The Phillies announced that they released left-hander Dontrelle Willis. The Sosnick Cobbe client signed a one-year, $1MM contract with Philadelphia in December and had been expected to contribute out of the bullpen.
Willis pitched 75 2/3 innings for the Reds in 2011 — his highest total since 2007. The 30-year-old southpaw posted a 5.00 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 4.4 BB/9 and a 54.5% ground ball rate in 13 second half starts with Cincinnati this past season. The Mariners, Blue Jays, Red Sox and Reds reportedly had interest in Willis as a reliever before he signed with the Phillies.
Grab him, Pittsburgh! Before he leaves the state!
Didn’t see this coming.. Why?
I think this was as much a favor to him as anything. Sore arm, being outperformed by the other guys vying for the second LOOGY position (and his ineffectiveness to RH batters anymore)…this at least gives him a chance to catch on with another MLB team. He was destined for the Phils’ AAA team as things were going.
Good guy from all the rumors. Wish him luck.
The D train has comes to his last destination
Sad but true
Nice guy, but he has been slowed by a sore arm and hasn’t been effective. Better to cut ties early before they were on the hook for his entire salary. Hopefully they can resign him to a minor league deal and he can work his way back and get adjusted to the bullpen roll. I doubt he gets any major league offers. He showed nothing in spring training to indicate he would.
i must have missed this signing… didnt think anyone would give him a million dollar contract
He’d be worth adding as potential. Grab him Theo!
Come back to Cincy on a Minor League deal, D-Train. We were the team, afterall, that took you in to show the Phillies that you could be worth 1M this year. Maybe he should try playing the outfield or something, because his bat it good enough, haha.
Phils have enough guys who are just as good or better who are making the minimum: Savery and especially Diekman who has a real shot to make the team.
Sad to see Dontrelle go, but it’s a sensible move. They’ll save about $300K – Dontrelle gets some cash for making it this far – but more importantly they’ll find out if one of the kids (Diekman, Savery, Horst, or maybe Aumont if they go with one lefty) can hack it at the big-league level.
Dontrelle Willis = Adam Loewen?
hah I had the same thought
Maybe he should think about playing the field. He’s got a career .247/.277/.378 line in just under 500 PA’s….just sayin’.
Hardest working pitcher I know in the offseason! Whoever grabs him will def get moneys worth!
Not sure about that…when the Giants signed him, he showed up 20lbs overweight
wow.. so, he was like at 400 lbs? that’s fat man. :)
It’s crazy how they let him go
He’ll be an Oriole by next week. Theyre always picking guys up off of the scrap heap.
Hahahahaha, no I don’t think this time.
His arm isn’t right, which is a shame.
Unless, they want to sign him to a minor league deal, I don’t see the point.
Although, I would rather have Willis rather than Fossum’s Flop or Flip or whatever it is.
Ha. I love it. As another O’s fan, I am totally bracing for exactly that.
Still, I loved Dontrelle when he first hit the bigs. Who is to say he couldn’t regain some of his form? Hell, did you see Matusz the other day? Six K’s against the real Tigers? Kinda weird…
Matusz looked solid the other day. Im hoping he puts it together this year.
When a guy gets axed in the middle of spring training, it usually means he’s not close to regaining his form.
Like JoJo Reyes?
LOL
With Byrdak going down for surgery and slated to miss the beginning of the season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Mets take a flyer.
He will come cheap, after all……
Was that $1 million contract guaranteed? If so, this was an incredibly foolish signing.
No, it wasn’t.
This shouldn’t really be surprising. D-Train’s success was pretty much always due to his delivery first and his stuff second. Given enough time batters were always going to figure him out, and now he’s to the point where he can’t get by anymore.
I just took another look at his numbers. You are right, I was very surprised that his peripherals were as weak as they are. He only ever had a WHIP below 1.3 once in his career, he was very hittable, and his K/BB ratio was nothing special. He ate alot of innings, and once won 20 games. But that’s about it.
I think he would have ended up in the bullpen eventually anyway, because of his success vs LH, but the combination of injury and inactivity seem to have scuttled that possibility, at least for now. He is still barely 30, so if he works hard, he might catch on again, but its questionable how much desire he has left.
I think it would be a wise move for the reds to sign him to a minor league deal as a backup plan for Bill Bray… that way Chapman could remain a starter….
Hopefully D-Train catches on with another team.
Brewers need a lefty in the pen and Willis is pretty cheap. Might be a smart move.
What happen? Did he bug out?
Dontrelle, we hardy knew ye
Another beaut from Ruben Amaro, quickly becoming the biggest buffoon in baseball
taking a flyer on a guy with a non-guaranteed deal and then cutting him loose when he doesnt show anything is a “beaut”?
I mean, if you want to rip Amaro, there are plenty of legit things to use…this isn’t one of them.
He counted on him being the other leftie in the bullpen, now it’s just Bastardo. Here comes the overpaying at the deadline rumors for another leftie
taking a flyer on a guy with a non-guaranteed deal and then cutting him loose when he doesnt show anything is a “beaut”?
I mean, if you want to rip Amaro, there are plenty of legit things to use…this isn’t one of them.