Another Trade And A Waiver Claim

Jeff Luhnow has been a very busy boy. Remind me not to take any more naps until August 1st. After yesterday's 10-player Mega Trade, we will have four more new Astros to get to know, three from a trade and another player from a waiver claim.

Closer Brett Myers was traded to the Chicago White Sox for LHP Blair Walters, RHP Matt Heidenreich and a PTBNL.

Walters was listed by Baseball America as the 26th top prospect in the White Sox system going in to 2012. He is said to have a low 90's fastball with natural sink and a combo cutter/slider with late bite that baffles hitters. He was the Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year in 2011. He excelled in 13 starts for A-level team Kannapolis in the Sally League, but hasn't done as well since his promotion to the Hi-A Winston-Salem team. He will be assigned to Hi-A Lancaster.

Heidenreich started the season with the Hi-A Winston-Salem team where he did very nicely in 15 starts and was named to the Carolina League All-Star team. He was recently promoted to Birmingham in the Southern League and had one very good start, one pretty good start and one extremely forgettable start. He was ranked by Baseball America as the 27th top prospect in the White Sox system before the 2011 season, but fell off the 2012 list. He will report to Corpus Christi.

RHP Mark Hamburger was claimed off waivers from San Diego and will report to AAA Oklahoma City. Hamburger has struggled to be effective this season, but he was 7-4 with a 3.88 ERA and a 1.181 WHIP at AAA last season when he was in the Rangers organization.