Sure he was lazy, especially after moving to 1B where he completely quit caring about his weight, but that SOB could hit and didn't stop hitting in the postseason.
They are probably around 135-140 after arbitration. I'm guessing budget is about 150-160 MM (unless Ohtani picks Houston). Enough room to add a reliever or two. If it is much more than 160MM, Luhnow has a lot of flexibility to do some crazy stuff. Right now, it seems like Astros are waiting to bargain hunt and looking for low cost trades. I hope I'm wrong. Would love Astros to be carrying a 170-180MM budget already. Edit: 150-160MM is not including leaving some money for later in the year trades.
http://www.espn.com/blog/mlb/rumors/post/_/id/37896/rumor-central-evan-gattis-a-non-tender-candidate Non-tendering Gattis would be a surprise... $6.6 million isn't too expensive for a guy who is a more than viable DH candidate and can also catch.
Both Fiers and Gattis would surprise me if they were non-tendered. Gattis is a legit 30 HR middle of the order bat who can play catcher or LF without embarrassing himself. Fiers is a good BoR arm. However, the only FA to sign so far is Doug Fister, who got $4M. I do think Fiers is seen as a better option than Fister, but I’m not sure he’s worth $5.7M. I was hopeful Houston could agree to a contract for around $5M then trade him, paying down some money to hopefully land a decent (say back end of an orgs Top 30) prospect. Either way, I think Gattis will be Houstons DH this year and Fiers will be another team’s 5th starter.
When the majority of the league was juicing Lance raked in a .959 OPS and 326 HR in 12 seasons as an Astro. Fans can shun him all they want but the dude loved baseball not lifting weights, he spent plenty of time preparing to hit when it counted most, he knew how to relax in the moment. You are right his postseason numbers 52 games .949 OPS. Biggio is my all-time favorite Astro because of his hustle and class and Bagwell was amazing HOF player but Berkman was money when it matter most.
It would be equally as shocking for them to non-tender Gattis as it would be for them to not non-tender Fiers.
Maybe the FO is more inclined to move pieces around than we thought. Maybe they have some inside info predicting decline in certain players. Maybe they are clearing out a bit of payroll to allow something bigger to happen. It will be fun to see how it all turns out. Gattis hit 12 homers last year. No where near 30. And while the point is fair that previous to last year his power was better, we cant know yet which Gattis will show up in 2018. His other numbers are decent enough for the DH if thats how it ends up, but having the DH spot open allows more opportunity for some of our AAAA bubble guys to play.
Gattis has trade value, so being non-tendered is unlikely, right? Same thing could be said for Fiers.
You would think, but guys like Gattis get non-tendered sometimes. Fiers trade value? Doubtful. At his age coming off a bad year, with a mediocre year before it and a salary expected to be over $5M, a lot of teams won't be inclined to trade for him.
His catching ability, even if the Astros want him to DH full time, would still put him a leg above non-tendered guys like Chris Carter.
Here is the Q&A with McTaggart that prompted the 'rumor'. Mlbtraderumors.com had [Evan] Gattis as a non-tender candidate, do you see that happening with the rumors of [free agent catcher Jonathan] Lucroy? -- Derek L, Kingwood, Texas. Gattis, who made $5.2 million this season, could be non-tendered as he enters his final year of arbitration, but his time behind the plate with the Astros could be through either way. Lucroy, a free agent, would be a boost defensively behind the plate and provide a nice left-right combination with McCann. Gattis could make up to $7 million next year, which may prompt the Astros to try to trade him.
Tyler Chatwood is an intriguing FA pitcher. His numbers away from Coors Field over the last two seasons are really impressive. Watching him pitch you can tell he has some really good stuff. Mid-high 90's fastball and good breaking balls. Reports are that he's getting plenty of interest from teams and will likely sign a multi-year deal. Some see him similar to Morton as a free agent last season. I'd be interested in signing him as a BOR arm. However, due to our number of BOR arms (McCugh, Peacock, Martes, Morton, etc.) I'm not sure we would sign him.
Gattis bat would be nice to keep and having him as a third catcher to keep McCann from getting enough ab's to get that 19' option. That said Stassi is a better option defensively and could still breakout. And a #2 catcher (Lucroy) is probably there biggest position player target. Maybe they sign a cap-friendly left handed bat or give Fisher/Moran/Reed/Kemp a shot at earning it and keeping it and if they explore those options and it flounders getting one at the trade deadline OR just winning the lottery and landing Shohei Otani. If they deal Gattis I hope it's for an elite 7th or 8th inning arm who's got some club control.
There is a zero % chance McCann's option vests. He needs 601 PAs. If you are curious about the last time he managed that, it was never.
Even still getting a catcher beyond this season is crucial. Gattis is far from the weakest link but he may also be taking away an eighth reliever if he hangs around and Astros want another LH bat
Like most, I see Gattis as the everyday DH with insurance as a catcher in case McCann gets hurt. Looks like Stassi will be the backup catcher, and they want to see if he can replace McCann as the fulltime catcher in 2019. Even at $5.5M, Gattis will be cheaper than just about every legitimate alternative, unless they decide to promote from within (maybe Gurriel and White alternating at DH and first base). I'm also guessing that they want to kick the tires on AJ Reed a bit this season to see if he's going to be in the long term plans or not at 1st base/DH.
