The Astros have re-signed Ben Gamel to a one-year major league contract. The Wasserman client is reportedly guaranteed a $200K signing bonus and would secure a $1MM base salary if he breaks camp. The Astros have a 40-man roster opening thanks to the Ryan Pressly trade, so no corresponding move was necessary.
GM Dana Brown has spoken all offseason about the team’s desire for a lefty-hitting outfielder. Gamel fits the bill and has some familiarity in the Houston clubhouse. The Astros snagged him off waivers from the Mets last August. Gamel provided a bit of a boost offensively, hitting .259/.377/.362 in 20 games. His season ended in mid-September when he broke his left fibula, sustained when he crashed into the outfield wall while tracking down a Mickey Moniak fly ball. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that the veteran outfielder is expected to be a full participant in Spring Training.
Gamel, 32, has appeared in the majors in nine straight seasons. He played somewhat regularly with the Mariners, Brewers and Pirates between 2017-22. He has spent the last two years as a depth option. He made six appearances for the 2023 Padres and combined for 38 games between the Mets and Astros last year.
In a little over 2300 career plate appearances, Gamel owns a .252/.334/.382 slash line that is roughly league average. He has middling power with a very patient plate approach. Gamel’s willingness to work deep counts has translated to a strong 10.5% walk percentage, though he has also fanned in around a quarter of his trips to the dish. He has been an excellent Triple-A performer throughout his career, hitting .303/.381/.468 across 420 games at the top minor league level.
While Gamel addresses Houston’s desire for a lefty-swinging outfielder, he doesn’t have huge platoon splits. He’s a career .252/.337/.387 hitter against righties and carries a .252/.324/.364 slash versus left-handed pitching. Gamel is a fringy runner who is limited to the corner outfield, where defensive metrics have graded him as a below-average defender.
Gamel should have a real opportunity to play his way into a decent amount of playing time in Houston. The Astros have a thin outfield following the Kyle Tucker trade. Defensive stalwart Jake Meyers is ticketed for regular run in center field. Chas McCormick will get the bulk of the playing time in right field. He’s looking to rebound from a career-worst .211/.271/.306 showing. Gamel may end up as the Opening Day left fielder. Manager Joe Espada said that he’d prefer to limit Yordan Alvarez’s outfield work to keep him healthy. Taylor Trammell, a career .167/.270/.363 hitter who took eight MLB plate appearances last year, projected as Houston’s left fielder before this signing.
Utilityman Mauricio Dubón will be in the mix at various infield and outfield positions. The Astros have kicked around the idea of giving Jose Altuve some left field work. If Houston re-signed Alex Bregman, that’d push Isaac Paredes to second base and move Altuve into left field every day. While that door remains cracked as long as Bregman remains unsigned, the Astros don’t seem to be confident in their chances of re-signing him. Their pursuit of Jorge Polanco as an infield fallback came up short. Houston could theoretically make Dubón a full-time second baseman and commit to pushing Altuve to the outfield, but that’d limit their versatility off the bench.
Offloading $8.5MM of Pressly’s $14MM salary dropped the Astros below the luxury tax line. RosterResource calculates their CBT around $237MM, making the assumption that Gamel will stick on the roster into the regular season and count for a $1.2MM tax hit. That puts the Astros around $4MM shy of this year’s base threshold. Owner Jim Crane has shown a willingness to exceed the threshold if it meant getting Bregman back at a favorable price — they’ve reportedly had a six-year, $156MM offer on the table for most of the winter — but it doesn’t seem the Astros want to go beyond the line for marginal upgrades.
Chandler Rome of The Athletic first reported that the Astros were re-signing Gamel. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that it was an MLB deal that included a $200K signing bonus and a non-guaranteed $1MM salary. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported the condition that the salary became guaranteed if Gamel were on the Opening Day roster.
Image courtesy of Imagn.
Remember Sammy Jankis
No reason why you said this but a reference from my all time favorite movie definitely gets a like.
I think “Gamel” sparked my memory engrams, wasn’t Joey Pants character “John Edward Gammel”? … “my mother calls me teddy!”
Ok makes sense now lol. John G……
I was in college and working at a cinema when that came out. Had to have seen in half a dozen times in the theatre. It blew my mind then, and it still holds up today even after countless imitators came after.
When you gamble on gamel you’re bound to lose. Ahahahahaha!
I thought “The Tony Danza Tap-dance Extravaganza” immediately…. Gotta be it..!!
He must have some dirt on GM’s or something, he must be a great clubhouse guy because I can’t fathom how he keeps getting signed. As a Brewers fan, watching him in 2019 and 2020 was painful, he’s so bad.
He hit very well in AAA last year and in limited time in the majors he was solid. 190 PAs in Syracuse and had a .962 OPS. Only 69 PAs in Houston but had a 115 OPS+. You can do a lot worse than that.
Yes, and he probably will. There are quite a number of veteran AAA player, such as Gamel, who can hit .280 with 25 HR in AAA……and .203 with 2 HR in MLB. Nothing wrong with that, just don’t expect too much from him.
Look at the Astros current outfield before adding him. That’s your answer
Before that he was “serviceable”
“Gamel may end up as the Opening Day left fielder.”
—Incredible, if true. How is it possible that the Astros’ front office doesn’t have a tools goof in the upper minors, a good-fielding 21 yo CFer who by definition would provide a plus-plus glove in LF, and who they can teach to crowd the plate and add 20 HBPs in a year to get his OBP to .290? That’s a 1+ bWAR LFer instead of the replacement level Gamel.
He doesn’t even help them out with a platoon advantage—he’s just… bad. Negative 0.2 bWAR since 2021.
This is just bad GM’ing. “Let”s settle for the worst sort of unproductive guy because even though he’s 33 he’s been in the majors before and we won’t catch too much criticism for playing him as we bleat ‘luxurytaxluxurytax.’ ”
Gamel shouldn’t even be in the mix for the FIFTH OFer slot on a contender, never mind their opening day starting LFer.
Gamel was pretty good in his limited time with the team last year. This late in the offseason I’m not sure who you expected them to get. Still would love Peralta but probably not happpening
Outfield acquired. Astros offseason is now complete.
He played pretty good for the Astros towards the end of last year. I didn’t think they would resign him because they need a little bit more than just depth.
He’s a poor man’s Kyle Tucker
He’s a penniless homeless man’s Kyle Tucker
more like a skid row man’s LOL
Did not know he was still playing.
Woooooooot. I really like this. 1 outfield spot now has a GOOD major league player in it. Jake the rake and Chaz are still starters though so that’s not good
I know he hasn’t been but it feels like this guy has been on the edge of somebody’s roster for 20 years now.
There’s that LH bat they were looking for while trying to stay under the luxury tax threshold
Jimmy Butler to the Warriors, will we see the news break on MLBTR?!
If we do are you gonna get sand in your you know what?
It’s been addressed by Tim and Steve. Miscommunication they said it won’t happen again. No worries if it does just scroll right by if you’re not interested.
That’s a quick cheap turnaround lol.
9 years of playing in the Bigs. He’s getting close to the 10 year full retirement bonus. As a career fringe player, that pension means a lot. I like giving him a chance because he’s extremely motivated to stay on a roster. If it doesn’t work out, he’s cheap and easy to cut.
Poor mans Michael Brantley. He hit like .320 with the mariners his first 2-3 months there. Has the ability to be a quality contact hitter and the Astros maximize the production of savvy/hustle players like him.
Agree 100%. Ten yrs MLB Service Pension is a big deal. Access @ age 45 – $86K/yr. Access @ age 62 – $275K/yr. 10 yr players with 5 yrs on the same team also earn ’10 and 5′ No Trade rights.
Gamel played well after HOU picked him up. Then he was injured. I hope he’s able to pick up where he left off.
From his time with the Bucs this guy plays hard. Easy to root for. Glad he was able to get a major league deal.
Gamel and Trammell. Gonna fill that outfield with former Mariners!
Maybe they can sign Harold Reynolds to play second base.
Looks like Altuve is NOT heading to the outfield!
Welcome to the Windy City Alex!
@holycow16,
Altuve is so short for outfield. It’s a disadvantage at the fence but I suppose advantage in scooping and throwing on the run.
I only say this due to the Astros mentioning the potential of moving Isaac Peredes to 2nd and Altuve to the OF if Alex stays…
I agree though, definitely not the ideal OF’r
Still like sanchez from miami. Shouldnt cosr a lot
I am impressed that he is still bouncing around. Good work if you can get it Ben.
Hey, There is always Jake Marisnick. He’s available.