JULY 13: The Royals have released Frasor, according to Scott Miller of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Miller says that Frasor went unclaimed on release waivers.
JULY 6: The Royals announced today that they have designated right-hander Jason Frasor for assignment in order to clear space on the roster for outfielder Paulo Orlando.
The move will likely come as a surprise to many Royals fans — and fans in general — as the veteran setup man has worked to a stellar 1.54 ERA in 23 1/3 innings this season. However, Frasor’s also battled his control all season long, posting an 18-to-15 K/BB ratio in that time. That sub-par accuracy has led secondary stats like FIP (4.03), xFIP (4.60) and SIERA (4.71) to take a significantly more pessimistic stance on Frasor’s work to this point. Of course, it should also be noted that a pair of the walks yielded by Frasor in 2015 have been of the intentional variety.
The Royals acquired Frasor last summer in exchange for minor league right-hander Spencer Patton, and Frasor rewarded the team with a 1.53 ERA and a 16-to-1 K/BB ratio in 17 2/3 innings down the stretch in their push to the postseason. Frasor allowed just one run in 5 1/3 playoff innings and was re-signed by the Royals on a one-year, $1.8MM contract that includes a $1.25MM salary and a $550K buyout of a $2MM mutual option for the 2016 season.
Frasor chose the Royals over a few other interested clubs, with the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Mike Berardino reporting back in December that the Twins were one team to make an offer. Agent Dave Meier told Berardino that the Twins were one of the final teams under consideration by Frasor. Given Minnesota’s own bullpen struggles and Frasor’s modest salary — he’s owed about $621K plus the $550K buyout — it wouldn’t be a shock to see the Twins among the teams to show interest. Kansas City will have 10 days to trade, release or attempt to outright Frasor, although even if he’s outrighted, he can refuse the minor league assignment in favor of free agency and retain his salary.
Tigers make sense and have a high waiver position.
This is why I am not a fan of secondary stats like FIP and SIERA. All that matters is what he ACTUALLY did, not what he could have done in a vacuum. They don’t award victories based on who should have won the game, they award victories based on the actual results. I am not just an old man ranting about sabermetrics and such. There is a place for advanced metrics in the game. However, there is still a place for “old school” stats like ERA as well since they still measure what actually determines wins and losses. Eh, I guess I was ranting a little bit after all.
That being said, I would bet that this will lead to a trade instead of a waiver claim. I guess we will find out in 10 days or less.
Man I miss the edit function. What I meant to add was that Frasor might be an interesting piece to add to a Johnny Cueto acquisition along with some prospects like Mondesi and/or Zimmer.
Editing is in the works to be added to the functionality. I don’t know the timeline for all of the changes to be implemented, but the next iteration of the new comment system should be live in the very near future — sometime this week. I’m not positive that the first update will include an edit function, but it will have more requested features than the current bare bones first iteration.
Will there be the ability to vote on comments?
Done. And I just voted you up!
Ditto
The Royals aren’t taking anything away from what he did, but when they’re looking ahead, they need to do their best to accurately predict what will happen in the future. Frasor walked a tightrope in 2015, and they probably felt their options were to DFA him or option Brandon Finnegan. Based on Frasor’s diminished control, they didn’t feel his success was sustainable.
Frasor also hadn’t really been used much. Just looking at his last three outings it was 4 days rest, 7 days rest, and 3 days rest. He also hadn’t pitched in anything closely resembling a high leverage situation in over a month, when he blew the game against the Cubs. Before that you have to go back to May 10th. The Royals have clearly felt he was the last resort in their bullpen. Someone to put in to spare the other, better arms.
The Royals have a stacked bullpen and should they acquire another starter for the stretch run, Blanton or Young will head back to the pen.
I see it as just numbers. Frasor would be a good 2nd or 3rd set-up man for most teams.
Actually, all that matters is what he will ACTUALLY do from this point forward. And the metrics suggest that it won’t be pretty.
The metrics suggest he shouldn’t have done this well, and can’t with any certainty predict how he’ll do in the future considering a pitcher isn’t a static object. Lack of use…etc, can contribute to pour peripherals. Relievers are tricky by nature and also must deal with small sample size.
What ever happened to a players history? Isn’t he likely to end up with his usual numbers? He hasn’t lost velocity. A slight adjustment maybe all that’s necessary for the control problems. They just haven’t found the right adjustment yet. Time for Dave to get on the phone and find a way to add him to the Tigers.
Probably depends on the history. As far as relievers I do believe current trends play into it more….just given their volatile nature. Look at any 3-4_season block of time and you’ll typically see volatility. Frasor just doesn’t have a place in that KC pen…he’s certainly valuable.
This season says that Cano is a .250 hitter. Do you believe those metrics?
Having watched him look lost at the plate…I’d say that .250 is maybe dead on. He’s not the same hitter he was last season or in NY…not just talking power…which everyone knew would go down….I thought maybe it was his eyesight….but a physical ailment would do it. We don’t typically see players fall off the table like this.
Thank you Nostradamus, but these numbers do not predict the future. They are an educated guess. Nothing more, nothing less.
Any number of FA disappointments the last few years. Hamilton, Choo, Victorino, Morse, LaRoche but Cano might be the biggest bust considering he’s still owed nearly $200 million.
The problem with your sentence “All that matters is what he ACTUALLY did, not what he could have done in a vacuum.” is that you are not talking about what “he” did, you are talking about how well his team defensed behind him. What “he” did was walk too many guys and left the game up to his defense, that isn’t the type of pitcher a team looks to have.
Given that they don’t really have anyone reliable besides Uehara, Tazawa, and at times Ogando, I’d like to see Boston take a shot at him
ONLY if it means they DFA Masterson/Breslow or Ross, ok? Just not another one to add to that trio of…. You know….
No doubter to be claimed. The dude is tearing up hitters.
Some doubt, I guess.
I’d have to imagine that they are fishing for International Bonus room.
They spent about 3.75m and they have like 2.7 (with the built in 700k base) which is 38% or maximum penalty. They won’t get it all in this move, however, it could easily lessen the damage. For example if they were to acquire $300,000 in slot money in exchange for Frasor, the percentage that they will have gone over would be 25% which is much easier to get down. All they would have to do to get it down below max penalty of tax on overage and 2 years of restricted spending would be to acquire roughly $260,000 in international bonus slot money. Please correct me if I’m wrong it is a complicated process, however I believe that is the case.
Thanks for the update, its a lot better
The Twins should really jump on him now that he’s a free agent.
I am surprised a bull pen hungry team (for example the Rangers or Tigers) did not pick him up on waivers.
Wouldn’t the Royals have to pay him minus league minimum if he is just released instead of a waiver claim?
A return to the Rangers makes sense.
I would love to see him back. Perfect veteran to bring in on the cheap.
I’m getting old. I can recall when Marcy Playground released Sherry Fraser
Dave, Neftali was a nice pick up, but don’t stop there. Fraser will add some stability to middle innings, and perhaps provide some insight when we play the Royals.