The Houston Astros helped set the trade market on Thursday by sending a pair of Minor League prospects to the Oakland Athletics for left-hander Scott Kazmir. The trade is the first major swap of 2015 and removes one option for teams looking to bolster their rotation ahead of the non-waiver trade deadline.

Kazmir signed a two-year, $20 million deal with the Athletics before the 2014 season. His name began popping up in trade rumors earlier this year when it became apparent that Oakland wasn’t going to contend. Billy Beane had no reason to hold onto the 31-year-old with the A's sitting more than 10 games back in the American League West.

Houston sits atop the AL Wild Card standings with at least a five-game lead over those on the outside looking in. At 53-43, the Astros have higher aspirations. They are two games back of the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West after occupying first place for a majority of the season.

The Astros have been linked to starting pitchers over the last month as the playoffs have become more likely. They have the fourth-best ERA (3.54) and K/BB (2.89) in the AL and rank seventh with 7.71 K/9.

Kazmir has enjoyed a good career with a 3.95 ERA and 1,420 strikeouts in 1,480.1 innings, but 2015 has easily been the best campaign of his 11-year run. In 109.2 innings stretching over 18 starts, he has a 2.38 ERA, 101 strikeouts and 163 ERA+. Kazmir ranks fifth among AL pitchers in ERA, fourth in ERA+, tenth in FIP and has kept the ball in the ballpark at an elite rate. He has allowed 0.575 home runs per nine innings, the fifth-best rate in the league.

Dallas Keuchel is a Cy Young contender, but the Astros needed someone else to eat innings in meaningful games. Houston's starting rotation has a 3.96 ERA this season, which ranks 14th in Major League Baseball. Collin McHugh (4.25 ERA, 20 starts), Scott Feldman (4.93, 11 starts) and Lance McCullers (2.52 ERA, 11 starts) are all up-and-down, injured or inexperienced.

If the Astros make the postseason (and play in more than just a Wild Card one-off), Kazmir will at the very least slot in as the No. 3 starter. If McHugh, 28, doesn't sustain his July run (3.20 ERA and 15 Ks to 5 BBs in four starts), Houston could use their newest pitcher behind Keuchel in the playoffs. There is a certain level of comfort for Jeff Luhnow and A.J. Hinch with Kazmir coming over from a division rival. He has faced the clubs the Astros are competing with multiple times in recent years. He logged 50 starts for Oakland since the start of 2014 and made 35 appearances for the Angels amid an injury-plagued three-season run from 2009 to 2011.

Acquiring Kazmir instead of someone like Cole Hamels, or even Johnny Cueto and David Price, was a shrewd move by Luhnow. As mentioned previously, Kazmir will become a free agent at season's end, which lowered his price as a rental. Kazmir also doesn't have as high a profile as Cueto or Price, both without a contract past 2015, which allowed Houston to keep some bullets in the chamber. There is still plenty of time for the Astros to further bolster the roster before the non-waiver deadline.

Grade for Astros: A-

The move is also very good for Kazmir. Not only does he get to pitch in his backyard, but he will also have plenty of opportunities to improve his free agent value in high leverage situations for the Astros. Over 36.1 career playoff innings, he has a 5.20 ERA, 26 strikeouts and 26 walks. He hasn't appeared in the postseason since 2009. There is certainly room for him to improve those statistics for display on the bargaining table.

In exchange for Kazmir, the Athletics received right-hander Daniel Mengden and catcher Jacob Nottingham from a very deep Astros farm system.

Nottingham, 20, is profiled as a potential middle of the order hitter with the skills to catch over the short term. A strong season -- .326/.383/.558 slash line in 329 plate appearances this year -- allowed him to propel up Houston's prospect rankings.

Mengden, 22, entered the season ranked as the Astros' No. 19 prospect. He was a fourth-round pick last June and currently has four pitches at his disposal. It remains to be seen if he'll be a starter or reliever at the Major League level, but there are strides to be made before a decision is made. He hadn't advanced past the High-A level of Houston's system.

Grade for Athletics: C

It's difficult to grade the prospect end of a trade with years before projections have the chance to play out. However, the benefit of acquiring prospects in the earlier stages of their development is that Oakland will have to chance to oversee more of their training and maturity.

The price for pitching was higher as recently as earlier this month, but the list of sellers has grown since the All-Star break. If the Reds are set on moving Cueto and the Tigers are willing to deal Price, which would have seemed inconceivable last month, the value of someone of Kazmir diminishes.

Beane is famously progressive, but even he wasn't able to foresee the market shift that ultimately resulted in him holding on Kazmir too long. Of course, a seemingly minor triceps injury (suffered on July 8) may have scared some suitors off for a period as well.