The first day of the Winter Meetings has come to an end and the sun is coming up on a snowy second day. For Tigers fans there was no shortage of news and drama. To recap:
The Tigers today announced the signing of southpaw Brad Thomas, and that they traded Clay Rapada to the the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later. Furthermore, they outrighted Zach Simons.
Thomas pitched the last two years in Korea and Dave Dombrowski said in a statement he expects Thomas to contribute out of the bullpen at the big league level. Judging by this video it looks like Thomas has a fastball that sits 90-91mph and a breaking pitch that registers about 80mph.
Checking NPB Tracker it looks like Thomas was drawing interest from the Hansin Tigers. The Tigers have recently increased their presence in the pacific rim and last year it netted them Fu-Te Ni from Taiwan. Ni made the leap the to the big leagues and led the league in stranding runners out of the bullpen.
Rapada was acquired as the PTBNL in the deal that sent Craig Monroe to the Cubs. He never really found a place with the club and I was a little surprised to see him kept on the 40 man roster.
Simons was acquired in exchange for Jason Grilli. He put together a solid second half in 2008 leading to a spot on the 40 man roster. He followed that up with a solid season at Erie with 8.8 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 leading to a 2.82 ERA in 51 innings. He only allowed 1 homer at Erie.
Analysis
I like the addition of Thomas as a low risk move. I don’t have huge expectations from a 32 year old pitcher with 23 innings of big league experience, but he’ll make the league minimum and if he doesn’t work, he doesn’t work.
Trading Rapada isn’t much of a surprise. His numbers at Toledo were quite good actually, but for some reason Leyland didn’t trust him.
I’m surprised to see Simons outrighted though. He had a solid season and the Tigers are reportedly shopping for bullpen help. I think that there is about to be another move where the Tigers acquire more players than they’re giving up (like a Jackson trade) or they’re planning to shop in the Rule 5 store on Thursday.
Today is the deadline for the Tigers to announce who would and wouldn’t be protected from the Rule 5 draft on the 40 man roster. Below is the roster, and highlighted are the 5 players who the Tigers just added: Alfredo Figaro, Casper Wells, Zach Simons, Guillermo Moscoso, and Wilkin Ramirez. That brings the total to 38. Continue reading Tigers set 40 man roster→
The Tigers announced the bulk of their Arizona Fall League representatives. They are sending Luis Marte, Rudy Darrow, Casey Fien, Zach Simons, Jeff Larish, and Clete Thomas.
Luis Marte is a nice selection. He emerged earlier this year as a rising prospect, but lost a chunk of the year to injury. This gives him some additional innings to build a full season’s workload. Also, he and Zach Simons are eligible for the Rule 5 draft if they aren’t protected on the 40 man roster. This gives the team a little more time to evaluate.
The Tigers will be sending one more position player who has yet to be determined. Teams are only allowed to send one player below AA, and Simons fills that quota meaning the player will be someone from Erie or Toledo. And that player would need to have been to Erie or Toledo no later than August 1st meaning James Skelton wouldn’t be eligible.