Collin McHugh is happy to be starting over in rotation after spending season as a reliever.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The moment never came, but the conversation persisted.
While he toiled in West Palm Beach, Fla., as if he were a starter last year, Collin McHugh was cognizant he’d end up a reliever. The Astros entered 2018 with a starting surplus, and someone would be left out.
McHugh absorbed the blow. Management and coaches told the former 19-game winner that his was the first name they’d call if a rotation spot were vacated in the regular season.
That didn’t happen until August, and by then, McHugh was entrenched as an invaluable reliever.
Now he’s back where he’s always wanted to be.
A year after being moved to the bullpen — “taking one for the team,” as manager A.J.
Hinch terms it — McHugh is entrenched as the team’s third starting pitcher behind Justin
Verlander and Gerrit Cole.
Before pitching 58 times in relief last season, McHugh had six non-start appearances in his six-year major league career. The adjustment was “eye-opening,” he said, a roller coaster of sorts that required a change in pregame preparation and pitch selection.
McHugh relied less upon his cut-fastball, therefore gaining an uptick in velocity with his four-seamer. He averaged around 92 mph in 2018 after hovering around 90-91 in the previous three seasons. McHugh manipulated his slider, too, giving the breaking pitch a tad more sweep.
“(It) kind of expanded my capacity of what I think I could do as a pitcher,” McHugh said. “Being able to take some of those things and use them back as a starter again (will) hopefully get me better. I think it was good. I think it was only helpful in terms of my career.”
McHugh threw to a 1.99 ERA in 721⁄3 innings, the sixth-lowest mark among qualified American League relievers. He also became one of the quickest Astros relievers to warm up, settling into a routine that allowed for rapid readiness.
“I hope he’s just now a reliever that pitches at the beginning of the game and goes five, six, seven innings,” Hinch said with a smile.
“To be one of those five as it is right now is fun,” McHugh added. “It’s what I enjoy doing, and it’s what I’ve been doing my whole career.”
Cole breaks through arbitration ‘ceiling’
A day after he was awarded the largest salary from an arbitration hearing in major league history, Astros starter
Gerrit Cole said his $13.5 million payday was a “win for the players in general.” Cole, Reds starter Alex Wood and Indians righty Trevor Bauer each won their cases, it was announced Wednesday. All three were given salaries greater than $9.5 million.
For reference, Mookie Betts’
$10.5 million salary was the highest to come from an arbitration hearing last season. The Red Sox outfielder went on to American League MVP honors.
“There’s kind of an artificial ceiling that we broke through this year, and I expect guys coming after me to use that to the best of their advantage and continue to move the system forward,” Cole said Thursday. “We’ve really moved a market that kind of has been stagnant for a while forward, and I think everybody that’s involved is very proud of it and the players will see some benefit from it.”
Bauer, Cole’s college teammate at UCLA, will make $13 million. Wood will earn $9.65 million.
The Astros offered Cole an $11.425 million salary. Cole, a
Scott Boras client, attended the hearing on Monday in St. Petersburg, where he was “intrigued” by the back-and-forth nature of his case.
“I thought Scott did an unbelievable job. They were very prepared,” Cole said. “I was excited for the process. You anticipate you’re going to take some blows. That’s the whole idea — one guy walks in and throws the ball one way, and the other guy walks in and throws the ball the other way. With that said, it was a pretty fun process. I liked seeing the business side of it, for sure.” Under general manager Jeff
Luhnow, the Astros have won only one of the six arbitration cases they’ve taken to a hearing — in 2016 against catcher Jason
Castro. Cole’s victory was the fifth consecutive win in an arbitration hearing by an Astro in Luhnow’s tenure.
“Arbitrators decide, and you don’t get any feedback when they decide — it’s just yes or no — so you don’t really have anything you can learn from,” Luhnow said Thursday. “But no, I’m not concerned about it. We’re going to continue to do our work, present offers that we think are fair.”
Verlander bemoans slow-moving market
Justin Verlander’s mere presence inside the Astros clubhouse on Thursday afternoon at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches is a product of “rebuilding” — a scheme he’s thankful exists but also cautions is a misnomer.
Perhaps the most outspoken of all major league players during this winter’s free-agent freeze, Verlander reaffirmed recent social media comments on Thursday, excoriating the sport’s noncompetitiveness and reverberations it has caused during this slow-moving offseason.
“A lot of teams are hiding behind this rebuilding mantra that you see almost every team that’s not winning talk about, and I think that can be a little misleading,” Verlander said. “(Organizations) just want to continue to appease their fans by saying that word, but if I was a fan of some of these teams, I’d be pretty upset and be at their fences — not going in their fences — but at their fences preaching change.”
The Astros, of course, endured just what Verlander bemoaned from 2012-14 upon the hire of Jeff Luhnow. The tanking, in part, allowed the organization to acquire the 35-year-old ace in August 2017 as it proceeded toward its first World Series title.
Verlander contended he can see how rebuilding works “in some cases” but proclaimed other teams within their “window” to win should “go for it.”
“Who wants to go see some of these teams?” Verlander said. “Fans are smart. We ask them to pay their hard-earned money to come watch us play.
“If they want to do that, I think the organization should uphold a certain level of integrity and want to put a certain product on the field.”
As Verlander spoke after his bullpen session on Thursday afternoon, premier free agents
Manny Machado and Bryce Harper remained unsigned. Former Astros Dallas Keuchel, Marwin Gonzalez and Martin Maldonado did not have jobs, either.
“That’s what bothers me. We have so many free agents that could help multiple, multiple teams, and they’re just sitting there,” Verlander said. “We have so many guys that can help teams, but when you don’t have teams that want to be helped, it really limits your options.”
Odds and ends
Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Collin McHugh, Wade
Miley, Framber Valdez and Corbin Martin were among the pitchers to throw a bullpen session during the pitchers and catchers’ first workout day . .... General manager Jeff Luhnow said he expects all Astros position players to report on time Sunday before the first fullsquad workout on Monday . .... Asked if the club could potentially add to its roster in spring training, Luhnow said there is “not a huge sense of urgency or a huge gap in our roster right now that we need to address.” .... Nearly one month after arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow, Alex Bregman said he is running, throwing and hitting but has not yet progressed to throwing across the diamond to first base.