#Astros officially acquire IF Luis Valbuena and RHP Dan Straily from the Cubs in exchange for OF Dexter Fowler.
— Houston Astros (@astros) January 19, 2015
"Dexter was a big part of our team last year and would have been a big part of our team this year, but he's in high demand by other clubs," Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow told Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. "We talked to a few clubs about him and pretty much resisted trading him until the Cubs made this offer available."
"At that point, we felt we needed to do it. This is a deal that improves our team in 2015 and gives us some exciting players beyond 2015. Dexter was going to be a free agent after this year. Not that we could have been involved in trying to sign him, but you never know with those things."
Straily was acquired by the Cubs from the Oakland Athletics in the Jeff Samardzija trade back in July. The 28-year-old struggled in just 13.2 innings pitched. He pitched a 11.85 ERA and has an overall 13-12 record over 48 games.
"It's a thing of the past," Straily told Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle about his struggles. "I was never really injured. I was just weak. My arm was weak, my shoulder was weak, it changed my arm slot, it changed everything. It changed my velocity. My second start of the season I was throwing 83 in the seventh inning and that just is not something I've ever done. "
"Things weren't right but that’s fine because I learned a lot. … Really taught me how to be a pitcher. Now that the arm strength's back and everything's completely healthy, I'm just really excited for this next season."
Valbuena is a solid lefty bat who hit a career-high 16 home runs in 149 games played in last season. He slashed .249/.341/.435. Valbuena played third base for most of the season. He will fight for the starting job with Matt Dominguez. Because Valbuena is out of the Chicago organization, the teams top prospect Kris Bryant will emerge at the hot corner.
"With Luis being a left-handed hitter and Matt being a right-handed hitter, you could see both of them sharing that position or some other configuration," Luhnow said. "It gives us options. Valbuena is a proven Major League bat who can play premium positions, so we're excited."
- Evan Petzold