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Astros Sign Lance McCullers Jr. To Five-Year Extension

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MARCH 26: The extension is official, the Astros announced.

MARCH 24: Lance McCullers Jr. won’t be heading to free agency next winter after all. One month after making clear he hoped to forgo the open market and stick with the Astros, the right-hander has reportedly agreed to a five-year contract extension that will begin in 2022 and run through the 2026 season. McCullers, a client of the Boras Corporation, will reportedly be guaranteed $85MM and receive a limited no-trade clause.

Because the deal doesn’t kick in until the 2022 campaign, it does not impact the Astros’ luxury tax ledger for the current season. That’s a critical point for the ’Stros, who have worked diligently to remain south of the $210MM threshold. The contract reportedly comes with a $3.5MM signing bonus, salaries of $15.25MM in 2022-23 and a $17MM annual salary from 2024-26.

McCullers, who’s about to embark on his age-27 campaign, has been a career-long Astro to this point. The team used the 41st overall pick on him in 2012, and he has since produced quality results in the majors. Dating back to his big league debut in 2015, McCullers has pitched to a 3.70 ERA/3.61 SIERA with an above-average strikeout rate (26.4) and a tremendous 55.2 percent groundball rate across 508 2/3 innings. With the exception of 2016, when his walk rate spiked to 12.8 percent, he’s generally kept that mark better than the league average as well.

Durability has been a problem for McCullers, though, as he has never even reached the 130-inning mark in a season. He topped out at 128 1/3 frames in 2018, the year after he helped pitch the Astros to a World Series championship, before undergoing Tommy John surgery.

McCullers missed all of 2019 as a result of the procedure, but he did make a strong return last year with 11 starts and 55 innings of 3.93 ERA/3.95 SIERA pitching, solid strikeout and walk percentages (24.7 and 8.8, respectively) and a 59.7 percent grounder rate. Still, this is an unprecedented guarantee for a starting pitcher who’s never made more than 22 starts in a big league season.

While it’s risky for the Astros to make this type of commitment to a hurler who has had trouble staying healthy, they know McCullers is at least a mid-rotation-caliber starter when he does take the mound. And this move will lead to less uncertainty in Houston’s starting staff a year from now, as veterans Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander could depart in free agency next offseason. Even if those two exit, the Astros figure to return McCullers, Jake Odorizzi, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy in 2022.

Of course, next winter’s free-agent class looks a bit less interesting with McCullers off the market. But Greinke, Verlander, Trevor Bauer (if he opts out of his Dodgers deal), Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman and Kevin Gausman are among many established starters who could be searching for new deals then.

It’s an obviously strong class, and the Astros can afford to be major players in the market if they choose, given that even after this new McCullers deal they’re at $91.7MM in guaranteed money on the books. For a club that’s topped $160MM in payroll in each of the past four seasons now (prior to prorating in 2020), there will be ample room to spend on the open market.

Mark Berman of FOX 26 first reported that an agreement was in place. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported the terms, while MLB Network’s Jon Heyman and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale added contractual details (Twitter links).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Astros Release Steve Cishek

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Right-handed reliever Steve Cishek requested and was granted his release from the Astros on Thursday, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic was among those to report. He had been vying for a role in the Astros’ bullpen after signing a minor league contract during the offseason.

Cishek would have earned a $2.25MM salary had he made the Astros, but that looked increasingly unlikely after the team signed starter Jake Odorizzi to a two-year, $23.5MM deal earlier this month. After all, the Astros are hoping to stay under the $210MM luxury-tax threshold, and adding Cishek to their roster would have made that more difficult to accomplish.

The 34-year-old Cishek had a rough 2020 as a member of the White Sox, with whom he put up a 5.40 ERA/4.47 SIERA over 20 innings, but his track record suggests he’ll catch on with another team soon. Cishek has combined for a 2.78 ERA/3.36 SIERA with decent strikeout and walk percentages (25.2 and 9.2) and a 48.9 grounder mark over 576 innings since he first pitched in the majors in 2010. He gave up three earned runs in 7 2/3 innings and posted 12 strikeouts against two walks this spring.

Angels Return Rule 5 Pick Jose Alberto Rivera To Astros

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The Angels have returned right-hander Jose Alberto Rivera, their pick in the most recent Rule 5 Draft, to the Astros, according to a club announcement.

Rivera, 24, pitched just one inning in an official spring game for the Halos, though he’d spent the entirety of camp working out with the club. He ranked as Houston’s No. 18 prospect at Baseball America in the 2019-20 offseason and was tabbed 11th among Angels farmhands by BA this winter. However, Rivera also hasn’t pitched above A-ball, and carrying him for a full season would give the Angels five bullpen arms who can’t be optioned to the minors (joining closer Raisel Iglesias and relievers Mike Mayers, Alex Claudio and Junior Guerra).

It’s common for Rule 5 picks to be returned this time of year, particularly by clubs with postseason aspirations, as the Halos have. The Angels also hadn’t signed either Claudio or Guerra at the time they selected Rivera, and both moves further restricted their ability to experiment with keeping the hard-throwing righty on the roster. Rivera’s most recent minor league action came in the Class-A Midwest League in 2019, when he tossed 75 2/3 frames of 3.81 ERA ball with a 29.8 percent strikeout rate and an 11.3 percent walk rate.

Astros To Release Steven Souza Jr.

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The Astros plan to release outfielder Steven Souza Jr., who has been in camp with them on a minor league deal, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports. Souza has been vying for the fourth outfielder’s role alongside Jose Siri, Ronnie Dawson and Chas McCormick, but it seems his spring struggles have pushed the team in another direction.

Souza, 31, is 2-for-21 with a homer thus far in Spring Training. He’s drawn five walks and been hit by a pitch in 27 trips to the plate but has also punched out an alarming 13 times in that tiny sample of plate appearances.

Souza’s last full season at the MLB level was quite productive, but it also came back in 2017. He slashed .239/.351/.459 with 30 home runs for the Rays that year, prompting the D-backs to swing a trade for him in the offseason. But a pectoral injury limited his time on the field and productivity in 2018, and his 2019 season was wiped out by one of the most catastrophic knee injuries we’ve seen recent memory; Souza suffered tears of his ACL and LCL in play at the plate that also left him with a partial PCL tear and a posterolateral capsule tear. He returned to the big leagues with the Cubs last year but struggled through 31 plate appearances before being cut loose.

The Astros entered the winter with an entire outfield’s worth of free agents, as George Springer, Michael Brantley and Josh Reddick all hit the market. Springer went to Toronto, Brantley re-signed in Houston, and Reddick remains unsigned. With Brantley back in the fold, the ’Stros are looking at him in left field, Kyle Tucker in right field and speedster Myles Straw as the primary center fielder. McCormick is the likeliest option to break camp as the team’s fourth outfielder, given his ability to play center field and given that he’s the only player in that competition who is already on the team’s 40-man roster.

Astros, Lance McCullers Jr. “Deep” Into Extension Talks

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9:19pm: The Astros have made a “strong” offer to McCullers, and they’re “deep” in talks with him, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle writes.

5:37pm: Right-hander Lance McCullers Jr., who’s in the last year of his contract, tweeted last month that he hadn’t heard from the Astros about an extension, but that has changed. According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the Astros have made a long-term offer to the Boras Corporation client. Details of the proposal are unknown, and Heyman adds that it’s unclear whether the two sides will get a deal done.

A career-long Astro, McCullers made his major league debut with the club in 2015 and has since produced quality results. The 27-year-old owns a 3.70 ERA/3.61 SIERA with above-average strikeout and walk percentages of 26.4 and 9.3, respectively. The problem, if there is one, is that McCullers hasn’t been particularly durable in the bigs. He topped out at 128 1/3 innings in 2018 and has accrued just 508 2/3 frames during his career.

McCullers underwent Tommy John surgery before 2019, causing him to miss all of that season, but he did get through last year unscathed. He rebounded from the procedure to finish second among Astros in starts (11) and third in innings (55), recording a 3.93 ERA/3.95 SIERA and a sterling 59.7 percent groundball rate along the way.

Despite the health issues that have dogged him in the majors, McCullers should do well on his next contract. His track record and age should make him one of the most appealing starters on the open market, but the Astros may prevent him from getting there. Of course, the Astros also have a few other high-profile free agents-to-be – including righties Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander and shortstop Carlos Correa – so general manager James Click & Co. have a lot of work to do over the next several months.

Brandon Bielak A Frontrunner To Make Astros' Rotation

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  • The Astros are unexpectedly trying to fill upwards to forty percent of their rotation for the first few weeks of the season. Framber Valdez’s finger injury led to the signing of Jake Odorizzi, but he won’t be ready by opening day. Cristian Javier is also in doubt for the start of the season. That’s opened a window for Brandon Bielak, who impressed manager Dusty Baker with a 70-pitch outing today, per MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. Bielak worked on getting himself in shape to pitch deeper into games, and it’s showed so far this spring in Baker’s estimation. Bielak made six starts and twelve total appearances in his debut last season. He totaled 32 innings with a 6.75 ERA/7.00 FIP.

Andre Scrubb Removed From Game Due To Sore Shoulder

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  • Andre Scrubb was removed from the Astros’ Grapefruit League game yesterday due to right shoulder soreness.  Catcher Martin Maldonado summoned a trainer to the mound to check on Scrubb, and manager Dusty Baker told reporters (including the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome) that Maldonado “noticed a change in his velocity.”  More will be known about Scrubb’s condition after medical tests are taken, though even a brief injury setback could hurt his chances of winning a job on the Astros’ Opening Day roster.  The righty made his MLB debut last season and posted a 1.90 ERA over 23 2/3 innings with Houston, but had a lot of control issues, recording almost as many walks (20) as strikeouts (24).

Jake Odorizzi Could Debut During Astros' First Homestand

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  • The Astros’ regular season will begin on the road from April 1-6, and recently signed right-hander Jake Odorizzi told reporters (including Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle) that it’s “reasonable to expect” he won’t be available during that stretch. However, Odorizzi could make his debut with the team sometime in its April 8-14 homestand. Odorizzi inked a two-year, $23.5MM guarantee with the Astros, but he’s a bit behind schedule after sitting on the free-agent market until earlier this month.

Latest On Framber Valdez

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MARCH 17: Surgery has not been recommended for Valdez, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic tweets. Valdez will head back to spring training to rehab, but there’s no timeline for a return to the mound.

MARCH 6: Framber Valdez has not yet given up on pitching in 2021. He is considering avoiding surgery and rehabbing his broken ring finger with an eye on returning later this season, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network (via Twitter). Earlier reports suggested Valdez might miss the entire season after being recommended for surgery. Clearly, a final decision has yet to be made.

Despite the signing of Jake Odorizzi to a two-year deal, the Astros would, of course, welcome a healthy Valdez back into the fold. Still, that Houston felt the need to go out and finalize a deal for Odorizzi less than a week after the Valdez injury suggests they aren’t all that optimistic, writes Jake Kaplan of the Athletic. Even if Valdez returns, however, he’s likely to miss a decent chunk of time.

One of the breakout stars of the 2020 postseason, Valdez rode his signature curveball to a 1.88 ERA in four playoff appearances while striking out 29 percent of opponents. That effort built on a quieter but no less encouraging 3.57 ERA/2.85 FIP over 70 ⅔ innings during the regular season.

Details On Forrest Whitley's Roster Status

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  • Top Astros pitching prospect Forrest Whitley will miss the 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery, but he won’t be moved from the 40-man roster to the 60-day injured list due to a roster rule, as The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan explains.  Because Whitley doesn’t have any MLB service time and because he was optioned to the minors before March 16, the Astros can simply place him on the minor league IL.  This means Houston will have to use a 40-man roster spot on Whitley all season, but the Astros are unlikely to burn a season of Whitley’s service time by moving him from the 40-man to the 60-day Major League injured list.
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