HOUSTON (AP) — The Astros acquired left-hander Yusei Kikuchi from the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday for 23-year-old right-hander Jake Bloss, rookie outfielder Joey Loperfido and minor league first baseman Will Wagner.
The 33-year-old Kikuchi is 4-9 with a 4.75 ERA in 22 starts this season, striking out 130 and walking 30 in 115 2/3 innings. He is 0-4 with a 7.75 ERA in eight starts since winning at Milwaukee on June 11.
Kikuchi is 35-46 with a 4.72 ERA in six seasons with Seattle and the Blue Jays. He has a $10 million salary in the final season of a $36 million, three-year contract and can become a free agent after the World Series.
“His stuff has always been really good,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “I’m excited to get him with our pitching department so we can make some adjustments to how he pitches, how he can be more efficient, but the stuff is really good.”
Kikuchi joins a rotation that includes Ronel Blanco, Hunter Brown, Framber Valdez and Spencer Arrighetti. Houston's rotation is missing Justin Verlander (neck stiffness), Cristian Javier and José Urquidy (both Tommy John surgery).
Toronto manager John Schneider said it was tough to say goodbye to Kikuchi and Justin Turner, who got traded to the Mariners in a separate deal.
“We wish him and (Turner) the best,” Schneider said. “I know they’re two American League teams, but you look at the people over the player, and they’re two of the most well-respected players in the big leagues.”
Bloss was scratched from his scheduled start against Pittsburgh on Monday.
He was selected from Georgetown with the 99th pick in the third round of the 2023 amateur draft and signed for a $497,500 bonus. Bloss made his major league debut on June 23 and is 0-1 with a 6.94 ERA in three starts. He went on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation a day after his big league debut and was activated July 11.
Bloss had 13 starts at three minor league levels this year and went 4-2 with a 1.64 ERA. Wagner is the son of former Astros closer Billy Wagner.
“A lot of these guys have high price tags,” Astros GM Dana Brown said. “Getting a major league starter with that type of arm, you’re going to have to give up some pretty good players. It’s pretty difficult to give up young talent, but at the end of the day, we’re trying to stabilize our rotation so that we can get back to the postseason and potentially get deep into the postseason.”
Toronto began the season with a $244 million luxury tax payroll, $7 million over the tax threshold. As the deadline approached, the Blue Jays also dealt third baseman Justin Turner to Seattle, catcher Danny Jansen to Boston, right-hander Nate Pearson to the Chicago Cubs and right-hander Yimi García to Seattle.
The 25-year-old Loperfido made his major league debut on April 30 and is hitting .236 with two homers and 16 RBIs.
Wagner, who turned 26 on Monday, was hitting .307 with five homers and 41 RBIs for Triple-A Sugar Land.
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Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher River Ryan celebrates after striking out Houston Astros' Joey Loperfido during the fifth inning of a baseball game Sunday, July 28, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox)
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi (16) throws to a Detroit Tigers batter in the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto, Saturday, July 20, 2024. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic officials in 19 states filed a lawsuit Thursday against President Donald Trump's attempt to reshape elections across the U.S., calling it an unconstitutional invasion of states' clear authority to run their own elections.
The lawsuit is the fourth against the executive order issued just a week ago. It seeks to block key aspects of it, including new requirements that people provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote and a demand that all mail ballots be received by Election Day.
“The President has no power to do any of this,” the state attorneys general wrote in court documents. “The Elections EO is unconstitutional, antidemocratic, and un-American.”
Trump's order said the U.S. has failed “to enforce basic and necessary election protection." Election officials have said recent elections have been among the most secure in U.S. history. There has been no indication of any widespread fraud, including when Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
The order is the culmination of Trump’s longstanding complaints about how U.S. elections are run. After his first win in 2016, Trump falsely claimed his popular vote total would have been much higher if not for “millions of people who voted illegally.” In 2020, Trump blamed a “rigged” election for his loss and falsely claimed widespread voter fraud and manipulation of voting machines.
Trump has argued his order secures the vote against illegal voting by noncitizens, though multiple studies and investigations in the states have shown that it's rare.
It has received praise from the top election officials in some Republican states who say it could inhibit instances of voter fraud and will give them access to federal data to better maintain their voter rolls.
The order also requires states to exclude any mail-in or absentee ballots received after Election Day, and puts states' federal funding at risk if election officials don’t comply. Some states count ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day or allow voters to correct minor errors on their ballots.
Forcing states to change, the suit says, would violate the broad authority the Constitution gives states to set their own election rules. It says they decide the “times, places and manner” of how elections are run.
Congress has the power to “make or alter” election regulations, at least for federal office, but the Constitution doesn’t mention any presidential authority over election administration.
“We are a democracy – not a monarchy – and this executive order is an authoritarian power grab,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
A request sent to the White House was not immediately returned.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts by the Democratic attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Other lawsuits filed over the order argue it could disenfranchise voters because millions of eligible voting-age Americans do not have the proper documents readily available. People are already required to attest to being citizens, under penalty of perjury, in order to vote.
Under the order, documents acceptable to prove citizenship would be a U.S. passport, a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license that “indicates the applicant is a citizen," and a valid photo ID as long as it is presented with proof of citizenship.
Democrats argue that millions of Americans do not have easy access to their birth certificates, about half don’t have a U.S. passport, and married women would need multiple documents if they had changed their name. That was a complication for some women during recent town elections in New Hampshire, the first ones held under a new state law requiring proof of citizenship to register.
Not all REAL ID-compliant driver's licenses designate U.S. citizenship.
Cassidy reported from Atlanta.
Voters mark their ballots while voting at Centennial Hall at the Milwaukee Central Library on Election Day Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
Josette Baublitz marks her ballot while voting at Waters Edge event venue in the state's Supreme Court election, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)
FILE - Chester County, Pa., election workers process mail-in and absentee ballots at West Chester University in West Chester, Pa., Nov. 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
