The Rangers announced on Monday that they have signed former Athletics right-hander A.J. Griffin to a minor league contract with an invite to Major League Spring Training. The soon-to-be 28-year-old Legacy Agency client hasn’t pitched since 2013 due to 2014 Tommy John surgery and a 2015 shoulder injury.
Prior to those injuries, Griffin was on the verge of establishing himself as a potential long-term cog in Oakland’s rotation. After posting a 3.06 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9 in 82 innings as a rookie in 2012, Griffin rattled off 200 innings of 3.83 ERA ball in 2014, averaging 7.7 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9. He’s very much a fly-ball pitcher, as evidenced by the 33.7 percent ground-ball rate he yielded across those two seasons and the fact that he led the AL with 36 homers allowed in ’13. That skill set may not be as well suited for Arlington’s Globe Life Park as it is for Oakland’s O.Co Coliseum, but a healthy Griffin would nonetheless be a nice option for the back of the rotation. Colby Lewis, for instance, has enjoyed a nice five-year run with the Rangers despite never having topped 38 percent with his ground-ball rate.
Griffin will look to compete for a spot in the Rangers’ rotation behind Yu Darvish, Cole Hamels, Derek Holland, Martin Perez, Chi Chi Gonzalez and Lewis, who reportedly agreed to a new one-year deal with Texas last week. While there are plenty of established names in that mix, Darvish is recovering from Tommy John surgery, Perez returned from that same operation late in 2015 and Holland has been beset by shoulder and knee injuries over the past two seasons. Griffin has three years and 34 days of big league service, so if he makes it back to the Majors next season, he could be controlled through at least 2018 and possibly 2019, depending on the amount of service time accrued in 2016.
Fly ball pitcher in Texas?
Probably insurance early on for Darvish/Holland don’t see how he breaks into rotation unless an injury happens, if he pitches well in the minors I guess they could trade him?
While not a pitcher’s park by any means, it’s not quite the launching pad it used to be due to renovations. Not saying a flyball pitcher is a particularly good idea, but it’s not quite a disaster as it would be pre = renovations
Huh. That should say pre-renovations, dunno where that equal sign came from
Might not be the best idea but thats what i said when the jays traded for marco estrada last year. Look what happened.
Yes, the park doesn’t play as small as it used to in the mid to late 2000’s once the renovated it. (technically, they brought it back to its old design so that the dreaded wind tunnel is no longer as prevalent) And even then…Colby Lewis was a great pitcher for the Rangers before the renovations and he’s a fly ball guy.
And there are far worse (better?) hitters parks out there.
the park is not nearly the launching pad it used to be at all. It’s actually getting quite old to see the national media yet to catch up and refuse to actually mention that anywhere. The park plays pretty average now. During the day the ball will carry more, but the Rangers play most of their home games at night.
Plus Colby Lewis has survived just fine being an extreme flyball pitcher
Right handed version of Wade Miley. ALWAYS liked this guy. Tough and gritty on the mound, never gave in to hitters with anything, despite having mediocre stuff. Classic gamer. as long as he is healthy? Great guy to have around and give innings.
Lot of teams should have been in on this guy.
Surprised Seattle didn’t go after him. He’d have fit in Seattle really well, but I’m guessing the injuries didn’t sit well with Dipoto and co.
I’m a little surprised one of the non contending teams didn’t take a flyer on him to possibly flip him at the deadline if he shows he can pitch.
Yeah definitely, phillies should have been on this.
More than happy with this deal. At the very least, I won’t have to yell as he shuts down the Rangers 3-6 times a year now. 😛