The Indians and left-hander Craig Breslow have agreed to a minor league contract, reports WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford (Twitter link). Breslow was released by the Twins shortly before the non-waiver trade deadline after being designated for assignment.
Breslow, 37 next week, put extensive work into revamping his mechanics this offseason and dropping to a more sidearm angle from the left side, but the results unfortunately didn’t line up with his efforts. Through 31 innings with Minnesota, Breslow averaged 5.2 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 with a 40.4 percent ground-ball rate en route to a 5.23 ERA. His new approach, however, did sufficiently stymie left-handed batters at the plate. When left-handed bats squared off against Breslow, the result was a brutal .180/.279/.257 batting line, albeit in a fairly small sample of 44 plate appearances.
The Indians just placed Andrew Miller on the 10-day disabled list, leaving the inexperienced Tyler Olson as their only southpaw option in the bullpen. Perhaps, given Cleveland’s impressive depth when it comes to right-handed relievers, the Indians will be able to use Breslow in more of a specialized capacity. Despite his dominance over lefties, Breslow was clobbered for a .344/.404/.573 batting line by righties. The Twins, though, generally lacking depth and quality in their relief corps, were forced to use Breslow against right-handed bats more often than they’d probably have preferred (99 PAs vs. righties).
Some people would have had you believe he was the next Rich Hill during the off-season. “Some people” being his agent and this site.
At no point did we ever indicate, “Hey this guy’s a massive bargain and wow he’s going to be so good just like Rich Hill.”
We noted the multiple reports out there of him changing his arm angle. And he got a fair amount of coverage on MLBTR by virtue of the fact that his agent didn’t aggressively pursue deals until late in the offseason, when there was little in the way of news or rumors because most everyone else had signed.
There were also all of three lefties with any sort of marginal MLB track record left on the free agent market at that point as well, so Breslow was continually mentioned as a fallback option for teams that didn’t sign Logan or Blevins.
That being said, I’m hoping for a reversal of sorts.
We had Hill at one time, and he stunk back then. Maybe this guy actually will become the next Rich Hill in Cleveland. The new version, that is.
What Steve said.
You are free to follow other sites that may be more to your taste.
Another of Francona’s old buddies. Who would have thought he would have found his way to the Tribe somehow? How many trivia times will they have in the clubhouse now together,, Thoroughly confusing the masses making up most of the team.. Genius (and Prankster) Breslow along with Francona together the rest of the season should really lighten things up some.
Buyer beware:
If any guy from here on out has his own “showcase” then you should probably just stay away from the hype. Lincecum and Breslow both did and both were pretty lousy after the fact.
If you are still good’s so worth a roster spot, teams will know it, your agent knows it, your peers know it, the guys you train and work out with in the offseason know it, your family knows it. Cmon now. Having a showcase is almost admitting to the fact that you can’t get a job normally and that you have to audition yourself isolated from any other talent to be noticed and hopefully signed. Hopefully that’s the last we see of these so called “showcase’s”.
What did the Indians have to lose? if they had better options, he wouldn’t have been signed. Francona had him in Boston and knows he has a professional ballplayer and not a whiney jerk. The fact that he has held lefties in check THIS YEAR says everything.
Exactly, and that’s all Chewy will use him for.
Bingo! Low risk move to possibly fill what has just turned out to be a huge void (lefty reliever).
Didn’t Greg holland have a showcase
Shhhh don’t let facts get in the way
Do I detect a bit of touchiness from some people here?
Absolutely! Sick of “fans” bashing the Indians front office and manager. How soon they forget the days of Manny Acta, Casey Kotchman and Lou Marson. It was only 5 years ago!
Low risk insurance move by the Indians. Find it hilarious that people get fired up about “Tito’s Boys”. Schilling, Miller and Crisp (to name a few) seemed to help their teams win some important ball games the second time around with Francona.
Either stop trolling or do some research and gain some knowledge. Not every deal is a blockbuster and not every “garbage/minor” deal is just a hookup to a guy you’ve battled with. Maybe Crockett needs mentoring in Columbus? Maybe Breslow gets Hosmer out in September/October? You never know in the game of baseball.
Breslow is all washed up