Having freed up some money in today’s earlier trade, the A’s put some of that money immediately to use by bringing starter Mike Fiers back into the fold. Fiers and the A’s have agreed to a one-year, $3.5MM deal, per the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal (via Twitter). Fiers is a client of BASH Baseball.
The A’s were the only team to make an offer to Fiers, notes Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, though Fiers had also made clear his desire to return to Oakland. Given Fiers’ notoriety as the whistleblower of the Astros sign-stealing scandal, it’s interesting to note the lack of league-wide interest, though Fiers also doesn’t own the pitching profile that typically generates bidding wars in free agency.
The 35-year-old righty is coming off a 4.58 ERA/5.41 SIERA season over 59 innings for the A’s with a 35 percent groundball rate, a very low 14.4 strikeout rate, and an above-average 6.2 percent walk rate. As a contact-friendly flyball artist, Fiers’ game is particularly well-suited for the spacious confines of the Coliseum in Oakland. Since joining the A’s mid-season in 2018, Fiers’ raw run prevention numbers have routinely outperformed SIERA and fielding independent pitching metrics, thanks largely to low BABIP numbers.
At his best, Fiers can bedevil opponents with his arsenal, as evidenced by two career no-hitters. But overall, the Athletics will be pleased if Fiers can continue his 2019-20 performance level, and especially if Fiers can eat up some innings at the back of the rotation. Averaging 172 innings per season from 2015-19, Fiers offers some durability to an Oakland pitching staff that has been hit by a lot of injuries in recent years.
Dixon Miaz
I remember in like 2011 this guy was a top prospect with all star potential
Jake M
that was never the case for Fiers
bravesfan
I don’t recall this either…
fathead0507
Yep.. 13-3 1.86era in minors he was to be the next Ben Sheets for Milwaukee
For Love of the Game
That seemed like a compliment at the time, but didn’t turn out that way!
baumann
Sheets was injured half the time. When he pitched he was largely very good to excellent. Fiers isn’t nearly as good as Sheets was, but he’s far more durable. Take your pick. I’d probably go with Sheets.
steven st croix
They must give feee cheese in the clubhouse
C-Daddy
Haven’t you seen Moneyball? Nothing in the A’s clubhouse is free.
zacharydmanprin
Good 4th or 5th starter. Easy trade piece if the wheels come off. He’s a 5 inning pitcher, though. He wastes too many pitches to go deep into games.
bravesfan28
The snitch gets the bag I suppose
One Bite Hotdog
Snitch… I suppose you like the fact that the Astros won a title via cheating.
bradthebluefish
Snitched after leaving Houston. Wish he did it while at Houston. Came off as salty.
smuzqwpdmx
If he did it while in Houston, he’d have needed presidential-level security. Would you have the nerve to turn millions of people in the city where you live against you, including everybody you work with every day?
raft
Is that the only cheating he knows about?
astros2017
Google his picture celebrating the ALDS series win in 17, Champaign flowing and happy as a man can be
Then was left off the World Series roster and…..
Billie Johnson
I think it’s a dirt bag move to snitch after winning a title. Why didn’t he snitch while it was going on? At least then it would look like he had balls.
pinstripes17
Get ready for plenty of salt from Asstros* fans in these comments.
bravesfan28
Lol, read my username. I was just joking.
goastros123
I remember seeing salty Yankees fans on Facebook in 2017 saying stuff like “Astros win one and they think they hang with the big boys”.
DarkSide830
glad he did
Grade_1_teacher
That’s cheap. Lots of starters of Fiers’ caliber are getting $8M on a one year deal. Must be the rat discount.
i like al conin
He did a great service to the game helping to clean it up. The valid only criticism in my view is his waiting until moving on.
slidepiece
So did Canseco… your point?
Ducky Buckin Fent
Yeah, it is interesting.
The guy stood up against something that was obviously some BS. I’m sure that wasn’t – hasn’t been – an easy thing to do.
But.
I get it.
For some reason I wouldn’t want to be in the same locker room as him. Ya know? Even though he really did the “right thing” – or whatever – & should really be commended I just wouldn’t want to be around him.
I understand (intellectually) that this is completely unfair on my behalf. But it’s still there.
IACub
Thank you for being logical about this. it would be interesting to see what players would say about Fiers anonymously
MoTownTigers
It’s called being a weak person. You want to feel good about yourself for supporting the right thing, but lack the spine because being liked is more important.
Ducky Buckin Fent
I don’t think it’s quite that simple.
He was accepted into their locker room & then – even though it was for the better – betrayed their trust.
It would be hard to like him.
I don’t think “players don’t trust Fiers” is all that newsworthy. Nobody besides Oakland offered him a contract. That should tell you something right there.
Ya know?
I also see why.
Doesn’t make anyone who feels that way a “weak person”. Just someone who values trust amongst their peers.
raft
Is that the only cheating he knows about?
One Bite Hotdog
Are you proud supporter of cheating?
Good on him to say something that others didn’t have the courage to do.
C-Daddy
I’m happy the Astros were exposed, but he definitely deserves to be called a snitch. It’s not like he’s turned in his World Series ring to the league or commissioned to have “World Series Champion” removed from his Baseball Reference page.
Gothamcityriddler
Michael Corleone says hello.
MoTownTigers
Does it take a lot of practice talking out of both sides of your mouth?
This is exactly the narcissism that’s killing society. ‘I’m a good guy because I stand up to what’s wrong and I’m a popular guy because I don’t snitch’.
solaris602
I’m still choking on the Drew Smyly contract. The question is how long before Anthopoulos is dry heaving over it? At least Fiers is durable which is a LOT more than you say of Smyly.
Curly Was The Smart Stooge
I’m not smyling on that contract either, AA must know something we all don’t.
pinstripes17
You support cheating? That’s a bad look.
C-Daddy
Being critical of Mike Fiers and supporting cheating aren’t mutually exclusive.
For Love of the Game
C-D, aren’t they the same thing, trashing Fiers for exposing the Cheatstros? Kind of implies condoning cheating.
xtraflamy
I’m not sure you said what you meant to say here.
1984wasntamanual
Only to those incapable of thinking past the surface level. As has been mentioned, the timing to him doing it is questionable, so it’s certainly possible to think cheating is bad and also think Fiers was just a case of sour grapes.
Astros2017&22Champs
Hahaha. Yankees have more sign stealers and steroid abusers in league history. Nothing worse than a yankees fan. We own new york
Gothamcityriddler
Of course we do, how else do think we have 27 World Championships! How many do the asterisks have, oh yea, one, tainted one that is. You & your whole organization are a disgrace. Ahahahaha!
pinstripes17
The Stros don’t own anything, zero world series rings must be sad being a Cheastros fan!
goastros123
Wrong because the Astros have a world series ring and it’s official according to the record books, regardless of the fact that they cheated. Honestly, it doesn’t matter if fans don’t think it’s legit. It feels very good to watch a team you like when it all. Astros are the Yankees daddy.
Gothamcityriddler
“When” it all, Ahahahaha! Typical asterisk fan, what a maroon. Ahahahaha!!
goastros123
Pointing out a typo is the best you can come up with? If so, you’re the maroon, not me.
trout27
Like it said in the article, he had no other offers.
Rangers29
3.5 mil in hush money so that he wouldn’t share the A’s secrets with another team.
erauber
Lol
slidepiece
Would have gotten 2x that amount if he wasn’t perceived as a woke warrior
kylegocougs
Oh you mean he’s a victim of Cancel Culture?
case
Nah, it was a deep state conspiracy of satanic pedophiles trying to smear the good name of Texas. Fortunately the heroic owners are standing up for real Americans.
swinging wood
Snitches get to stitch a new contract.
CravenMoorehead
YES. The Fiers rises.
Lloyd Emerson
“well-suited for the spacious confined”
Oxymoron.
JANUS
Look down at your keyboard. Do you notice the s key is directly beside the d key? If you used your brain before commenting you’d realize this is nothing more than minor slip on the finger/thumb. It’s like some people are here just to nitpick spelling/grammatical errors and don’t actually enjoy the content. Sad.
flmetfan
That guy should try teaching high school English classes!
DrDan75
@JANUS
To me, part of enjoying the content here is completely ignoring the trolls and the overly opinionated homers.
1984wasntamanual
Ah yes, what a crazy concept to expect competency from a professional writer. The white knights in the comment section always make me laugh.
DrDan75
“I love oxymorons. My favorite is ‘marijuana initiative.’ ” — George Carlin
C-Daddy
The Astros being cheaters doesn’t negate the fact that this guy is a snitch.
DarkSide830
okay. he’s a snitch. who cares?
tom brunanskys black sock
One man’s snitch is another man’s whistle blower.
CravenMoorehead
You spelled “whistle-blower” wrong
Dock_Elvis
A whistle blower does it against their employer.
its_happening
No snitching, no Astros story (most likely).
C-Daddy
Something about waiting two years to say anything just rubs me the wrong way. I dislike the Astros and Mike Fiers.
drgntrnr
Maybe because after being on other teams for a few years, he found out that all the guys who were saying “every team is doing this, we just have the edge!” We’re actually lying.
Astros2017&22Champs
The red sox and yankees were literally fined for the same thing in 2017. I wish the astros didnt do it. They didnt need to. But i full heartedly believe players arent doing it to win. They do it to make money. Doesnt make it right at all. But a guy like marwin gonzalez from venezuela turned sign stealing into 20 million from the twins. The dude can now take care of his family for generations
Dorothy_Mantooth
No team has ever signaled pitches the batters from the dugout like Houston did. Not a single one.
1984wasntamanual
That’s certainly a generous interpretation. You do know the Astros weren’t the first team he was on, right? Unless you’re saying the brewers cheated also…you’re comment makes no sense.
JRW 2
Yankees were not fined for stealing fines, get your facts straight.
goastros123
Dorothy is right and wrong at the same time: teams have illegaly stolen signs (that includes signaling them some how) before but they didn’t have access to the technology the Astros did or still do or whatever.
smuzqwpdmx
Every snitch is a better person than if he were a non-snitch (aka continuing accessory to a crime/wrongdoing).
24TheKid
Surprised he still signed there now that they don’t have Minor.
Rsox
Pitching into his age 36 season it’s not much of a surprise teams aren’t beating down his door. Still, he has done well in Oakland so goid for him to be going back
bobtillman
I wonder how he feels about Billy Beane buying all new trash cans for the stadium.
Halo11Fan
He snitched.
He told his teammates that the Astros are picking up signs. Is there anyone here that would have not told their teammates. If so, you’re stupid.
its_happening
Yep. Knock them off their top spot.
tom brunanskys black sock
Hero. Deserves a statue.
slidepiece
Like Columbus
IjustloveBaseball
All for it — good to bring a guy back who embraces where he’s at. Fiers still has value too — he’s made at least 28 starts since 2015 (aside from 2020 obviously, where he basically still took the ball every 5th day).
i like al conin
Like. His career numbers are pretty decent. Seems underrated.
Asfan0780
He eats up innings which the rest of A’s rotation has issues with. Every damn young pitcher they have had talent but injury history
IjustloveBaseball
Yup, never a bad thing to have a guy you can, at the very least, expect to rely on to take the ball.
herecomdatboi
Hes always a solid arm, cheap and good is good.
julyn82001
Yay! Fiers is back to anchor a very young but promising A’s pitching rotation! Now we need to also bring back Petite, another innings eater!
heinie manush
The QUESTION is does adding Fiers free up the A’s to trade Bassit and /or Manaea to plug up some other holes? Those two are aging and about to enter high end contracts the A’s can’t afford. Further, young, promising arms like Puk and Kaprielian await recovery from injury. If I’m a GM looking for pitching, I’m dialing up the A’s.
case
Not until Puk and Lazardo can put up full, healthy seasons of above average performance. If the season goes badly Manaea would probably be the best trade bait, the data science teams all seem to love lefty starters.
heinie manush
With Fiers in tow, the A’s can afford to dump Manaea or Bassit NOW, not later . They have FOUR 1st round starters waiting , Puk, Kaprielian, Jeffries and Holmes. It’ their MO, trade established arms before you have to pay them.
CaseyAbell
Don’t really care either way about the Great Snitch Controversy. This looks like a very Oakland move: picking up a decent piece of the puzzle at an attractive price. Fiers should keep the back end of the rotation from stinking too much. That’s an okay return for the money.
raft
But…the A’s don’t let him pitch to the Astros.
Not a clever name
I always tell my sons, a snitch tells on others for his benifit, to get out of trouble to get a financial gain ect. Some
One who speaks out when they see a wrong being done is a hero. Some one in between the two is a Fiers.
24TheKid
Not clever.
Not a clever name
Did you expect it would be?
codgerdodger
#letdomcatch—smith was a starting catcher in college, has expressed to mets he”d catch. -why not- the prejudice against lefty catchers never made sense.. not the starter but 2nd or 3rd string.. why not-