Free-agent righty Mike Fiers has signed on with los Leones de Yucatan of the Mexican League, per an announcement from the team.
Fiers, 36, made just two starts in the big leagues last season, both coming with the A’s. A hip injury in Spring Training delayed his 2021 debut until late April, and Fiers returned for just two appearances before going back to the injured list with an elbow sprain that eventually proved to be a season-ender. During his 9 1/3 innings, he was tagged for eight runs on 15 hits and four walks with five strikeouts.
It wasn’t a good showing for the right-hander, clearly, but Fiers isn’t far removed from a sharp three-year run with the Tigers and A’s (2018-20) that saw him pitch to a combined 3.85 ERA through 415 2/3 innings. Fiers’ strikeout rate and velocity have continued to dip as he’s progressed toward his late 30s, but he’s maintained walk rates that are considerably better than league average and also induced plenty of harmless infield flies during that Detroit/Oakland run.
With a decent showing in Mexico, it’s possible Fiers will get another look with a big league team at some point in the 2022 season. The need for pitching is constant over the course of a given season, and in 1151 career innings at the big league level, Fiers has a 4.07 ERA with a 20.7% strikeout rate and a 7.0% walk rate.
Dare I say it feels like blackballing that he couldn’t even get a Minors deal?
Although I wouldn’t rule that out as a reason, he’s also only pitched 68 innings the last two seasons, has a 5.00 ERA/5.49 FIP in those innings, and will be 37-years-old for more than half of the season. Any team could probably roll the dice on a Triple-A starter and get better production.
Blackballed for breaking Giancarlo Stanton’s teeth
I think the A’s budget just couldn’t compete with Yucatán is all.
He’s not very good, to be honest. I’d prob agree that he’s sorta being “blackballed.” But I think this just shows that a lot of teams do shady things behind the scenes and they don’t want someone that is willing to air it out in the future.
That’s exactly it. If someone like Verlander said it, he would still have an MLB job. Nobody wants a bad player that shares dirty laundry (especially when it was a league-wide issue).
Sounds a lot like Kapernick
Mike Fiers part of the terrible trade that sent Hader and Adrain Houser to the Brewers. Just imagine Hader with the Astros from 2017 till now. One of the worst trades I can think of best the Yelich trade in recent history.
However, as much as I despise Fiers, he carried that staff for a few months when the studs were all hurt.
Yes, he did. We would not have gotten there without him, that’s a fact. Leaving him off the post-season roster that year …..
It’s all like some horrible greek tragedy, where a normal heedless action results in a pile of dead bodies on the stage at the end of the play
To be fair, if I was a GM, why would I give an aging and declining veteran a minor league deal that I could give to one of my young up and comers who can use that spot to potentially become better!? I’d give minor league deals to possible bounce back veterans but he has yet to show that that’s what he is.
Who would want him on the team? If you cannot trust someone, then how can you accept them as a teammate?
because if he’s good enough to start it shouldn’t matter. unless said players are doing anything illegal than they shouldn’t have to worry.
Whistle blowers with high ERA‘s have a hard time finding major league jobs
Snitches
La Rata
It takes a brave person to stand up and point out things that are just wrong. Fiers did just that. While I have questions about the timing of when he went public, he still did it before anyone else had. Rat should be a term for people that just stand by and do nothing when something wrong is happening. It certainly should not apply to the person who steps up.
Lol. There is nothing to praise Fiers for. He was butt hurt and ran to the media to share clubhouse secrets (in which the whole league was doing). If he had been on the World Series roster another team would have been the fall guys. If he truly didn’t like what was going on he would have said something much earlier. Nobody wants a player like him on their team.
Fact is the commissioner was asked to look into the sign stealing that Astros were doing 2 years before. The Comish said there was no reason to look into it. Many baseball teams knew what the Astros were doing but MLB did nothing. Fiers was asked a question and answered the question. I will blame MLB more than the Astros since they knew what was going on. Unfortunately the players on the Astros that didn’t cheat will always have a cloud above them. So the ones that cheated has caused harm to those who didn’t cheat.
jjdoo2 said ‘butt hurt’, everyone drink!
If he was so bothered then he should return his ring, but he never did.
Bravery is fine, but part of that bravery is accepting the consequences of your actions. If there were no consequences to being a whistle blower, then bravery wouldn’t be needed.
WarP,
So, you’re comparing MLB with a crime family, and its players are bound by a code silence. You have an interesting view of the American pastime.
I find it very disappointing Jimenez, Del Pozo, and Bryan Garcia retain a role w/ DET. But a player like Fiers, who has done well with the Tigers, can’t manage to get a contract even with Toledo.
All I can say is, good luck Mike.
Newman, I don’t think those three justify signing Fiers. I would also point out that it is Spring Training and none of those three are guaranteed anything. Jimenez will likely stick around well into the season because they still have to pay him, and Garcia has minor league options remaining.
I wish they would’ve at the very least, gave him a non-roster invite. $1.8m tendered contract to Jimenez is absolutely ridiculous. I truly do not get it..he stinks.. year after year with this.
With A.J. Hinch as Tigers Manager it was probably very unlikely Detroit would even consider Fiers
Why? Neither liked what happened. They have that in common. I’m more disappointed that Hinch met with CC, one of the players who actually was responsible for him getting suspended.
Going to Mexico is probably a great strategy to never have to pitch vs the Astros again.
The rat belongs in Mexico, good signing.
Rocker, just so you know, Johnny Friendly wasn’t the good guy in “On the Waterfront.”
Rocker, you must be a big fan of steroid users also.
Shows the morals of some fans here. They call Fiers a rat or whistle blower when what he did was honest. Shouldn’t the real rats be all the Astro players that cheated to steal a trophy? Altuve who cheated to win a series. All the other players on the team that knew exactly what was going on but pretending they didn’t know. They all knew in that club house. The biggest rat of all was the commissioner who knew what was going on and ignored it because he didn’t want to give baseball a black eye..
@ARC2 You are cheating when you say Altuve cheated to win a series… You don’t have any prove to say that.
Sure his tattoo was bothering him. That excuse showed he was a liar.
Can you explain why that excuse showed his a liar? Do you have strong arguments to say that?
When he claims the shirt couldn’t come off but is photos all over the internet showing him with no shirt on. Funny how nobody seen the tattoo that was so embarrassing.
There are plenty of pictures with the tattoo showing. You are reaching.
When a guy gives dubious excuses that are contradicted by his own behavior, it’s reasonable to question his honesty. He said his wife didn’t want him to be seen without his shirt on, but he’d been on the field grinning without his jersey before, and he posed shirtless in vacation photos he posted on social media.
Is that a proof?
It’s proof that his own behavior contradicted his excuse. And when the excuse changes over time, it further undercuts his credibility.
That’s your opinion not a proof.
No, it’s a fact. He said he didn’t want his jersey torn off because his wife didn’t want him to be seen with his shirt off. He also posted shirtless photos of himself — with his wife:
https://twitter.com/SavageFanbase/status/1218041027480752128
That there’s a contradiction, amigo.
Think you missed how the yankee letter is being released. The Red Sox, dodgers, and brewers have also been accused by former players stating they all cheat. The astros became the scapegoat that’s all it is.
If the Commissioner stopped in a couple years before when there were complaints we wouldn’t be having this debate. Fiers did nothing but truthful comment so why is he a rat? What about excuse doesn’t make it right.
Big difference: as a Yankee fan, if they did something wrong—I’m ok with them being punished.
Astro fans just pretend they did nothing wrong.
If the Yankees were made to look like the only team doing it you would be pissed too.
He’s a rat because he didn’t say anything until he joined a division rival
A scapegoat is someone who takes the fall for what someone else actually did. The Astros are not a Scapegoat. They got caught doing what they did. They are guilty.
Is the term “fall guys” better? They most certainly were not the only team doing it, yet they were the only team punished and vilified for it.
There was nothing honest about what he did. Why didn’t he say something BEFORE the Astros cut him?
The Astros didn’t cut Fiers. He was signed to a one-year contract. It expired, and he signed with the Tigers the next year for $2.55M more than Houston paid him.
Still. Why didn’t he say something when he was still an Astro?
I don’t know why, because I’ve never heard an explanation. Maybe primarily because the scheme benefited him personally by giving him run support. Or maybe primarily because he assumed — rightly, as subsequent events prove — that he’d be called “a rat,” and he lacked the courage and integrity to face the ire of his teammates and the fans. Unless you have some statements of his that explain his reasoning, your guess is as good as mine. I just don’t know.
I do know this, though: the Astros cheated, and his motives have no bearing on that fact. It’s still a fact, regardless.
Amen
If Fiers was so holier than thou, then why didn’t he go to the umpires DURING the game? He waited until he joined a division rival and showed himself to be the equivalent of an ex-girlfriend that spreads rumors about her former love.
What irony ! The same keyboard warriors calling Fiers a rat are the same folks who railed against the Astros once they found out lol
I doubt it. They’re probably Astros fans.
I am neither. I just look at it like a guy that sold out his teammates to get attention or whatever. The act of the teammates doesn’t make Fiers any more trustworthy. Yes, he was brave to speak up about what he says happened, but he also has to accept the consequences of speaking up. Which is that no one in MLB will ever trust him in a clubhouse again.
Collusion. Too bad. Enjoyed him with the Tigers a few years back.
He hasn’t been a good pitcher since a few months in 2017. Add that he shared clubhouse secrets, he wouldn’t be welcomed on in any clubhouse.
Fiers signed a 1-year $3.5 million contract with Oakland on Feb. 6, 2021, long after the 2019 interview in The Athletic.
*Resigned with Oakland
Right … signed a new contract and was welcomed back in Oakland’s clubhouse.
If everyone agrees separately that this man is not trustworthy enough to allow into a clubhouse, then it is not collusion.
The biggest thing I take away from this post is that Astro fans are the bottom of the barrel.
Good riddance
So you say that Mike Fiers “is being a little blackballed”?
Then he’s being greyballed. Say that. He can use it in court.
Better than blue balled
He can also use that in court,
Divorce Court.
Just like everyone else on here I am puzzled that he could not sign with the Orioles, Pirates, and maybe with Miami in a BP role. Also the Athletics.
The people who hate Mike Fiers and were NOT part of the 2017 Astros are opening a window to their soul and showing you their microscopic ethics.
Really ask yourself why you are mad…
LA FLAMA BLANCA!!!
Should’ve kept his mouth shut!