2010-02-02

Boy Wonder Adds Reliever To Already Crowded Bullpen

Apparently he will not be missed in Chicago
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It has been reported that  your Toronto Blue Jays added another arm to the bullpen.  RHP Kevin Gregg, 31, was drafted in the 15th round, 435 overall by Oakland in 1996.  He has 6.002 years of service time.  Last year he was 5 - 6 with a 4.72 ERA for the Cubs in the super weak NL central where five games over .500 is good for second place.  He lost the closers job on August 17th to Carlos Marmol after blowing his 6th save of the season.  According to Jon Heyman, Gregg will be guaranteed $2.75 million this season but he could make as much as $8 million over two years or $12 million over three.  He would fill the final spot on the 40 man roster.  From what I can see he throws a low to mid 90's fastball with sink.  His slider clocks in at about 87 MPH and it looks like he throws a slower curveball as well. 

This move is a bit of a head scratcher for me.  It would appear we have a few guys who can do the closer job for us already.     

Player
Seasons
ERA
WHIP
H/9
BB/9
SO/9
SO
SvOpp
SV
SV%
Frasor
6
3.78
1.29
7.7
3.9
8.2
324
42
32
76%
Downs
8
3.92
1.40
9.2
3.4
7.0
398
30
16
53%
Gregg
7
4.10
1.32
8.2
3.6
8.3
437
107
85
79%

It would also appear we have a bona fide logjam of arms in the bullpen.
Gregg did qualify as a Type A free agent this year but the Cubs declined to offer him arbitration.  It is very likely he will retain that status though this season and into next year's off season.  This means that if he were a free agent, we offered arbitration and he declined we would get a first round and a sandwich pick as compensation for him signing with another team for 2011.  
I am going to go ahead and post this without all the details because the only way this moves makes any sense is if there is a corresponding move coming very shortly.


















Is Boy Wonder at it again?

2 comments:

  1. more pitching arms the better. I mean we are paying BJ $10M this year so why not pay some dudes that might actually pitch for us some money.

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  2. I'm not upset about this signing. Gregg has experience closing major league games. With the news that Dirk is going under the knife only proves your point more. I'm just at a loss when it comes to seeing the upgrade over what we currently have. We have a few guys out of options and the Rule 5 guy kicking around. To me this signing, by itself, doesn't make sense.
    I guess if you move Tallet to the little used number 5 guy in the rotation early on then maybe.....but even doing this means keeping guys like Accardo, Janssen and Roenicke will mean losing guys like ZZ and Merkin. I will be waiting patiently for the other shoe to drop. Downs seems like the best candidate but as I have said before, I think his value will be higher at or near the trade deadline.

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