Second non-roster lefty signed in the last week…
Astros settled with 4 players today to avoid arbitration:
Righty Rafael Montero agreed to $2.725MM. This is Montero’s 3rd arb year and he made $2.25MM last season so netted himself a nearly $500K raise. (Montero is still not in camp because of that visa issue says Chandler Rome today).
Ryne Stanek agreed to $2.1MM, a nice bump of $1MM over his $1.1MM 2021 salary.
Oft-injured Aledmys Diaz scored a salary of $4.45MM, a nearly $1.5MM pay raise over his 2021 paycheck of $3MM.
Josh James agreed to $800K in his first year of being arb-eligible.
Two arb-eligible players are still outstanding: Framber Valdez and Phil Maton. Whether that means they’re heading to hearings or their settlements haven’t been reported on yet is unclear at the moment.
No arb hearings this year…
Both McTaggart and Rome with profiles today on OF Lewis Brinson. The former notes that Brinson has worked out in the offseason with Bregman the last 2 seasons while the latter is of the opinion that the expanded roster for April benefits Brinson more than any other player in camp. Being a CFer he benefits from Jake Meyers being out but roster space would have to be cleared for him since he’s not on the 40-man.
Kaplan did a projection of the 28-man opening day roster. The two extra spots for April he projects as both going to pitchers–Brandon Bielak and Seth Martinez.
Is Velander going to be the opening day starter? If not, Valdez?
I can’t imagine a healthy Verlander not getting the call on opening day.
I’m guessing as long as Odorizzi is healthy and doesn’t pitch terribly in Spring Training, he will be the fifth starter until McCullers returns. Javier has more versatility in the bullpen.
I think the team has a tough decision.
They are on record as wanting Javier to be a starter and he has spent 2 years in limbo.
With McCullers hurt and it being the start of the season, now is the best time to work him into the rotation.
It sure won’t be any easier once Lance comes back.
I am guessing by the time he comes back, it will be an easy decision. Remember all the giddy “we have 6 starters, what to do, what to do” chatter last year? Yeah, how’d that turn out?
I am still waiting for Click/Baker to call me, but I think Javier is a starter.
Pretty glowing profile on Pena by Ken Rosenthal of all people…
A similar exercise by McTaggart. The only difference is he has recently-signed southpaw Adam Morgan making the roster over Seth Martinez. Unlike Martinez however, adding Morgan would require creating a space on the 40-man roster.
I’m not sure how the team will handle this.
In order to put any of the NRIs on the active roster a move will need to he made.
McCullers and/or Meyers could go on the 60 day IL which would give us some clarity on how long the team expects them out. Last I read both are close to but less than 60 days into the season.
Whitley is in the same boat and that would start his MLB clock
Otherwise, barring a new injury, a player would need to be either traded or waived.
I’m sure the team does not want to lose any of the pitchers currently on the 40 man AND if waived any WILL be claimed.
To me that means the most likely 28 are all currently on the 40 man.
Not a surprise given that neither were projected to make the opening day 28-man roster but Enoli and Peter Solomon were optioned to the minors today.