The Astros are signing free-agent reliever Ryne Stanek, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports. It’s a one-year deal, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Stanek will earn $1.1MM, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The right-hander is a client of MVP Sports Group.
The 29th overall pick of the Rays in 2013, Stanek made his major league debut four years later and gave the club especially good production from 2018-19. He was one of the Rays’ go-to opener options then, starting 56 games in 100 appearances, and managed a 3.17 ERA with a 28.9 percent strikeout rate and a 9.6 percent walk rate in 122 innings. However, the Rays moved on from Stanek when they sent him to the Marlins in a 2019 trade deadline deal that delivered stud reliever Nick Anderson to Tampa Bay.
Unfortunately for Miami, Stanek wasn’t able to maintain his effectiveness in its uniform. The 29-year-old had a rough season in 2020, when he threw 10 innings of 7.20 ERA ball with almost as many unintentional walks (eight) as strikeouts (11) and saw his average fastball dip from the 98 mph range to 96. The Marlins then non-tendered Stanek in lieu of paying him a projected $800K in arbitration.
The Astros could control Stanek through 2023 via arbitration, so this might be more than a one-year union between the two. And Astros general manager James Click, who was part of the Rays’ front office when they drafted Stanek and saw him flourish a few years later, is quite familiar with the hurler.
Stanek will now join a Houston bullpen that ranked a middle-of-the-pack 15th in ERA a season ago. The Astros have since lost relievers Roberto Osuna, Brad Peacock and Chris Devenski to free agency, and while none played big roles in 2020, the team has been looking to address its relief corps to a notable degree this winter. In fact, Mark Berman of Fox 26 tweeted Thursday that the Astros want more than one reliever and have interest in free agents Brad Hand and Trevor Rosenthal (along with the previously reported Liam Hendriks and Alex Colome). With that in mind, they probably aren’t done after the Stanek acquisition.
People, don’t forget that the Astros are still pitching gurus. That hasn’t changed even after the scandal.
what are you talking about?
They improved Morton, Cole, and Verlander among others.
They’ve turned around good pitchers like Charlie Morton, Verlander, Gerritt Cole, and Ryan Pressly, turning them into great pitchers. Brent Strom must have something going on.
Ya’ll think we forgot the Trevor Bauer “no comment” game?
blogs.fangraphs.com/trevor-bauer-might-have-conduc…
Or That The Ex Angel’s Employee just blasted Cole & Verlander
(They mention Bauer’s RPM jumping one Inning & going back down the rest of the game NEAR the bottom of the blog)
Amazing the comments this guy has, it’s cold outside and mama’s basement is warm.
Trashcan. That’s all I got.
And that’s all you will ever have, too.
That’s pretty much all you need.
The Astros need to sponsor trashcan alternatives like recycling. Marketing 101.
philsark94: If “trashcan” is ALL you got, then you’ve got NOTHING!
That ain’t much…
ASTros/Rays
Bang bang eh
Congratulations. Your head has a nice ring to it.
No, this has a nice ring to it:
Bang bang eh, Bang bang eh, Bang bang eh, Bang bang eh, BUDDY YOU’RE A BOY MAKE THE BIG NOISE PLAYING IN THE STREET GONNA BE A BIG MAN SOMEDAY!!!!
The whole start, stop, start again thing had to have thrown many pitchers for a loop. Spring Training is really designed around getting them ramped up to a normal workload.
There will be some guys who bounce back in major ways. Hoping for the Angels sake Stanek isn’t one of them.
Fantastic addition. Solid spin rate and control.
Thank you Johnny Superscout
Sorry to break it to you tommy boy but they are correct, the stros are now the scums. It’s over for them, O-V-E-R. OVER!
Put that in your juice box & suck it.
But what in my juice box?
First of all, it’s “Put” not but idiot boy & come here & I’ll show you!
Thanks, Costanza!!!
Keyboard warriors are funny as he## ! LOL
LOL Braveheart from NY has brave words
They made it to game 7 of the ALCS, how far the the Yankees make it? I forgot.
The Astros had a losing record last year bud…They’re more than finished.
The nationals were 10 games under .500 through the near same amount of games in 2019. Howd they do?
Still were 1 game from the WS.
Again, how far did the spankmees make it in the playoffs?
Yea well who played in October? Last time I checked the Yankees choke when it matters
Not real exciting based on resume but B. Strom knows what he’s doing. Low cost so low risk. Still anticipating replacements in the outfield.
“Suckston”…..
Did you think of that one all by yourself?
When Jesus Sanchez came over in that deal many people were saying don’t sleep on Stanek. Jesus may have been in the top 100 (possibly 50 at the time) but they thought Stanek could be the future closer or maybe set up man. The minute he became a Marlin he was garbage. Overall numbers based on luck or not meant he was garbage.
Maybe some one in the coaching staff changed him. Maybe he is not meant for late inning moments. Maybe Covid times messed him up. It’s a real shame because you would think paying him 800k to see if get gets it right would be worth it. But he was just so bad. I don’t blame them for letting him go.
But if he rights the ship and becomes a good piece of a pen I would not be surprised.
he think he worked well in TB’s system as the OG opener. I imagine a team willing to harness his strengths can get great value out of him.
He was also injured when traded to Miami. Just did not workout for the Fish
Alright, so Brent Strom will turn him into a Cy Young contender…maybe not but the man works magic.
Haha. We absolutely own the yankees. They are bantha fodder. Typical astros signing. One year deal but the ability to control beyond this season. Brent strom is the best pitching coach in baseball.
The only thing you “own” is having the distinction of being lowlife, cheating scum that parents point to & tell their children, when you lie, cheat & steal decent people want nothing to do w/you.
Have you no shame sir?
Its literally unbelievable that a yankees fan would claim this. Your team was literally fined for sign stealing the same year! Your lawyers are doing everything possible to not have your transgressions open to the public. The yankees have a monopoly on baseball due to their sheer record revenues due to market size and bandwagon fandom. The steroid abusers on one team is crazy. And im the shameful one? Wow. Just wow.
Drop the mic bro
The Patriots and Astros just do what every other team has done.
First of all it’s Yankees, upper case. Secondly you’re kidding yourself with your ridiculous analogy & it just goes to show you have lost touch w/reality & can no longer distinguish between right & wrong.
And last but certainly not least, yes, you are the shameful one, you, your organization & your entire fan base. Happy New Year my twisted, misguided friend.
Unseal the docs
You guys housed one of the biggest cheaters of all time. On top of that the accusations of you guys sign stealing have not been dismissed. Are you that naive to think the astros were the only one with a code breaker type scheme? Don’t be a moron.
The original opener!
He can go into the history books with Ron Bloomberg!
I’m sure the spin rate on his fastball will jump for mysterious and unexplained reasons.
Yes. Jeff luhnow before he was fired implanted micro chips into our players, manchurian candidate style. Its the only way a team loaded with generational players could have ever been successful.
does that mean they dont need the microchips from the vaccines? /s
those chips can track you almost as well as the 18 apps with location services you already have on your phone.
Or the obvious chips in your pets lol
Dang Dombrowski! this was a great option for us!
Do you guys think the reason we haven’t heard anything about Roberto Osuna is Because of his domestic violence charge? Will be remain unsigned? His stats are crazy good… so I’m curious what you all think.
Last I heard he needed Tommy John surgery.
But I’m sure the woman beating greatly limits his market. When Toronto wanted to dump him only the Astros were willing to take him.
He needs tommy john bro. His ucl is compromised. Rest and relaxation rarely work.
Tyreek hill allegedly broke his sons arm in a fit of rage. Charges weren’t filed because police couldnt decipher who committed the crime between he and his wife. What did the chiefs do? Give him a lucrative contract extension! There is no integrity in sports. Organizations care about winning until the media forces their hands folks
Go away!
Need more people like you. These fools actually believe there’s integrity in sports. Talking crap about how the Astros get the most out of pitchers when Trevor Bauer flat out said he uses ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES to increase his spin rate. Not ALL ATHLETES ARE ROLE MODELS! Most want to get paid by any means necessary.
Astros fan lecturing us about integrity in sports!?! Look in the mirror!
There is zero integrity in the game. The Angels killed their own player by employing someone who provided drugs. Yet you think sign stealing is the big issue in baseball.
Zero integrity? Please
Yes Mr Bonds, there is Zero Integrity. You can also look up Larry Baer if you need another reference. Stop pretending this league is made up of choir boys.
There are plenty of organizations that would not bring in a Tyreke Hill or a Roberto Osuna. Fans don’t expect these guys to be choir boys but most of us have a line, and those two definitely crossed them.
Well… we know the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, and Cubs also don’t have a problem keeping domestic abusers on their team.
At least these teams didn’t kill their own player by giving him fentanyl…….
Why do some need to Troll? Insecurities, victim of child abuse, empty lives? I guess it could be 1 million different things. Still, pathetic and sad.