Happy Birthday - 5/11

Happy Birthday to ~

LHP Jordan Mills (22)
Drafted by Houston in the 28th round in 2013 out of St. Mary's College in Moraga, California, Mills hit the ground running in his first season with the Greeneville team. In 14 games (6 starts), he was 5-1 with 2 saves, a 2.08 ERA and a 1.028 WHIP. Mills is currently at Extended Spring Training. Look for my interview with him coming out later this week.

One former Astro celebrates today as well ~

RHP Francisco Cordero (39)
Originally signed by the Tigers as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic n 1994, Cordero came to the Astros as a part of a 10-player trade with the Blue Jays in July 2012. Cordero only appeared in six games (five innings) for Houston before being released in September 2012. And that appears to have concluded a 14-season major league career in which Cordero was 47-53 in 800 appearances (all out of the bullpen) with a 3.38 ERA, a 1.365 WHIP and 329 saves. He was a three-time All-Star for the Rangers, the Brewers and the Reds.

Happy Birthday - 5/11

No future Astros and only one former Astro with a birthday today ~

RHP Francisco Cordero (38)
Originally signed by the Tigers as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic n 1994, Cordero came to the Astros as a part of a 10-player trade with the Blue Jays in July 2012. Cordero only appeared in six games (five innings) for Houston before being released in September 2012. And that appears to have concluded a 14-season major league career in which Cordero was 47-53 in 800 appearances (all out of the bullpen) with a 3.38 ERA, a 1.365 WHIP and 329 saves. He was a three-time All-Star for the Rangers, the Brewers and the Reds.

Looking at the Astros/Blue Jays July 2012 Trade

Going into July 20, 2012, the Toronto Blue Jays were 45-47. They were in 5th place in their division, 12 and a half games out. And then Astros GM Jeff Luhnow came in and robbed them blind. That day a 10-player trade went through sending RHP Brandon Lyon, RHP David Carpenter and LHP J.A. Happ to the Blue Jays in exchange for MLB OF Ben Francisco and RHP Francisco Cordero, and minor-leaguers RHP Asher Wojciechowski, C Carlos Perez, LHP David Rollins, RHP Joe Musgrove and RHP Kevin Comer as the player to be named later.

Toronto went 28-42 the rest of the season and ended in 4th place, 22 games behind in their division. Here's what they got:

Brandon Lyon (currently 33)
Lyon pitched 25 innings in 30 appearances for Toronto. He was 4-0 with a 2.88 ERA and a 1.120 WHIP. He became a free agent after the season and signed with the Mets on February 8th.

David Carpenter (currently 27)
Carpenter only pitched in three games at the MLB level for Toronto. In two and two-thirds innings, he had a 30.38 ERA and a 3.750 WHIP. In 16 minor-league appearances, he was 0-1 with a 3.57 ERA and a 1.245 WHIP. He was part of an October trade that brought 31-year old infielder Mike Aviles to Toronto from Boston. A month later, Carpenter was selected off waivers by Atlanta.

J.A. Happ (currently 30)
In ten starts for Toronto, Happ was 3-2 with a 4.69 ERA and a 1.289 WHIP. For his MLB career, he is now 35-35 with a 4.19 ERA and a 1.388 WHIP. He is still with the Blue Jays.

Net for the Blue Jays: A 30-year old LHP (Happ) and a 31-year old infielder (Aviles)

Here is what the Astros got in the trade:

Francisco Cordero (currently 37)
Cordero was released by the Astros on September 10th after going 0-3 with a 19.80 ERA and a 3.400 WHIP in six games (five innings).

Ben Francisco (currently 31)
Francisco played in 31 games for the Astros, hitting .247/.289/.365 before being traded to Tampa Bay on August 31st for a player to be named later. The player turned out to be Theron Geith, a 23-year old lefty relief pitcher who had a 2.98 ERA and a 1.086 WHIP in 31 appearances in High A.

Asher Wojciechowski (currently 24)
A first round draft pick in 2010, Wojciechowski was ranked #14 in the organization in the recent Baseball America Prospect Handbook and #15 by Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. In eight starts for AA Corpus Christi after the trade, he was 2-2 with a 2.06 ERA and a 1.008 WHIP.

Carlos Perez (currently 22)
Perez's rankings are a mixed bag. Baseball America has him at #27, Mayo at #20, but Fan Graphs liked him enough to rank him #9. In 26 games after the trade, Perez hit .318/.368/.409 at High A Lancaster and boasted a 47% caught stealing percentage.

David Rollins (currently 23)
Rollins was 1-3 with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.161 WHIP in six starts at Low A Lexington after the trade. For the season, he was 7-4 with a 2.98 ERA and a 1.252 WHIP in 24 starts.

Joe Musgrove (currently 20)
A 2011 first round pick, Musgrove is currently ranked by Jonathan Mayo at #19 in the Astros system. Musgrove was coming off an arm injury in 2012 and only pitched 17 innings with a 4.24 ERA and a 1.353 WHIP for the season in the Rookie Appalachian League.

Kevin Comer (currently 20)
Comer was also a first round pick by the Blue Jays in 2011, but signed late and did not play until 2012. Comer was 3-4 with a 4.56 ERA and a 1.277 WHIP in 12 appearances (eight starts) for the season, playing in the Rookie Appalachian League. He is currently ranked by Jonathan Mayo at #17 in the Astros system.

Net for the Astros: A 24-year old AA RHP (Wojciechowski), a 23-year old High A lefty reliever (Geith), a 23-year old Low A lefty starter (Rollins), a 22-year old High A catcher (Perez), and two 20-year old rookie league first round RHP's (Musgrove and Comer). Four of the six are ranked in the Astros top 20 by Jonathan Mayo. In Luhnow we trust.

Tomorrow I'll be posting more on this topic over at The Futurists blog, including thoughts from Jonathan Mayo. [UPDATED with the link to the second post.]

Roster Moves

Oklahoma City/Houston
RHP Mickey Storey's contract was purchased by and he was assigned to Houston as Francisco Cordero was placed on the DL.

Oklahoma City
RHP Ross Seaton was assigned from Corpus Christi to Oklahoma City.
RHP Garrett Mock was obtained in a trade from Boston for future considerations and will be assigned to Oklahoma City.

Corpus Christi
C Jason Castro was assigned to Corpus Christi for a rehab assignment.
RHP Bobby Doran was assigned from Lancaster to Corpus Christi.

Lexington
RHP Jonas Dufek was activated from the DL.
RHP Chris Devenski was obtained from the Chicago White Sox as the PTBNL in the Brett Myers trade and will be assigned to Lexington. For more information on Devenski, please see David Coleman's post at The Crawfishboxes.

Mega Trade

The Astros traded LHP J.A. Happ, RHP Brandon Lyon and RHP David Carpenter to Toronto for major leaguers RHP Francisco Cordero, OF Ben Francisco, minor league players RHP Joseph Musgrove, LHP David Rollins, C Carlos Perez, RHP Asher Wojciechowski and a PTBNL. Click on the name to see the players stats page. For the full story, see the Houston Chronicle article here.

Three of the four named minor league players were listed in Jonathan Mayo's Top 20 prospect list for the Blue Jays coming in to the 2012 season.

8th - C Carlos Perez was described as a very good defensive catcher (34% caught stealing coming in to the 2012 season) that has some ability with the bat. Baseball America had him at 14th and agreed that, even though he had an off-season in 2011, he has the ability to swing the bat well.

10th - RHP Asher Wojciechowski could be a workhorse starter if he can find consistency with his fastball. He has a plus fastball, above average slider and has a changeup that needs work. Baseball America also ranked him 10th and also cited the need to find consistency with his fastball and repeat his mechanics but thought he had the potential of a #2 starter.

11th - RHP Joe Musgrove is a hard thrower with good sink. He has a pretty good breaking ball and has used a splitter in the past. According to Baseball America who had him ranked 20th, his fastball has a very good combination of velocity and life and he has been known to hit 98.

UPDATED TO ADD: Jonathan Mayo just posted his take on these prospects and included some information on LHP David Rollins here.