Righty Jason Frasor was offered a one-year deal by the Twins this winter but decided to go back to the Royals when Kansas City got involved, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. The 37-year-old also added an interesting take on the process of free agency: “When you become a free agent and you’re a 37-year-old middle reliever, there’s not as many teams that come calling as you would think or hope. But that’s all right. I just needed one team.”
- Veteran Tigers reliever Joe Nathan suffered a setback in a Triple-A rehab appearance today, as James Schmehl of MLive.com reports. Nathan came out after experiencing severe pain after the tenth pitch of his outing. Both Nathan and the club have stayed quiet this evening as to whether any more has been learned, but at a minimum it seems unlikely that he will join the team as quickly as had been expected.
- Cody Allen has struggled thus far, but the Indians are not contemplating a closer change, per Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer. “Cody is about as trustworthy and dependable as anyone we have,” said manager Terry Francona. The Cleveland pen has been poor by any standard thus far, and is not exactly teeming with alternatives. MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted that the team passed on an opportunity to upgrade there over the offseason, and it will be interesting to see whether that becomes an area to target if the Indians stay in contention over the summer.
Tigers might as well check in on Soriano.
Soriano had an ERA in the mid-6s in the second half of last year. Seems like he would fit in nicely in the Tigers bullpen as it is right now. But he not a pitcher who would actually help fix their problem.
But what was his total ERA or his ERA before that? At this point a team wouldnt have to be worried about Soriano flaming out at the end of the season since he will only be pitching a portion of it.
I agree that Soriano is an option but Detroit seems to be “snake bitten” when it comes to veteran, mid to late 30’s RP. He wants more $$$ than Detroit should spend and would be just another “roll of the dice”. They need to hit a home run with their next new addition since I doubt they will jump over the luxury tax limit this early in the year if at all.
He had four really bad outings which torpedoed his ERA. ERA for short relievers isn’t the most reliable indicator. But his velocity was down, so there may be an injury concern.
An article this early AM stated that Detroit will make an announcement regarding Nathan’s condition before their afternoon game today. They don’t usually “pre-announce” announcements so my guess is he is done for a while or all year.
I think everyone is sort of missing the obvious with Nathan, or perhaps just gives him his due respect and leaves it “unsaid.” Let’s face it though, he has been DONE for awhile and it is going to be in everyone’s best interests that he just fades into the sunset and never picks up a ball again. He is at best a mop-up guy talent-wise at this point – not sure why he wants to destroy his great legacy so bad as he has been for a few years now.
My take on this issue is that Nathan will not be “done” till his contract is over or the Tigers make a bold move and release him. Prior to his injury they could not afford to “give up” on him while owing him $10 mill for 2015 and a $1 mill buyout for 2016. With this injury he cannot be released, so Detroit’s take is they might as well try to get some kind of return on their 2015 investment.
I wish the jays would’ve brought back jayfray. Dude might work slow but he’s super consistent, hits the corners, always puts up a tasty ERA and is cheap to boot.
Too bad for tigers i wish im putting a pox on them right now! Wish them nothing but the worst forever!