Left-handed reliever Phil Coke is “very close” to signing a deal and getting into camp, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca reports on Twitter. He is expected to have a contract by tomorrow, per the report.
Coke, 32, has seemingly drawn fairly wide interest and could conceivably sign with any number of teams. The question has been whether he will be able to land a MLB deal with a reasonably significant guarantee, or instead whether he will need to choose a good destination and battle for a job on a minor league pact.
In spite of the fact that Coke has not put up particularly excellent bottom-line results, there is plenty to like about his package. Namely, he features a low-to-mid-90s fastball, gets groundballs, and has been rather durable (though he did have two fairly short DL stints in 2013). Coke owns a 4.16 ERA an 3.71 FIP in just under 400 career innings, most of them for the Tigers.
