While the news broke a couple days ago, the Nats made the signing of Zack Littell official. We also got the terms of the deal, which are quite interesting. The base of the contract is a one-year $7 million deal. However, with incentives and a mutual option, Littell is likely to make much more than that.
If you include the $4 million buyout, the least Littell could make is $11 million dollars. By 2020’s Nats standards, $11 million is a big investment. Heading into the offseason, Littell likely expected to make more on a multi-year deal. However, he had to settle for this offer as Opening Day loomed.
The incentives are based off of innings pitched. They start at 100 innings, and continue to climb as he throws more. Littell is a workhorse who threw 186.2 innings last year, so these incentives are quite attainable. It may not be what he was looking for after posting a sub-4 ERA in over 185 innings, but this is still a solid deal for Littell.
He was actually in the locker room this morning, so I got the chance to talk to him for a bit. While he signed late in the offseason, Littell is confident he will be ready for Opening Day. He said that he has been throwing live sessions to hitters and building up as he normally would in a season. Littell told me he and the Nats will “map out” the next steps, but he feels like he is right on schedule.
Interestingly, Littell said that his agent and Paul Toboni have a great relationship and had been talking throughout the offseason. It seems like Toboni waited for the price tag to come down and struck when the market got to where he wanted it. Littell said the Nats were always “hanging around and checking in” throughout the process.
Speaking of relationships, Littell mentioned that he has some ties to the Nats new staff. He did not really know any of the players, but his days with the Rays created ties with the Nats staff, which has a lot of connections to Tampa. Michael Johns, the Nats bench coach is one guy he mentioned. He was the first base coach for the Rays while Littell was there.
Obviously manager Blake Butera was with the Rays, but he and Littell did not interact much. Butera was working on the minor league side of things, while Littell was a big league pitcher. He said that they would see each other around every once in a while, but nothing beyond that.
However, he said that Butera was well regarded in the Rays clubhouse. Littell said that guys who played for Butera loved him and he never heard a bad word about the new Nats skipper. He also worked with Simon Mathews while he was with the Reds, and he said he was excited to reconnect with him.
After the season he had, Littell probably thought he would get a bigger deal than this, but he seemed excited to be on board. Littell brings a combination of reliability and production that the Nats needed badly. This surprise late addition really raises the floor of the Nats rotation.
The Nats needed to open up a 40-man roster spot to make this move, and did so by DFA’ing Richard Lovelady. While Lovelady had his moments this spring, his control was hit or miss. Hopefully he passes through waivers because Lovelady is a useful depth arm.
Lovelady is no stranger to the waiver wire. This is the fifth time Lovelady has been DFA’d in the last 12 months. He is the epitome of a guy who sticks on the back end of a 40-man roster.
Overall, this Littell pickup is very exciting by Nats free agent standards. Hopefully Littell has a solid season and either becomes a trade chip, or someone the Nats can keep around longer term. At just 30 years old, he could be a useful middle to back of the rotation arm for years to come.
