The Brewers released reliever David Riske, according to the team's Twitter feed. Riske has about $1MM remaining in 2010 salary, plus a $250K buyout for 2011. The Brewers will be on the hook for that minus the prorated league minimum if Riske signs elsewhere.
Riske was activated from the disabled list in June and has posted a 5.01 ERA, 6.2 K/9, and 3.1 BB/9 with two home runs allowed in 23.3 innings. He had Tommy John surgery in June of '09. Riske has dealt with elbow issues for the duration of his Brewers career. He was signed by GM Doug Melvin in December of '07 to a three-year, $13MM deal. The Royals were the winners in that deal, as they chose Mike Montgomery with the supplemental pick received when they let Riske leave.
Wow. Surprising. It was really a shame to see him get injured in the start of ’09. I expect a team will pick him up…Maybe not until the off-season, but if he can get 100% healthy (it still doesn’t seem like he is), he might be the old David Riske. I’d like to see a team like the Pirates, Orioles, or Indians pick him up on a 800K deal during the off-season. He’s not going to overpower anybody, but he is a location reliever and if he can be anything he was, he might have the type of season that Shawn Camp is having this season.
Another terrible multi-year pitching deal from Doug Melvin.
Latroy Hawkins: David Riske 2.0?
Haha, I guess he was too…risky. That’s a pretty rough name for a relief pitcher to have.
why now? I guess the Brewers are just loaded with pitchers and don’t need a guy for the next week until rosters expand. Yet this is the team that constantly complains that they don’t have enough pitching. Is there something else going on with him that we have not read or heard about?
They are loaded with pitchers. But this why we have the expression, quality not quantity.
I really hope we see Jeremy Jeffress in september. That would be awesome. We’ll probably see Josh Butler though.
Carlos Gomez is expected to return from the DL. Needed the roster spot and we were already carrying an extra pitcher for quite some time. This will add another player off the bench and clear a pitcher who wasn’t doing very well anyways.
Relievers with such a last name should not become relievers.
Grant Balfour??
A modern-day classic. :)
Riske was the guy who straightened out Zack Greinke in KC and made a pitcher out of him, mentoring him in the bullpen. That could indiacte a future as a pitching coach for Riske.