Doug Fister Looks To Rebound With Astros
This winter, Doug Fister‘s free agency lasted longer than most. The right-hander was linked to a number of teams but, after waiting things out, he inked a one-year, $7MM deal with the Astros which could reach $12MM through incentives. After an exceptionally strong 2014, Fister followed up with a disappointing 2015 which saw him relegated to the bullpen in Washington. At the outset of free agency, observers really weren’t sure about what kind of deal Fister would land. The pitcher says he had no idea, either.
“No, I really didn’t know what kind of contract I would get. I kind of took the mindset that would all take care of itself,” Fister said after tossing a pair of scoreless innings in his 2016 Spring Training debut. “I have a great agent [Page Odle, PSI Sports Management] and I leaned on him…I realized that I’ll just be where I’m going to be and I’m truly blessed to be a part of this clubhouse. We’ve got a great team. I can’t stress that enough.”
Fister drew varying degrees of interest from teams like the Mariners, Yankees, Marlins, Tigers, and even today’s opponent — the Phillies. The Astros came to Fister with the right contract, and they also sold him hard on spending a year in Houston.
“I spent some time on the phone with [manager] A.J. [Hinch] and [GM] Jeff [Luhnow],” Fister explained. “I got to know them more on a personal level, and it was almost like a job interview, really. But they have that desire to win. They have that fire. The guys here got a taste of the playoffs last year, and they want to get back there. They have that fire, that desire, and that’s what we play this game for.”
Last season was surely frustrating for Fister, but he termed the rocky year as a “learning experience.” Ultimately, though, he refuses to complain and he says that he is embracing the challenge of reasserting himself as a starter this year.
After several strong years in Detroit, he enjoyed one of his best seasons with the Nationals in 2014. Unfortunately, injury issues slowed him down at the outset of the season, but he performed better when he was moved to the bullpen. The 32-year-old has a singular focus on getting back to the starting five, but after last year’s experience, he knows that he can pitch in relief again if he is ever asked to do so.
“Every starter has a routine, and I had to kind of break that up and tell myself that I have to pitch every day,” said Fister. “I told myself that if the time comes later in my career where I have to pitch out of the bullpen, I know that I can do that. At the same time, I know that starting is in my heart and that’s where I wanted to be this offseason. It’s only two weeks into the spring but I’m definitely where I want to be.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
AL Notes: Desmond, Rangers, Perez, Altuve, Rollins
Ian Desmond‘s path to the Rangers all began earlier in the offseason, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News writes. The club let him know that they would have interest on the off chance that Desmond couldn’t find a multi-year deal and was willing to move to the outfield, says Grant, and that indeed turned out to be the case. “Things can change,” GM Jon Daniels explained. “You have to be prepared. You never know when a domino might fall. If you have any interest in that player, you have to express that early on.” Daniels has also made clear that he doesn’t believe there will be any difficulty in sorting out playing time when Josh Hamilton is ready to return.
Here’s more from Texas and the rest of the American League:
- Rangers co-owner Ray Davis discussed his organization today, and Grant has the story. Most notably, he said that the club can still add payroll for a mid-season addition after signing Desmond. As for that move, he explained: “It was a matter of need and Jon Daniels and Thad Levine finding a way to do things creatively. They came to us and proposed a creative deal. For me, this is a process where nobody other than the baseball people make the player decision. My only role is an economic one. They have a plan and decision they make long before they come to me.”
- Royals catcher Salvador Perez is excited at his new deal and hopes he’ll spend the rest of his career in Kansas City, writes Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. From the team’s perspective, despite a team-friendly contract already being in place, it made sense to swing another deal. “We went into Salvy’s previous deal with expectations that obviously he was going to be a terrific player,” said GM Dayton Moore. “We’ve always believed in him — as a talent, as a person, as a teammate. And he’s out-performed that contract. He’s an underpaid player in the game.” Noting the sacrifice that Gil Meche made when he left money upon departing the team, Moore explained that the motivation extended beyond pure baseball economics. “You focus on what’s right for Sal,” Moore said. “We’ve said from day one, that we want to create an organization that we’d want our own sons and family to be a part of. Well, Salvy’s family.”
- Meanwhile, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wonders whether other clubs will follow suit in rewarding underpaid players. He cites Paul Goldschmidt of the Diamondbacks, Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs, Jose Altuve of the Astros, Chris Sale of the White Sox, Madison Bumgarner of the Giants, and Chris Archer of the Rays as others on team-friendly pacts. From my perspective, most of those players line up more as traditional second extension candidates, in that their teams may well see some value in doubling down on their investments in the way that has occurred in the past for Troy Tulowitzki, Evan Longoria, Ryan Braun, Ryan Zimmerman, and others.
- As for Altuve, the Astros aren’t currently holding extension talks, according to Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. Like his friend Perez, Altuve has greatly outperformed his own contract, which would stand to pay him just $25MM if Houston exercises its two options. As Drellich notes, though, Altuve would still stand to hit the market at 29 years of age and probably has a better chance at longevity than does Perez.
- White Sox skipper Robin Ventura says that he envisions Jimmy Rollins making the club out of camp, as Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune tweets. “I expect him to make the team, unless something happens physically where it wouldn’t work,” said Ventura.
AL West Notes: Cano, Hamilton, Rangers, Astros
Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano spoke to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times and refuted a report from earlier this offseason which cited a source “close to Cano” that said his preference was to return to the Yankees because he was unhappy in Seattle. “I never said that,” Cano explained. “I don’t know where they find it. They always say the source or friend. … I will tell you guys, I’m happy to be here and happy to get my chance here to be able to play to the end of my career and have fun with the guys and a city that has treated me so nice.” Cano added that he feels “98 percent” after undergoing surgery to repair two hernias that plagued him over the final months of the 2015 season. Cano is swinging a bat without pain and is able to run as well. “There are days the doctor said you’ll wake up and feel some tightness,” said Cano. “That is part of the process.”
More from the AL West…
- While many Rangers fans are somewhat panicked about the club’s left field situation, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reminds that Texas is in a considerably better spot with regards to left field than it was a year ago at this time. The Rangers entered Spring Training with a wide-open competition in left field last season, but Josh Hamilton “should be back by May 1,” and the Rangers have a solid platoon option in the form of Justin Ruggiano on the roster to help lighten his load. Texas also has a healthy Ryan Rua and non-roster invitee Drew Stubbs as options in left, and top prospects Lewis Brinson and Nomar Mazara are closer to the Majors than they were a year ago. Either of the two could conceivably become an option down the line.
- In a separate piece yesterday, Grant reported that the Rangers have spoken to the agents for David Murphy and Austin Jackson, though that was before the club added Stubbs on a minor league deal this morning.
- The Astros enter camp with six starting pitchers but only five rotation spots, writes Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle in a column highlighting their crowded rotation and bullpen scenes. Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers, Collin McHugh, Doug Fister, Mike Fiers and Scott Feldman already make for somewhat of a logjam, but the bullpen doesn’t offer many open spots, either. Ken Giles, Luke Gregerson, Pat Neshek, Tony Sipp, Will Harris and Josh Fields all appear to have short relief spots locked down, leaving one spot for a disposed starter and other candidates like Brad Peacock, Dan Straily and Asher Wojciechowski. As Drellich points out, Straily is out of minor league options, so he’d need to be exposed to waivers before the team could send him to Triple-A.
Astros Sign Neal Cotts To Minor League Deal
11:18am: Cotts would earn $1.5MM upon making the Major League roster and can earn up to $1.25MM more via incentives, reports Jon Heyman (on Twitter). Additionally, Cotts’ contract contains opt-out dates on March 26 and June 1 if he’s not in the Majors.
8:43am: The Astros have signed lefty reliever Neal Cotts to a minor league deal, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart tweets. Cotts is a client of Pro Star Management, Inc.
Cotts, who will turn 36 next month, posted a 3.41 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings split between the Brewers and Twins last season. Along the way, he held left-handed batters to a .573 OPS. The Astros had been hunting for left-handed relief depth, having recently been connected to Randy Choate. Cotts doesn’t have a significant platoon split for his career, which means he isn’t ideally suited to be a LOOGY, but he’s generally effective and can certainly handle left-handed batters as needed.
For his career, Cotts has a 3.96 ERA, 8.5 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in parts of ten seasons. In addition to the Brewers and Twins, he’s appeared with the White Sox, Cubs and Rangers.
West Notes: Hinch, Wilson, Ethier
The differences between manager A.J. Hinch’s tenures with the Diamondbacks and Astros are a microcosm of changes within baseball as a whole, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports writes. In 2009, Hinch’s hiring in Arizona was received negatively within the injury, since Hinch had been a former player but had little further experience. Now, though, such hires are common — think of Mike Matheny of the Cardinals or Brad Ausmus of the Tigers, for example. After being fired, Hinch took a job in the Padres’ front office before Houston hired him. The path from the front office to managing is becoming increasingly common, as organizations increasingly appreciate the benefits of having a front office and a field staff that communicate well with one another.
Hinch’s time with Arizona didn’t go well, and he was fired after barely over a year. Rosenthal quotes not only Hinch but some of his former players suggesting that Hinch’s introduction to big-league managing didn’t always go smoothly. But given the way the managerial position has changed since then, perhaps Hinch and the team were, in some ways, ahead of the curve. “We were onto something then,” says Hinch of his time with the Diamondbacks. “It wasn’t accepted as freely as it is now. … My career didn’t really warrant acceptance in that regard. Some of these other guys had better playing careers. It became a touch easier for each guy progressively to take over a team. But if it wouldn’t have been for that first time, I don’t think I would have gotten this second chance.” Here’s more from the West divisions.
- Angels GM Billy Eppler says that the team is happy with what they’ve learned from an MRI starting pitcher C.J. Wilson underwent on Monday, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes. Wilson merely has tendinitis in his throwing shoulder. He had reported discomfort in the shoulder on Saturday.
- The Dodgers are not concerned about Andre Ethier earning 10-and-5 rights in April, Bill Plunkett of the Register writes (Twitter links). “When a guy is an important and productive part of your team, you don’t spend your time worrying about whether you can trade him,” says GM Farhan Zaidi. The Dodgers have two years and $38MM left on Ethier’s current five-year deal, including a $2.5MM buyout on a 2018 option that can become guaranteed if he receives regular playing time. He hit .294/.366/.486 in a bounce-back season last year.
West Notes: Rollins, Giants, Lucroy, Astros, Angels
The Giants had interest in Jimmy Rollins before the veteran infielder ultimately agreed to a minor league deal with the White Sox, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. Rosenthal adds that the Giants would have used Rollins as a super utility player, taking advantage of his ability to switch-hit. Via Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area (on Twitter), Giants GM Bobby Evans has confirmed the Giants were quite interested in Rollins, although they couldn’t promise the kind of playing time he would be able to get in Chicago (which has a considerably less stable shortstop situation). Here’s more from the West divisions.
- In other news about player acquisitions that never came to be, Rosenthal tweets that the Astros tried to acquire Jonathan Lucroy from the Brewers last month but were not able to come to terms. Jason Castro is eligible for free agency following the 2016 and Lucroy is controllable for an additional year (and for a very modest $5.25MM or a $250K buyout), so perhaps it’s no surprise that David Stearns’ former employers called him about a possible trade.
- The Angels would prefer to have more lefty relief help, Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register writes. They’re without a lefty specialist, and the only lefty who currently figures to be in their bullpen is Jose Alvarez. The team does have additional lefty bullpen candidates in Lucas Luetge and Rob Rasmussen. “To have a lefty specialist available is a tool you’d like you to have in bullpen, but we’ll see where we are,” says manager Mike Scioscia. Fletcher doesn’t say whether the Angels actually plan to pursue more lefties, but even if they do, perhaps the issue isn’t so pressing. Unsurprisingly, the free agent market is a bit thin, and Scioscia and the Angels have gotten very good results with heavily right-handed bullpens in the past, such as their 2003 and 2004 ‘pens, which were elite very limited contributions from left-handers.
Astros Interested In Randy Choate
The Astros have talked to left-hander Randy Choate, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports. Choate would provide the club with some southpaw relief depth beyond Tony Sipp, as Sipp and Kevin Chapman are the only lefty relievers on Houston’s 40-man roster.
Choate, 40, is the definition of a lefty specialist. Over his 15-season career, Choate has been hit hard by right-handed batters (a .290/.403/.404 slash line) while dominating left-handed hitters to the tune of a measly .195/.276/.274 slash. Choate posted similar splits in 27 1/3 innings last season with the Cardinals while delivering an overall 3.95 ERA, 7.2 K/9, 4.4 K/BB rate and 61.7% ground ball rate. In regards to that last stat, 2015 was Choate’s seventh consecutive year with a grounder rate of at least 60 percent.
Despite Choate’s recent success, there hasn’t been any buzz surrounding his free agency this offseason. It’s probably no surprise that teams were waiting, given Choate’s age and somewhat limited skillset. He figures to draw more interest now, as teams develop bullpen openings due to injury or dissatisfaction with their internal left-handed options.
As Drellich notes, several Astros righty relievers have good splits against left-handed batters. While there may not be a pressing need for a southpaw, however, adding a pitcher like Choate would be a low-cost way to solve a problem before it develops during the season. The bullpen is one of a few areas where Houston is lacking in depth, Drellich opines, as the club could also stand to bolster its backup situation at catcher or either corner infield slot.
Astros Avoid Arbitration With Evan Gattis
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.
AL West Notes: Rangers, Trout, Davis, Astros, Castro
Rangers GM Jon Daniels wouldn’t say that the Royals’ success served as the blueprint for constructing his team’s bullpen, but it’s clear that Texas is counting on big production from its relievers, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. Texas is optimistic about being able to get strong performances from Shawn Tolleson, Sam Dyson, Jake Diekman, Tom Wilhelmsen, Keone Kela, and Tony Barnette in 2016. “You can dream it up to be a pretty powerful bullpen, and we have the luxury to shorten the game if we need to,” manager Jeff Banister said. “Our bullpen has an opportunity to be as strong a bullpen as there is in baseball.”
Here’s more from around the AL West…
- Could the Angels trade Mike Trout? It’s a far-fetched notion at the moment, though ESPN’s Keith Law off-handedly raised the subject in his recent farm system rankings when he opined that Anaheim might have to consider dealing Trout unless it drafts some good prospects for its beleaguered farm system. Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register doesn’t think a Trout deal is anywhere near the Halos’ radar screen right now, though if the 2016 season is a disappointment, the Angels may indeed have to unload some Major League talent to get younger. Even if this scenario happens, however, Garrett Richards or Kole Calhoun are more likely to be shopped than Trout. Four of five executives and scouts polled by John Perrotto of Today’s Knuckleball wouldn’t trade Trout, and the fifth would only do so for a big package of MLB-ready talent and elite prospects.
- Perrotto’s piece also contains comments from a scout who feels the Athletics made a “great pickup” in obtaining Khris Davis from the Brewers. “Power has become so much more scarce in recent years that I’m surprised that Oakland could get a guy like Davis so cheaply,” the scout said.
- The Astros‘ rebuild may be over in the sense they reached the playoffs in 2015, though Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle observes that this offseason has given little indication as to how the team will operate in business-as-usual mode rather than as a team that’s still adding pieces. Houston has had a relatively quiet winter, though two sources tell Drellich that the team made some strong pursuits for major free agents and also had “substantial” extension talks with core players. GM Jeff Luhnow reiterated that the Astros is ready and willing to spend when the opportunity arises, though they won’t sign or extend players just for the sake of staying active if such deals aren’t a fit.
- Also within Drellich’s piece, he mentions that the Astros and Jason Castro discussed multi-year contracts prior to the filing of arbitration numbers. The two sides talked about two-year deals and a three-year deal with an option, though since no agreement was reached before the filing deadline, Houston took a “file-and-trial” stance and went ahead to an arbitration hearing. (The club won that hearing.) Castro is entering his last year under contract, and while the backstop’s hitting numbers have declined over the last couple of years, he is still a highly-regarded defender known to have a good relationship with the Astros’ starters.
Evan Gattis Out Four To Six Weeks Following Hernia Surgery
11:24pm: Gattis’ surgery took place earlier today, tweets MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart.
9:08pm: Astros designated hitter Evan Gattis recently underwent surgery to repair a hernia and will be sidelined for four to six weeks, reports Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. As a result, Gattis will miss “most of his Spring Training, at a minimum,” per Drellich, though the overall injury is not considered to be severe in nature.
Gattis, 29, has an arbitration hearing set for Feb. 16, and Drellich notes that the new revelation in his health could have some form of an impact on the case. Of course, his current injury status doesn’t change the power production that Gattis delivered in his first year with Houston, when he batted .246/.285/.463 with 27 homers and 88 RBIs in 604 plate appearances. He submitted a $3.8MM salary figure for the upcoming season, while the team countered at $3MM. As a file-and-trial team, the Astros have a policy of not negotiating one-year deals once salary figures are exchanged, so an arbitration panel will decide which of the two figures Gattis should earn in a week’s time.
It’s worth bearing in mind that the exact date of his surgery isn’t known. And, even if Gattis missed six full weeks beginning today, he’d still have about 10 Spring Training contests to get up to speed. Any type of setback in his recovery, though, would seem to raise the possibility that he’d begin the season on the shelf. That’s a worst-case scenario for Gattis with regard to this injury, of course, and there’s certainly the chance that he could recover in time for the team’s April 4 opener at Yankee Stadium.
Even in the event that Gattis needs to miss a portion of the regular season, the injury doesn’t seem to increase the likelihood of Houston making any sort of notable acquisition. Either Colby Rasmus or Preston Tucker, for instance, could pick up some extra DH time, with Jake Marisnick temporarily taking on a greater role in the outfield and providing the club with a defensive boost.