{"id":101736,"date":"2025-06-13T22:15:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T22:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/101736\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T22:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T22:15:12","slug":"astros-trade-struggling-pitcher-to-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/101736\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros trade struggling pitcher to Rays"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post Astros trade struggling pitcher to Rays<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the Houston Astros<\/a> preparing ahead of the trade deadline in July, the team got to work early and made a trade regarding a pitcher<\/a> who had been struggling. As rumors have swirled around the Astros<\/a>, the trade the team made Friday was dealing pitcher Forrest Whitley to the Tampa Bay Rays, according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Currently in his second season in the MLB, Whitley has appeared in five games for Houston, where he threw 7.1 innings, amassing a 12.27 ERA to go along with eight strikeouts and six walks. In return, Houston is getting cash considerations<\/a> per Rome.<\/p>\n

Whitley is a former first-round pick taken back in the 2016 MLB Draft and finally made it to the majors in 2024, but only pitched 3.1 innings. With how he struggled this season, Houston designated him for assignment last Sunday, with all signs pointing to the end of his time with the team as manager Joe Espada<\/a> explained how hard the decision was<\/a>, according to MLB.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery difficult decision based on how hard he\u2019s worked to get to the big leagues, the battle through injuries, but this is the part of the business that we\u2019ve got to make tough decisions, and that was a tough one,\u201d Espada said.<\/p>\n

Astros\u2019 Joe Espada says Forrest Whitley\u2019s career is \u201cnot over\u201d\"Troy<\/p>\n

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

As the Astros\u2019 relief pitching is led by Josh Hader<\/a>, Whitley could not find his groove with the team, which eventually led to the trade with the Rays. While Tampa Bay hopes to revive a possible MLB journey, Espada believes that will happen, even going as far as to say that his \u201ccareer is not over\u201d and speaks high;y on the amount of potential he has in himself.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stuff is really good, but we\u2019re taking into consideration who\u2019s [in] our bullpen and the way they\u2019re performing, and performance does matter,\u201d Espada said. \u201cIt was just a move that we needed to make at this time \u2014 a very difficult one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHis career is not over,\u201d Espada continued. \u201cI think he has a ton of potential, and I think he could use this time to reset. I would not be surprised to see somebody claim him. He\u2019s talented. Right now, in the situation we\u2019re in, there\u2019s just no fit. We wish him the best, because I think this kid, once he figures it out, could be a weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

At any rate, Houston is currently 38-30, which puts them first in the AL West as they start a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Related: Astros\u2019 Josh Hader continues perfect 2025 after shutting door on White Sox<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Astros\u2019 Isaac Paredes leaves White Sox game amid injury scare<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post Astros trade struggling pitcher to Rays appeared first on ClutchPoints. With the Houston Astros preparing ahead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,23164,856,139,54,3211,5918,1109,60,4,2550,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-101736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-astros","8":"tag-astros","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-chandler-rome","11":"tag-forrest-whitley","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-astros","14":"tag-houstonastros","15":"tag-joe-espada","16":"tag-josh-hader","17":"tag-minnesota-twins","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-tampa-bay","20":"tag-tampa-bay-rays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114678367871006328","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}