Astros exercise Evan Gattis' $5.2M option, deal Pat Neshek to Phillies

HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros have exercised catcher/designated hitter Evan Gattis' $5.2 million option for 2017.

Gattis gets a $2 million raise. Houston could have paid a $100,000 buyout, which would have made Gattis eligible for salary arbitration.

Also on Friday, the Astros traded reliever Pat Neshek to the Philadelphia Phillies for a player to be named. Neshek went 5-8 with a 3.36 ERA in 126 appearances over two seasons for Houston.

Gattis hit .251 with a career-high and team-leading 32 homers and 72 RBIs in his second season in Houston after spending the first two years of his career with the Atlanta Braves. He started 136 games as the team's designated hitter in 2015 before the Astros transitioned him into their backup catcher role this season. He started 49 games at catcher in 2016 and appeared in 71 games as designated hitter.

For Neshek, Philadelphia exercised a $6.5 million option, which could have been bought out for $500,000.

Neshek was 2-2 with a 3.06 ERA in 60 relief appearances this season. He held right-handed hitters to a .172 average and had 43 strikeouts in 47 innings.

The 36-year-old Neshek has a 28-19 career record with seven saves, a 2.93 ERA and 378 strikeouts in 383 1/3 innings in 423 games -- all relief appearances -- for Minnesota, San Diego, Oakland, St. Louis and the Astros.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.