Lost in the shuffle of the trade deadline madness was the fact that right-hander Jose Veras was released by the Astros last week, tweets Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. The former Houston closer had been pitching for the team’s Triple-A affiliate.
Veras, 34, inked a minor league pact with the Astros back in mid-May and reported to extended Spring Training to get up to speed before joining the roster at Triple-A Fresno in June. Veras has previously served as the Astros’ closer and done a fine job, and he performed well in his second stint with Houston last year whilst working in a setup capacity. His most recent Triple-A tenure resulted in a 5.68 ERA with a 16-to-8 K/BB ratio in 19 innings, however.
With the exception of a dreadful 13 1/3-inning stint with the Cubs, Veras has delivered generally solid ERAs over the past five seasons while working as a late-inning reliever for the Marlins, Brewers, Pirates, Tigers and Astros. He has a 3.70 ERA with 9.8 K/9 and 4.6 BB/9 in 294 2/3 innings. His fastball velocity has declined somewhat in recent seasons, though he still averaged 93 mph on his heater with the Astros in 2014. Presumably, Veras will look for a fresh start with another organization.
