Astros, Pirates, Rays Agree to Three-Team Trade to Send Brandon Lowe to Pittsburgh, Mike Burrows to Houston, Jacob Melton to Tampa
The Astros, Pirates and Rays have agreed to a major three-team trade, according to various reports. Each party’s end of the deal breaks down like this…
Lowe is the big name of the group here. The 31-year-old has spent the last eight seasons with the Rays. During that time, he has established himself as one of the most powerful second basemen in the sport. Since the start of 2019, he has hit 151 home runs. Among the lowest second base, only Marcus Semien again Jose Altuve are ahead of him in that category, with Semien at 178 in that span and Altuve at 158.
That power production from Lowe is even more impressive when one considers that he did so in nearly a few fewer plate appearances than Altuve and 1,600 shy of Semien. But that also shows a big knock on Lowe, which is that he’s had trouble staying on the field. Due to various injuries over the years, he has only managed to play more than 107 games in a season twice. Lower back issues have always been a problem but he also hit the injured list with a right shin bone injury, right triceps contusion, right patella fracture, right oblique strain, left oblique strain and ankle/foot tendinitis.
Earlier in his career, the Rays moved Lowe between second base and the outfield corners. Most likely due to injury, he has not been taken off the pitch since 2022. He’s been almost a second-string player recently, and at first he had a few awards. His defensive secondary was once league average but appears to have declined as he battled these injuries and moved into his 30s. He is rated minus-13 in Outs Above Average this year and minus-14 in Defensive Runs Saved.
There is also little concern over his declining plate discipline. He has always had a high strikeout rate but took that away early in his career with strong walk rates. That hasn’t been the case recently, as Lowe has pitched in less than 8% of his plate appearances over the past two years.
Power is not enough to manage the profile. Since the start of 2024, he has 52 home runs and a .251/.309/.475 batting line. That translates to a 118 wRC+, which puts his offense at 18% above league average. Defensive errors aside, FanGraphs credited him with four wins over 241 games over that two-year span.
Although Lowe is an imperfect player, he could be a better one for the Pirates. They probably had no offensive power to speak of in 2025. Spencer Horwitz was the only Pirate to produce a wRC+ over 101.
Even though the Bucs haven’t played well, they’ve had plenty of talent. Paul Skenes was the clear headliner but they had plenty of other exciting young arms in the mix. After years of struggling to get back into contention, the Bucs entered this winter looking to be aggressive in raising the level of play.
They make spirited efforts at free work, they make competitive offers Kyle Schwarber again Josh Naylor before re-signing with the Phillies and Mariners respectively. Even if they were successful against one of those guys or someone else, it always seemed like they were going to use a lot of their small arms to bolster the offense.
More to come.
Chandler Rome and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported the details of the deal. Alex Stumpf of MLB.com and Franchys Romero of BeisbolFR.com report that the deal appears to be done but is pending a medical review.
