Posted at 1:10 p.m., Saturday, July 28, 2007
Baseball: Devil Rays acquire P Wheeler from Astros
Associated Press
The Houston Astros added some much-needed offense, trading reliever Dan Wheeler to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for infielder Ty Wigginton.
Wigginton was hitting .275 with 16 homers and 49 RBIs. Last year, he had a career-high 24 homers and 79 RBIs.
Wheeler took over as the Astros' closer when Brad Lidge struggled earlier in the season. He had 11 saves in 15 chances and a 5.07 ERA for Houston. Lidge recently won back the job and has converted six straight saves.
The Devil Rays have been making wholesale changes to what has been the worst bullpen in baseball. Over its last 30 innings, the bullpen has given up 44 runs.
Earlier today, they traded for minor league reliever Brian Shackelford from Cincinnati, and sent down struggling reliever Shawn Camp. On Friday they added reliever Grant Balfour in a trade with the Brewers.
On Monday, they placed Jay Witasick on the 15-day disabled list, sent J.P. Howell to Triple-A Durham and called up Jason Hammel and Juan Salas from Durham.
