Astros lose promising (but inconsistent) reliever to waiver claim by the Red Sox

Whenever a team has a 40-man roster as loaded and inflexible as the Houston Astros' group, talented players are going to end up getting lost as the front office goes through the motionw. We already saw this happen when the Astros were basically forced to trade Corey Julks back in May. At the end of the day, Houston can't keep everyone they want while filling other needs.

Unfortunately, that appears to be what happened with Alex Speas. The pitcher is a former 2016 second-round pick who had a winding road back to the major leagues with the Astros, but was able to do so because he has tremendous swing-and-miss stuff as well as a healthy amount of determination.

But Speas only made a single appearance with the Astros before getting designated for assignment last week, and Boston scooped him up on a waiver claim.

Astros News: Alex Speas lost to waiver claim, lands with Red Sox

The Astros had claimed Speas off waivers themselves in May from Oakland after bouncing around a lot in his career. In his one appearance for Houston, Speas gave up one run in two innings of work, and that also happened to be his only big-league game this season despite stops with the White Sox and Athletics.

For Speas, it's good news for him that he got claimed. While it must stink to constantly jump around from team to team, his stuff is regarded enough to be in demand from a Boston team that has at least fringe playoff aspirations this year.

As for the Astros, this is an unfortunate consequence of having a 40-man roster full of guys that either have important everyday roles in the big leagues or don't have any minor league options left. That should improve as Houston cuts the roster dead weight over the next year, but that doesn't make losing talent in the meantime sting any less.

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