Astros righty Peter Lambert was granted his release after triggering an out clause in his minor league deal, manager Joe Espada tells reporters (link via Matt Kawahara of the Houston Chronicle). The team told Lambert over the weekend that he wouldn’t make the roster.
Lambert, 29 next month, had a solid spring showing and at one point looked to be in legitimate contention for a bullpen spot. He pitched 12 1/3 innings with the ‘Stros and held opponents to four runs on 16 hits and five walks with eight punchouts. That came on the heels of a decent season in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball last year, where he tossed 116 1/3 innings with a 4.26 ERA for the Yakult Swallows.
Lambert has pitched in parts of four MLB seasons, all coming with the Rockies, who originally selected him 44th overall in the 2015 draft. He’s been tagged for an unsightly 6.28 ERA in 243 2/3 MLB frames, battling myriad injuries and the inherent rigors of pitching at altitude in Denver.
This spring, Lambert’s average fastball clocked in at 95 mph — way up from the 93.3 mph he averaged with the Rox from 2019-24. That velocity bump, coupled with a solid (albeit small-sample) swinging-strike rate of 11.4% suggest Lambert could probably be counted on for a better mark than the ugly 14.8% strikeout rate he posted this spring.
It’s always feasible that veterans in these situations will re-sign with the same team on a new minor league deal — perhaps with better minor league pay and/or more additional opt-out dates that grant them some flexibility. The Astros seem to like Lambert’s arm, but he’s also out of minor league options, which makes him a tough fit for a Houston club that currently has four relievers (Bryan Abreu, Enyel De Los Santos, Steven Okert, Roddery Munoz) who can’t be optioned — plus another two (Josh Hader, Nate Pearson) rehabbing on the injured list.
You mean 3 rehabbing on the IL? Bennett Sousa is injured too! I think it could be possible Lambert finds a big league deal somewhere but if he resigns on the MiLB deal would be nice.
is Bennett Sousa out of options?
No, he has one remaining…but he’ll be put on the MLB IL as he was going to be in the MLB bullpen, and still figures to be once he gets back!
So we’re back to zero players who go by “Peter” in the big leagues then. Lots of Petes, no Peters. The reverse is true for the Premier League in England, btw.
Cardinals should sign him. Why not give him a shot and see if we can turn him into trade fodder come July.
Quite faulty, league average ERA in the CL of the NPB was 2.97. He had an ERA+ of just 76 with an FIP- of 108 which indicates he was below average by both. He was only above average in his K% of 20.5%, a swinging strike rate of 10.6%, called strike rate of 18.3% and his average fastball velocity of 93.6 MPH