Astros reportedly acquire reliever Kendall Graveman from the White Sox

The Chicago White Sox firesale continues apace. Just hours after shipping Lance Lynn and Joe Kelly to the Los Angeles Dodgers — and days after sending Lucas Giolito to the Angels — Chicago has dealt righty reliever Kendall Graveman to the Houston Astros. Catching prospect Korey Lee, a former first-round pick, is headed to the White Sox in return.

It’s the second time in three trade deadlines that the 32-year-old Graveman will be headed to Houston. The Astros also acquired him for the stretch run back in 2021, when he pitched to a 3.13 ERA across 23 innings. The righty has enjoyed another solid season on the South Side this year, with a 3.48 ERA and eight saves while filling in for the injured Liam Hendriks as Chicago’s closer.

He also comes with another year of team control, as he’s set to enter the last year of a three-year, $24 million deal next season. That likely made him more appealing than other available relievers for Houston, who has Ryne Stanek, Phil Maton and Hector Neris set to enter free agency. The Astros’ bullpen currently ranks 14th in the league in ERA, with not a ton of reliable options after Neris, closer Ryan Pressly and setup man Bryan Abreu. It wasn’t the most pressing need for Houston, but it’ll certainly help to have one more high-leverage arm come October.

Lee was a top prospect once upon a time, taken in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Cal. The righty showed some decent pop in the low Minors, but he’s stagnated with the bat since then, hitting a pedestrian .255/.313/.446 at Triple-A over the last two years — while striking out nearly four times as often as he’s walked. Still, he can handle the defensive rigors of catching well enough to be a Major League regular, and he should factor into Chicago’s catching mix as soon as this season.