The Rays have designated reliever Grant Balfour, the team announced. The decision comes on the heels of an outing in which he allowed three runs on three walks and a home run over two-thirds of an inning. The club owes him $7MM this season. Tampa has selected the contract of Brandon Gomes in his place.
Balfour, 37, has a career 3.44 ERA with 9.53 K/9, 4.16 BB/9, and 84 saves. This season, his velocity has declined to a career low 89 mph. In his heyday, he regularly pumped 93-94 mph heat. After today, he’s walked four batters in four and one-third innings without a strikeout. It’s possible that he was underprepared for the season. Balfour’s father passed early during spring training, so it’s certainly understandable if he had trouble focusing on baseball.
The Aussie reliever is joined in DFA limbo by Xavier Cedeno, Todd Redmond, and Ryan Dennick.
Ugh, A’s might give him a look. Hopefully not
Vintage Grant Balfour
The Tigers could use the help.
That might not be true… I just want to see him and VMart in the same clubhouse.
this would make for good television
they need help, but I doubt Balfour would provide it.
I guess the O’s aren’t looking so stupid now
No one is looking stupid
I’m not saying anyone’s stupid at all, but just pointing out that the Rays are paying him 7M to sit out now. It’s not a positive thing. The fact that a new regime who didn’t directly sign him is in place makes it easier to cut ties with him and move on.
I remember the uproar here in the comment section when the Orioles would not sign him to the agreed upon contract after they saw the results of his physical. Great move on their part.
Kinda surprise by this given the salary. He has been good so far this year, and FIP indicates he was better than his ERA would state. Regardless, I’m sure he’ll get offered a contract from another team.
friedman ruined my rays he focused on pitching too much instead of signing a hitter he kept signing guys like this to big contracts
Friedman drafted and extended Longo (twice), drafted Price, drafted Alex Cobb and basically built the Rays.
no not really thats mainly scouts saying hey draft this guy
So he wasn’t the guy that built up a World Series team? That wasn’t him? Okay.
He hasn’t had good drafts recently, but he absolutely put the Rays on the map.
Recently, the Rays have been finishing higher in the standings. Lower picks make it harder to find top talent in the draft.
It does make it harder, but nowhere near impossible. Friedman has had almost zero success in the past few drafts. But he was still a great GM that helped move the Rays from cellar-dwellers to contenders.
You might have a few hundred scouts all over the world, and they all have recommendations on who to draft and sign. The final call goes to someone.
I don’t think they ruined them. And he didn’t sign that many big contracts. Only a very few times, and he has to focus on pitching because we cant afford to buy the big hitters.
The Rays are the definition of a budget team…they are limited in what they can do with their internal budget.
I watched that game tonight, and boy was it rough(albeit the Yankee’s bats were somewhat to blame), he just seemed lost out there, bouncing fastballs in the dirt and just not looking imposing at all, though giving up already on the guy is a bit surprising. I hope he gets another chance somewhere and rebounds from the issues he’s having, there’s reason to believe he can be better than he’s been so far.
Yes that might be true since you watched the game. But his FIP indicates he was better then his ERA, so someone should be signing him soon.
Well, FIP had nothing to do with last night, he just didn’t have it, but the rest of the season I agree. Regardless I hope he latches on with a team after he clears waivers, because I think he could still possibly be a useful arm for a team.
Saw it coming, not surprised. Hopefully he can catch on somewhere and return to his old self (probably not though). Loved Balfour first go-around with the Rays, but he’s just not the same pitcher anymore.
Damm lol the game just ended a little less than 2 hours ago
I remember being upset when the Orioles backed out of the deal with him
when the physical supposedly showed some concerns about his arm. Then
the Rays trainer made a mockery of the Orioles and said his farm was
fine and the Rays signed him. Boy am I glad I ate crow on that one. The
Orioles were right not to sign him.
His arm was fine. His skill just wasn’t there this year or last
His struggles are completely unrelated to health.
If anything, you could make the connection to his father. Its hard to concentrate when you have something like that going on in ur life.
He wasn’t good last year either is his point.
Yeah but it wasn’t health. It was just a struggling year. Every baseball player has had one
Last year his father was dying. We obviously don’t know the whole story, but as the original posted suggested, his struggles were unrelated to health.
well actually his fastball velocity was declining and was at 89 mph this season and 91 mph last season
I think he’s just struggling
I don’t think so his fastball is his best pitch and without strong velocity its hard to keep throwing to hitters to be an effective pitch
is that health, or age, or wear and tear, or just because its early in the season?
His velocity went down considerably – a sign that his arm is either under duress or just dead. It happens. And maybe that is what the Orioles predicted in their physical evaluation. Obviously the Rays didn’t think so; but we can only go on the results now and they have not been good. Many players also have to deal with family situations and deaths of parents/spouses. That may effect certain players more than others, but I never heard of that being the reason to lose velocity. That has to do more with the physical condition of the arm.
I don’t mind the decision, he hasn’t been great. He’s really been struggling and I think it’s for the best
Well said. I agree.
Hopefully he’ll do well on a new team.
Could see Anthopoulis taking a chance on the Balfour Rage
Brewers need help
Is this a specific comment related to the article or just a general comment?
I only ask because it could be both.
Sorry I realize that now. I’m saying that the crew should take a chance and pick him up
Another depth pickup for Friedman?
I could see the Reds making a claim here. He couldn’t possibly be worse than Kevin Gregg and they don’t have anyone for the 8th inning.
“He couldn’t possibly be worse than Kevin Gregg…”
Maybe. But he also may not be any better.
I would take “may not be any better” over sticking with Gregg. In the words of Jim Carrey, “So you’re saying there is a chance.”
I could see the Reds interested after he clears waivers, but not before. A claim would cost the Reds the prorated portion of $7M.
Good point. Although I was just going on the assumption that he would clear waivers with that salary.
Making a claim would make them responsible for the 7MM. No team is going to do that.
I restated that. I didn’t mean they would claim him on waivers, but that they could pick him up once he is cut loose, which is all but guaranteed to happen. I just worded it wrong.
The Orioles should sign him 🙂
Go get him Hart
I am guessing that the Orioles will not be calling…….