- There was only a bit of circumstantial evidence, but that was enough for Brendan Donnelly to be forever linked with the Mitchell Report. Now he’s sick to his stomach.
- Who is Kirk Radomski? Mike Stanton says he has no idea what the man who purportedly sold him human growth hormone even looks like.
- Unsigned reliever Ron Villone is glum.
- Matt Herges is mum, but his team believes that he’ll have to provide an explanation.
Categories: post by johnstevens
Tagged: Brendan Donnelly, Matt Herges, Mike Stanton, Mitchell Report, Ron Villone, steroids
I like old people. But why do teams want veteran free-agent middle-relief pitchers so badly? Today’s example comes from an article discussing the Rangers’ off-season needs:
They want to add a veteran relief pitcher who can work late in the game...
They have interest in Eric Gagne coming back as their closer, but they may stick with Otsuka or Wilson as their ninth-inning guy and concentrate on finding a setup reliever. There is depth on the free-agent market in that area, including David Riske, Octavio Dotel, LaTroy Hawkins, Matt Herges, Ron Mahay, Rudy Seanez and Doug Brocail.
31-year-old Riske is a nice arm, and hasn’t exhibited Linebrink-like decline yet. After that, despite various degrees of success last year, there’s a lot of mileage on the arms of Dotel (33), Hawkins (34), Herges (37), Mahay (36), Seanez (39), Brocail (40). As I’ve written before, having these guys in your bullpen isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But veterans — like Linebrink — require more money and more security. To fill that last hole or two in the bullpen, a team would be wiser to take its chances with young pitchers who they won’t be stuck with if things don’t work out.
Categories: post by johnstevens
Tagged: David Riske, free agents, LaTroy Hawkins, Matt Herges, Octavio Dotel, Ron Mahay, Rudy Seanez, Scott Linebrink, Texas Rangers, veterans
