After a miserable performance last night Yorman Bazardo has been designated for assignment. He is out of options but I anticipate that after his first 2 outings he’ll have no trouble clearing waivers. The Tigers also have the option of trying to work out a trade over the next 10 days.
Taking his place will be that second lefty Clay Rapada. Rapada had some arm problems early in the spring and has made 2 appearances for the Mud Hens. His ERA is inflated because one of the outings was good and one was bad. Working in his favor is the fact that he has 7 strike outs against only 2 walks in his 5 innings of work. Not walking people would be a step forward at this point. It will also likely mean longer outings for Bobby Seay.
I’m really disappointed in Bazardo. I had high hopes for him this season. I don’t know if he’s still being effected by the death of his father but his inability to throw strikes last night was maddening.
Oy. I’ve only seen Rapapa a few times, but every time he gave up plenty of hits and walks. Also working against him: the ghetto half-beard.
What a shame about Bazardo. I had him pegged as our fifth starter until Dontrelle came along.
I really thought Bazardo was going to be our bullpen sleeper this year. I thought he could throw some strikes and keep the ball on the ground. Instead he was the complete opposite. Maybe he will pass through waivers and work it out in Toledo.
Rapada only pitched 2.2 innings in Detroit last year, so you can’t judge him based on that.
Last year at AAA Iowa he K’d 8 per 9 and had a WHIP of 1.45, which seems high because his walks were high. I hope Leyland uses him exclusively as a lefty specialist, at least at first. I wonder if he’ll face Thome at all in this series. That’d be a good way to ease him in, because Thome isn’t as threatening as Pronk or Papi.
Billfer also mentioned having Bobby Seay pitch longer outings, which I think would be great. He seems to have really good fastball control. When he pitched to Varitek the other night, a switch hitter who batted from the right, he spotted 92 mph on the corner until he got him out. His slider is nasty against lefties.
We’ll see what Rapada has got for us. As a lefty specialist, I think he could be just fine.
I also think that this isn’t the last we’ll see of Yorman this year, not even close. When his stuff is good, he’s really good. Nice changeup (not Rodney or Miner – holy cats did you see those changeups the other night? – nice, but nice), nice sinker. He’s clearly got issues right now, and hopefully he can work through them. I wonder if this has a lot to do with the death of his father.
Hey Bill, do you have any pitchf/x data readily available on Bazardo? Is his velocity truly down, does his fastball have as much movement? If not, I’ll dig it up in the coming days.
I wonder if they will stretch him back out in Toledo, turn him back into a starter?
Here is a good bar-room wager for all you Detroit/Illitch sports team fans.
Will the Tigers get to .500 before the Red Wings season ends?
Dave,
I was wondering exactly that also, and I would guess they have to. They viewed him as a starter all along, and somebody is bound to miss a turn in the rotation at some point.
My memory of Clay Rapada from 2007: giving up a 3-run HR to Raul Ibanez (a left-handed batter) at home in a close game. The Mariners ended up winning something like 14-8.
I really hope it turns out better this time.
Something just occurred to me:
It seems the org. has a really short leash with certain guys. Byrdak gets released outright after a horrible spring despite being effective last year. Bazardo gets DFA’d after two bad outings.
Yet Jason Grilli, after countless instances of sh#tting the bed, remains.
How very interesting.
Zumaya looks well rested 🙂
http://macgsworld.blogspot.com/2008/04/zumaya-tank.html
Need to keep him away from that damn guitar hero. haha
Mark, I was at that game. Ibanez was the first guy he faced — it was pretty funny.
I’m also very disappointed in Bazardo. I expected a lot more out of him. At least he’ll clear waivers though.