Astros trade reliever Pat Neshek to Phillies for player to be named or cash.
Rather than decline his $6.5 million contract option and send him into free agency, the Astros on Friday traded veteran reliever Pat Neshek to the Phillies for a player to be named or cash.
The Astros saved $6.5 million in the transaction. If they had not found a trade partner, they were likely to buy out Neshek for $500,000. The Phillies exercised Neshek’s option for next season in consummating the deal.
Neshek was a reliable member of the Astros’ bullpen but was limited to mostly middle relief last year behind late-inning options Will Harris, Luke Gregerson and Ken Giles. The 36-year-old sidearming righthander should garner late-inning opportunities for the rebuilding Phillies.
For that reason, Neshek described the trade as “welcomed.” Considering the expectation the Astros would decline his option, he was already prepared to pitch elsewhere come 2017.
“I think going to the Phillies, I’m going to have a lot better opportunities to pitch bigger innings,” Neshek said Friday in a telephone interview. “Not that Houston didn’t do that, but I just think Houston had so many guys that could do everything.
“It will be nice to pitch big innings, pitch more innings. … Hopefully I can run with that and do well.”
Neshek had a 3.06 ERA and 0.936 WHIP in 47 innings of relief last season, the final guaranteed year of the two-year, $12.5 million deal he signed in Dec. 2014.
Something of a righthanded specialist, the former All-Star held same-sided hitters to a .172 batting average and .463 OPS. Lefthanded hitters combined for a .250 average and .967 OPS against him.
“I’m going to miss all the guys, especially (in) the bullpen,” he said. “That was one of the better bullpens I’ve ever been a part of. It’s sad. You spend all year with them and now you move on. But that’s the life of a reliever.”
Gattis’ option picked up
In an offseason transaction more procedural than newsworthy, the Astros exercised their $5.2 million club option on catcher/ designated hitter Evan Gattis.
The move was expected and merely locked in Gattis’ salary for next season. He was set to return to the team in 2017 regardless of whether his option was picked up or declined. The latter would have sent Gattis into a second year of arbitration, in which he stood to extract a higher salary.
Gattis is under the Astros’ control for two more seasons. (He is set for a third and final year of arbitration eligibility in the 2017-18 offseason.)
The 30-year-old is coming off a career year in 2016 in which he slugged 32 home runs and posted an .826 on-base plus slugging percentage in just 447 at-bats.
Unless the Astros make a big splash in the freeagent or trade markets for a clear-cut No. 1 catcher, Gattis figures to serve as one half of a catching platoon with the rest of his at-bats coming at designated hitter. The Astros are in the market for another catcher. A reunion with free agent Jason Castro remains a possibility.
Aside from Gattis, Max Stassi is the only other catcher on the Astros’ 40man roster. Stassi is out of minor-league options, meaning he will be subject to waivers in the spring unless he makes the team’s opening day roster.
The $5.2 million salary signifies a $2 million raise for Gattis. The Astros had until three days of the end of the World Series to exercise his option.