The Astros have declined their club option on right-handed reliever Will Harris, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports (via Twitter). Harris’ option would’ve paid him $5.5MM had it been exercised. He won’t become a free agent, however, as he has not yet reached six year of Major League service time. As such, Harris will remain under Astros control as an arbitration-eligible player. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him at a $3.6MM salary for the coming season, so it’s not surprising to see the ‘Stros decline an option that would’ve paid him a considerably larger sum.
The 34-year-old Harris still seems like a safe bet to return to the ‘Stros in 2019 — albeit at a lower rate. Like Collin McHugh before him, Harris was a scrapheap pickup off the waiver wire who found great success upon landing in Houston. In four seasons with the Astros, he’s pitched to a 2.58 ERA in 237 innings and averaged 9.6 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 along the way.
His performance took a step backward in 2018, though looking past his still-solid 3.49 ERA, Harris’ 10.2 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 0.48 HR/9, 49.7 percent ground-ball rate, 13.8 percent swinging-strike rate and 34.6 percent chase rate on out-of-zone pitches were all legitimately excellent.
If and when the Astros do tender Harris a contract for the 2019 campaign, he’ll go through the arbitration process this winter and then become a free agent at the conclusion of the 2019 campaign.
This is surprising. I thought they would try to get him back. He is an average reliever coming out of the pen along with Osuna, Rondon, and others. I’m kind of surprised to see him go. He will probably end up with a not-so-good team and be used as a trade piece.
As the article says hes still an astro they just didn’t want to pay him 5.5 mil
Reading comprehension is hard
People are so used to scanning now they miss most of the substance of articles.