11:18am: Cotts would earn $1.5MM upon making the Major League roster and can earn up to $1.25MM more via incentives, reports Jon Heyman (on Twitter). Additionally, Cotts’ contract contains opt-out dates on March 26 and June 1 if he’s not in the Majors.
8:43am: The Astros have signed lefty reliever Neal Cotts to a minor league deal, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart tweets. Cotts is a client of Pro Star Management, Inc.
Cotts, who will turn 36 next month, posted a 3.41 ERA, 8.2 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings split between the Brewers and Twins last season. Along the way, he held left-handed batters to a .573 OPS. The Astros had been hunting for left-handed relief depth, having recently been connected to Randy Choate. Cotts doesn’t have a significant platoon split for his career, which means he isn’t ideally suited to be a LOOGY, but he’s generally effective and can certainly handle left-handed batters as needed.
For his career, Cotts has a 3.96 ERA, 8.5 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9 in parts of ten seasons. In addition to the Brewers and Twins, he’s appeared with the White Sox, Cubs and Rangers.
*a tumbleweed rolls through the comment section*
Remember that one time the Twins got Neal Cotts because their bullpen was horrible?
Nothing wrong with some insurance.
It was situational for the Twins – LH Glen Perkins was injured and they had burned a lot of innings in the bullpen. They’ve got a bunch of young arms coming through the pipeline.
As a diehard Astros fan, I think this is a great move. I always liked Neal Cotts – they guy throws hard and challenges batters. He’s pitched pretty well over his career, and still has great stuff.