For one reason or another, free agent DH Erubiel Durazo has gotten little to no interest this offseason. Durazo struggled through a lost season in 2005, which culminated in July Tommy John surgery. He won’t be able to help a team until summertime.
Still, the lack of interest seems odd to me. Only the Rangers have considered him, and even then just as a minor-league invite to possibly back up Phil Nevin.
Durazo had an awesome age 30 season in 2004 for the Athletics: .321/.396/.523 in 511 ABs. I kept thinking the White Sox would go after him this offseason, not fully realizing that he’d undergone Tommy John. My ignorance caused me to rank Durazo 15th among all free agents this winter, probably my biggest gaffe on the list. Another point working against him is that he needs to be the DH, and there are only 14 such spots in baseball.
Nonetheless, Durazo will probably cost less than $1MM and could theoretically provide a .900 OPS in Texas for a half season.
