Rays strengthen pitching staff by acquiring Adrian Houser from White Sox

The Tampa Bay Rays bolstered their pitching staff on Thursday in a deal that resulted in the team landing Chicago White Sox standout right-handed pitcher Adrian Houser.
In return, Chicago acquired infielder Curtis Mead and minor-league right-handed pitchers Duncan Davitt and Ben Peoples. The White Sox optioned Mead while assigning Davitt and Peoples to Triple-A Charlotte.
The trade comes at a key time for Tampa (54-56), which sits 10 games behind Toronto for the AL East title and 3.5 games out of the wild card.
The 32-year-old hurler joins the Rays after just 11 games in Chicago, during which time Houser put together a breakout campaign, logging a team-high six wins to go along with a 2.10 ERA, which led all White Sox starters.
Houser agreed to a one-year contract with Chicago on May 20. Since that time, he ranks third in the American League and fifth in MLB in ERA. Across nine big-league seasons — which included stops with the Milwaukee Brewers (2015, 2018-23), New York Mets (2024) and Chicago — Houser has gone 38-41 with a 4.00 ERA, 266 walks and 531 strikeouts in 677 1/3 innings over 163 appearances (115 starts).
With a 6-2 record, this season is just the fourth in which Houser reached six victories. His career high came in 2021, when he went 10-6. His 2.10 ERA is a career best since becoming a full-time starter in 2019.
Mead, 24, batted .226 this season with three home runs and eight RBIs in 49 games with Tampa Bay. A versatile defender who played 42 career games at second base, 40 at third and 20 at first, Mead has hit .238 with five home runs and 20 RBIs across 111 games with the Rays. He also hit .264 with three homers and seven RBIs in 14 games this season with Triple-A Durham.
Davitt, 25, went 5-5 with a 4.08 ERA and 105 strikeouts spanning 19 starts with Durham and Double-A Montgomery this season. Peoples, 24, made 35 relief appearances with Durham this year, going 2-2 with a 2.65 ERA, 20 walks and 39 strikeouts in 37 1/3 innings.