Hey look, the Houston Astros have signed a second reliever today. Pat Neshek is going to the club on a two-year, $12.5 million contract.
Reliever Pat Neshek, pursued by #Pirates, signs with #Astros for two years, $12.5 million, pending physical. Gets to stay in FLA for spring.
— Derrick Goold (@dgoold) December 10, 2014
The 34-year old lefty had a shockingly good year with the Cardinals in 2014 after signing a minor league deal with the club last offseason. In 67 1/3 innings, Neshek pitched to a 1.87 ERA, striking out 68 and walking just nine. Neshek was particularly dominant against right-handers, allowing just a .173/.205/.236 line, but also held his own against lefties (.192/.237/.304).
However, Neshek did struggle in the second half following an unreal first half that saw him named to the NL All-Star Team. Those struggles can be traced to a spike in home run rate and BABIP and a decline in strand rate, though Neshek’s strikeout and walk rates remained stellar.
Earlier today, Houston agreed to a three-year deal with former Oakland Athletics reliever Luke Gregerson. Adding Neshek to a pen that now includes Gregerson, Chad Qualls, Tony Sipp, and Josh Fields really helps solidify Houston’s bullpen.
For less money than Andrew Miller and David Robertson, both Astros targets, each got, Houston picked up a pair of relievers that can eat up more innings than either of those two could separately. At the end of the day, I’d call that a net positive for the club.
