Astros Sign Wade Miley
Feb. 1: The Astros have formally announced the signing. Houston’s 40-man roster is now at 39 players.
Jan. 31: The Astros have agreed to a one-year deal with lefty Wade Miley, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The O’Connell Sports Management client receives a $4.5MM guarantee and can tack on $500K in incentives, Bob Nightengale of USA Today adds (Twitter links).
Miley becomes the latest mid-range starter to settle for a one-year pact after entering the offseason with a case for a multi-season arrangement. He’ll presumably step into the Houston rotation, though his incentives package includes provisions allowing him to earn either for starts or relief appearances, per Ken Davidoff of the New York Post (Twitter link).
This trip through free agency may not have been quite as financially rewarding as Miley might have hoped, but he landed with a clear contender and certainly fared better than he did the last time around. Miley settled for a minors pact last year with the Brewers after a rough two-season run, but turned things around after overcoming some health issues early in the season.
All told, Miley worked to a 2.57 ERA in 80 2/3 frames over 16 starts last year in Milwaukee. He averaged only 5.6 K/9 with 3.0 BB/9, but generated a robust 52.8% groundball rate and allowed only three home runs on the year.
In some regards, Miley was not a substantially different pitcher last year than he had been over the prior seven seasons. His swinging-strike rate sat just a half percentage point above his lifetime 8.6% mark; his average fastball velocity sat right at his career mean of ~92 mph. But that only tells part of the story, as Miley drastically revamped his arsenal in a manner that obviously paid dividends.
In particular, Miley ramped up usage of his cutter, which became his most-used and most-effective pitch, while burying his sinker and slider in favor of enhanced usage of a curve and change. He surrendered much more pull-side contact than before, but with a career-high 2.24 GB/FB rate, the shift-savvy Brewers were able to gobble up quite a few of those well-struck balls. Miley also induced weak contact on 19.5% of the balls put in play against him and ended the season with a career-low .269 BABIP-against.
That last figure — batting average on balls in play — is an interesting one to consider. Any change in Miley’s fortunes in that area, or in the number of balls that leave the yard, could reverse his turnaround. First, though, opposing hitters will have to find a way to solve Miley’s two favorite new offerings; they managed sub-.200 batting averages and sub-.300 slugging percentages against both his cutter and curve last year. Statcast was duly impressed, as it credited Miley with a .300 xwOBA that largely supports the weak .283 wOBA mark he held batters to.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Orioles, Jesus Sucre Agree To Minor League Deal
The Orioles are in agreement on a minor league contract with catcher Jesus Sucre, tweets USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. He’ll be invited to Major League Spring Training and would earn $850K if he makes the big league roster. Sucre can also opt out of the contract on March 22 if he’s not on the MLB roster at that point.
Sucre, 30, spent the past two seasons with the Rays, hitting a combined .232/.268/.330 with eight homers in 390 plate appearances spanning 135 games. Those numbers line up fairly well with Sucre’s career marks, though he’s more of a defensive-minded option behind the dish. Throughout his big league career, Sucre has halted 32 percent of stolen-base attempts against him, and he’s consistently registered above-average framing grades throughout his career (with the exception of last season), per Baseball Prospectus.
Presently, the Orioles have only two catchers on the 40-man roster in Chance Sisco and Austin Wynns, though they’ll also have Carlos Perez and Andrew Susac in camp competing for roster spots.
Padres, Mets Among Teams Interested In Gio Gonzalez
The Padres have been connected to a number of high-profile names over the past week — Manny Machado, Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto — and MLB.com’s Jon Morosi now adds that they’re also considering free-agent lefty Gio Gonzalez. The Mets, too, have maintained contact with Scott Boras regarding Gonzalez, Mike Puma of the New York Post reports (via Twitter).
Gonzalez, 33, has made 31 or more starts in all but one season dating back to 2010, with the lone exception being a 2014 campaign in which he took the ball 27 times. Last season, in 171 innings between the Nationals and Brewers, the two-time All-Star logged a respectable 4.21 ERA but did so with his lowest K/9 (7.8) and highest BB/9 (4.2) marks since cementing himself as a big league starter. Of course, a year prior, Gonzalez tossed 201 innings of 2.96 ERA ball with 8.4 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9.
Earlier this winter, the Padres were linked more to younger rotation options, as their goal at the time appeared to be to add a pitcher on a multi-year deal who’d still be in his prime during San Diego’s return to contention. Gonzalez may not fit that bill, though it’s also quite possible that like many other free agents, his asking price has dropped. And, it’d be easy enough for the Padres to fit Gonzalez into their rotation picture, given the general lack of experience among the team’s current rotation options. San Diego has numerous young options with more upside than Gonzalez, but Gonzalez is one of the most reliable sources starts remaining on the open market and could thus help to stabilize that young group.
As for the Mets, Puma notes that they’re debating internally whether he’s enough of an upgrade over in-house options. Certainly, Gonzalez would appear to be an upgrade over Jason Vargas, although Vargas is owed $8MM this season, which would likely be a factor to consider when potentially displacing him. Beyond that, it’s worth noting that each of Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz and Zack Wheeler spent time on the disabled list last season. The Mets’ rotation is quite talented, though health has long been an issue for the collective group, and depth beyond the team’s top quintet is thin, too.
It’s been a quiet winter on the Gonzalez front, with few known suitors beyond today’s pairing, although the Brewers were mentioned as a possibility by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt just yesterday.