Jake Bloss was scratched. When the game ended, the Astros announced they had acquired left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, a move which came with a high price tag.

The Astros sent Bloss, their No. 9 prospect, rookie outfielder Joey Loperfido and Minor League infielder Will Wagner, their No. 13 prospect, to the Blue Jays in exchange for the 33-year-old Kikuchi. He is expected to travel to Houston on Tuesday and join the club Wednesday to slot into the rotation with Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, Ronel Blanco and Spencer Arrighetti.

“Ultimately, we felt like if you’re going to get a starter, which this team desperately needs, you add this guy and get [Justin] Verlander back into the rotation, that will open things up for us and maybe we can get on a nice little roll,” Astros general manager Dana Brown said.

TRADE DETAILS Houston receives: LHP Yusei Kikuchi Toronto receives: RHP Jake Bloss (No. 9), INF Will Wagner (No. 13) and OF Joey Loperfido

Considering the first-place Astros had to give up two prospects and an up-and-coming young player in Loperfido to get a 33-year-old starter who’s going to be a free agent, it served as a reminder of the high price tag of starting pitching.

Bloss, called up from Double-A earlier this year, was scheduled to make his fourth career start Monday against Pirates rookie Paul Skenes. Loperfido made his debut earlier this year and was hitting .236 with two homers and 16 RBIs, but was leading the Minor Leagues in homers with 13 when he was promoted for the first time in late April.

Wagner, the son of former Astros closer Billy Wagner, was slashing .307/.424/.429 with 55 walks and 33 strikeouts in 70 games at Triple-A.

“In order to get a Major League starter with that type of arm, you’re going to have to give up some pretty good players that hurt,” Brown said. “It’s pretty difficult to give up young talent, but at the end of the day we’re trying to really stabilize our rotation so we can get back to the postseason and potentially get deep into the postseason.”

Kikuchi isn’t having a great year, but he strikes out a lot of batters (130 in 115 2/3 innings) and doesn’t walk many (30), an appealing combination heading into the stretch run. He is owed roughly $3.3 million for the rest of the season prior to becoming a free agent.

“I really like the arm,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He’s been a good pitcher for a very long time. I’m happy we have him. It’s always hard to say goodbye to some of the guys who you’ve gotten to know for years and players who have kind of embraced our culture and been grinding with them for a while. That’s the part of the business that sometimes sucks, but at the same time we acquired an arm that made us better.”

The addition of Kikuchi fills in a void in an Astros rotation that has been decimated by injuries. Verlander, Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, José Urquidy and Lance McCullers Jr., are on the IL, with Javier, Urquidy and maybe McCullers out for the season. J.P. France, who began the year in the rotation, was injured at Triple-A and had season-ending surgery.

Verlander and Garcia are scheduled to face hitters on the mound Tuesday in Houston and could return next month.

“We see Kikuchi as a young guy who can really strike guys out,” Brown said. “We see him as a guy who can really log some innings for us and we see him as a guy who can pitch in the postseason with the power that he brings. He throws from 93 to 98 [mph]. This addition for us, we feel like this could be pretty good.”

Kikuchi is 0-4 with a 7.75 ERA and 1.57 WHIP in his last eight starts, but the Astros like his arsenal and believe their pitching coaches can get him back on track. An All-Star with Seattle in 2021, last year he posted a career-best 3.86 ERA over a career-high 167 2/3 innings with Toronto.

“I think he features power with his fastball and our guys have done a great job with pitching in this organization,” Brown said. “We’ve been able to make some tweaks, and with that said we can really get this guy to a point to where he could maintain some dominance with that fastball.”