Revisiting the December 2011 Mark Melancon Trade

This is the first in a series looking back at the trades made by Jeff Luhnow since he became the General Manager of the Astros in December 2011.

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On December 14, 2011, brand new General Manager Jeff Luhnow traded RHP Mark Melancon to the Red Sox in exchange for SS Jed Lowrie and RHP Kyle Weiland.

Melancon spent one season for the Red Sox in 2012, putting up a 6.20 ERA, a 1.267 WHIP and a negative WAR of -0.5 in 45 appearances over 41 innings at the major league level. In the minors that season, Melancon had a 0.83 ERA and a 0.831 WHIP in 21 appearances over 21.2 innings.

Melancon was then traded by the Red Sox to the Pirates in December 2012. He flourished with the Pirates in 2013 (1.39 ERA and 0.958 WHIP in 72 appearances; 2.1 WAR; All-Star appearance) and in 2014 (1.90 ERA and 0.873 WHIP in 72 appearances; 2.0 WAR).

Jed Lowrie played in 97 games for the Astros in 2012, hitting .244/.331/.438 with 18 doubles, 16 home runs, 42 RBI, 43 walks and 65 strikeouts. He had a 2.2 WAR (2.4 oWar and 0.2 dWar). Lowrie was then traded to Oakland, along with RHP Fernando Rodriguez, for 1B Chris Carter, RHP Brad Peacock and C Max Stassi. (I'll look at this trade in-depth in due course.)

Kyle Weiland, on the other hand, only pitched in 3 games for Houston at the major league level before heading to the DL. In 17.2 innings, he had a 6.62 ERA, a 1.755 WHIP and a negative WAR of -0.2. Weiland did not make another official appearance until the summer of 2014, pitching in 14 minor league games between June and August. Weiland recently retired.

Although it would have been nice to have had the 2013 and 2014 version of Mark Melancon in the Houston bullpen to offset some of the struggles from those two years, and despite the disappointment of never having a completely healthy Weiland, there is really no way to see this trade as anything but a win for Luhnow after considering Lowrie's 2012 contributions and the return received after trading him.

Happy Birthday - 9/12

Happy Birthday to ~

RHP Kyle Weiland (28)
Drafted by Boston in the third round in 2008, Weiland came to Houston in a December 2011 trade along with Jed Lowrie for Mark Melancon. Weiland only pitched in three games for Houston at the beginning of 2012 before having surgery on his right shoulder, reportedly to clean out an infection. After being banished to Weiland Island (the rumored habitat for broken Astros players) for over two years, Weiland finally resurfaced in a rehab assignment in the minor leagues in late June. In 14 games (two starts), Weiland put up a 4.76 ERA and a 1.412 WHIP before being placed on the DL toward the end of the season. Let's hope that his banishment to Weiland Island doesn't become a recurrence.

SS Pat Listach (47)
Originally drafted by the Brewers in the fifth round in 1988, Listach spent five seasons with Milwaukee, where he won Rookie of the Year in 1992, before signing with the Astros as a free agent in 1997. He played 52 games with the Astros that season, putting up a .182 BA and .247 OBP, before being released July 1, 1997. He did not play another major league game. Listach is currently in his first season as the third base coach for the Astros.

Happy Birthday - 9/12

Happy Birthday to ~

RHP Kyle Weiland (27)
Drafted by Boston in the third round in 2008, Weiland came to Houston in a December 2011 trade along with Jed Lowrie for Mark Melancon. Weiland only pitched in three games for Houston at the beginning of 2012 before having surgery on his right shoulder, reportedly to clean out an infection. And then he was never heard from again and was rumored to be abiding on Weiland Island with Jack Armstrong, Chase Davidson and the other players who have been "disappeared" during their recovery from injuries. But then there was this sighting in August. Now you know as much as I do.

One former Astro with a birthday today ~

SS Pat Listach (46)
Originally drafted by the Brewers in the fifth round in 1988, Listach spent five seasons with Milwaukee, where he won Rookie of the Year in 1992, before signing with the Astros as a free agent in 1997. He played 52 games with the Astros that season, putting up a .182 BA and .247 OBP, before being released July 1, 1997. He did not play another major league game.

Roster Moves

I missed this Baseball America transaction post from over the weekend. Apparently, Kyle Weiland is NOT a figment of our imagination:

Placed on 7-day DL: RHP Murilo Gouvea, RHP Chia-Jen Lo, RHP Kyle Weiland, LHP Sergio Escalona, LHP Kenny Long, C Max Stassi, 3B Andy Simunic, 3B Brandon Wikoff, OF Grant Hogue, OF Telvin Nash

In addition, RHP Edgar Gonzalez was claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays and 2B/LF Ruben Sosa was assigned to Oklahoma City.

Rumors have been floating about Paul Clemens coming to Houston, but nothing official has been announced by the team.

UPDATES:

• RHP Paul Clemens is indeed headed to Seattle to join the team as RHP Josh Fields goes on the DL with forearm tightness.
• RHP Ross Seaton is being sent to Oklahoma City from Corpus Christi.
• RHP Carlos Quevedo is being sent to Corpus Christi from Lancaster.
• RHP Michael Dimock is headed from Extended Spring Training to Quad Cities.
• According to Daniel Makarewicz (who covers the Quad Cities team), RHP Jordan Jankowski is being sent from Quad Cities back to Extended Spring Training.
• LHP Tommy Shirley activated from the temporary inactive list for Lancaster.

Roster Moves

In addition to yesterday afternoon's news that Jordan Schafer has been claimed off waivers by Atlanta, the Astros announced several other moves last night.

RHP Kyle Weiland was outrighted to Oklahoma City. LHP Fernando Abad, LHP Sergio Escalona, RHP Edgar Gonzalez and RHP Jose Valdez were also outrighted to Oklahoma City but are unrestricted free agents. (It was also noted that IF Matt Downs, who had been removed from the 40-man roster a couple days ago, is an unrestricted free agent as well.) Only two of these players were on the 40-man roster since Weiland and Escalona were on the 60-day DL so this effectively brought the running total down to 34 on the 40-man roster.

Two players, however, were added to the 40-man roster bring it back up to 36. RHP Sam Demel and 2B/SS Jake Elmore were claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks. The 25-year old Demel, a third round draft pick by Oakland in 2007 and a native of Channelview, Texas, had significant major league experience with the Diamondbacks in 2010 and 2011, but made only one appearance at the major league level in 2012. In 72 major league appearances, he has a 4.95 ERA and a 1.586 WHIP out of the bullpen. In 56 appearances for AAA Reno this season, he had a 4.07 ERA and a 1.236 WHIP. Elmore, also 25, was a 34th round pick by Arizona in 2008. He spent the majority of his season at Reno as well, hitting .344/.422/.465 with 30 doubles, nine triples, one home run and 32 stolen bases in 108 games. He walked 74 times to 54 strikeouts. Elmore got his first call-up to the bigs on August 11th and hit .191/.247/.250 in 30 games.

I will update my ongoing list of off-season transactions (that I have linked on the front page) later today.

Happy Birthday - 9/12

RHP Kyle Weiland (26)
Drafted by Boston in the third round in 2008, Weiland came to Houston in a December 2011 trade along with Jed Lowrie for Mark Melancon. Weiland only pitched in three games for Houston at the beginning of the season before having surgery on his right shoulder, reportedly to clean out an infection. In his three starts, he was 0-3 with a 6.62 ERA and a 1.755 WHIP.

One former Astro with a birthday today:

SS Pat Listach (45)
Originally drafted by the Brewers in the fifth round in 1988, Listach spent five seasons with Milwaukee, where he won Rookie of the Year in 1992, before signing with the Astros as a free agent in 1997. He played 52 games with the Astros that season, putting up a .182 BA and .247 OBP, before being released July 1, 1997. He did not play another major league game.

Roster Moves - Updated

Houston
SS Marwin Gonzalez was activated from the DL.
SS Jed Lowrie was placed on the 15-day DL.
C Carlos Corporan was put on the 40-man roster and assigned from Oklahoma City to Houston.
C Jason Castro was placed on the 15-day DL.
RHP Kyle Weiland was placed on the 60-day DL.

Oklahoma City
C Jair (Jay) Fernandez was assigned from Corpus Christi to Oklahoma City.
RHP Jonnathan Aristil was placed on the temporary inactive list.
2B Jimmy Paredes was activated from the temporary inactive list.

Corpus Christi
C Rene Garcia was assigned from Lancaster to Corpus Christi.
RHP Jarred Cosart was activated from the DL.
SS Jonathan Villar was placed on the 7-day DL.
SS Ben Orloff was assigned from Lancaster to Corpus Christi.

Lancaster
RHP Bobby Doran was assigned from Corpus Christi to Lancaster.
SS Chan Moon was assigned from Lexington to Lancaster.
UNCONFIRMED report that C Roberto Pena is being assigned from Lexington to Lancaster.

Lexington
Jay Austin was activated from the DL.
UPDATED TO ADD: C Luis Alvarez was assigned from Greeneville to Lexington.

Greeneville
2B Josh Magee was released.
LHP Zach Hardoin was released.
One I missed - RHP Jose Perdomo was released a couple of weeks ago.

Roster Moves - 4/27

HOU
RHP Kyle Weiland was placed on the 15-day disabled list.
SS Marwin Gonzalez was placed on the 3-day paternity list.

OKC/HOU
IF Brian Bixler was recalled to the Astros.
LHP Fernando Abad was recalled to the Astros.

Jordan Lyles will be called up to start the game on Sunday in place of Weiland. An additional roster move will have to be made then to make room for Lyles on the 25-Man Roster.

Roster Moves - 12/14

The Astros traded RHP Mark Melancon to the Red Sox for IF Jed Lowrie and RHP Kyle Weiland.  To make room on the 40-Man Roster, IF Brian Bixler was designated for assignment.  Here is Zachary Levine's story on the trade.  And here is a fun read about the Legend of Jed Lowrie.

It's never easy to see a good, young player like Mark Melancon go, but I think Sean Feist said it best ...

@native_astro Sean Feist

@AGirlintheSouth Having a closer on a 100 loss team is like having a taser gun taped to the side of a battleship. #Astros
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And as I was writing this, Zachary Levine tweeted that IF/OF Nick Stavinoha was given his release by the Astros to play in Japan.  Here is Levine's story on that.