Astros: 3 bullpen trade targets to fortify pitching staff

2. Richard Rodriguez, Pittsburgh Pirates

Not as much of a secret as Sam Selman, Richard Rodriguez has been anchoring the bullpens of shoddy teams since 2018. Well, just the Pirates. But that’s a pretty shoddy team as of late.

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Still, Rodriguez is the real deal. Even if you incorporate his five-games of impotence with the Baltimore Orioles, he’s still looking at a 3.57 ERA, far more strikeouts than walks, and not a whole lot of home runs.

This year has been the best, though.

Rodriguez is currently boasting a WHIP of just 0.56. Opponents are hitting just .135 against him. He strikes batters out 35% of the time and only walks them 2.5% of the time. That’s 14 strikeouts to every one walk.

At 30-years-old, Rodriguez has a similar benefit to Selman—this isn’t a hefty investment. It’s a temporary fix to a prevalent problem. Maybe our young arms can fill out the bullpen in time, but right now? Get a Selman or a Rodriguez.

Or a No. 1. Who was, until recently, Brandon Workman. But the Phillies beat me to the punch.