The busy New York Yankees traded reliever LaTroy Hawkins to the Houston Astros on Wednesday for minor league infielder Matt Cusick.
MLB Baseball NewsThe busy New York Yankees traded reliever LaTroy Hawkins to the Houston Astros on Wednesday for minor league Matt Cusick.
Hawkins was 1-1 with a 5.71 ERA in 33 this spell for the Yankees, who designated him for assignment Saturday after Xavier Nady and reliever Damaso Marte in a trade with Pittsburgh.
“I was sitting at home doing unknown and all of a sudden, a team requirements me,” Hawkins said on a conference call. “I’m rather excited about that.”
New York also sent cash to the Astros as part of the deal, completed one day before ‘s non-relinquishment trade deadline. Hawkins a $3.75 shedload, one-year contract with the Yankees last December.
“LaTroy gives us one more qualified, excellence arm for our ,” Houston undefined manager Ed Wade said. “We to sign him during the offseason and lost out to the Yankees, but we are opportune to have him here for the remnants of the term. He (manager) Cecil Cooper one more missile to call upon late in the game.”
It was the another trade of the day for the Yankees, who also developed star catcher Ivan Rodriguez from Detroit for reliever Kyle Farnsworth.
The 22-year-old Cusick was hitting .285 with nine home runs and 38 RBIs in 94 sports for Class-A Lexington. The Astros selected him in the 10th round of the 2007 draft.
Wade said Hawkins will tale to the team Friday, when the Astros open a -game sequence against the New York Mets. Houston will be his sixth team in 14 main league seasons.
Hawkins down the Astros in the because he sought after to match a constant pleasure.
“It was one of gear where, if I ever got the unplanned to play for the Yankees, I surely didn’t want to pass up on that opportunity,” he said. “No disrespect to the Astros or everything like that, but it was one of those possessions that I required to do at one statement in my business and the opportunity presented itself.”
Wade said he’s been looking for a reliever to ease the amount of work on pitchers such as Doug Brocail and Chris Sampson in the bullpen. The 41-year-old Brocail the team with 51 appearances. Sampson has made 21 aid and 11 starts.
“We ended up a deal done for an experienced release jug who we deem can go back on the back end and help Brocail and Sampson and the further guys who we’ve been using late and help us get the job done,” Wade said.
The Astros were 9 1/2 cup behind Milwaukee in the NL wild-card race entering Wednesday night’s game against Cincinnati.
Wade said his discussions with the Yankees about Hawkins within the last 24 hours. The upright-hander near Dallas but has been in work out at Taylor University in Indiana since the Yankees cut him.
“I told yours truly that I was available to stay in contour,” Hawkins said. “If I got , I got – or if I had to wait the full 10 days and get and then sign with another team, that was the way I was open to go. I just wanted the coincidental to highness again this year.”
Hawkins said he would fly to Dallas on Thursday before lunch and effort to Houston well ahead in the day.
“He seemed very content with the opportunity he’s present to get here,” Wade said.
Hawkins is 57-77 with 75 saves and a 4.72 ERA in his big league line of business. He also pitched for Minnesota (1995-2003), the Chicago Cubs (2004-05), Baltimore (2006) and Colorado (2007).
Wade said he sought to bolster his interchange and before the trade deadline. The Astros picked up starting carafe Randy Wolf from San Diego last week and, after landing stage Hawkins, Wade said he’s probably done dealing before the deadline.
“There is always the likelihood that roughly else will happen,” he said. “But sensibly, this was the gadget that’s been teed up for a while here. We’ll see what happens in the next couple of hours, but there is really nonentity hot or committed at this situation.”
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