Veteran righty Kevin Millwood "would like to have his situation resolved this week with some big league team," tweets Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. Connolly says Millwood can't talk to teams for 24 hours after opting out of his Yankees contract yesterday. Said the pitcher, "I am waiting to see which teams have interest, if any. That's pretty much it. I'm ready. I definitely still want to pitch."
The Orioles have "mild interest" in reuniting with Millwood, according to Connolly. The 36-year-old posted a 5.10 ERA, 6.2 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, 1.4 HR/9, and 37.2% groundball rate in 190 2/3 innings for Baltimore last year, earning $12MM on the last year of a contract signed with Texas in December of '05. That $60MM contract was earned on the heels of an ERA title for the Indians, but the first-place Tribe does not plan to pursue him now despite having Carlos Carrasco and Mitch Talbot currently on the DL, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
Millwood averaged 89 miles per hour on his fastball last year but was around 85 in his first couple of starts for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, according to Jayson Stark's sources. He seems unlikely to jump directly onto a team's 25-man roster.
