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Astros basic supervisor Dana Brown spoke with KPRC 2 on Thursday concerning the membership’s priorities. He naturally listed the bullpen as a goal space with Phil Maton, Hector Neris and Ryne Stanek set to develop into free brokers. He additionally stated that the membership will want a backup catcher for Yainer Diaz, who’s going to be “the primary man subsequent yr.”
The Astros have been using Martín Maldonado as their major backstop in recent times, which definitely hasn’t been due to his bat. Although he had a pleasant displaying on the plate within the shortened 2020 season, he has hit .183/.260/.333 in 1,212 plate appearances over the previous three years. That quantities to a wRC+ of 66, indicating he was 34% worse than the league-average hitter over that stretch.
Regardless of that tepid offense, he has been a useful member of the Astros in that point due to his glovework and his dealing with of the pitching workers. However his defensive numbers slid a bit in 2023, hardly stunning since he’s now 37 years outdated. Together with his contract now expiring, it appears the membership is planning to maneuver on.
That call has been made simpler by the emergence of Diaz, who had a breakout yr in 2023. His 2.9% stroll charge is kind of low, however he additionally restricted his strikeouts to a 19.6% charge. He launched 23 house runs and produced a line of .282/.308/.538 for a wRC+ of 127. Amongst catchers with not less than 350 plate appearances for the yr, solely Sean Murphy had the next wRC+ mark, together with his 129 simply two factors forward.
However with Maldonado behind the plate most days, quite a lot of that manufacturing befell whereas Diaz wasn’t catching. He did get 42 begins because the catcher but additionally 36 because the designated hitter and 7 at first base. It’s exhausting to get significant knowledge from that small pattern of labor behind the plate however, for what it’s value, Statcast favored his blocking and work with the working recreation. Nonetheless, every of Statcast, FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus thought-about his framing to be subpar. Whatever the particulars, the general physique of labor was sturdy and it’s logical the membership needs to provide him the gig subsequent yr.
Diaz is just 25 so it’s fully potential there’s nonetheless room to develop. He has simply over a yr of service time, which means he gained’t qualify for arbitration earlier than the tip of 2025 and isn’t slated totally free company till after 2028. Maybe the membership will face some challenges in shifting from a revered veteran to a far youthful catcher, however these considerations may very well be ameliorated considerably by bringing in a veteran to assist Diaz.
Maldonado may maybe be that veteran, although it is perhaps powerful for the membership to carry him again after which restrict him to a part-time position. Different choices on the free agent market embody Austin Hedges, Yasmani Grandal, Victor Caratini and Tucker Barnhart. The commerce market may function guys like Jacob Stallings of the Marlins or Kyle Higashioka of the Yankees.
As Brown outlines, concentrating on bullpen assist shall be a logical transfer with Maton, Stanek and Neris headed for the open market. Neris truly has a participant possibility and no determination has been publicly reported on that, nevertheless it feels like Brown is anticipating him to show it down. That’s not stunning since Neris posted a 1.71 ERA in 2023. He gained’t have the ability to maintain a .219 batting common on balls in play or a 90.5% strand charge, which is why his 3.83 FIP and three.89 SIERA had been greater than two runs above his ERA. However nonetheless, he recorded 31 holds and a few saves whereas putting out 28.2% of batters confronted. It’s a web $7.5M determination, with the choice valued at $8.5M with a $1M buyout. He in all probability gained’t have the ability to get his ERA below 2.00 once more however he ought to nonetheless have the ability to beat that assure on the open market.
Brown famous that a number of the replacements may very well be inside however they could look to make some strikes this winter as properly. Josh Hader is the highest reliever accessible however there are additionally names like Jordan Hicks, Matt Moore, Reynaldo López, Robert Stephenson and many
extra.
Financially, the membership could also be strolling a difficult line, until they need to break their very own tendencies. They’ve usually tried to remain below the aggressive steadiness tax, which may have a base threshold of $237M subsequent yr. The membership is already at $231M for subsequent yr, per the calculations of Roster Useful resource, although Neris opting out will drop that beneath $225M. Including a backup catcher and a reliever gained’t essentially break the financial institution, nevertheless it doesn’t depart quite a lot of wiggle room in the event that they need to keep below the tax once more in 2024.
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