Houston Astros trading Wilton Lopez to Philadelphia Phillies for Minor League Prospects - MLB News
Houston Astros may be trading their closing pitcher Wilton Lopez to the Philadelphia Phillies for some Minor League prospects. The Astros claimed him off waivers from the San Diego Padres in 2009, the same year he made his Major League debut for the club.
The 2012 season was certainly the best year for the Nicaraguan pitcher in the Major League. He had a 6-3 winning record and made 10 saves for the Astros. He made nine holds as well and blew three saves. Wilton posted an amazing 2.17 ERA during the season
and struck-out 56 batters in a little over 66 innings.
He walked just 8 batters and posted the lowest walks-per-innings ratio with 1.09 in all of National League. Wilton pitched in a total of 64 games for the ball club in regular season.
If the Astros trade Lopez, they will have a gap to fill in the closing pitcher department. He took the job of the main go-to guy in the bullpen after Brett Myers and Francisco Cordero were unable to fulfil the role.
The Phillies can certainly use someone like Lopez to close their games. They struggled big time in the closing department during 2012 and lost many games due to the weak performance by the bullpen. The club lost 12 games in the 2012 season when they had
a lead in to the eight innings. Wilton can be useful for a team in such a situation and can help them win more games with his closing prowess.
The 29-year-old is a bargain for any team. He is eligible for arbitration and probably will get a raise of around a million dollars. Given that is current salary was $515,000, the eventual price tag would be quite low, particularly with the sort of numbers
he has posted of late. The Phillies will certainly not mind, Jonathan Papelbon, their current main closing pitcher, is being paid a salary of nearly $13 million.
Lopez has posted better numbers than Jonathan as well. He has been hit for four home-runs to Papelbon’s eight in just three more innings. Similarly, the current Philadelphia closer walked 18 batters to Wilton’s eight.
The trade is yet to be finalised and details will soon emerge. The Minor League prospects to be traded to the Astros are yet to be named. Jeff Luhnow, the Astros’ general manager has so far kept quite on the issue as well.
In the last four years, Wilton Lopez has improved a great deal and has shown his abilities as a closing pitcher are amongst the best in the business at the moment. Phillies will certainly have a great chance to improve their record in close games with Wilton.
Astros on the other hand, may find it difficult to replace a pitcher of his ability in a hurry.
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