Bunt Singles: Maroth signs minor league deal with KC
posted in 2007-08 offseason, bunt singles |Pitchers and catchers report Thursday… and I can report blogging will pick up as well!
- Former Tigers starter Mike Maroth signed a minor-league deal with Kansas City.
Two seasons after Maroth helped the Tigers start 2006 strong before falling to injury and one season after being traded to the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals in July, Maroth has to earn his way onto the roster of the lowly Kansas City Royals. When he was traded to the Cardinals for — what was he traded for? Chris Lambert? This guy? — I think Tigers fans were a bit in shock he didn’t have trade value equal to the esteem of the fans. But he pitched poorly with the Cardinals before going on the DL, and the trade seemed to make sense from the Tigers point of view.
I don’t think that is really the true Maroth. I think KC has gotten themselves a nice bargain and made a no-risk investment for a guy who will make their staff this season. Maroth’s problem was in his elbow for both injury stints — first he had some bone fragments removed, then he had tendonitis. Typically you don’t like to see pitchers with elbow injuries, of course, but I don’t think those are the type to derail his career. I don’t know enough to know if he has a chance at starting out the season with the Royals or if he’ll be at AAA, but to be honest with you, if he’s healthy I find it hard to believe K.C. has five pitchers better than him.
Here’s some reaction at Royals Review — a ton of it actually — and a hat-tip to Ian.
Good luck, Mike!
Using fX data that tracks ball movement, pitching release and all sorts of stuff, Bilfer takes a look at new Tigers lefty Dontrelle Willis. Bilfer’s finding is that Willis struggles with control with his non fastball pitches and relies on his fastball when he falls behind in the count. For him to be effective this year, he has to find his control and throw strikes. (I know, I know, sounds like baseball 101 to me, but there’s a reason for that.)
One other thing the Indians did last year was to, apparently, royally piss off Dave Dombrowski. He obviously didn’t like losing the title they won the previous season and devoted this offseason to ensuring that they wouldn’t lose it in ‘08. (V el B)
- Daily Fungo Mike figured out the question Tigers fans had from the start: Why did Dombrowski trade for Neifi Perez.
- Jays fans are pissed.
Yes, this is a Tigers connection. Recently the Blue Jays offered first crack at Tigers@Jays tickets to Detroit fans. While this speaks loads of good for how strong a fanbase the Tigers have, this did not go over well with the Jays fans — you can tell by the salty language. But from the Jay’ front-office perspective, it’s going well, about $10,000 well at the time of this article.
As long as we’re looking at other teams’ perspectives, Baseball Reflections interviewed a Fish Fan. I imagine we’ll all be a bit curious about how Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin do with the Marlins before we start to lose “ownership” over the players in our minds. How was the trade received?
It was a difficult trade and I think most in the Marlins fan base are upset. It’s not about trading Cabrera or Willis, it’s about trading both. I think people were ready to lose Dontrelle (despite him being the nicest guy in baseball). Miguel was a different story. He feels like a once in a generation franchise player.
