Astros and Joe Biagini agree to a contract, eight other players tendered

The non-tender deadline has passed and eight of the ten arbitration-eligible Astros players were tendered contracts and Joe Biagini agrees to a one-year deal.

The Astros had until 7:00 p.m. last night to tender contracts to their ten players that were eligible for arbitration. Eight of those players were tendered, Joe Biagini signed a one-year contract, and Aaron Sanchez was non-tendered.

Sanchez was expected to bring in $5.6 million in arbitration, but due to shoulder surgery, he was expected to miss a portion of the 2020 season. Therefore, the Astros elected to non-tender him effectively making Sanchez a free agent.

Joe Biagini, who came over to Houston with Sanchez from Toronto, agreed to a one-year contract with the front office of the Astros, avoiding the arbitration process. The details of the contract are unknown at this time, but he was projected to get somewhere around $1.5 million in arbitration. I have heard through the grapevine that the deal is for $1 million, but that is not confirmed. He is still eligible for arbitration for two more seasons and will be eligible for free agency in 2023.

He had a 3.78 ERA for Toronto in 50 appearances last year and in the 13 games he pitched for the Astros, his ERA was 7.36. He had kept his ERA as an Astro down to 3.95 up until September 10th when he gave up six earned runs without recording an out, swelling it up to 7.90, so that end number can be deceiving.

The eight players that were tendered contracts are George Springer, Carlos Correa, Roberto Osuna, Brad Peacock, Chris Devenski, Jake Marisnick, Lance McCullers Jr., and Aledmys Diaz. Those players combined are expected to cost the Astros roughly $55 million in arbitration. The following figures are the projected earnings after arbitration for each player.

• George Springer – $21.4 M
• Roberto Osuna – $10.2 M
• Carlos Correa – $7.4 M
• Brad Peacock – $4.6 M
• Lance McCullers Jr. – $4.1 M
• Jake Marisnick – $3.0 M
• Aledmys Diaz – $2.4 M
• Chris Devenski – $2.0 M

The deadline for the Astros front office and the players and their representatives to submit their salary figures for arbitration is January 10th. The arbitration hearings will run from February 3 – 21. But there are still opportunities for the team and the players to agree to a contract prior to arbitration. Hopefully, all negotiations will go smoothly with no hard feelings.