Two deals went down early in the afternoon on Monday. There will still be a bevy of action between now and the Tuesday deadline (as of this writing) but both of these trades could have long-term fantasy effects and they definitely will affect real baseball. One of the deals was fascinating as it involves both teams taking a significant risk.

Houston Astros Acquire Roberto Osuna for Ken Giles, Hector Perez, and David Paulino

This is an impressive haul for the embattled Blue Jays’ closer. If we go strictly by the numbers this was a potential steal for the Houston Astros. Osuna has a 2.93 ERA on the season with nine saves. As we know, he only has nine saves because he has been serving a suspension for domestic violence. Trading a dominant closer is tough (he has 104 career saves through three and a fourth seasons) but the Blue Jays were probably dealing with some bad public relations and he wasn’t going to be eligible to return from his suspension until August 5th. This gives the Astros a week to evaluate their bullpen and either jettison a pitcher or strategically place one on the disabled list. All in all, it is probably a better package than they could have gotten for any established closer, but they will still have to deal with the PR blowback of getting someone with his baggage.

Simply getting Giles could be seen as a coup for the Blue Jays. He supposedly told Astros manager A.J. Hinch to “**** off” when leaving the mound following a blown non-save and hasn’t been in an Astros uniform since. You could pay attention to the 4.99 ERA for Giles and assume he will continue to struggle, or you can focus on a change of scenery and a 2.28 FIP. His K rate is down considerably this year, but he is still averaging a strikeout per inning and is a perfect 12 for 12 in save opportunites

Hector Perez and David Paulino are both talented young arms that could figure as starters in the future. Paulino missed most of last season with a drug suspension and has missed most of this season with injury. If he returns to health next season he could be a nice end of the rotation option. Perez has pitched between advanced A and AA and has some pretty decent numbers (3-4, 3.73 ERA in 89.1 INN) but he is not an uber prospect by any stretch.

Mariners Acquire Zach Duke and Adam Warren

Duke was a small part of the Twins efforts to compete this season by pitting several journeymen together in the hopes for serendipity. Those efforts obviously had mixed results. Obviously, the Twins record says it was more or less a failure, but Duke has managed to pitch to a 3.62 ERA in 37 1/3 innings. He has a 9.4 K/9 rate and has an excellent 58.8 percent groundball rate. Lefty specialist was one of the glaring needs for the Mariners down the stretch and Duke checks the box on that count.

Adam Warren gives the Mariners a swingman option they desperately need down the stretch. He has pitched exclusively out of the pen this year and has an impressive 2.70 ERA in 30 innings this season. He last started games in 2015 for the Yankees when he had a 7-7 record in 131 innings. He had a disastrous partial season in Chicago in 2016, but has never had an ERA higher than 3.39 in any full season in the big Apple. As a reliever, he has a 16-16 career record with a 3.24 ERA in 330 career innings. So, add these two relievers together and the Mariners just got a lot deeper.

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