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Astros Sign Steve Cishek To Minor League Deal

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The Astros have signed veteran reliever Steve Cishek to a minor league contract, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The right-hander’s deal includes an invitation to major league camp. He’ll earn a $2.25MM salary with incentives if he makes the Astros’ roster, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. The incentives could reach $1.5MM, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network.

Cishek, 34, has taken a big league mound for six teams and generally been quite successful since he began with the Marlins in 2010. Although he has only averaged about 91 mph on his fastball, the former closer has 132 saves to his name and has registered a stingy 2.78 ERA/3.36 SIERA with an above-average 25.2 percent strikeout rate across 576 innings. Cishek has also been a durable late-game option, having piled up 54 or more innings on eight occasions.

While Cishek was effective as recently as 2019 with the Cubs, his production dropped off with the crosstown rival White Sox a season ago, which is why he didn’t get a guaranteed contract this winter. Cishek, whom the White Sox signed to a $6MM deal, mustered a disappointing 5.40 ERA/4.47 SIERA in 20 frames with the club. And though Cishek has usually induced grounders at a solid rate (48.9 percent), he posted a career-worst 32.2 in that department and also put up slightly below-average strikeout and walk percentages of 22.6 and 9.7, respectively.

Latest On Mets, Jackie Bradley Jr.

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3:45 pm: Even after today’s signing of Almora, the Mets haven’t closed the door on bringing in Bradley, hears Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).

12:18 pm: Jackie Bradley Jr. stands out as the clear top remaining free agent option for teams looking for a center fielder. It’s not surprising the defensive stalwart seems to be drawing decent interest as spring training approaches. “About a half-dozen teams” remain in the running for Bradley, per Mike Puma of the New York Post.

The Mets have been among the teams most often connected to Bradley this offseason. New York agreed to terms with center fielder Albert Almora Jr. this morning, though. While Puma writes that the Almora addition “doesn’t necessarily” foreclose the Mets from continuing to pursue Bradley, Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News hears New York is indeed now out on the former Gold Glove winner.

That’s not to say the Almora signing ends the Mets’ offseason. Andy Martino of SNY reports that New York remains engaged in the market for free agent pitching and depth pieces on the position player side; they could yet make another addition (or additions) in the coming days, Martino says. Bradley, though, would’ve certainly been a more significant position player pickup than mere bench help. The 30-year-old is coming off a strong season and has apparently set the rather lofty goal of finding a contract of at least four years in length this winter.

Meanwhile, Buster Olney of ESPN relays speculation (Twitter link) from agents not affiliated with Bradley’s representatives at the Boras Corporation that the Astros, Giants and Red Sox appear his likeliest landing spots. All three teams have been connected to Bradley this offseason, although Olney wrote earlier this week that a return to Boston looked unlikely. That may still be the case, as a Red Sox reunion would seemingly only be in the cards if Bradley’s asking price falls due to an unfriendly market, Olney notes.

Astros, Carlos Correa Avoid Arbitration

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The Astros and star shortstop Carlos Correa agreed on a one-year, $11.7MM deal for 2021, per MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). The two sides avoid a potentially contentious arbitration hearing in the process. The Astros ultimately gave some ground after submitting a $9.75MM arbitration figure as counter to Correa’s own $12.5MM submission. Correa is rpresented by Jon Rosen of WME.

Coming in above the midpoint may be a small concession on the Astros’ part, especially if it keeps relations cordial heading into Correa’s final season before free agency. Correa has expressed a desire to stay in Houston long-term, though the club has shown a willingness to let superstars walk. They have, after all, watched Gerrit Cole and George Springer leave in free agency in consecutive seasons. If Correa does not sign a long-term extension, he’s set to join stacked free agent class of shortstops next winter that could also feature Francisco Lindor, Trevor Story, Javier Baez, Andrelton Simmons, Marcus Semien, and Corey Seager.

Even among that stellar group of shortstops, Correa stands out as a two-way superstar with 6.6 bWAR per 600 plate appearances and 10.4 defensive runs saved per 1,300 innings over his career. Those numbers in a single season would indeed place Correa in the highest echelon of stud shortstops, a potential he has flashed at times both in the regular season and playoffs. The 26-year-old has struggled to stay healthy over the course of a full season, however. He has appeared in more than 110 games just one time through his first six seasons.

Astros To Sign Steven Souza To Minor-League Deal

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The Astros are in agreement on a deal with outfielder Steven Souza Jr., reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter link). It’s a minor-league deal, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post (via Twitter). Souza’s deal comes with an invitation to major league spring training, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.

Souza once looked like a potential core piece on the heels of a strong three-year run with the Rays, culminating in a .239/.351/.459 (121 wRC+), 30-homer season in 2017. After that campaign, the Diamondbacks acquired Souza in a three-team trade involving Tampa Bay and the Yankees.

Unfortunately, the move didn’t pan out. Souza struggled with both injuries and underperformance in 2018, then suffered a devastating knee injury near the end of the following spring training. That ended his 2019 season before it began; the Diamondbacks non-tendered him that winter. Souza did manage to return to the big leagues in 2020 after signing a one-year deal with the Cubs. His stay in Chicago lasted only eleven games, though, thanks in part to another stint on the injured list (this time for a hamstring strain).

It has now been three years since Souza’s managed a full, healthy season. Nevertheless, there’s no risk for the Astros in bringing the 31-year-old in on a non-roster deal and giving him an opportunity to compete for a job in spring training. It looks to be a decent landing spot for Souza, as there’s little depth in the Astros’ corner outfield behind projected starters Michael Brantley and Kyle Tucker.

Diamondbacks Claim Humberto Castellanos

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The Diamondbacks have claimed right-hander Humberto Castellanos off waivers from the Astros, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle was among those to report. The Astros designated Castellanos for assignment last Friday.

Castellanos, 22, made his major league debut last season with 10 2/3 innings of eight-run ball, striking out 12 batters and issuing five walks in the process. While his production in Houston wasn’t particularly impressive, Castellanos has done a nice job at the lower levels, including during his first taste of Triple-A action in 2019. Castellanos owns a 2.92 ERA with 205 strikeouts against 46 walks in 216 minor league innings.

Minor MLB Transactions: 1/25/21

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Let’s check in on the latest minor moves from around the game …

  • The Astros signed Houston native C.J. Hinojosa to a minor league deal, per Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter). Hinojosa was actually drafted by the Astros in the 26th round of the 2012 draft, but instead chose to attend the University of Texas at Austin where he starred as a sophomore in the College World Series. After a disappointing junior season, he was then made an 11th round draft choice by the Giants in 2015. A versatile defender who can play all over the infield, he was ranked among the Giants’ top-30 prospects by Baseball America in both 2017 and 2018. Prior to the 2018 season, BA wrote, “He’s best when he’s spraying the ball around the field, and is especially pesky at poking line drives down the right-field line, but he has a lot of fringe-average to average tools and no real plus tool on his scouting report. He plays shortstop plausibly enough defensively to fill-in, but he lacks the range to play there everyday. Hinojosa missed the start of the 2017 season with a quad strain, but when he returned he went right back to looking like a future big league utility infielder.” He tore his Achilles during the 2017 season, but eventually returned to Double-A during the 2018 season where he slashed .261/.327/.360 across 283 plate appearances. The 26-year-old played independent ball in 2020.

Astros Re-Sign Michael Brantley

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JAN 25: The Astros have announced the deal, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).

JAN 21: The Astros have reached a two-year, $32MM agreement with free-agent outfielder Michael Brantley, Mark Berman of Fox 26 reports. Brantley is a client of Excel Sports Management. It’s a done deal, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.

That Brantley is returning to Houston is stunning, as just hours ago it appeared he would join friend and former Astros outfielder George Springer in Toronto. However, in the wake of reports suggesting Brantley would head north, a Toronto official shot down the notion that the club had a deal with him. The Blue Jays did indeed have interest in the 33-year-old Brantley, but they couldn’t close the deal for reasons that aren’t yet known. As a result, it appears Brantley will spend a third consecutive season with the Astros.

This is the second straight two-year, $32MM contract Brantley, formerly with Cleveland, has inked with Houston. The previous deal worked out for both sides, as Brantley earned his fourth All-Star nod in 2019 and has combined for a stellar .309/.370/.497 line with 27 home runs over 824 plate appearances during his run with the Astros. Thanks to his continued success, MLBTR ranked Brantley as the game’s 13th-best free agent at the beginning of the offseason and predicted he would land a two-year, $28MM pact.

With Brantley staying in Houston, the team has addressed a key need in its outfield, where it opened the offseason with major questions. The Astros were at risk of losing all of Brantley, Springer and Josh Reddick on the open market (Reddick is still a free agent). Now, though, they have two corner spots spoken for with Brantley and Kyle Tucker. It’s not yet clear who will replace Springer in center, and it’s certainly worth noting that Brantley may not be an optimal solution as an everyday outfielder anymore. Brantley has dealt with serious injuries in the past, and he missed time last year with a quad issue. When healthy, Brantley appeared in left field in just 19 of 46 games, spending the rest of his season at designated hitter. That spot won’t be available to Brantley on a regular basis in 2021 if offensive standout Yordan Alvarez returns to health after undergoing surgeries on both knees last August.

Losing out on Brantley may be a significant disappointment for the Blue Jays, but they’re not devoid of talent in the outfield and at DH. Springer, Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk give the team a strong outfield quartet on paper, though adding Brantley obviously would have made the Jays even more formidable after they earned a playoff berth in 2020.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Astros Sign Jason Castro

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TODAY: The contract breaks down as a $2MM signing bonus, then $2.5MM salaries in both 2021 and 2022, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports (Twitter link).  For every 10 games played as a catcher next season, Castro will add another $250K to his 2022 salary.

JAN. 22: The Astros have announced the signing.

JAN. 21, 8:42am: USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that the contract will guarantee Castro a total of $7MM. Castro can earn up to an additional $2MM based on time spent behind the plate in 2021, tweets ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

8:25am: Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports that Castro’s contract is actually a two-year deal.

8:01am: The Astros have agreed to a one-year contract with free-agent backstop Jason Castro, Ken Rosenthal and Jake Kaplan of The Athletic report (via Twitter). The ISE Baseball client’s contract is pending a physical.

Jason Castro | Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

The two sides were originally reported to be in talks late in December, but those negotiations slowed as Castro continued to survey the market. Along the way, the Cubs and the Tigers (managed by Castro’s former skipper, A.J. Hinch) emerged as potential alternatives. Now, however, a physical is all that stands in the way between Castro and a return to the organization that originally selected him with the No. 10 overall draft pick out of Stanford back in 2008.

Castro, 33, has been away from the Astros for four seasons — most of that time spent with the Twins organization. Minnesota signed Castro to a three-year, $24.5MM contract after the 2017 season due largely to his superlative pitch-framing skills and his knack for drawing walks at the plate. He had a solid 2017 season as the Twins’ primary backstop but missed nearly all of the 2018 campaign due to meniscus surgery. He returned in 2019 to have another productive year while splitting time evenly with breakout catcher Mitch Garver.

That strong showing from Garver in ’19 likely convinced the Twins they could move on, and Castro landed in Anaheim on a one-year deal with the Angels. He struggled at the plate in a tiny sample of 92 plate appearances between the Angels and the Padres, who acquired him prior to the Aug. 31 trade deadline this past summer.

All in all, Castro has batted .224/.322/.389 in 848 plate appearances since leaving the Astros — numbers that fall roughly in line with his career .230/.312/.390 batting line. He’s unlikely to ever hit for a high average due to his strikeout tendencies, but Castro has a career 10.1 percent walk rate (11.7 percent over the past four years) and has a bit of pop in his bat (.164 ISO, 26 homers, 43 doubles from 2017-20).

Defensive aptitude has been the driving factor behind Castro’s value in the market, though he’s been closer to average with the glove as he’s moved into his mid-30s and had to deal with the effects of that 2018 knee surgery. Castro has been just about average in terms of throwing out base thieves in the four years since leaving Houston, but his framing numbers have dropped off a bit, more recently, he’s struggled with regard to blocking pitches in the dirt. Of course, it’s also possible that as he further distances himself from that knee operation, he’ll regain some of his prior form.

In his return to Houston, Castro figures to pair with the right-handed-hitting Martin Maldonado behind the dish, giving manager Dusty Baker the opportunity to play matchups with a pair of solid defenders. Kaplan tweets that a straight platoon isn’t likely — Maldonado will start more often — although at least from an offensive standpoint, such an idea wouldn’t be a bad one. Castro is a career .195/.262/.291 hitter against lefties but a much-improved .242/.328/.421 hitter against righties. Maldonado, meanwhile, carries a 33-point gap in his OPS against lefties over righties (and a nine-point gap in his wRC+). He’s just a .213/.288/.353 career hitter against righties.

Houston may not generate huge offensive output from its pair of backstops. That’s true of most clubs throughout the league, however, and most pairings don’t have the sound defensive track records that both Castro and Maldonado possess. Besides — catchers, on the whole, have been about 10 to 15 percent worse than a league-average hitter over the past four years, so the ’Stros can certainly live with the level of offense provided by Castro and Maldonado if both play defense at their typically steady levels.

Reds Acquire Cionel Perez From Astros

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The Reds have acquired left-hander Cionel Perez in a trade with the Astros, as officially announced on the Reds’ Twitter feed.  Houston will pick up minor league catcher Luke Berryhill in their end of the swap.

The move opens up a 40-man roster spot for the Astros, so the Michael Brantley signing could be officially announced at any moment.  For the second time in two days, the Reds picked up a reliever from a team looking to clear a 40-man spot, after Cincinnati acquired Hector Perez from the Blue Jays so Toronto could accommodate George Springer (whose deal is now official) on the roster.

Perez, 24, has pitched in each of the last three seasons, amassing a 5.74 ERA, 23.1K% and 10.3K-BB% over 26 2/3 career innings as a big leaguer.  Armed with a mid-90s fastball, Perez misses his fair share of bats but control has been an issue — particularly in 2020, when he issued six walks in just 6 1/3 innings of work.  He was a fairly high-profile international signing out of Cuba back in December 2016, but didn’t get much of a consistent look in Houston, as the Astros frequently shuttled Perez back and forth between their active roster and Triple-A (or to the alternate training site, in 2020).

While a small sample size, Perez has been significantly better against left-handed batters (.630 OPS in 39 PA) over his MLB career than against righty swingers (.825 OPS in 78 PA).  The three-batter rule will prevent the Reds from utilizing him as a true lefty specialist, but he does provide some southpaw depth for a Cincinnati team that is heavy in right-handed pitching.  Amir Garrett is the only other left-handed reliever on the Reds’ 40-man roster, so opportunity exists for Perez to win a job in Spring Training.

The Reds selected Berryhill in the 13th round of the 2019 draft.  A product of the University of South Carolina, Berryhill’s professional career thus far consists of only 32 Rookie League plate appearances in 2019, as the minor league shutdown last season kept Berryhill off the field.

AL News & Rumors: G. Richards, BoSox, Twins, Cruz, Angels, Astros

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The Red Sox and free-agent right-hander Garrett Richards “are in active discussions,” Jon Morosi of MLB.com writes. However, there has been more than one team talking with Richards as of Friday, Morosi adds. The starter-needy Red Sox were rumored to be pursuing Richards as of a week ago. Richards was once at the front end of the Angels’ rotation, but a series of injuries limited him from 2016-19. The 32-year-old stayed healthy and produced decent results with the Padres last season, though, throwing 51 1/3 innings of 4.03 ERA/4.55 SIERA ball and averaging 95 mph on his fastball. [UPDATE: Talks between the Red Sox and Richards “are active and evolving,” according to Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com.]

  • The Twins have increased the value of their one-year offer to free-agent designated hitter Nelson Cruz, Jon Heyman of MLB Network tweets, though Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News reports that actually happened earlier in the offseason. Cruz was looking for a two-year contract at the beginning of the winter, but even for someone who’s as dominant as he is at the plate, that could be difficult to obtain for a 40-year-old. Of course, with no official announcement on whether the universal DH will remain in place in 2021, Cruz probably isn’t in a hurry to sign anywhere.
  • The Angels are “very active” in their pursuit of starting pitching, general manager Perry Minasian told Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic and other reporters Friday. While Minasian did sign veteran left-hander Jose Quintana to a one-year, $8MM contract this week, adding him to a group led by Dylan Bundy, Andrew Heaney, Griffin Canning and perhaps Shohei Ohtani, there still appears to be room for improvement. In light of Minasian’s comment, it’s worth noting that the Angels reportedly remain in the mix for two of the best starters on the market in Trevor Bauer and Jake Odorizzi.
  • Speaking with reporters Friday, Astros GM James Click suggested the team doesn’t expect to be that aggressive for the rest of the offseason, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com tweets. The Astros agreed to re-sign outfielder Michael Brantley and reunited with catcher Jason Castro this week, but their roster took a hit with the loss of outfielder George Springer to the Blue Jays. Otherwise, the bullpen has come up as a potential area of the need for the team (it did address it by signing Ryne Stanek and Pedro Baez in free agency), but the Astros don’t necessarily feel a sense of urgency to address it further. It’s possible they will enter 2021 without someone who has extensive experience as a closer, per Click (via McTaggart).
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