One day after agreeing to terms with him on a $2.3MM contract for 2011, the Tigers have designated Armando Galarraga for assignment. The team announced the move on Twitter, while making its deal with Brad Penny official.
Galarraga's contract is non-guaranteed, though the Tigers would owe him termination pay if they were to release him.
That’s weird
Kind of odd that they’d sign him for $2.3MM then send him to Toledo is it not??
I really hope he makes the team. He’s by no means one of the five best starters on Detroit’s roster, but he could be a nice fill in as a spot starter/long reliever, I’d hate to see that money in Triple-A unless DD plans on bringing one more reliever on board.
I guess the 2.3M contract was for throwing 8.2 Innings of Perfect ball?
More like 9.1 innings of perfect ball…
Pretty sure it was 8.2. 9.1 means he threw into the 10 inning.
If you base it by how many outs he wasn’t credited for then 9.1 is correct.
touche.
Welcome to the Yankees Armando.
Last 2 years:
Player A: 5.03 ERA 1.353 WHIP 5.2 K/9 2.5 BB/9 2.10 K/BB
Player B: 5.06 ERA 1.455 WHIP 5.3 K/9 3.7 BB/9 1.43 K/BB
Guess which one is Sergio Mitre and which one is Armando Galarraga?
I’ll give you a hint: Galarraga is the worse one.
Did Sergio Mitre throw an almost perfect game and react like a classy gentleman when it was ripped from his soul?
Kei Igawa once threw 6 shutout innings for the Yankees.
True facts.
He’s due for a break out year.
does that make galarraga a better pitcher? no
and before you react, that was a total joke..
For some reason I thought Mitre was a lot older than Galarraga, and thus Galarraga was still young enough to “find it” …but thats not the case, so I stand corrected.
The Yanks should be all over this guy. Sign him to a one year deal. Let him compete with Joba, Mitre and some of the kids for the 5th spot. Worse case scenario, I would release Mitre and let Galarraga be the long man. I would pick him over Garcia.
Yankees need to pick him up like yesterday.
Or the Sox. I would release Atchison for Armando. He’d be a much better long relief/spot starter than Wakefield. I’d say release Wakefield, but they would never do that to Wake.
Galarraga is a righty.
What’d I say. Dang it. Editing…
Galaragga is a righty.
Thanks. Got that from djones.
I think me and D posted at the same time. But you’re welcome.
Were you saying that Galarraga is a lefty???
no…
I don’t know why I had it in my head that he was a lefty. Stupid, I know. I’m at half speed today, my bad.
Are you telling me they couldn’t have gotten some value for him in a trade? Seems odd to just jettison him for nothing…
yah. I was wondering the same thing . .
They designated him for assignment…..that means that they have 10 days to try and trade him, or just release him
Right, but when you designate someone, you lose all trade negotiation leverage. Who’s going to make you a decent offer for a guy they could just get as a free agent in a week?
It’s not like he would have brought back premo prospects anyways, but you’d think a AA middle reliever with unspectacular potential could be had. After all, the Orioles paid that for JJ Hardy, and Armando is at least as attractive a player…
If he becomes a free agent he gets to choose, out of the teams that make an offer to him, where he wants to play. That is why a team will throw a prospect at the tigers to get him
Interestingly, Brett Jacobson was a drafted by the Tigers. Traded to Baltimore for Huff who had two months that rival the worst offensive output by a player of all time. Then Baltimore traded Jacobson to the Twins for Hardy. I wouldn’t mind having Jacobson back.
Or outright him.
This is in response to both TwinsVet and metsfanxxiii really, even if it looks like I’m just responding to metsfanxxiii.
The problem here is that Galarraga was going to be the 5th starter for certain up to the time that Brad Penny was signed. So, it’s not as if they were going to trade him before that.
So, the problem became finding a spot on the 40-man roster for Brad Penny once he was signed. And since they had already tendered a contract to Galaragga,, and he does have value on the trade market…while at the same time, he’s not exactly a great loss if taken off of the 40-man roster…well, maybe you can see why they DFA’ed him. i.e. If they had better options in place last December, he likely wouldn’t have been tendered a contract in the first place and would have become a free agent then, and some team would have come along with a decent offer based on his near no-hitter by now anyway.
He really has struggled to achieve consistency at the MLB level and now that he is out of options, he’s in that murky gray area where he has enough service time to be arb-eligible, but not yet enough service time to refuse a first-time outright assignment(i.e. more than 5 years), and they may not want to risk losing him by placing him on assignment waivers(i.e. outright waivers). They may have to, yes, but I think the DFA is just an indication that they’re willing to listen to offers, and getting Brad Penny at the last minute(or close to the last minute) kind of forced their hand with the ensuing roster crunch.
So, yes, I think they’ll likely get some low-ball offer from a team looking to take a chance and they’ll take it. Like TwinsVet says, any team could just wait for him to clear unconditional release waivers and then sign him for the league minimum(with the Tigers paying his termination pay for the non-guaranteed contract). But I think some team will like the potential Galarraga showed with the 2010 near no-hitter and give up something to get him via trade in the next few days. 🙂
Maybe they wanted to hammer out an agreement with him so that when they did DFA him, teams would be reluctant to claim him off waivers and take on his salary. Then again, since it’s non guaranteed, maybe that wouldn’t faze them as much. In any case, it has to be resolved soon. Trade is definitely a strong possibility. I only originally commented because the OP forgot to mention that outright waivers were also a potential course of action, if not a likely one.
I think the nowheresville mudcats offered Eric Gagne and two season tickets for Galarraga, but the deal broke down when they wanted cash to cover his salary too.
he DID have a perfect game
What little trade value he had, just lessoned. Even with Brad Penny on board, there is nothing wrong with having depth. Can’t think of why they would need a roster spot. Maybe they think they can bring back Bonderman cheaper. Regardless, looks like this wasnt thought out well.
Dombrowski has never gone to arb in his history of managing the Tigers. I think he just wanted to keep that streak alive– but arb isn’t always a bad thing, DD!
hopefully Sabean puts in a waiver claim. giants need a sixth starter in case of injury.
This move makes no sense, Oliver to be the long man? Eithier that they sign Durbin?
No more Dirty Durbin in Detroit please.
Worst xFIPs of 2010 (min. 100 IP)
#147 Ryan Rowland Smith (5.80)
#146 Scott Kazmir (5.62)
#145 Armando Galarraga (5.44)
Worst cumulative xFIP since 2001 (min. 400 IP):
#317 of 334: Armando Galarraga
Worst cumulative FIP since 2001 (min. 400 IP):
#323 of 334: Armando Galarraga
you kids and your crazy stats.
Can we stop using xFIP for the past please? xFIP is more of a projective stat for the following season, not an analytical one that holds any relevance at all.
Armando Galarraga is part of Brian Cashman’s Plan B after not signing Cliff Lee. I wonder who else will become available?
Dallas Braden and Edwin Jackson if they were available
Yankees won’t sign him. They have pretty much the same pitcher in Sergio Mitre.
Did Mitre throw a perfect game? No. But aside from that they’re the same pitcher.
Mitre can not hack it as a starter (.327 BAA).
His #s as a reliever (.199 BAA) are what make him comparable to Galarraga.
Galarraga might not be a great starter, but Mitre is an absolute train wreck in anything other than brief appearances.
I don’t get this “Galaraga and Mitre are the same pitcher” line. Maybe, if you look at their 2010 #s. But not if you look at their career #s, and not if you look at their potential to be innings eating starter all season long. Mitre hasn’t pitched more than 50 innings a season for the past 2 years; his career high was 149 in 2007. Galarraga has pitched 140-180 innings in each of the past three seasons. That’s not to say hes a great pitcher–he’s obviously not. But he’s better than Mitre.
I would rather take my chances on Galarraga but at worst, it can’t hurt to add him to the mix.
The Orioles could use him and pretty sure they’d be willing to offer a little something in trade for him. Keep in mind it won’t be a top prospect or anything since Galarraga could be released in a few more days.
You mean we can’t get that Wieters kid for him?
Heh, Wieters hasn’t popped like just about everyone in baseball said he would. I think that turns around in 2011 with better management of him and handling with Showalter. He probably will see a lot more days off earlier in the season and I think that will go a long way to keeping him fresh as the season wears on. He’s made tremendous strides defensively and handling the pitchers.
My main question is since I haven’t seem much of Galarraga and don’t see much of the Tigers in general, why did they sour on him? Is he hurt? Bad attitude? Or they just don’t think he has “it?”
He’s like Kyle Lohse. Just perennially shows enough glimpses of “it” to keep you interested and thinking “Maybe he’ll be decent…”, but then leaves you looking stupid for ever having thought such a thing.
I understand what you are saying, but personally, I have seen PLENTY of Kyle Lohse.
He’s an extremely marginal major league pitcher. Just good enough to bounce in and out of the back end of a major league rotation, but not good enough to lock a spot down. The Tigers have five guys they like better. Probably a combination of the Tigers moving on with better players and wanting to accommodate AG’s to be a SP. Dombrowski stated that they’re going to try to trade him to a team where he has the opportunity to start. The Tigers are like that, which is why they players seem to respect the organization.
Thank you ballmich and TwinsVet for the information. The Orioles are currently looking for a back end veteran/innings eater type that would definitely start out in the rotation, but the future would depend on the results of Armando and the guy being groomed in the minors right now in Britton or Tillman if he is sent down as well.
If Galarraga can pitch effectively in the AL East, he can pitch anwyhere. That $2 million contract isn’t too much for them to place him in the bullpen if they simply want to keep him and promote another starter in hopes of better results.
I certainly wouldn’t mind taking the risk. Compared to what else is out there, I think he ranks right up there with the rest of them.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but couldn’t the contract have been procedural, since they had to give him a deal after tendering him a contract. I believe that this is reflected in it being a non-guaranteed deal (same as if he had gone through arby).
Best explanation I’ve heard so far, I’ll buy it. It would be nice to have him on the Mets as an innings eater type if possible.
This is my understanding. Once the Tigers didn’t non-tender him (the deadline for which was before Brad Penny came up), they had to either offer a contract or go through arbitration. Once that was wrapped up, with the $2.3 million deal, they could DFA him.
I wouldn’t mind seeing the Pirates take a chance on him.
I wouldnt be surpised if the Nats go after him.
I could see the nats or mets going after him
Maybe the Brewers could take a shot at him? I mean, he could compete with Narveson for the 5th starter job, and serve as nice insurance should anyone go down during the season.
Would be nice to add someone like Gallaraga to compete with Lohse for the 5th spot.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure
Pirates, please get in on this.
Be perfect pickup for the Mets
I’m thinking the same. Could bring him aboard to a minor league deal and use him for depth.
Pretty unlikely. Here’s why.
1. The Tigers are very likely to trade him over the next 10 days. Acquiring team assumes the contract, which is a major league deal and requires a 40-man spot.
2. If they don’t trade him, he’s likely to be claimed by some team. Same thing, claiming team assumes his contract which is a major league deal and requires a 40-man spot.
3. If not traded and not claimed, he passes waivers, and the Tigers can then outright him to Toledo. Not sure why they wouldn’t keep him in the organization.
4. If not traded, not claimed, and if the Tigers elect to make him a FA… then a team could potentially sign him to a minor league deal. But keep in mind that AG really wants to be a major league SP, so he’s probably going to look to an organization that will give him that opporuntiy.
So as you can see, I think it’s pretty unlikely. He’s probably going to be traded.
C’mon guys. We all know the Jays are going to pick him up. Stockpile much… How long do you think it will take him to get to Type B….lol
Not sure how I feel about this. We have no starting pitching depth, and with Penny’s recent injuries and Coke being an uncertainty in the rotation, Galaragga would have been a nice insurance policy.
A.G. proved after the “no-no” ( as in no no-hitter) he’s a good and decent kid just not as consistent enough to cut it in Motown. Too bad he can’t throw at the Indians every time out. I do hope he lands somewhere and continues his big league career. At least he has a new red Corvette to drive to his next gig.