San Diego, CA – The Houston Astros have traded pitchers J.A. Happ, Brandon Lyon and David Carpenter to the Toronto Blue Jays in a 10-player swap.
In return, the Jays have sent pitcher Francisco Cordero, outfielder Ben Francisco, four minor leaguers and a player to be named later to Houston.
"This is a very good deal for us," said Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow in a statement Friday morning. "Once again we are adding depth to our minor league system with quality young players. We really feel this will help us moving forward and are extremely excited about the players we've added to our organization."
While the Astros pick up a couple of major league players and prospects, the Blue Jays -- still clinging to playoff aspirations -- obtained a pair of pitchers that will help immediately
Happ is 7-9 with a 4.83 earned run average in 18 starts this season. He will join a Toronto rotation hit hard by injuries, as Brandon Morrow, Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchison were all hurt in a four-day span during mid-June.
The 29-year-old lefty owns a career mark of 32-33 with a 4.16 ERA in six seasons with Philadelphia and Houston.
Lyon is 0-2 with a 3.25 ERA in 37 relief appearances. The 32-year-old righty broke in with the Blue Jays in 2001 and is in his 11th big league season. He has a career record of 36-45 with a 4.17 ERA and 78 saves in 505 career games.
Carpenter will be assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas. The 27-year-old right-hander was 0-2 with a 6.07 ERA in 30 relief appearances this season for Houston before being sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City earlier this month.
Houston, with the worst record in baseball, will pick up some bullpen help in Cordero, a 37-year-old righty who is 3-5 with a 5.77 ERA and two saves in 41 outings this season. The 14-year veteran has 329 career saves to rank 12th on the all-time list.
Francisco was hitting .240 in 27 games for the Blue Jays this season. He will play for his fourth team in six big league seasons, having also spent time with Cleveland and Philadelphia before joining Toronto this year.
Three of the minor leaguers the Astros will receive are pitchers, including a pair of former top-50 draft selections.
Asher Wojciechowski, a 23-year-old right-hander, was selected 41st in the 2010 draft was 7-3 with a 3.57 ERA in 18 starts for Single-A Dunedin this season.
Joe Musgrove, a 19-year-old righty, was chosen 46th in the 2011 draft and has a 3.51 ERA in two pro seasons between the Gulf Coast Blue Jays and Single-A Bluefield.
David Rollins, a 22-year-old lefty, is 10-1 with a 2.46 ERA in 25 starts over two pro seasons, including 6-1 with a 2.78 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 77 2/3 innings this year at Single-A Lansing.
The Astros also picked up 21-year-old catcher Carlos Perez, who was hitting .275 in 71 games at Lansing this season.
Toronto also made a pair of roster moves, recalling outfielder Travis Snider from Triple-A Las Vegas while transferring pitcher Robert Coello to the 60-day disabled list.
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