Gerrit Cole wins his arbitration case against the Astros to earn a nearly $7 million raise.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —
Gerrit Cole won his arbitration case against the Astros on Wednesday, netting the 28-year-old righthander nearly a $7 million raise.
Cole will make $13.5 million in 2019, up from $6.75 million last season. The Astros countered Cole’s salary request with an $11.425 million figure. Cole’s hearing was Monday at St. Petersburg, Fla.
Cole was not spotted during the hour-long media access period inside the clubhouse at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on Wednesday, when Astros pitchers and catchers reported to spring training.
This is Cole’s final season of arbitration eligibility. His $13.5 million salary is the highest awarded among the nine arbitration hearings already held this year.
In his first season as an Astro, Cole led the major leagues with 12.4 strikeouts per nine innings and finished fifth in American League Cy Young voting. The former No. 1 overall pick is eligible for free agency following this season.
Settling Cole’s salary was the Astros’ final piece of offseason business. Cole and shortstop
Carlos Correa won their arbitration hearings against the club. In general manager Jeff Luhnow’s tenure, Astros players hold a 5-1 record against the organization in arbitration cases.
Peacock adds changeup to arsenal
Inspiration for Brad Peacock’s new pitch was something old, something new and something borrowed from a player who once wore blue.
Scrolling through his Twitter feed one night this offseason, Peacock stumbled upon a video of Hall of Fame Padres closer
Trevor Hoffman teaching his changeup grip.
“I ran with that one,” the 31-year-old righthander said Wednesday.
Peacock will devote spring training to utilizing and refining the new pitch. Varying his repertoire can better position him in competition for the fifth spot in the Astros’ starting rotation during spring training.
“It’s the same thing I’d do every spring: get a couple starts and hopefully run with it, make the rotation,” said Peacock, who moved to the bullpen full time last season due to the Astros’ surplus of starters. “We’ll see what happens.”
In assessing his 2018 season, Peacock concluded he relied too heavily on his slider. Forty percent of Peacock’s pitches were sliders. Opponents hit .192 against them — the highest batting average against Peacock’s slider in the last four seasons.
In 101 plate appearances, lefthanders slugged .626 against Peacock and accrued a .953 OPS. Lefthanders hadn’t slugged over .600 against Peacock since 2015.
“It’ll help him against different style hitters,” manager A.J.
Hinch said of Peacock’s changeup. “Peacock has been a starter in the past, so he’s had to deal with lefthanded hitters more so in the past than last year. … The changeup will be a good complement to him.”
A Palm Beach native who resides near the Astros’ training facility, Peacock was able to work on his new pitch alongside new bullpen coach Josh Miller throughout the offseason. Peacock estimated he has thrown six bullpen sessions containing his changeup.
“It feels great, he said. “I hope I can keep that going.”
Free agency a sore subject to Gonzalez
Jose Altuve already was inside the Astros’ clubhouse on a first day officially devoted to pitchers and catchers.
It didn’t take long for the 2017 American League MVP to declare he feels “great” following offseason knee surgery. It also didn’t take long for
Marwin Gonzalez’s name to come up.
Altuve and Gonzalez are close friends and spent 2012-18 as teammates. Altuve will spend the next six-plus weeks preparing for a March 28 opening day. Gonzalez, along with ex-Astro
Dallas Keuchel and stars Bryce Harper and Manny Machado among others, is still waiting to find his 2019 team.
“(Gonzalez) is still in the free agency. It might be hard to get him but not impossible,” Altuve said. “Maybe that’s what I’m waiting to see — if he comes back or not. You never know.”
Altuve tried to bring up Gonzalez’s baseball future during a one-on-one conversation with his friend. But Gonzalez declined to open up.
“The first time I tried to talk to him about this free-agent stuff, he cut me off right away,” Altuve said. “He was like, ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ ” Former key Astros Charlie
Morton and Evan Gattis also are missing from the team’s 2019 clubhouse, while Lance McCullers Jr. is recovering from Tommy John surgery.
“Dallas and Marwin, they’re still in free agency. We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Altuve said. “But I’m pretty sure they’re going to make their team better wherever they play.”
Venezuela on minds of Altuve, Chirinos
Returning home is something of an offseason tradition for baseball’s Latin players, who can reconnect with the family and friends they have left behind.
“Every Latin player, every player that is not from America, likes to go to their country,” Astros second baseman Jose
Altuve said. “Sometimes you can’t. And it’s sad.”
Count Altuve among that number. The 28-year-old did not return to Venezuela this offseason, he said Wednesday, as civil unrest and political protests still plague the country.
Controversy over who is the actual president of Venezuela has simmered since early January. Incumbent Nicolas Maduro, picked to succeed Hugo
Chavez and considered an authoritarian leader, won the 2018 election. That result was contested by the National Assembly, which appointed its head — Juan
Guaido — as acting president. U.S. President Donald Trump has acknowledged Guaido as Venezuela’s true president. The reigns of Chavez and Maduro since 2013 are considered to have ravaged the Venezuelan economy and led to a mass exodus — as many as 3 million people since 2014, according to the United Nations.
“I just want everything figured out,” Altuve said. “I want the people back in my country. They’ve been fighting every single day for what they want, so I hope they get what they want and they settle down and we become a better country.” Countryman Robinson Chirinos did return to Venezuela this offseason, continuing a sevenyear streak of hosting a charity event in his homeland. What once was a baseball-centric giveaway — complete with bats, balls and equipment for Venezuelan youth teams — now takes on a more serious tone to the Astros new catcher.
“How the country is the last two or three years, we’ve been doing toys for kids, medicine, even food trying to reach the community,” said Chirinos.
Altuve and Chirinos said the families they have remaining in Venezuela are safe. Altuve’s mother and father still live there.
“They’re good, but they’re not,” Chirinos said of his relatives. “They’re surviving and trying to find medicine and food. Everybody right now, healthwise they’re good. But they’re not OK — like most Venezuelan people.
“The people in Venezuela don’t deserve what is happening over there and how they’re suffering every single day to get basic stuff. I’m praying and hoping it will get better in Venezuela for everyone.”
Odds and ends
Righthander Francis Martes, who underwent Tommy John surgery last August, said Wednesday he has progressed to 90 feet in his throwing program. Once regarded as the organization’s top pitching prospect, Martes made five appearances last season, struggling to a 6.41 ERA before he had elbow surgery. … New catcher Robinson
Chirinos caught Justin Verlander’s bullpen session on Tuesday — the first time the battery had worked together since Chirinos’ signing. “He was really good,” Chirinos said. “Was working his fastball down and away. He looked really, really good.” …
Lance McCullers Jr. (Tommy John surgery) and Joe Smith (ruptured Achilles) will join the team in West Palm Beach and continue their rehabilitations at the Astros’ spring training facility.