{"id":81962,"date":"2024-07-31T20:20:38","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T00:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=81962"},"modified":"2024-07-31T20:20:38","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T00:20:38","slug":"astros-montero-dfa-kikuchi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/31\/astros-montero-dfa-kikuchi\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros DFA Veteran Reliever, Activate New Pitchers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Houston Astros designated reliever <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/montera01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-31_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rafael Montero<\/a> for assignment on Wednesday, clearing space for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kikucyu01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-31_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yusei Kikuchi<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/ferguca01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-31_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caleb Ferguson<\/a> on the active roster.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">TODAY\u2019S ROSTER MOVES:<\/p>\n<p>The Astros two trade acquisitions, LHP Yusei Kikuchi (#16) and LHP Caleb Ferguson (#64), have both reported to the club\u2019s active roster.<\/p>\n<p>To make room for the two, the Astros optioned RHP Seth Martinez to Triple A Sugar Land after last night\u2019s game.\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Houston Astros (@astros) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/astros\/status\/1818741361996075469?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 31, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Astros Designate Reliever Rafael Montero for Assignment<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then there were two. With Montero getting DFA&#8217;d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, that leaves only <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/abreubr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-31_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryan Abreu<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pressry01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-31_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Pressly<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the 2022 World Series pitching staff in the bullpen. Montero is in the second season of a three-year, $34.5 million deal he signed after Houston&#8217;s World Series win. Coming off a strong 2022 campaign, the 33-year-old struggled last season, posting a 5.08 ERA over 68 appearances. Montero began the 2024 season with an ERA of 2.81 and 18 strikeouts in 26 appearances through June 3rd. But in 15 appearances since, the veteran reliever owns an ERA of 8.53. According to Astros general manager Dana Brown, \u201cthe door is definitely open&#8221; for Montero to stay in the organization and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">accept a minor league assignment should he clear waivers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Houston also optioned righty reliever <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/martise01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-31_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seth Martinez<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to Triple-A Sugar Land, clearing a second spot on the active roster. Martinez owns a 2.92 ERA and has pitched a career-high 49 \u2153 innings for the Astros this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Houston&#8217;s two trade acquisitions, starter <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yusei Kikuchi<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and reliever <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Caleb Ferguson<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, have both reported to the active roster. Kikuchi has made 21 starts <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/29\/yusei-kikuchi-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">for the Blue Jays<\/a> this season pitching to a 4.75 ERA. The 33-year-old southpaw has 130 strikeouts and 2.3 walks-per-nine through 115 \u2154 innings of work. He is scheduled to make his Astros debut in Friday&#8217;s series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays. Ferguson made 41 relief appearances for the New York Yankees posting a 5.13 ERA through 33 \u2154 innings. The 28-year-old southpaw is just the third lefty in the Astros bullpen alongside <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kingbr02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-31_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryan King<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and closer <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/haderjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-31_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Hader<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">After starting the season 7-19, the Astros have turned their season around. They have gone from last place in the division to now a half-game behind the Seattle Mariners for the division lead. Once ace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/v\/verlaju01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-31_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Justin Verlander<\/a> and right-hander <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/garcilu05.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luis Garcia<\/a> return to the rotation, Houston will be a serious threat to win their third World Series.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Houston Astros designated reliever Rafael Montero for assignment on Wednesday, clearing space for Yusei Kikuchi and Caleb Ferguson on the active roster. TODAY\u2019S ROSTER MOVES: The Astros two trade acquisitions, LHP Yusei Kikuchi (#16) and LHP Caleb Ferguson (#64), have both reported to the club\u2019s active roster. To make room for the two, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4975,"featured_media":81968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1071,35],"tags":[3351,247,3445,167,5623,2298],"class_list":["post-81962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-astros","category-mlb","category-news","tag-caleb-ferguson","tag-justin-verlander","tag-luis-garcia","tag-rafael-montero","tag-seth-martinez","tag-yusei-kikuchi"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}