The Orioles signed righty Josh Banks to a minor league deal, tweets Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com. He notes that the Yankees and Dodgers were also interested in the 29-year-old, who will start at minor league camp.
Former slugger Gary Sheffield has apparently become an agent, because it was revealed this morning that he represents Banks. Banks hails from Severna Park, Maryland, and Sheffield reached out to arrange a tryout with the Orioles, according to MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli. Sheffield also represents Pirates reliever Jason Grilli, reported Ghiroli.
Banks tossed 17 innings for the Long Island Ducks last year, and also tallied 78 unimpressive frames for the Giants' Triple-A affiliate.
Seems like a solid signing…what team wouldn’t want a 29-year old AAAA player who pitched to an impressive 7.27 ERA last season?
To be a AAAA player, you have to be good at AAA.
I’ve seen some really bad players turn into good players late in their career. Just saying, I am not advocating it will happen, but you never know.
Sheff is an agent? Cool.
He negotiated his own contract with the Yankees. So it shouldn’t be a huge surprise but it’s a unique path to take for a former big leaguer
Learned it from the best = Boras(?) and then sued him.. Now representing others so they can do likewise now?
I saw Banks throw a CG against the Giants in SF back in ’08. Probably the start of his career.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN200805310.shtml
If I were to pick two players which Gary Sheffield would represent, they would certainly not be Josh Banks and Jason Grilli. Strange story.
He played with Grilli in Detroit. Maybe that’s why.
Hopefully Tim Dierkes will post an article confirming the Sheffield is now an agent. I’d like to know more about it…
That would be an interesting article.
What would be more interesting in my opinion and I have been meaning to throw this idea out there for awhile: an article stating/describing the differences between Nippon Professional Baseball and Major League baseball. To be honest, I never figured Sheffield to ever be an agent.
PS I loved this line: Banks tallied 78 unimpressive frames for the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate.
Well these are the kinds of pitchers that Duquette loves and then signs.
It’s nice to see the O’s making all of these high profile signings this year. They’ll be at the top of the AL East in no time!!! *sarcasm*
I was confused until you told me you were being sarcastic.
A lot of players report having problems figuring out what to do with their time when they retire from the game that’s defined their lives and they’re still just in their late 30’s or early 40’s. I’m glad to see Sheff wasted no time in figuring out how to stay with the game even after his playing days were over. Hopefully this is the beginning of a very real career for him as an agent.
Sheff and Bonds should team up.
Sheffield becoming an agent is a bigger news than the recent Orioles signing.
So sheff scheduled this, perhaps the pitching session went something like this…
Sheffield: Okay I am too proud to let anyone get me out on purpose as you know danny d, so I will try my hardest to hit the pitches this kid will throw.
*Josh Banks strikes him out on 4 pitches.*
Danny D: Sign him! He just struck out a guy with 500 homers!
Sheffield(realizing he still needs to make money): Hey I set this up for you Josh gimme my cut!
Sheff should come play for the ducks!
I don’t understand some fans’ pathological need to rip the Orioles for signing a local guy to a minor league deal. The guy isn’t even getting a major league invite. He’s not going to do anything other than fill a rotation spot at AA for the time being. Wow.