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As free agent after free agent was signed this offseason, there was a constant rumble of the amount of money the Houston Astros spent. Thursday, the Astros announced the signing of free-agent pitcher Doug Fister. The details of said contract came out shortly after the Astros press conference, Fister signed a $7 million, one-year contract with the possibly of $5 million dollars worth of performance bonuses -- as reported by MLB.com's Brian McTaggart:
Can confirm Fister deal is $7 million, with $5 million more potentially in performance bonuses through 100-200 innings pitched.
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) January 28, 2016
Adding $7 million to the current Astros payroll pushes the Astros salary to right around $100 million. Which still doesn't push Houston inside the top 10 of salaries by any means but it's a step in the right direction for a team that has a lot of young players they will need to pay down the road.
14 Astros players make up $80 millions on the payroll in 2016:
Name | Avg. Salary |
Colby Rasmus | $15,800,000 |
Scott Feldman | $10,000,000 |
Carlos Gomez | $8,000,000 |
Dallas Keuchel | $7,250,000 |
Doug Fister | $7,000,000 |
Pat Neshek | $6,250,000 |
Luke Gregerson | $6,166,667 |
Luis Valbuena | $6,125,000 |
Tony Sipp | $6,000,000 |
Jose Altuve | $3,125,000 |
Jon Singleton | $2,000,000 |
Marwin Gonzalez | $2,000,000 |
Josh Fields | $900,000 |
That doesn't include pre-arbitration players: Brad Peacock, Dan Straily, Collin McHugh, Will Harris, Carlos Correa, George Springer, Preston Tucker, Max Stassi, Asher Wojciechowski, Ken Giles, Michael Feliz, and Lance McCullers.
It also doesn't include the pay increase for Jason Castro and Evan Gattis -- who be at the moment are destined to head to arbitration.
That is a $20 million dollar increase from 2015 payroll, $81,450,835. If the Astros eclipse the $100 million mark, it will be the first time since 2009 when the team has salary of $102,996,415.