Astros Dig Deep: The Mike Burrows Trade

Astros Dig Deep: The Mike Burrows Trade

Will the Astros dig in as they go to another arm for pitching and they get Mike Burroughs? What upside does Houston see? What prospects went out the door and why does this move signal the Astros are still hunting for arms? Let’s break it all down right now. Jel Diaz, this is locked on Astros. Hello and welcome to Locked on Astros, your daily Astros podcast. Here are your hosts, Eric the Man Heisman, and Brett Htown Wheelhouse Chansy. Hey everybody and welcome into this edition of Locked on Astros. I’m Htown Wheelhouse. You know where to find me at HM Wheelhouse. You know where to find the show at Locked on Astros. We’re your team every single day. Um Eric is here. Well, kind of. Um, he may have to he may be responding to something at work. He may have gotten called in last minute, but I am here and we’re going to talk tonight about the trade of Mike Burroughs. Um, we’re going to talk about what they traded away and the fact that they are seeking more arms. So, this doesn’t mean that this is the end. It just means that it’s the beginning. And um so let’s um so first of all I want to say thank you for making Locked on Astros your first listen every day. Thank you for making Locked On podcast network the number one sports podcast network. This episode is brought to you by Game Time. Game time um is a great app. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use a code lock for $20 off your first purchase. Welcome in everybody. Thank y’all for stopping by. It is Friday. I’ll let you know that I’m on Christmas break and I am definitely not ashamed to admit that. I absolutely love um this time of the year as a teacher where I get a break, I get a breather and hey, if stuff happens while I’m on break, I’ll have all day to talk about it. I love that. So, thank y’all for tuning in. So, let’s talk about this Mike Burroughs trade that went down today. A and you know there are there are thoughts and opinions across the board on what the Houston Astros did today. Um you have anywhere from people saying Dana Brown doesn’t know what he’s doing to this is a great move to I can’t believe we let Jacob Melton go to yep I guess we’re I guess we love losing or is this the guy we’re getting for our title? Look, Burroughs is a piece of the puzzle. And so, let me just give you the official trade as it came out a few hours ago, official. Okay. Houston gets Mike Burroughs, who was a rookie last year to Pittsburgh. Um, Brandon Laauo, Mason Montgomery, Jake Mangum. Okay. To Tampa, Jacob Melton and Anderson Breto. All right. Anderson Breto was recently in the Arizona Fall League. was their number two, I guess, pitching prospect in their system. And then Jacob Melton was their top 100 prospect, their top prospect in their system, the only guy in the top 100 for MLB. And so, you know, Jacob Melton broke into the big leagues this year. He did he has a small sample size, but he’s got high upside. He’s got a lot of hopes and people really want him um you know wanted him to succeed in an Astros uniform be a part of that that puzzle or conundrum that is center field and Eerson Burrito has high upside but I think he’s still a couple years away from making an impact on the big leagues. So who is this Mike Burroughs guy and and and what what did he do last year? Um he actually had a really good year. One of the things to note is is Mike Burroughs has already had Tommy John’s surgery. Um he he took a little bit of time getting to the big leagues. Um he had a little bit of a setback. He was an he was an 11th round pick in the 2018 draft by the Pirates, but this last year um you know had had his had his best year um that he’s had. He did throw 96 innings. He had a whip of 1.24. Um he had 97 strikeouts, a 3.94 erra, and it looked like he was 2 and4 on the season. His first win came against the Houston Astros. Um and you you get a guy that is controllable for several years. Um so there is nothing wrong with controllable years with a pitcher. What did Dana Brown say? We want pitchers that are controllable. Okay. So, that is one of the things that we have to look at is that’s what they were actually going after. Okay. He was a former top prospect with the Pirates when he came up actually did very good. Um so, again, in those 23 appearances, 96 innings, 97 strikeouts, a 1.24 two four whip and actually um yeah two and four or three and four record um with a 3.90 erra striking nearly a strikeout per inning. Um the Astros will look to get that up. When you go to his baseball savant page here are his pitches. A majority of what he throws is the force seam and the change at 39% for seam 24% change 20% slider 12% curve 6% sinker. So there may be things in there that the Astros see that they want to increase more. Okay. Um you want this guy to be a high ground ball guy. He has a ground ball percent of 46% which is in the lower half. Um, you want to see the exit velocity to be less and his is at his average exit velocity off hits is 89.2. So, that’s not terrible. Look, this guy’s got some nasty stuff. And and if you’ve seen any of the footage or if you remember back to the game where I believe he had six strikeouts against the Astros in in a victory over the season, um he actually did really well. There was a time when like Jeremy Pñena hadn’t had a had a strikeout in a while. Um he was he was hitting around 300 and um Mike Burroughs came up came up to the mound and struck him out. And so, um, we’ve seen that he can do some things that are good. Okay. Um, but again, we definitely need more moves. This team as it sits has a rotation that if we’re going forward and we’re not adding anybody else, we’re not adding anybody else. The rotation would look like basically you have Hunter Brown, Christian Javier, Mike Burroughs, Lance McCullers Jr., Ryan Weiss, Spencer Aragetti. You also have Jason Alexander, Nate Pearson, Colton Gordon, Jaden Murray. Now, those are all guys that could play into the mix. Okay, the Astros have clearly stated Ryan Weiss, they want him to compete for a rotation spot. You don’t bring Mike Burroughs over and trade two prospects without expecting him to be a part of the rotation. Is he the number two starter that they have envisioned to back up Hunter Brown? Maybe he’s not. And again, I know some of y’all on here um if y’all are listening, we have a live audience and they will make comments throughout and some people are saying in the chat that they’re not convinced that we’ve gotten better. They’re not convinced that what we are doing is the is a good thing. But really, honestly, only time will tell. Everybody that tells me, you know, Willer Breu, I can’t believe we let that guy get away. I’m like, I had to ask one friend. I had to kind of call him out. And you know, I’m not going to say names cuz I don’t do that. But I said, “You never talked about Willer Abrau when he was with the Astros.” Well, yeah, because they had so many other people at the time. No, like you didn’t know who he was until he got traded. and he wasn’t performing at the clip that he is now. Now that he’s in the all-star conversation every year, now that he’s one of the best outfielders at his position and a gold glove candidate and so on and so forth, all of a sudden you’re like, I knew he shouldn’t have let that guy leave. Now, you got to be honest here. Prospects are one move away from being suspect. And I’m not saying Jacob Melton’s going to be suspect. I’m not saying that Anderson Breto’s going to be a bad pitcher, but they haven’t done anything yet. We saw what Burroughs did. I think that he is a guy that fits and and he could very well be the number two guy. Okay. He very well could be. I don’t know what Dana Brown’s thinking. Um been trying to get in touch with the Astros about Dana Brown. Hopefully we can get him on between now and when spring training hits. Maybe after they make a couple more moves. I’m hoping for maybe a Christmas surprise. I don’t know. Um Chandler mentioned it and he I mean he has good reason. You know, the Astros like to go with what they go with. They they don’t they don’t deviate from their game plans very much. So, we are here and we know exactly what the Astros do. We know exactly how they operate in this current regime. But before we go further, I want to talk to everybody here about game time. What’s up everybody? Game time is here. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. And with 48 teams, the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets is usually the hardest part. That’s why the Game Time app is clutch. Finally giving fans a real advantage. When it comes to snagging seats with Game Time, you can track price drops in real time, get alerts when great seats open, buy tickets the moment they hit the app. It puts the power back in your hands and makes going to the World Cup realistic instead of impossible. That’s right. and Cristiano Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal will be here. The Netherlands and Germany, three of the top 10 teams in the world will be in Houston. So, pull up the app. The layout makes it simple. Pick a game, pick a selection. Um, the seat view feature is phenomenal. The price include fees up front, which I love because I’m not there’s no fees hidden. And look, I mean, if you’re looking at going somewhere local and sooner, Texas A&M is playing the University of Miami in the first round of the College Football Playoffs. And yes, tickets have been a little pricey, but they are really good and competitive compared to other sites. And I promise you, if you wait till closer to game time, those prices will drop. So, take the guesswork out of buying tickets for World Cup, college football, playoffs, Rockets, whatever it is. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on MLOB for $20 off your first purchase. Terms to apply again, download the app, make an account, and use the code locked on MLOB for $20 off game time. Hey everybody, if you haven’t heard about the Everyday Club, I want to let you know that our memberships are growing and we have people right now that are locked in. Thank you for making Locked on Astros your first listen and thank you for making the Locked On podcast network the number one sports podcast network in the planet. If you haven’t already checked out the Everydayer Club, trust me, you will have access to adfree audio feed for Locked On. you will have special episodes and I’ve already dropped Eric and I have already dropped episodes for our all access listeners and we want you to be a part of this membersonly every day club discord. It’s amazing. It includes a group chat. You can be not just in chat with listeners of the show but also other host. You have a subtext feature where you can text us directly. So, please make sure you go to lockedonastros.supcast.com and choose the membership that’s right for you. Thank y’all for tuning in. Hey, boys and girls. This is the exciting time of year. Well, it’s supposed to be the exciting time of year, but it has been a little it’s been a little slow. It’s not been what the Astros fans have wanted, but I think the Astros are also in a in a kind of a weird place. You have Dana Brown, you have Joe Spatus saying one thing about Joseé Altuve, another thing about Joseé Altuve. You have Jim Crane’s words that loom like Father Christmas or like a ghost of Christmas past. The window will never close when I am in charge. As long as I am in charge, the window will always be open. And there are a lot of fans who think that that isn’t as true as it sounded. Why? Because their favorite team missed the playoffs for the first time in nine years. Mindblowing. I I mean, trust me. Um, and look, I want to take a minute to say that I appreciate y’all for staying around because we actually continue to break records despite the Astros having their shortest run since Eric and I started covering this team fulltime on Locked on Astros. I mean, the last time was like like 2020 um was when we both got started together and since then the sky’s been the limit. So, y’all thank y’all. Y’all are the true MVPs here. Um, so they do trade away Jacob Meltton. They two they do trade away Anderson Breto. Um, these are two guys that I think people had a lot of high hopes for. Okay. Um, Anderson Breto, let’s talk about him. Right-handed pitching prospect, regularly throws his fastball 96 to 99. He is a fireball thrower and signed for a small bonus. He developed into a legit arm. Okay. And high a he had a 3.28 erra, 49 innings, 65 strikeouts. All right. Um, strong strikeout rates. He has a solid whip and he projects as either a bullpen arm or a possible starter. Okay. Why did Houston move him? Okay. Well, the Astros have a lot of similar guys, bullpen style arms in their system right now. And although the system we know is not the most touted, it’s kind of at the bottom. We all know that the elephant in the room, but Breto still had command questions. So, I’m not as upset about Breto or worried about seeing a guy that’s going to develop into something sooner rather than later in the way of Breto. But I am a little bit more concerned about Jacob Meltton. I I think he’s got a little bit more upside. Okay, so here are the things that Jacob Melton brought that I think the Astros could have used. One of their better position player prospects. All right. I mean, obviously they’re what? Number two overall prospect. Number one overall prospect. Um um I’m sorry, their number one overall prospect. Power, he had speed, he could play defense. He was an allaround outfielder. And if you’re looking at moving um gold glove nominee, gold glove level center fielder in Jake Meyers, then getting having someone like Jacob Melton in center field would be phenomenal. Okay, Zack Cole, I know they’ve talked about him in center field. I still think personally speaking that Cam Smith would be a better centerfield candidate than Zack Cole, but I’m not a talent evaluator at the major league level. Okay. He was a fan favorite in the system, too. Everybody was excited about Jacob Melton. We were excited about Gilbert’s gone. We were excited about Will Myers gone. We were excited about Melton gone. I I mean, that is what stinks. But in order to make a trade, the market is really high. It’s really inflated. And I’m going to I’m going to explain that here in a second. Jacob Melton. Also, the outfield was crowded is crowded at the major league level. The Astros decided that pitching help mattered more than holding on to a bat that’s blocked in the lineup because right now he doesn’t have a spot. Nelson absolutely could become a regular elsewhere, but it wasn’t guaranteed in Houston. Okay? It wasn’t guaranteed in Houston. So, that’s why they went with that. Now, let’s go back a week or two when we’re talking about Shane Bos. Okay? Shane Bos got traded today, not to the Astros. Shane Bos got traded to the Orioles. Okay? I don’t know if y’all seen this trade package. I featured it on our YouTube shorts, but it was a pretty pricey give. Shane Bos to the Orioles for Slater De Brun from the Rays. Kaden Boddine from the Rays. So Baltimore’s number six, Baltimore’s number 10 prospect. Michael Foret right-handed pitcher number their their 11th prospect. Austin Overn 30th ranked prospect. 2026 comp balance round a pick. So, one, two, three, four players and a comp pick for Shane Bos. Some people asked me today, some people sent me a DM. So, why didn’t we get Shane Bos? Why do we go to Mike Burroughs? I’m like, did you see the price? I mean, y’all remember when gas was going crazy when you you know when inflation happens, you feel your pocketbooks getting lighter and lighter? Well, inflation in baseball is a real thing. And the market is a real thing. And and my question is, what is the Astros goal? Is the Astros goal to go back to the World Series? Is the Astros goal just to win the division? Is the Astros goal, what is it now? How do y’all feel about this trade? And if you’re listening online, someone in the comments, Willard, says, “No disrespect, but the Orioles got hoodwinkedked.” There’s a lot of people who feel like the Astros got fleeced. I don’t think the Astros got fleeced. Okay. Prospects are one move away from being suspect, and that’s that’s just the truth. I think Mike Burroughs has a high upside because of his controllable years into I believe 2030 or 2032, something wild where they have him for a while. They have him locked in and he very well could be the number two guy. But that’s not it, folks. And on the other side of this commercial, I’m going to talk to y’all about what John Heymon said. My favorite reporter, the guy that loves blocking me on X. I don’t know why, but he blocked me. Actually, I do know why. We won’t get into it. Um, but we’ll talk about it after we talk about our friends at FanDuel. What’s up everybody? Thank you’all for tuning in. And this episode is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. 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Go to locked onastros.supcast.com and make sure you join the everydayer club. I absolutely love this. I hope that you guys take time to consider maybe getting this or maybe gifting this to someone a to a loved one who loves to stay locked in to Locked on Astros. Remember, we’re your team every day. And just to say this, my guy Eric um stay safe, brother. He got called into work. There was emergency at work. He had to go back. He had just got through eating dinner. We were talking about the show. He was excited about joining on, but boom, he’s out for the night. He’ll be back next time. So, let’s talk about John Haymon and his report. You know, it’s funny. John Haymon actually um he actually um blocked me because I got on to him for all the crap he gave the Astros from 2017. But here’s the deal. This is what John Haymon is saying. The Buroughs trade is not the final pitching move for the Astros. The Astros are clearly still shopping arms. Okay, now this makes sense why rotation durability remains a question. Bullpens are volatile yeartoyear. We just saw the last two seasons of injuries, right? Houston’s postseason formula has always been pitching depth and matchup flexibility. So looking for more arms makes sense. Now, what kind of arms can you expect? Not a blockbuster race, but more likely a bounceback starter, a short-term veteran arm, or maybe some high upside relievers. Because look, this is the Astros pattern. They don’t rely on one big move. They stack multiple pitching options and they let the best ones win the jobs. Okay, that’s what they do. They let the best arms win the jobs. Now, Astros fans, and let me ask you, and yes, um, people in the comments, if you’re if you’re listening, people in the comments while I’m live are saying, “What about a left-handed bat? What about a backup catcher?” Look, I still think that the Astros still remain about 24 million under the luxury tax threshold. Crane does not want to go over it for a third season in a row. So, he’s going to try to stay under that. So, these these arms are going to have to come via trade. Now, one of the options is trading away Christian Walker. And I think if the Astros are seriously shopping for more arms, they are going to have to consider the three big pieces that are the most tradable. Jake Meyers, Esoch Paredes, Christian Walker. The downside to Christian Walker, that contract. The downside to Eso Parade is he’s the best contact bat in your lineup. The downside to Jake Meyers, there aren’t elite center fielders out there and you’re asking Zack Cole to step up and become an elite center fielder defensively speaking. So there’s good things and there’s bad things. And again, the other thing that created this conundrum they’re in is Carlos Koreah’s returning to Houston. Now they got Carlos Kareah for pretty much nothing. They aren’t paying all of his salary. He’s still paying quite a bit of it, but he’s here. He’s a leader in the clubhouse and that’s good for the Astros. So, we can be frustrated or we can think that Carlos Craya kind of makes this thing tougher and we don’t like that, but I think a lot of fans love that Carlos Craya is back. All right. And one of the names that we can look for and look at, we haven’t talked about is Nick Paveta. I believe he is a tradable piece in San Diego. Going back to the Royals, you can um try to get um Chris Bubick over. I think he’s a great option. Um so there are other avenues to go here. It’s going to have to be via trade. That’s simply what it’s going to have to be. It won’t be any other way that the Houston Astros bring on another arm. So, here is the question that we have to have answered. Is Dana Brown and Joe Espatis thinking on Mike Burroughs? This is our number two guy. If their answer is yes, then okay, the arms they’re looking for are serviceable bullpin arms. Are they kicking the tires on Justin Verlander? I think it’s still a more than 50% chance that Justin Verlander comes back. Um, someone is asking me in the chat, do I see a world where we would consider trading Alvarez or do we still move Jake Meyers? I do not see them trading Alvarez. I think he is a non-tradable piece. The guy signed a team-friendly deal. He’s dealt with health issues. If you get him healthy for an entire season, the sky’s is the limit for Yorkon. Meyers, I think, is not an inevitable conclusion, but for the Astros, they would rather trade Meyers than have to deal with the contract negotiations with trading Walker or losing Eso Paris, who was their RBI and home run leader before he went down. So really, there’s a lot of unknowns here. There are a lot of unknowns. A and I know a lot of people are saying, “Well, there’s no way Mike Burrow is the number two guy.” I don’t know that he is. You talk to one person, they say, “Yes, he’s the number two guy.” You talk to another person, there’s no way he’s the number two guy. At the end of the day, the Astros have Ryan Weiss who’s going to compete for a starting position. They have Mike Burroughs who’s going to compete for a starting position. They have veteran pitchers who are coming back from injury that are competing for starting positions. Spencer Eragetti has fallen from the grace of the fan base because of the freak injury last year. And I think we are under I I think we’re underelling Spencer Arrigetti a little bit. Think back to me last year before the weird line drive hit him in the hand and he broke his ham or his thumb or whatever it was and then he came he went out of the picture. Do we remember the things we were saying about Spencer? Now I’ll own what I said. I thought he was going to be a top 10 high uh Heisman. Good lord, I’m got college football in my brain. I believe he would be a top 10 Sai Young um vote getter. I didn’t think he would win the Sai Young. I didn’t think he’d be, but I really thought that Spencer Errigetti would take that next step. Now, I was putting a lot on the young arm, a lot on the kid from Katie, but I really thought that. And I think there were a lot of people who thought that, right? But now people are like, “Oh yeah, Arrietti is a number five or number six guy. What if he’s your three guy?” I mean, I don’t know how things are going to fall, but um I just did an interview with Mike Stanton on Back to the Bullpin, and we had Austin Dean, a KBO all-star, who is personal friends with Ryan Weiss, and he said, “Ryan Weiss is is a man. He is a dog. The dude can throw. He’s earned his stripes.” And he said, “There’s no reason to think that that guy can’t be in the Astros rotation for 2026.” I that’s all that’s the only vote of confidence that I needed. And so Corbin here in the comment section is saying Eric Getty is really your number two starter. Well, I think right now I wouldn’t mind him being your number two guy. I wouldn’t mind um Look, the Astros have a lot of pitchers. I I mean, again, I’m I’m going to go over I’m going to go over this, okay? Hunter Brown, Christian Javier, Mike Burroughs, Lance McCullers Jr., Ryan Weiss, Spencer Arrigetti, Jason Alexander, Nate Pearson, Colton Gordon, Jaden Murray. We went through 36 pitchers last year, ladies and gentlemen. 36 pitchers. And you know what’s crazy about baseball talk is as we’re talking about this, people in the chat are actually talking about Anthony Rendone. That dude’s retired from baseball. Did y’all ever see when Anthony Rendone said that we should reduce the reduce the season from 162 to 140 games? I’m like, that is the last guy that needs to talk about reducing games. So, I’m going to wrap it up with this. All right. Mike Burroughs, I think, is a solid pickup. You don’t know what those prospects are going to do until they do it. Number two, I don’t believe the Astros are done. Number three, there’s no way they go into this season without what they think is a solid starting five. And what is their goal in my mind? I think it’s the division first and then everything else after that. Cuz like my good friend Mike Stanton always says, the hard part’s making it to the playoffs. Once you’re there, everything changes. And I know the Blue Jays and the Dodgers are the big boys, but once you get to the dance, nothing is guaranteed. Ask the Red Sox and how they did it when they were down one to three, one games, three games to one to the New York Yankees about to lose and they ended up going on to the World Series and winning. And I’m not saying the Astros are the 04 Red Sox, but what I’m saying is if you get in, there’s a chance. Remember folks, we got beat by the 19 Braves and the 21 Nationals. They had no business winning those titles. The Astros should absolutely have four World Series on their mantle and they don’t. So, you play the game to win. Now, I absolutely love that you guys and girls stayed around, that you came in on a Friday night. Thank y’all for hanging out with us. We wanted to share with y’all this. Thanks for tuning in to Locked on Astros. The next show we’re going to start looking at player projections for 2026 and where we think guys like Jeremy Pñena and Yordon Alvarez will end up. And if you need a last minute holiday gift for someone um who keeps asking maybe you what you want. Um look, make it easy for them. Tell them I want the Everydayer Club. Add free episodes of this show. exclusive Discord server access and more subscriptions can get gifted through the custom link on the show on the show notes on this custom link um locked.supcast.com. Go see what price point fits for you. Get it to someone. If someone says, “I don’t know what to get you for Christmas,” tell them to get you this. You’ll absolutely love it. We want to thank y’all for tuning in to Locked on Astros. For those of you on video, we send you to the first ever 247 national locked on podcast network YouTube channel on audio and make your second listen locked on MLB. Myself from Eric the Manheisman. We had to respond to an emergency, but he’s a man of the people. He’ll be back. I’m excited. It’s a holiday break. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. We’ll see y’all before next week. Hopefully Dana Brown gives us more to talk about. Y’all have a good one and like I always say, always positive, always stro. And with that, I am out.

The Astros make a very on-brand move, acquiring right-hander Mike Burrows in a three-team trade — but what does Houston really get, and what did it cost? We break down Burrows’ numbers, his role moving forward, and why the Astros believe there’s upside still to unlock. Plus, a closer look at the prospects heading out the door, including Anderson Brito and Jacob Melton, and why Houston was willing to deal from depth. Finally, with Jon Heyman reporting the Astros are still “after arms,” we discuss what this move signals and what could be next as Houston continues to reshape its pitching staff.
Houston Astros shake up their pitching staff by acquiring Mike Burrows in a high-stakes deal, sending top prospect Jacob Melton and rising arm Anderson Brito out the door. Will this bold move spark a new era of Astros dominance, or did the front office gamble away too much future talent? Brett Chancey offers sharp analysis on what Houston’s decision signals about their playoff ambitions and ongoing hunt for reliable arms.

00:00 “Game Time Sponsorship & Break”
03:19 “Prospects: Melton, Brito, Burroughs”
07:41 Rotation Debate and Team Strategy
11:35 “Join the Locked On Club”
15:02 Astros’ Trade Decisions Explained
18:29 Astros Trade: Smart or Mistake?
19:33 “Mike Burrows’ Upside Explained”
23:09 Astros Prioritize Pitching Over Bats
26:44 Astros’ Trade and Roster Uncertainty
31:44 “Locked On Astros Projections”
32:40 “Locked On MLB Updates”

Key discussion points include Mike Burrows’ upside, how the Astros rotation shapes up behind Hunter Brown and Christian Javier, and the volatility created by recent injuries. Brett Chancey explores whether prospects-turned-trade-chips like Melton and Brito were expendable, if more trades are on the horizon, and which Astros players could still be on the move. Don’t miss this comprehensive breakdown of Houston’s pitching strategy as the AL West race heats up.

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