THURSDAY, 11:34am: Beck says Zumaya will be paid $915K in 2010, a $175K raise. There's also a $20K bonus for 35 games.
WEDNESDAY, 4:31pm: The Tigers avoided arbitration with reliever Joel Zumaya by signing him to a one-year deal, tweets MLB.com's Jason Beck. Zumaya earned $735K in '09, his first arbitration year. The 25-year-old posted a 4.94 ERA, 8.7 K/9, and 6.4 BB/9 in 31 innings. He was limited by a shoulder injury all year, and had arthroscopic surgery in August. Zumaya is the favorite to close for the Tigers in 2010, unless they bring in someone like Jose Valverde.
Zumaya’s pretty much useless. I’m not exactly sure why the Tigers kept him.
Ummmmmm……So a 25 year old who has overpowering stuff and has shown the ability to succeed at the major league level and is probably making less than $1.5 mil in 2010 is useless? Really? Every team in the majors should hope to have at least one guy with his stuff around for $1.5 mil. If he’s healthy and back to norm he can be a great force out of the pen. His last games in ’09 was vs the Yanks and of the 36 pitches he threw 22 were of the 97+ mph variety. He got hit hard that games and went on the DL for the season, but the point is, IF he’s healthy he’s got filthy stuff. Why not keep a guy like him around for $1 or $2 mil?
Because you don’t hand out $1-2 million for someone who hasn’t proven he can stay healthy.
and….he no longer has overpowering stuff.
But its ok to hand out million and millions for a non producer?
Probably has something to do with memories of him hitting 103 on the gun.
Fox’s radar gun is juiced.
He’s not useless when he is healthy, and they have a plethora of bullpen arms if he doesnt work out.
If he made less than a million, its worth it to have a guy that can throw balls so fast A-rod cant even see (his words).
And he’s been healthy, when?
Seems that a lot BoSox fans prefer to rip on other teams rather than root for their own.
Go focus on finding Ortiz’ swing, or a suitor for Lowell. No reason for you to come in and troll.
Fact is Joel had more pitches 100+mph or faster, than the rest of the league combined- not bad considering he was out most of the season. He continues to come back from the DL a bit too early because he really wants to play. If you can find a more talented/potentially dangerous pitcher on the market for less than a a million, Id like to see him.
You can throw a 100 MPH fastball, but if that’s your only pitch that’s the problem. Big league hitters can hit a fastball when they know it’s coming. And if you short arm it, it is not good at all. I use to do that and I was out for a whole year.
//You can throw a 100 MPH fastball, but if that’s your only pitch that’s the problem.//
Zumaya also throws a very good spike curve and a change up, for the record. His problem is he relies too heavily on the overpowering fastball.
I didn’t mean that that was his ONLY pitch, but like you said, he relies far too heavily on his fastball.
No, Zumaya’s problem has always been that he CAN’T rely on his fastball. Or any of his other pitches.
A fastball being one’s only plus pitch is not necessarily a problem; an inability to command it necessarily is. Zumaya’s problem, injuries aside, is and has always been the latter.
If you are a Red Sox fan, you should know this well. After all, you remember when Josh Beckett “relied far too heavily on his fastball” his first year in Boston. And then when resumed dominance thereafter, throwing precisely as many fastballs (more, in fact).
Criticisms regarding “reliance on the fastball” are the province of shitty sports writers to whom you should never really listen.
Both of his injuries were the result of non-baseball activities. They were aggravated by pitching, not caused by it.
He short arms which is horrible though. He could very easily land on the DL because of that.
he’s only 25 years old guys..give him a break. He hits in the upper 90s consistently and with more work comes better control. i agree that closer duty is a little to high for 2010 after coming off surjery, but 2011 when he probably(hopefully) has better control, he would be a pretty good closer.
yeah, i just looked at a video of him when he was hitting 100 on the gun, he needs to work on his mechanics badly, he was short-arming the ball (taking it straight from his glove straight to behind his ear), that’s why he needed surgery
And if he continues that, which he no doubt will, he won’t be healthy ever. He can’t bounce back at age 25, because if you short arm it, it destroys your arm. That’s exactly the point I was trying to make.
You can have just a fastball, and that’s all right, it’s just what breaking stuff he has isn’t very good. That, and the hitters know what’s coming just about 98% of the time.
Again better off-speed stuff certainly helps, but if he could command the pitch it wouldn’t matter if they knew what was coming 100% of the time.
And to be clear, if you have control over a guy with stuff like Zumaya’s and the pricetag is under $2m? There is no way you do not sign him.
you let Zumaya go, he winds up with the Twins for cheap, and he owns us for the next 10 years.
Their ZERO reason NOT to bring Zumaya back. What is he going to earn in 2010? Maybe $1.5 mil considering he made $735,000 last year? Meanwhile, if he’s healthy, the upside if he can return to pre ’09 form is worth a lot more than what he’ll get paid. At worse, he can show his worth and be interesting trade bait. To release him would’ve been moronic.
I honestly hope Zumaya can turn his career around….it would be a shame if another major league baseball player fell victim to guitar hero.
Also….it would give Ron Santo another shot at singing kumbaya when talking about joel zumaya. Classic Santo!!
bomberj11 56 minutes ago in reply to YanksFanSince78
Because you don’t hand out $1-2 million for someone who hasn’t proven he can stay healthy.
—————-
(cough) Lackey @ 5/$82 mil…(achew) Drew @ 5/$70 mil….(fart) Wakefield @ 2/$5 mi…(zzzzzz) Smoltz and Penny @ 1/$10 mil vs Zumaya @ a 1/$1-$1.5 mil (guesstimate) commitment.
Really?
(ring, ring)…”Hey Pot, it’s Kettle”!
Zumaya’s total $ commitment should be a non-issue.
bomberj11 56 minutes ago in reply to YanksFanSince78
Because you don’t hand out $1-2 million for someone who hasn’t proven he can stay healthy.
—————-
(cough) Lackey @ 5/$82 mil…(achew) Drew @ 5/$70 mil….(fart) Wakefield @ 2/$5 mi…(zzzzzz) Smoltz and Penny @ 1/$10 mil vs Zumaya @ a 1/$1-$1.5 mil (guesstimate) commitment.
Really?
(ring, ring)…”Hey Pot, it’s Kettle”!
Yeah, I didn’t ever said they were good! I really didn’t like those signings.
Why are my comments being erased? Didn’t curse or use profanity at all.
Happened to me too. I sent an email to them though, I should be getting a reply shortly.
There wasn’t any reason for them not to keep him around. He isn’t costing us anything substantial, and still has the ability to be useful for this team
If its cheap then whats the beef? Better to have control of him then letting him figure it out with another team. With any hope he can get it right this year. Hopefully not since I am a Sox fan but I always root for a guy that is a freak and can throw that fast and hard. Plus he has tatoos of flames on his forearms. Thats kind of cool.
915k? I think he deserves a little more than that, I was thinking he would atleast get 1mm
Zumaya was actually a fairly successful starting pitcher for most of his minor league career and Leyland has talked about moving Zumaya back into a starter role. He should’ve done it after the 2006 season.