https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/12/astros-to-sign-joe-smith.html
Astros To Sign Joe Smith
By Connor Byrne | December 13, 2017 at 5:13pm CDT
The Astros have agreed to a deal with free agent reliever Joe Smith, pending
a physical, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com tweets. It’s a two-year pact, per
Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle (Twitter link). Smith is a client of
Excel Sports Management.
Houston will be the sixth team for the 33-year-old Smith, who has served as a
more-than-capable reliever since making his major league debut in 2007. The
sidearming, soft-tossing right-hander has racked up a combined 624 2/3
innings of 2.97 ERA pitching and posted a 55.7 percent groundball rate with
the Mets, Indians, Angels, Cubs and Blue Jays.
While Smith’s success has come in spite of modest strikeout and walk rates
(7.88 K/9, 3.17 BB/9), he found another gear in both departments last season.
Across 54 innings divided between Toronto and Cleveland, Smith logged 11.83
K/9 against 1.67 BB/9 and recorded an 11.4 percent swinging-strike rate – a
vast improvement over his lifetime mark of 8.4.