{"id":84247,"date":"2024-08-27T14:10:06","date_gmt":"2024-08-27T18:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=84247"},"modified":"2024-08-27T14:10:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T18:10:06","slug":"jason-heyward-houston-astros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/27\/jason-heyward-houston-astros\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros Near Deal with Veteran Outfielder Recently Released by Dodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a move aimed at bolstering their outfield depth, the Houston Astros are reportedly close to signing a seasoned veteran <a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/08\/22\/dodgers-designate-jason-heyward-assignment\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">recently let go<\/a> by the Los Angeles Dodgers. <em>MLB.com&#8217;s<\/em> Brian McTaggart reports that the Astros are nearing a deal with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/heywaja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-27_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jason Heyward<\/a>. With a proven track record and solid defensive play, Houston&#8217;s impending addition could provide a boost to the lineup as they gear up for a strong stretch run.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Source: Astros are close to signing OF Jason Heyward, who was released by the Dodgers.<\/p>\n<p>Heyward, 35, slashed .208\/.289\/.393 with six homers and 28 RBIs in 63 games with L.A.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/brianmctaggart\/status\/1828485877795873031?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 27, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Astros Reportedly Nearing Deal with Jason Heyward<\/h2>\n<p>It didn&#8217;t take long for Heyward to find a new home after his DFA came as a surprise. Heyward, 35, has yet to have an ideal season; he was an above-average contributor as a platoon in 2023. His batting line of .208\/.289\/.393 and six home runs this season is a trend downward from his .269\/.340\/.473 with 15 home runs batting line a season ago. Heyward is a well-rounded clubhouse presence who went through sparse playing time and became the odd man out. The move let the Dodgers keep center fielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kiermke01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-27_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Kiermaier<\/a> as their only left-handed hitter off the bench. Utility players <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tayloch03.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-27_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Taylor<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hernaen02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-27_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Enrique Hernandez<\/a> were also on the bubble. Heyward&#8217;s contract is up at the end of the season, while Taylor has one year and $15 million remaining on his deal.<\/p>\n<p>Heyward was once a highly-touted prospect who was drafted 14th overall by the Atlanta Braves. Heyward won five Gold Gloves, made an All-Star team, and won a World Series while with the Braves, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs from 2010-17.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Heyward will turn to working with the Astros&#8217; outfield corps. Heyward can only play left and right, as he will potentially platoon with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tuckeky01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-27_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Tucker<\/a> in left field. He will provide a veteran presence alongside center fielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mccorch01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-27_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chas McCormick<\/a> and right fielder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=brownhu01,brown-008hun,brown-006hun&amp;search=Hunter+Brown&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-08-27_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hunter Brown<\/a>. Houston&#8217;s outfield has struggled collectively at the plate, hitting .243\/.312\/.403 this season.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo: \u00a9 Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a move aimed at bolstering their outfield depth, the Houston Astros are reportedly close to signing a seasoned veteran recently let go by the Los Angeles Dodgers. MLB.com&#8217;s Brian McTaggart reports that the Astros are nearing a deal with Jason Heyward. With a proven track record and solid defensive play, Houston&#8217;s impending addition could [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3686,"featured_media":84248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1071,35],"tags":[4857,1732,1083,5519,383,2319,92],"class_list":["post-84247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-astros","category-mlb","category-news","tag-chas-mccormick","tag-chris-taylor","tag-enrique-hernandez","tag-hunter-brown","tag-kevin-kiermaier","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-los-angeles-dodgers"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3686"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}