Red Sox: Doug Fister drawing some interest ahead of free agency
By Tim Haberin
Doug Fister has quietly turned things around with the Red Sox, and the veteran righty should see a difference in free agency this winter.
When Doug Fister didn’t sign until May of this year, it wasn’t difficult to see a veteran pitcher on his last legs. The towering right-hander generated little interest during the offseason after posting a mediocre 4.64 ERA and 1.43 WHIP in 180.1 innings for the Astros in 2016. Things looked even bleaker when the 33-year-old opted out of his minor league deal with the Angels toward the end of June.
The Red Sox picked Fister up off waivers to fill in for the then-injured Eduardo Rodriguez. It seemed unlikely he would hang around long, and his early performances lent credence to that belief. In his first seven appearances (four of them starts), Fister pitched to a 6.04 ERA and 1.42 WHIP in 25.1 frames.
Since then, it’s been a much different story. Fister boasts a 3.61 ERA and 1.05 WHIP over his last eight outings, all starts (52.1 IP). Before a poor outing last Wednesday in which he gave up six runs in four innings, he had actually worked his season ERA under the 4.00 mark.
As Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe notes, Fister will enter free agency this winter with much higher stock than he did last year. He reports that scouts from clubs including the Mets, Phillies and Royals have been monitoring his starts recently. What they’ve been seeing is a hurler quietly turning his season – and, perhaps, his career – around.
There are several reasons to like what Fister is doing this year, beyond the obvious numbers. His 4.07 FIP is noticeably better than his 4.40 ERA. He’s striking out batters at a 8.0 K/9 clip, well higher than his career 6.1 K/9 rate. While Fister’s walk rate is a bit high at 3.7 BB/9, it hasn’t harmed him much in terms of results.
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Fister previously enjoyed his most success as a ground ball pitcher, a formula he’s begun to rediscover this year. He’s producing a 50.7 percent ground ball rate, a sizable increase from last season’s 45.3 percent rate and his first campaign with a rate over 50 percent since 2013. He’s allowing 0.9 HR/9, his lowest rate of the last four seasons and right at his career average.
That’s not to say Fister is in line for a multi-year contract offer this offseason. He’ll be 34 in February and his recent revival is still a relatively small sample following over two seasons of subpar performance. However, he’s definitely pitching well enough to be a solid number-five starter on many teams, and it’s not unreasonable to think a club will give him a one-year deal to do just that in 2018.
Cafardo speculates that Boston might even be interested in retaining Fister beyond this season, although the expected return of Steven Wright could complicate matters. Nevertheless, they may like the idea of bringing him back as depth to a rotation that has seen a few injuries.
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Just a few months ago, Fister was a midseason afterthought and an emergency injury replacement. He’s done well to turn himself into a impending free agent with some appeal in such a brief span.