2016 "Fest" Pump (Part 1 - The Preview)
Happy New Year, and greetings from Texas! That's right, White Bear Chronicles readers, I have officially moved to the Lone Star state and have been loving every minute of it. Granted, it is in Fort Worth, Rangers territory, but still a nice location nonetheless. No longer tied down to the shackles of my old life in Atlanta, I am now within better reach of attending more games instead of just reporting on them.
But I digress, the 2016 Houston Astros Fan Fest is coming up this Saturday at Minute Maid Park, and yours truly will be one of the many fans in attendance. I'm super psyched to get to be apart of the annual shindig this year, and I will, of course, be posting an in-depth recap ASAP following the event. More excitedly, your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis, will be one of the players scheduled to be there.
Of course, that may all be contingent on what happens with his contract negotiations for the 2016 season. As most of you may know, and for those that may not, Friday was the deadline for arbitration eligible players and their respective ball clubs to reach salary deals for the 2016 season. The Houston Astros had 6 of these players eligible, including Evan himself. Unfortunately, no agreement was reached by either party in Evan's case. And if one is not reached by the time February starts, the ball club, along with Evan and his agent will have to go before a hearing of outside (neutral) arbitrators to hear both sides. Upon which after both sides have made their case, the outside arbitrator will rule in favor of either Evan and his agent, or side with the Astros organization. Both sides are trying to avoid this, however, and could still reach a deal before arbitration hearings begin.
To give some perspective on this somewhat sticky situation, Evan and his agent filed for him to be paid $3.85 Million in 2016. The Houston Astros filed for him to get $3 million. Catcher Jason Castro is also in the same boat of filing for more than the club was willing to offer; Castro wanted $5.25 million, the club only filed for him to make $5 million. The 4 other arbitration eligible players have all settled for amounts more than what they filed:
1. Luis Valbuena - Filed for $5.8 million, will be paid $6.125 million
2. Marwin Gonzalez - Filed for $1.9 million, will be paid $2 million
3. Josh Fields - Filed for $800 K, will be paid $900 K
4. Dallas Keuchel (AL Cy Young Award Winner) - Filed for $6.25 million, will be paid $7.25 million (AND RIGHTFULLY SO!)
Castro's case is a little more difficult than Evan's, mainly because he is asking for a pretty big sum while presenting a risk of offensive liability with a batting slash line of .211/.283/.648 in 2015. However, defensively he had a base runner throw out percentage of 36.4% was one of the highest in the entire league last season. The club has short changed him by a quarter of a million dollars. Either side could be right when it comes to the Astros' starting catcher.
With Evan, on the other hand, while he can be a defensive liability with only a .833 fielding percentage from the 11 games he started in the outfield, he still put up some great offensive numbers, despite his slow start. So great, in fact, that he ended up leading the club in home runs, RBI, and triples, producing a still decent slash line of .246/.285/.748 in 2015. Admittedly, not a good on-base percentage, one of a few things he could still stand to work on as a designated hitter.
Be that as it may, compared to all of the arbitration eligible players along with Castro, Evan Gattis got short changed the most out of any of the other players. Compared to the shortchanging of Castro, Gattis was shortchanged by almost a half a million dollars, projected to be worth $3.5 million next season. In light of this development, I as his most devoted fan, ally and blogger have many questions regarding this salary skimp:
1. Was the slow start and low OBP the only reason's why the club would cut his salary down?
2. Does the club really not value his work ethic, fan magnetism or cumulative stat lead enough to give him what he deserves?
3. Did Jim Crane lie when he said he'd be willing to raise the club payroll?
4. Most importantly: Is this some kind of attempt by some in the front office to get rid of El Oso Blanco?
I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, folks. Gattis is due a deserving pay raise, and is worth every last penny he can get. To try and suggest anything otherwise is, to quote a certain political figure, "peddling fiction." So the next time I hear some snooty sports reporter or hateful fan boy scream for the Big White Bear's head, I'm going to be there to counter such hate with real facts and compassion, like I always have.
I look forward to seeing him and the other Astros players at Fan Fest next weekend!
But I digress, the 2016 Houston Astros Fan Fest is coming up this Saturday at Minute Maid Park, and yours truly will be one of the many fans in attendance. I'm super psyched to get to be apart of the annual shindig this year, and I will, of course, be posting an in-depth recap ASAP following the event. More excitedly, your people's champion and mine, Evan Gattis, will be one of the players scheduled to be there.
Of course, that may all be contingent on what happens with his contract negotiations for the 2016 season. As most of you may know, and for those that may not, Friday was the deadline for arbitration eligible players and their respective ball clubs to reach salary deals for the 2016 season. The Houston Astros had 6 of these players eligible, including Evan himself. Unfortunately, no agreement was reached by either party in Evan's case. And if one is not reached by the time February starts, the ball club, along with Evan and his agent will have to go before a hearing of outside (neutral) arbitrators to hear both sides. Upon which after both sides have made their case, the outside arbitrator will rule in favor of either Evan and his agent, or side with the Astros organization. Both sides are trying to avoid this, however, and could still reach a deal before arbitration hearings begin.
To give some perspective on this somewhat sticky situation, Evan and his agent filed for him to be paid $3.85 Million in 2016. The Houston Astros filed for him to get $3 million. Catcher Jason Castro is also in the same boat of filing for more than the club was willing to offer; Castro wanted $5.25 million, the club only filed for him to make $5 million. The 4 other arbitration eligible players have all settled for amounts more than what they filed:
1. Luis Valbuena - Filed for $5.8 million, will be paid $6.125 million
2. Marwin Gonzalez - Filed for $1.9 million, will be paid $2 million
3. Josh Fields - Filed for $800 K, will be paid $900 K
4. Dallas Keuchel (AL Cy Young Award Winner) - Filed for $6.25 million, will be paid $7.25 million (AND RIGHTFULLY SO!)
Castro's case is a little more difficult than Evan's, mainly because he is asking for a pretty big sum while presenting a risk of offensive liability with a batting slash line of .211/.283/.648 in 2015. However, defensively he had a base runner throw out percentage of 36.4% was one of the highest in the entire league last season. The club has short changed him by a quarter of a million dollars. Either side could be right when it comes to the Astros' starting catcher.
With Evan, on the other hand, while he can be a defensive liability with only a .833 fielding percentage from the 11 games he started in the outfield, he still put up some great offensive numbers, despite his slow start. So great, in fact, that he ended up leading the club in home runs, RBI, and triples, producing a still decent slash line of .246/.285/.748 in 2015. Admittedly, not a good on-base percentage, one of a few things he could still stand to work on as a designated hitter.
Be that as it may, compared to all of the arbitration eligible players along with Castro, Evan Gattis got short changed the most out of any of the other players. Compared to the shortchanging of Castro, Gattis was shortchanged by almost a half a million dollars, projected to be worth $3.5 million next season. In light of this development, I as his most devoted fan, ally and blogger have many questions regarding this salary skimp:
1. Was the slow start and low OBP the only reason's why the club would cut his salary down?
2. Does the club really not value his work ethic, fan magnetism or cumulative stat lead enough to give him what he deserves?
3. Did Jim Crane lie when he said he'd be willing to raise the club payroll?
4. Most importantly: Is this some kind of attempt by some in the front office to get rid of El Oso Blanco?
I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, folks. Gattis is due a deserving pay raise, and is worth every last penny he can get. To try and suggest anything otherwise is, to quote a certain political figure, "peddling fiction." So the next time I hear some snooty sports reporter or hateful fan boy scream for the Big White Bear's head, I'm going to be there to counter such hate with real facts and compassion, like I always have.
I look forward to seeing him and the other Astros players at Fan Fest next weekend!
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| To Be Continued.... |
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