2K24: Houston Astros

[Don Quixote]

Haha. 'productive' and 'decent price'....uhm,, NO.

If he pitches like he did last year, admittedly a big "if", he's worth the money.

[james33]

Offense has been down lately; I need to recalibrate: how good is 2.36 K/BB? Used to be - anything over 2.0, I considered good.

[chancellor]

Offense has been down lately; I need to recalibrate: how good is 2.36 K/BB? Used to be - anything over 2.0, I considered good.

Better than OK, but not very good. The Shandliciples use 2.5 as their baseline to define likely success for fantasy purposes.

I think this move pretty much guts the value of my $10 Feldman in an 11-team AL only league...

[Kevin Seitzer]

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2013/12/07/astros-sign-reliever-chad-qualls/

The Astros on Saturday signed veteran right-hander Chad Qualls to a two-year deal with a club option for a third year, their second free-agent signing in as many days. Qualls, 35, was drafted by the Astros in 2000 and spent the first four years of his career here, from 2004-07.

...

“As we got into the offseason, we targeted relievers, and he was very close to the top of the list of guys that we thought would be a good fit for us,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said. “He’s a guy that gets a lot of ground balls, had a good year last year. Mid-90s fastball with a very effective slider, and we did a lot of work on him. He’s been very durable over the years and really feel like he made some changes in 2013 that got him back to the form he was when he was at his most effective point. So we feel good about bringing him in back to Houston. He was here during our peak last time through.”

Qualls is not the Astros’ closer, at least not yet. Luhnow still hopes to add at least one more similar, veteran arm, and presumably those veterans would be favorites to close entering spring training. But the team’s stance for now is that the job will be open.

[Don Quixote]

Qualls reportedly gets a two-year deal for $6 million, with an option for $3.5 million more in 2016.

He had a lot of success as a MR with the Astros when he first came up, has closing experience but doesn't seem to need to close, and is coming off a good year with Miami. IMO this is a good low-risk signing.

[mgwiz22]

Do they whisper the same things to the Marlins? Does it do any good?

A few years ago this was mentioned but it hasn't come up in a few years as the Marlins did increase payroll and have kept payroll up a bit (Saltalamachia, Furcal, Bell)

[Kevin Seitzer]

https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/409476518004281344

@EvanDrellich
Qualls said he's talked with Bo Porter about closing and understands Astros may sign another reliever and that he could well have a chance

[Kevin Seitzer]

I can only assume the MLBPA was starting to whisper sweet nothings (pun absolutely intended) into the Astros' ears.

Nope.

[Moonlight J]

Qualls's swing & miss rate jumped from 17% to 24% this past season. The slider was particularly filthy as the chase rate on the pitch went from 29 to 45%

[Erik]

However, Qualls was terrible as a Phillie. As in, gascan-level terrible. Such fluctuations happen with non-elite relievers.

[Moonlight J]

However, Qualls was terrible as a Phillie. As in, gascan-level terrible. Such fluctuations happen with non-elite relievers.

There's a reason why he had his issues

http://jasoncollette.com/2013/12/08/qualls-signs-with-houston/

[revo]

Astros acquire Anthony Bass, a PTBNL and cash from the Padres for a PTBNL or cash. That's a lot of extra stuff in a minor deal!

[Kevin Seitzer]

Astros acquire Anthony Bass, a PTBNL and cash from the Padres for a PTBNL or cash. That's a lot of extra stuff in a minor deal!

Every time there is a PTBNL in a deal, it's actually a "PTBNL or cash", by rule, though the "or cash" option often isn't explicitly mentioned in press releases. It was mentioned here because it was a realistic possibility if we didn't want anyone in the Rule 5 draft, which is in fact what happened. We selected Patrick Schuster and sent him to the Padres to complete the trade, and they sent us the $50k that the pick cost.

The trade had to be structured the way it was because the Padres needed Bass off of their roster yesterday in order to clear a spot for a Rule 5 selection today.

[Kevin Seitzer]

HOUSTON, TX — The Houston Astros have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with free agent right-handed pitcher Jesse Crain, General Manager Jeff Luhnow announced today. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2013/12/31/astros-add-jesse-crain-to-bullpen-makeover/

Crain said being available on Opening Day is a “best-case scenario.”

“We’re not putting any specific dates on it,” Luhnow said. “The next milestone is starting the throwing program. If we don’t see any issues with that, then from there, we’ll see how he comes along during the spring. We’re not going to rush him but we feel like he’s going to be ready to go, certainly early in the season if not before the season’s beginning.”

[Don Quixote]

I like what the Astros are doing with their bullpen this off-season, signing short-term deals with veterans who've mostly had a little success at the major league level. They may strike some gold, perhaps dealing off whoever's successful for a prospect or two, as they did with Veras last year, and if nothing else, it enables the organization to leave younger pitchers at AA or AAA and give them time to develop. I don't think they want to go through last year's post-Veras bullpen mess again, in which just about everyone got the chance to seize the closing job and no one took it.

EDIT TO ADD: That doesn't mean I'm interested in anyone in that pen other than Qualls or Crain.