Antonio Alfonseca, 2000 NL Rolaids Relief Award winner, signed with the Rangers to a minor league deal. Last year for the Marlins his stats were:
33 G
27.1 IP
29 H
15 R
2 HR
14 BB
16 SO
1-1 W-L
0 S
.299 BAA
4.94 ERA
According to http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=3674 he will only be used if players get hurt.
His career stats are nothing like what he’s done the past few years.
512 G
547.1 IP
589 H
255 R
49 HR
216 BB
371 SO
30-35 W-L
121 S
.279 BAA
3.95 ERA
In the past few years his ERA has shot up and he has been unstable. On Saturday at the Fan Fest Jon Daniels said that he was a low risk high reward player. I think that it's not going to take injuries for him to do anything for the Rangers and that he only needs to have a strong Spring.
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2 comments:
Another excellent writeup. I went to the link you provided for ESPN and found a couple of interesting things. First, there is the obvious worry that he won't take the transition from NL to AL well - add on top of that going from Pitchers parks to Hitters parks. However, there is one VERY encouraging sign... his Ground Ball/Fly Ball ratio has increased EVERY year he's been in the majors - including his bad years (2003 and 2005). Despite those two poor seasons, the one in between was very close to his best ever (although in a different role than '99-'01 when he was considered at his peak).
I'm not really sure how Alfonseca will turn out. But "low risk, high reward" fits him well. If he doesn't have a good spring training and doesn't make the team - we didn't lose much giving him a chance. If he does well (as we all hope) - he could be a solid 7th/8th inning guy like he was for the Braves in 2004. The other side of the reward is that, even if he doesn't do well and doesn't make the team, he will be yet another guy to push everyone to do their best to get and keep their bullpen spot.
I like the signing very much and I hope he can repeat 2004 and keep the GB/FB ratio going up.
Hi Ken - thanks for the comments. You made good points and with the thoughts that you put in there you could make a short blog. His Ground Ball/Fly Ball ratio is a very encouraging sign.
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