The Twins agreed to terms with reliever Clay Condrey, according to a team press release. The communication also notes that Bobby Keppel, whose release was reported yesterday, will join the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan.
Condrey, 34, posted a 3.00 ERA, 5.4 K/9, and 3.0 BB/9 in 42 innings for the Phillies this year, missing time with an oblique strain. Condrey's 55.3% groundball rate was among the best for free agent relievers. The Phillies non-tendered him on December 12th. Since Condrey has four years of service time, the Twins will have the option of retaining him for 2011 as an arbitration-eligible player.
interesting. Clay Conderey can provide a valuable presence when healthy.
Interesting pickup. I might be a bit worried about that 3.0 BB/9 stat, but that 3.00 ERA and the 5.4 K/9 stats are both very nice. This will probably work out to be a solid pickup for the Twins, even if he’s a little old. Hope he stays healthy.
5.4 K/9 is far bellow league average, which for relief pitchers is over 7 K/9. Condery is essentially a replacement level player.
Unless you’ve actually watched the player, then you realize he isn’t replacement level.
Nothing too exciting, but could be better than Keppel was with the Twins. Also, maybe he will be able to get groundballs unlike Keppel.
Keppel actually posted a strong GB% (50.3%)… just seemed like he could never get one to save his life when he needed a double play.
Gotta like the 55.3% groundball rate from last season. The K/BB ratio isn’t impressive, but that makes up for it to a certain extent.
If nothing else, he’s an upgrade over Keppel. Ever so slightly better K rate, fewer walks, better GB%, better ERA, FIP, xFIP… nothing to get too excited about but probably a slight step forward over Bobby.
Cheap bullpen depth doesn’t hurt.
…yeah kinda seems like an out with Keppel in with Condrey move. Pretty good I’m thinking. I also like the groundball rate, for a reliever this is ideal as many have to face situations with runners on and many times a ground ball is just what the doctor ordered.
I like the pickup, the twins have a pretty sharp bullpen for 2010 with Rauch Neshek Guerrier Mijares and Deunsing. Now add Condrey into that mix and it’s shaping out pretty well.
BERT BLYLEVEN was ROBBED!!! Just wanted to get that out!
But he just doesn’t have that HOF smell! You can throw out all the numbers that say his an obvious choice, and just sniff the man! Then you know he’s just not worthy!
He’ll get in next year and the world will be OK again. I’m really surprised Barry Larkin did so well, 51.6%. Players that top 50% in their first year usually make it in, and somehow I just don’t see Larkin as a Hall of Fame shortstop.
Larkin is a legit HOFer. There is no qestion about that…
Larkin didn’t get 200 home runs, didn’t get 3000 hits, and didn’t end his career with a .300 batting average. The only two stats that, for his career, put him into the top 100 are Intentional Bases on Balls (66th) and Caught Stealing (77th). He was a good, but not great, fielder, and a good, but again not great, hitter. Barry never lead the league in any offensive category, not PA or steals or anything. I just don’t see how he deserve to be counted among the all time elite.
He was pretty good for the Phillies. Not a bad mopup guy if cheap.
Hey he has had some good ERAs over the years. Good pickup in my opinion.
I like this deal, pending terms. Being that he only has 4 years of service, my guess is less than a mil. You can never have too many bullpen arms due to the year to year volititility of the position.
Don’t let his ERA fool you, especially last year’s. Condrey is an odd type of reliever. He’s the type of guy who has some really good outings, and there are times where you will cringe when you see him running towards the mound. He’s been plagued with back and oblique injuries as well, so if it’s a decent one year deal, it’s not a bad pickup. Something incentive laden would be ideal.
However, and I know this won’t make you feel any better, but… I hated seeing Condrey run to the mound in a Phillies uniform. Never liked him for some reason. Lol
It’s worth noting that there’s another reason this is GREAT news: decreases the likelihood Keppel was dumped for a pending Washburn signing.
I’ve never seen the Twins faithful so unanimously united behind NOT wanting to see a player on the roster. It wasn’t even a matter of Washburn being a “want vs. need”. Nobody even wanted him – payroll restrictions be damned.
La Velle posted on his blog that he’s heard nothing within the organization to support the rumor that we made an offer to Washburn. All I can say is… WHEW.
LEN3 has actually garnered a degree of credibility in the past couple years he was painfully lacking when he was new to the scene, too. He seems to actually get more front office insights than Christensen or Souhan (though the latter two have grossly superior commentary).
Yeah, by and large I trust La Velle’s info. Unfortunately, he didn’t shoot down the Washburn rumor entirely, just said he’d heard no indications. It’s possible Smith and Co. are just keeping their mouths shut tight, but at least there’s reason to hope now.
Yeah, by and large I trust La Velle’s info. Unfortunately, he didn’t shoot down the Washburn rumor entirely, just said he’d heard no indications. It’s possible Smith and Co. are just keeping their mouths shut tight, but at least there’s reason to hope now.
Maybe he’ll replace Crain or Mijares if they’re traded. I thought it was odd that the FO tendered Crain. It would make sense if they could move him or Mijares in a package for someone. I didn’t get the impression the organization was enamored with either of those two.
Mijares is the only lefty slotted in the bullpen until Liriano/Duensing lose out on the 5th starter spot, and Gardy usually likes to have more than one lefty in the bullpen so i doubt they would trade mijares.
Mijares is the only lefty slotted in the bullpen until Liriano/Duensing lose out on the 5th starter spot, and Gardy usually likes to have more than one lefty in the bullpen so i doubt they would trade mijares.
Mijares need to lose some weight. When he first came onto the scene he was 40-50 pounds lighter, now he looks like a whale out there.
Back around 2006, Crain was destined to be a future closer. I suspect the club hasn’t quite thrown in the towel on him, now that he’s got some time behind him after that devastating injury. As for Mijares, he may be a bit volatile, but he’s come through in pressure situations, and I actually can see him competing for the setup role if Neshek doesn’t come back sharp.
Crain never looked like a future closer to me because he’s never been able to strike anyone out. Despite throwing 97mph, he’s always lacked a dominating out-pitch. His best seasons rank him right about average for relievers in terms of strikeouts. This year’s 7.5/9 was his best career mark, but he tacked on a lovely 4.7 BB/9 as well.
Even if they wanted him around, they never should have tendered him a contract; he’ll make more than $3MM this year. Given the fact that we’re in desperate need of at least one more strong infield option and trying to extend Mauer, that $3MM+ this season could’ve been utilized far better.
I’ll never understand this organization’s obsession with mediocrity. And hell, at this point, “mediocre” is being generous when describing Crain. Seems like Gardy always wants to trot him out there in big situations, though, to prove that “his guy” can handle it. And it seems like Crain inevitably fails time and time again.
Right. I’m not advocating for Crain – merely noting that the organization, at one point, did have high hopes for him.
I’ll admit that when he was a rookie, I thought he did appear to have the potential – he just never developed and reached that next level.
The problem with Crain is while he throws some heat, it’s the straightest fastball up in the zone I’ve ever seen. Any decent major league baseball player has been trained to just murder this ball. Crain needs to add some late cut to that pitch (like guerrier does) and locate better, inside/outside and down in the zone. He also has problems with walks. If he could put it all together, he is an effective pitcher but so far he’s a mystery everytime you throw him out on the mound.
Am I crazy thinking Castillo would be nice if the Mets paid quite a bet of his salary… Mets desperately want to get rid of him and he could be our #2 hitter.
I dunno – he looked like he was 65 every time he ran out of the batter’s box here.
I dunno – he looked like he was 65 every time he ran out of the batter’s box here.
I highly doubt the Twins would want to bring Castillo back.
In short, yes. His defense is horrid and his OBP is nothing to get excited about.
Gotts, you may be right about his defense (still OK though) but you are dead wrong about his OBP, I would get VERY EXCITED to have a guy with a .387 on-base percentage like he did in 2009.
His defense is nowhere close to okay. Last year he posted a UZR/150 of -12.0 after a -9.3 in 2008. His speed is obviously declining. While he had an OBP of .387 last year, that’s most likely to come down at least 25 points this year, and I’m still not excited about his OBP for his declining speed and lack of defense.
I doubt it would come down that much. He’d probably bat .300 and have an OBP around .370 and swipe 15-20 bags. Thats pretty good. Defense is the main problem.
Condrey was well-liked in Philly, and he performed well here (even during one season when he was got DFA’ed and recalled about 8 times, poor guy), but I never thought it was sustainable. I think the best thing about his is probably durability, can go multiple innings, will take the ball, but not a guy you really want pitching in high leverage on a good team
Everyday Clay was a good guy and well liked in Philly. Truth is, the majority of the time he was used in low pressure situations. He was pretty much the mop up guy throughout his whole Phillies career. Which is probably why they made almost no attempt to resign the guy.
Or they made no attempt to resign the guy cuz arbitration would have made him an expensive SOB and they didn’t want to pay that kind of money. They also got arms back in the trade they made and since philly is a top flight contender, there aren’t many spots open for relievers in their bullpen. I’m thinking they probably want to give some of the young arms a look this season.
i liked condrey. for what its worth, he was one of our better relievers last season when healthy. he is also a really good guy. good luck clay.
I’m glad I’m not reading a bunch of “Good glad he’s gone, you can have that bum!” from phillies fans. This is the sign of a good pickup IMO.
Exactly, and almost certainly an upgrade over Keppel.
Like Geoff Geary before him, this guy is nothing more than a mop-up reliever. I don’t ever remember him pitching well in a high-leverage situation. He STINKS!
give him some credit he was better than geary. geary was probably my most hated reliever in the 12 or so years i’ve been following
The Twins have a good rotation possibly barring any injuries or injuries not healed up yet. I think that their infield is just fine even if Harris, and Punto have to rotate there. JJ Hardy should be ok at short, but I still would like to see him rotate postions too. Castilla is a 2B at that but nothing super. He is trade material to me. Left field with Young always makes me nervous. He ain’t the fastest runner and he ain’t the best hitter and he always looks like he is about to screw up even if he doesn’t. He is a player I think the Twins are waiting to come out and excel. I think if all comes together and no injuries, the TWINS can make a real run for the gold this year.