WASHINGTON -- With starting second baseman Jose Altuve and starting shortstop Jeremy Pe?a dealing with nagging injuries and the Astros not getting much production from their bench, the club made a trade Saturday to bolster its position-player depth, acquiring Mauricio Dub¨®n from the Giants in exchange for Minor League catcher Michael Papierski.
Dub¨®n, 27, has played four years in the big leagues, mostly with the Giants, after being acquired from the Brewers. He has a career slash line of .258/.301/.395 with 15 homers and 58 RBIs in 179 games. He¡¯s played mostly in center field but has substantial time at second base and shortstop, as well as some at third.
Astros general manager James Click said Dub¨®n will join the Astros in Washington on Sunday, at which time a corresponding roster move will be made.
¡°Mauricio is a guy that we targeted as far back as this offseason and targeted to try to get on the team,¡± Click said. ¡°We weren¡¯t able to do so then and continued the conversation with the Giants for a while. He is a multi-position player who brings a lot to the table in terms of defensive versatility.¡±
Pe?a, who¡¯s having a terrific rookie season, sat out Friday¡¯s series opener in Washington with right knee discomfort that he sustained while running the bases Thursday in Minneapolis. Altuve slipped on the wet grass late in Friday¡¯s game and was removed in the ninth inning for precautionary reasons. It¡¯s unclear what Altuve injured. Click doesn¡¯t believe Altuve or Pe?a will require a stint on the injured list.
¡°Those kinds of nagging injuries, as well as Aledmys D¨ªaz [nagging injury], really highlighted to me the marathon that we have in front of us and really helped motivate us to make this move,¡± Click said. ¡°We don¡¯t anticipate either one of those guys having to go on the IL, but we will reassess the roster after today and see what makes the most sense.¡±
Still, the Astros haven¡¯t been getting much production from their bench this year. The utility infielder/outfielder D¨ªaz, who¡¯s also been dealing with a hand issue, is hitting .191/.257/.294, and infielder Niko Goodrum is hitting .128/.171/.179. Dub¨®n could provide more punch offensively, and Click believes he¡¯s a solid defender at several positions.
¡°There are a lot of multi-position guys who are weaker at one position, maybe, than another,¡± Click said. ¡°We don¡¯t feel like Mauricio falls into that. We feel like he can provide quality defense in the outfield, and our defense is something that has been critical to this team¡¯s success over the course of the season. We think he can be a big part of that going forward.¡±
The Astros have only two other infielders on the 40-man roster at Triple-A -- Joe Perez and J.J. Matijevic -- and both came up earlier this year to fill out the roster for short stints.
Papierski, a ninth-round pick in 2017, has put together a .211/.324/.278 slash line in 26 games this season at Triple-A with the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.