Sunday,
November 14, 2010
Strange Signing?
Twins Sign Yorman Bazardo
I mentioned last week that I expect the Twins to be
busy earlier in the offseason signing players whose primary role will be with
the Rochester Red Wings. I believe that the effort will do a couple of things.
First, it will help Rochester to be a better, more competitive team in the
International League. Second, they can provide depth for the big league club if
there are needs. Third, prospects hopefully will not have to be rushed to the
Red Wings as happened some in 2010. That had an unfortunate trickle-down effect
for the rest of the organization.
Yesterday I posted that the Twins signed
infielder Chase Lambin. Today, it came out that
the Twins
signed Yorman Bazardo
(hat tip, MLB
Trade Rumors), a relief pitcher. He spent the 2010 season with Round
Rock, the AAA affiliate of the Texas Rangers. He went 4-5 with a 3.87 ERA. In
87 innings, he walked 26 and struck out 58. He made just five starts among his
34 appearances. Before 2010, he was generally a starter for most of his minor
league career. In his minor league career, he was 63-60 with a 3.89 ERA and a
1.33 WHIP. He has also pitched in 25 big league games between 2005 and 2009. He
debuted with the Marlins in 2005 as a 20 year old. He gave up five runs (four
earned) on five hits and two walks in his debut, his only big league appearance
of the year. He went back to AA for the 2006 season before resurfacing in the
big leagues in 2007 with the Tigers. He pitched in three more games for the
Tigers in 2008. In 2009, he moved to Round Rock which was a PCL affiliate of the
Astros. He went 9-6 with a 3.20 ERA and got into five games for the Astros
Again, this is essentially a move that isn’t going to
excite anyone, but it is a sign of the commitment of the Twins to bring in more
quality players for Rochester. However, the glimmer of hope comes from the fact
that he’ll still be just 25 years old in 2011, so he could get better, although
his career strikeout rate of 5.4 per nine innings certainly tempers that. Any thoughts? Feel free to leave
your comments here.