Astros trade righty reliever to Athletics

The Astros traded right-hander Brandon Bielak to the Athletics in exchange for cash, per a team announcement. Houston designated him for assignment last week. The A’s designated left-hander Easton Lucas for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Bielak, 28, struggled with the ’Stros this season, posting a 5.71 earned run average in ten appearances (17 1/3 innings). His 10.8% strikeout and 5.5% swinging strike rate are career-low marks.

That said, Bielak was a solid swingman in three prior seasons with Houston. From 2021-23, he notched a 4.05 ERA over the life of 142 1/3 innings, fanning a combined 19.2% of his opponents against a 9.8% walk rate. The former 11th-round pick made 15 starts and tallied another 33 relief appearances during that time. He’s not a flamethrower, but Bielak averaged 93.4 mph on his heater during that three-year stint and kept the ball on the ground at a strong 48.1% clip. He’s posted similar numbers in parts of four Triple-A campaigns, recording a 3.98 ERA with a 24.3% strikeout rate and a 9.6% walk rate through 246 2/3 frames.

Bielak is out of minor-league options, so he’ll jump right onto the Oakland staff. The A’s have placed starters Joe Boyle (back strain), Paul Blackburn (stress reaction in the foot), and Alex Wood (shoulder tendinitis) on the injured list this month. They also announced that injured lefty Ken Waldichuk is done for the season due to elbow surgery. The addition of Bielak will help replenish some of that depth, whether he steps right into the rotation or provides a long-relief option. Rule 5 righty Mitch Spence has been Oakland’s primary long man this year, but he’s pitched well and could feasibly step into the rotation himself.

Because he has just 2.110 years of big league service, Bielak can be controlled for three more years beyond the current season. He’ll need to carve out a role for himself on the Athletics’ roster and get back to his 2021-23 form if that’s even to become a factor, but there’s potential for him to be a multi-year acquisition if Bielak can get back on track. He’ll be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter and shouldn’t see an especially large raise, given his role as a low-leverage swingman and occasional back-end starter.

The addition of Bielak to the roster comes at the expense of the 27-year-old Lucas, who made his big league debut with the A’s last year but has only seen 10 1/3 total innings in the majors. It’s been a struggle in that small sample, to say the least. Lucas has been charged a dozen earned runs (10.45 ERA) on 18 hits and a dozen walks with 13 strikeouts. A massive .459 average on balls in play has contributed to his ugly numbers, but Lucas hasn’t done himself any favors by walking just over 12% of his opponents.

As one would expect, things have gone better in the upper minors. Lucas split the 2023 season between Double-A and Triple-A, posting a combined 3.86 ERA in 46 2/3 innings. He punched out 25.8% of opponents against an 8.6% walk rate. The southpaw posted a 2.87 ERA in 15 2/3 innings of Triple-A work this year as well — albeit with just 13 strikeouts against six unintentional walks. The A’s acquired Lucas from the Orioles last July in the trade sending righty Shintaro Fujinami back to Baltimore.

Oakland selected Lucas to the 40-man roster last summer but passed him unclaimed through outright waivers just a few months later, in November. Because of that prior outright assignment, he’ll have the right to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency even if he goes unclaimed a second time. As such, there’s a chance that today’s DFA ends his time with the A’s organization less than a year after he was acquired in a deadline swap.