Gianstoppable wrote:Odds are it's nothing and just Shaw laughing that Yu is responding to rumors about him but would be very interesting if we went after Darvish. If you go after Darvish would you go all in and trade for Archer then sign Cain and a reliever?
In more realistic news, K-Rod is reinvigorated! Go get him Stearns!!!!!
Francisco Rodriguez came off a mound near his home in Coral Springs, Fla. Tuesday and declared himself ready to rejoin a big-league organization.
“Hell, yeah,” Rodriguez, fourth on the all-time saves list, said enthusiastically in a phone conversation with FanRag. “I’ve made a lot of progress.”
Rodriguez is excited about the possibilities after what he said was a 42-pitch session in which he maintained velocity in the 88-93 mph range, a major improvement over last year when he couldn’t crack 90 in the Washington Nationals’ minor leagues and was let go from the team when he told them he didn’t want to continue in the low minors.
Another change, according to the man they call K-Rod: The Venezuelan kids hitting against him only put two balls in play Tuesday, which favorably compared to the minors last year, when he said minor-league kids anxious to prove themselves against the former star dug in to the point that there were 20 swings on 23 pitches in one game.
“I wasn’t missing any bats,” Rodriguez recalled.
He had saved 44 games only the year before (2016), but after pushing himself to pitch for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, he was never right last year, pitching to the tune of a 7.82 ERA (a far cry from his pristine 2.86 lifetime mark). He’s reinvented himself in the past, moving back into the closer role after brief demotions to a set-up job following what he called a rare “mediocre” year.
But this time he was actually humbled, probably for the first time.
“Everything was a disaster last year,” Rodriguez, who only turned 36 Sunday, said. “It was the first time I struggled, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I didn’t know how to come out of it. It was like a snowball going downhill.”
He actually gives the Tigers credit for giving him as much rope as they did last year. But he says he’s ready to show his stuff again now, after starting workouts in the Miami area as early as November for the first time – if anyone will give him a chance following such a “disastrous” year. And that seems to be a big “if” at this point, as he hasn’t stirred much interest to this point, even on a minor-league deal.
He says he’s willing and ready to try out if teams want to see for themselves – assuming someone will send a scout.
“I still have plenty left,” Rodriguez said. “I am hoping to get an opportunity to help a team win a championship. I’m physically way better than I was last year. I’m ready. If I didn’t have it, I’d say it. I’m a straight shooter – my own worst critic.”
Rodriguez didn’t say anything at the time, but wanted so badly to represent Venezuela in the WBC he tried to wrap a pulled hamstring and wound up pulling a groin. He was throwing in the mid-to-high-80s; he wasn’t himself.
“I wasn’t healthy,” Rodriguez said. “The week before the WBC I pulled a hamstring. Then I made the poor decision to go to the Classic.”
After the rough start in Detroit, he went to the Nationals, where his minors numbers look okay — or at least better than his velo readings. But K-Rod says folks should look at the numbers of his career, which he says are “consistent,” up until last year, which he described as a “roller-coaster.”
He had a nice layoff following his release from the Nats. But now he feels good enough again to show his stuff.
“Anytime,” Rodriguez, author of 437 career saves, declared.
Now he just needs someone to take notice.
