Astros Trade for Mike Burrows
If you can't beat him, trade for him
A much-awaited trade occurred on Friday, although no one had specifically nominated Mike Burrows of the Pirates as an option.
However, we had reached a point where we knew something needed to happen, and it finally did.
In a three-way deal, the Astros dealt Jacob Melton and Anderson Brito to the Rays and received Mike Burrows of the Pirates in return.
While not earth-shattering in MLB circles, there are interesting facets to this deal from an Astros perspective.
The Return
Burrows is a 26-year-old righty who appeared in 23 games for the Pirates in 2025, including a June 4 start against the Astros when he allowed 5 hits and 0 runs across 5.1 innings, striking out 6 and walking 0.
Burrows finished the season 2-4 with a 3.94 ERA over 96 innings, recording 97 strikeouts, while walking 31.
His advanced stats are mostly pedestrian, except off-speed run value, led by his change-up (+9 run value), which batters hit only .147 and slugged .220 against in 2025.
Burrows also recorded a 43.1% whiff rate and 42.4% K rate on the pitch.
On the flip side, Burrows’ four-seamer (95.5 MPH) was blasted to the tune of .302 average, .529 slug, and -6 run value.
To that end, word has it the Astros want to teach him a sinker.
Across AAA and MLB, Burrows pitched 128.1 innings last season, the most of his professional career.
Burrows comes with 6 seasons of club control.
The Cost
The Astros gave up their No. 2 (Melton) and No. 7 (Brito) prospects per MLB.com.
That sounds like a lot, but when you consider what Baltimore gave up for Shane Baz, it’s not absurd by any stretch.
In addition, some consider Melton a platoon Major Leaguer at best and while Brito flashed in the Arizona Fall League, he’s certainly not a guaranteed Major League contributor, never having pitched above High A and with a slight frame of 5’10, 155 pounds.
Brito has an ETA of 2027 with the Rays and slots in as their No. 6 prospect.
Don’t get me wrong, Melton has tools, specifically athleticism, speed and defense, but he struggled mightily at the plate in his time in Houston last season and likely became expendable when Zach Cole capitalized on his own opportunity.
Roster Impacts
Fangraphs slotted Burrows into the 4th spot in the rotation and moved Jason Alexander to long relief. They already had Melton and Brito in the minors, so no other impacts to the projected MLB Roster.
The Verdict
The Astros need to improve their rotation and they did that, with little impact to the MLB Roster.
As mentioned the Baz haul for the Rays shows you just how unlikely it is for the Astros to trade for a pitcher as highly thought of as Baz, but it should be noted that his projected fWAR in Baltimore is just 0.4 higher than Burrows, who they project to an 8-9 record, 138 IP and a 1.6 fWAR.
If those numbers come to fruition, Burrow would add just over 3.5 wins to the Astros’ total.
Fangraphs had Melton to contributing just 0.2 fWAR in 2026, leaving the Astros with a net 1.4 fWAR and 3.1 additional wins.
If Burrows can hit those numbers, this will turn out to be a solid deal for Houston.
Personally, 138 innings seems like a lot, as whether by design or lack of success, Burrows did not show much length last season in Pittsburgh.
Only 2 of his 19 starts were quality and 10 times he didn’t make it to 5 innings.
As with all trades, the true winner and loser won’t be known for some years, but this was a solid, if unspectacular, move by Dana Brown to improve his team without giving up much from the MLB roster and working with what he has.