Astros Sign Kyle Farnsworth

10:50am: Farnsworth can earn up to $1.2MM with the Astros if he hits all of his performance bonuses, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.

10:38am: Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter) confirms that it’s a big league deal.

10:24am: The Astros have signed Kyle Farnsworth, according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com (on Twitter).

Earlier today, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter) cautioned everyone not to be surprised if the Astros wound up signing Farnsworth.  Houston, after all, is the team with the greatest need for the veteran as they have the highest bullpen ERA in the majors.

The Mets outrighted Farnsworth this week before his advance consent clause was set to lapse.  Had the Mets kept Farnsworth, they would have been on the hook for $750K for the rest of the season.  Rather than accept the assignment, the Barry Meister client elected free agency.

Prior to his release, Farnsworth, 38, served as the Mets’ closer at times and carried a 3.18 ERA through 17 innings. The veteran righty sports a 5.29 K/9 against 3.18 BB/9 to go with a 35.2% groundball rate on the year. That strikeout rate falls well below his career average of 8.80 K/9, continuing a precipitous decline in that mark in recent years. Over 977 career MLB innings, Farnsworth has a 4.24 ERA.

To make room for Farnsworth on the roster, Houston has optioned Paul Clemens to Triple-A.