Astros make another savvy trade to shore up the bullpen

The Houston Astros made another strong move before the trade deadline, acquiring Phil Maton from the Cleveland Indians. 

With the Houston Astros knowing all too well how important a strong bullpen is for a strong postseason run, the front office knew that had to be busy ahead of the deadline. Fortunately for Houston, they’ve been able to really strengthen things.

The bullpen received another boost on Friday, as the club was able to go out and acquire veteran right-handed pitcher Phil Maton from the Cleveland Indians. In exchange, outfielder Myles Straw is headed to Cleveland.

Phil Maton going to the Astros is a strong addition for the AL West team

Maton is now getting ready to join his third AL club, as he started his career with the San Diego Padres before making the move to the Indians. Now, he’ll have the opportunity to really make a difference for the Astros moving forward.

On the year, Houston is 63-40 and in first place of the AL West standings. They’re in the middle of quite the battle with the Oakland Athletics for the division title, as the A’s are 5.5 games back. However, Oakland made a trade on Friday themselves and acquired Josh Harrison and Yan Gomes from Washington. That’s only going to make the race even spicier.

In 38 appearances for the Indians this year, Maton has a 2-0 record and a 4.57 ERA. This move for Maton also comes after the team was able to acquire Kendall Graveman from the Seattle Mariners earlier in the week. That trade was a bit of a stunner, as Seattle players even called out the front office after it was made official.

With Maton and Graveman joining the bullpen, Houston really got better. Once again, look for them to be in the World Series hunt come the fall.