Rule 5 pick Gil de la Vara cleared waivers and was offered back to the Royals - whom they accepted. The Royals will give the Astros $25,000 for the honor of letting de la Vara wear an Astros jersey this Spring.
de la Vara's final numbers:
8G,9.2IP, 14H, 9ER, 5HR, 3BB, 3K - 8.38 ERA, 1.76 WHIP, 17 of the 31 batters de la Vara faced reached base.
I called this: It's a toss-up, but I'll give the nod towards Fulchino making the team with Arias and de la Vara out. And I could be totally wrong.
Well, I wasn't.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
