The Rangers have designated righty Neftali Feliz for assignment, Anthony Andro of FOX Sports Southwest reports on Twitter. His roster spot will go to starter Matt Harrison, who will return to the big leagues after a long layoff for serious back surgery.
Feliz, 27, was once an ace reliever for Texas and owns a 2.71 career ERA over 259 1/3 big league innings. He has struck out 8.4 and walked 3.5 batters per nine over that span, with a 35.4% groundball rate.
Those career marks include a particularly rough start to the current season. Feliz has allowed 5.09 earned runs per regulation game, with 7.6 K/9 against 4.6 BB/9. He still works in the 93 to 94 mph range with his fastball, down a few ticks from his early season peak but still in line with recent campaigns.
Truth be told, the results have not been supported by ERA estimators in recent seasons. Feliz has not posted a sub-4.00 SIERA since way back in 2011, and has not dipped below the 3.00 mark by that measure since his first two seasons. Much the same holds when one looks at his FIP and xFIP numbers.
Things seemingly took a turn for the worse when the team attempted to utilize him as a starter in 2012. Feliz had a rocky go of it, throwing 42 2/3 innings of 3.16 ERA ball while benefiting greatly from a high strand rate and miniscule .213 BABIP. ERA estimators all had him pegged as a replacement level rotation piece. Feliz ultimately succumbed to Tommy John surgery in May of 2012, and has never quite recovered his arm speed.
While all the signs were there, it nevertheless remains stunning to see the move. Feliz was one of the game’s more promising arms in his heyday. He is owed $4.13MM this year, and comes with one more season of arbitration eligibility. Given his salary and recent performance, it would not be surprising to see him pass through waivers, but with over five years of service (he entered the season with 4.151 on his tab), he’d be eligible to elect free agency and keep the money.
The other major news here, of course, is the return of Harrison. It once seemed unclear whether he’d ever throw again, yet alone return to the majors. The 29-year-old was a steady contributor over 2011-12, racing up 399 frames with a 3.34 ERA and leading the team to lock him up to a five-year, $55MM pact. He is still under control through 2018, with the last year coming through a $13.25MM club option ($2MM buyout), and at this point Texas will be glad to receive any contribution from the southpaw.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Who is interested? I would love to see him in a Cubs uniform. I don’t think he is finished.
Someone will claim him I think. Several contenders could use some bullpen help, and a change of scenery will do this guy some good.
One former Brave makes way for the other former Brave.
Just another example of why the Rookie of the Year award is not a guarantee of future success. That aside, I really do hope he catches on with someone and can rebuild himself. Getting out of Texas’s hitter-friendly environment will probably help him a lot.
Hopefully the Red Sox consider him as an option, especially after that brutal game last night.
Dave, Dave, Dave. Here’s a young pitcher with a history of success. He still throws hard. If he elects to walk from Texas, what possible reason would there be to not take a flier on him? He would be Major League minimum! Get on the phone! The Tigers bullpen is still a mess.
Agreed.. The Tigers need to go all in this year.. Taking a flier on a guy like Feliz who still has immense talent is step one.. Making some serious trades at the deadline would be next.. Ilitch is one of the few owners I would really like to see get a ring and pretty much every team in the American League appears beatable this year.. I really hope this will be the Tigers year!!
Strange that they DFA’d Feliz and not Detwiler. Oh well, he’s probably next to go when Holland or Perez get activated.
They gave up a decent prospect in Bostick to get Detwiler.. When another starter comes back the Rangers will probably put him on the block and try to get something out of him..
I’ve seen this before with pitchers, particularly relief pitchers. The problem is that when these pitchers still have hope to be a starting pitcher, they, for whatever reasons, are unable to succeed as a relief pitcher. Then, after they accept that they are a relief pitcher and devote themselves to it, they do very well and then tell their story to reporters.
So this could be what happened to Feliz, after they gave his mind hope that he could be a starter again, but now he has been relegated back to being a reliever. He’s probably going to just bounce around, just on talent, but never sticking, until he accepts being a reliever again.
Or, he’s just a very good pitcher with injury problems. He’s pitched extremely well as a reliever when healthy – not sure where you’re getting this mental analysis from.
If the Padres trade kimbrel I’d like to see them bring him in.