The Astros have reached a deal to avoid arbitration with slugger Evan Gattis, according to Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Gattis will be guaranteed $3.4MM in the deal, Drellich tweets, but $100K of that comes in the form of a buyout for a $5.2MM club option for the 2017 campaign.
Gattis was a first-time arb-eligible player this year, so the contract does not impact his free-agent timeline. The sides had been set for a hearing this afternoon, but that won’t be necessary after agreeing to terms. Gattis had filed at $3.8MM, with Houston countering at $3MM. Entering the offseason, MLBTR projected the bat-first ballplayer to take home $3.4MM — which turned out to be the final agreed-upon value.
The settlement represents a creative solution. For Houston, there’s some nice cost-saving potential build into this arrangement. Gattis has put up 49 home runs over the past two seasons, and that kind of power output could lead to a big raise through the arb process. While he now locks in a ceiling on his 2017 earning capacity without getting any promises that he’ll be tendered, Gattis has insured against any injury or performance issues this spring by securing what appears to be a fully-guaranteed deal. (Arb agreements are only partially guaranteed unless otherwise provided.)
Both player and team will hope for a more well-rounded effort in the coming season. The 29-year-old swatted a career-best 27 long balls last year, but saw his overall output drop to a disappointing .246/.285/.463 slash over 604 plate appearances. For a player that spent the vast majority of his time in a DH role, that’s not quite enough production. Though Gattis did suffer from a low .264 BABIP, that figure was explained in part by the fact that he made less hard contact and had a higher infield fly rate in 2015 than he had previously. The slow-footed former catcher also put the ball on the ground more frequently.
Of course, Gattis will first have to work his way back from hernia surgery. He’s not expected to miss much time, if any, but it will put him on the back foot to start the spring and may have played a role in his decision to take Houston up on this contractual arrangement rather than rolling the dice on a hearing.
Great for both sides, as a Braves fan, I am glad to see Evan getting his due. Hope for health throughout his contract.
Umm, hitting lots of ground balls usually leads to high BABiP, not low. Gattis’ numbers suggest a ton of lazy fly balls, with some squared up bombs now and then. Sort of Wilin Rosario territory.
Fair enough, but the difference in BABIP on grounders vs flies may not be so great that it wouldn’t be a cause for a lumbering guy like Gattis. Really, it’d be necessary to look at the data on a more granular level, so I’ll just note the numbers and leave the broader conclusions open to others’ interpretation/research.
If you’re hitting line drives or if you have speed (or both) it can lead to a high BABIP. Gattis has neither of these skills.
If you run like a stegosaurus, like Gattis does, ground balls do not equal high BABiP. But normally when he makes contact, he makes solid contact. Not so much last season. Now he may be healthier this season and back to scorching those balls he seemed to miss, or not get all of, this season. It seemed like he was either an easy out or a home run or a triple(weird) all last season. I’d expect it(BABiP and the resulting domino effect to other stats) to go back up this year, but hoping a little bit that it doesn’t.
You saying BABIP is caused just by grounders definitely explains the fact that he has 11 triples. The reason is unknown, and won’t happen again even in Houston. He will have a better Batting average next year, not incredible, but better.
Odd signing for Gattis. He gives the Astros a team option with an inconsequential buyout and a 2016 salary that is right at the filing number.
He’s limiting his 2017 salary and getting nothing in return for it. Weird.