Byrdak released
posted in 2008 Spring Training |Jason Beck (and Blake in my comments and on his blog) reported the Tigers released lefty reliever Tim Byrdak.
Byrdak was thought to be a safe bet for going north by pretty much everyone. He had a pretty poor spring, but you can never read too much into spring stats and I figured the team wasn’t either. You can read into other things in spring — stuff, workout sessions, makeup — but bloggers aren’t in Florida and can’t really do any more than rely on our media friends down there. And they didn’t seem to be that concerned. So this is kind of a surprise.
Byrdak was a guy you could enjoy rooting for. He toiled in the minors for so long. He worked a second job. His wife had to work odd jobs. And his baseball dream was finally realized when he spent the entire 2007 season in the majors with the Tigers and proved he belonged.
I don’t know what exactly the Tigers have up their sleeve. I assume they’d want a second lefty and I don’t know who that would be at this point.
Update with some quotes:
“I’m probably more shocked than Tim Byrdak, if you want to know the truth,” Leyland said Wednesday morning. “That was a no-brainer that he was on this club.” (Jason Beck at Tigers.com)
Sphere It“For us, it was a matter of making a decision today,” said Dombrowski, whose team must finalize its 25-man roster ahead of breaking camp Thursday and preparing for Monday’s season opener against Kansas City at Comerica Park.
“We just didn’t feel comfortable that he could help our big-league club. Last night didn’t help his chances.” (quoted by Lynn Henning in Detroit News)
