Spencer Patton is drawing interest in free agency from MLB and NPB clubs, per MLB Insider Jon Morosi (via Twitter). The Rangers are at least one team that is said to be tracking the market for Patton.
Patton last appeared in the Majors making 16 appearances with the Cubs in 2016. Over 21 1/3 innings for the eventual World Series champs, Patton posted a 5.48 ERA/5.02 FIP with 9.3 K/9 to 5.9 BB/9. He spent the two years prior with the Rangers, for whom he made 36 appearances with a 6.75 ERA/4.54 FIP.
Players returning from overseas have become somewhat of a wild card in recent years, with a number of pitchers re-establishing themselves in the states after stints abroad. Pierce Johnson fit a similar mold last season. Fresh off a stellar season in Japan, Johnson signed a two-year deal worth $5MM guaranteed with the Padres. He delivered in 2020 with a 2.70 ERA/3.14 FIP across 20 innings.
Patton’s immediate numbers aren’t quite as impressive as Johnson’s were, but he nonetheless has been a productive contributor for the past four seasons in Japan. The 32-year-old posted a 4.92 ERA across 57 appearances totaling 53 innings as a reliever for the Yokohama Bay Stars. The right-hander spent four seasons with the Bay Stars with a 3.68 ERA across 205 2/3 innings with 10.6 K/9 to 3.7 BB/9.
Boy ; a cold stove indeed
(Throws in ice cubes for heat) Ahhh… That’s better!
You’re an idiot.
And you’re a little punk for picking on harmless posts meant to be in good fun. There’s enough posters like you making these comment sections toxic.
That’s you bro
Wow.. who cares about an average reliever at next.. agent must have planted that story . Waste of space w/ this story
I’m so desperate to get baseball back that I appreciate ALL hot stove news no matter how crappy!
Ditto!
agreed
How about next time, you can move on and not reply to the article since it’s nothing you “care about”.
Agreed
Agreed. Meh numbers in japan
with an ERA around 5.00 the past two years? really?
They’re interested in his K/UBB rates since those have been very good and were even better from 2017-2018.
There’s a lot of good relievers in the free agent market and they’re interested in someone who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2016? Smh That shows you how cheap they are.
Hazarding a guess- there won’t be a lot of competition for his services. Yawn…
You never know, lots of clubs could be looking to open the stove season with a bigger *bang* than an astron trashcan.
In one corner this guy is a FA signing at a price even Nutting could love.
In the other corner, Chaim Bloom looks to alienate fans even more than his 2020 moves did, and this guy has more talent than the scrap heap Chaim worked through all last year.
The two most interesting teams this winter will be the Red Sox and the Mets. Both high revenue teams that won’t have to share any of that revenue with their less fortunate brethren.
The new owner in NY wants to make a splash. The owner in Boston watched his empire crumble in one year (66% drop in viewership in his RSN), a year before that he wants to take his empire public.
Both teams are going to want to get all the ink they can get. Will that lead to “smart” decisions”? TBD; the Red Sox have a relatively deep hole to crawl out of, and three sound organizations ahead of them; the Mets have it easier ,in a division where confusion, for the most part, reigns supreme.
No team has climbed out of last place more successfully than the Boston Red Sox. The Mets are a TBD but if they take back New York it will be a wonderful thing. They did it in 1969 and 1986 when the yankees were inconsequential (where they belong). Things are looking up in the world.
The Mets just have to start by being relevant in a challenging division. Every team battles injuries over 162 games. The winners either have quality ready to step up or coaching staffs at the major league level who are capable of adapting with the players from within their own system.
Sadly, recent Mets history has proven that they are incapable of either. Quite a few players have floundered at the Mets’ highest level only to go elsewhere and “figure things out”. Heck, Familia even did the double whammy. Looked real good, went south with the Mets, left, figured it out again, came back and flopped in NY a second time.
Familia breeds contempt.
I think sometimes it just has to do with how a player is used. The Mets seem to be good at putting players into situations where they don’t succeed. Of course, they are far from the only team that does this but they need to get defined roles for their players so they can concentrate on succeeding.
I understand that you are one of those “I hate the Yankees” kinda fellas.
I’m not even going to touch that.
Doesn’t sound like much fun.
However.
The Yanks *are* both the most valuable & popular franchise in MLB. Yankee caps can be spotted everywhere in the world. That is not hyperbole.
I guess what I’m getting at is how exactly are you using the word “inconsequential”? Personally, I use it a *lot* differently.
I grew up in the Horace Clarke years when they were just another team. Baseball was amazing. Then king george spent all his money on buying championship teams and baseball got flushed down the toilet. It’s never really recovered between the strikes and the PED’s and it’s all the yankees fault. But other than that, I hope they lose every game.
Nothing wrong with me. Just kidding.
That was…a little heavier handed than I was expecting.
😉
Well, you’ve got a few years on me so I guess I can’t necessarily speak to that specifically.
In my 5 decades of being a Yankee fan, however, I’ve see two dynasties & a spare MLB title. I’ve witnessed a losing season…what?…3?,4? times (& not in a quarter century!)?.
Yankee fans talk about the “dark days” of the 80’s.
Well, the Yanks won the second most games in MLB in the 80’s. This was pre Wild Card. Had it not been, a handful of *those* clubs would have made the playoffs.
Gotta think there’d’ve been a chance Mattingly, Winfield, Henderson could have gone on a run. Those teams could have been viewed much differently.
Alas.
Even the 2010’s were a successful decade in comparison to most other franchises.
’86 was my senior year of high school, man. Did the Mets garner more of the city’s casual fans? Yeah, for sure, man. Did it mark the Yankees as “inconsequential”? Definitely not.
Hey, you wanna hate on the Yanks wellllll, get in line.
But for my entire life they’ve been relevant. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Isn’t he the guy who was in “Spaceballs” and “Eight is Enough”? Man, it’s getting tough to get relief pitchers…..
Why was someone even scouting him? Is college/minor league pitching and coaching so bad on this continent that players who failed 4 years ago and went overseas to have 4 more years of mediocrity warrant attention entering their age 33 season?
Honestly, with the way the 2020 season went and each team seeing 60-75 players in their own systems, why should anyone be looking at 32 year old nobodies?
Drawing interest – big deal, I can draw one of those cool looking S’s you used to draw in middle school
Wasn’t there a major shakeup and realignment in MiLB?
Why are we talking about Spencer Patton when we could have at least 5 more articles mentioning J.A. Happ?
teams should be looking at Brandon Dickson instead. much better numbers.
Patton-“I shall return”. I know it was MacArthur, but it was so damn close, haha.