For the record, I was simultaneously scooped by Ryan in the Hijack Central thread...

http://economics.about.com
You beat me to it Mike! I had an entry all written and was about to hit "Add this Entry". I like yours better than mine, but here's what I wrote:

Nothing too earth shattering, but ESPN reports that the Jays have signed two players to minor league deals, and a left-handed reliever to a major league contract. The details:

---

Valerio de Los Santos signed a one-year contract for $850,000. The 31 year old reliever struck out 39 batters, walked 25, and gave up 8 homeruns in 52 innings for the Phillies and Brewers last season.

Jayson Durocher was one of two players signed to a minor league contract today. Durocher is a former Expos draftpick pitched only 16 innings last season. In 2002 the 6'3" righty struck out 44, walked 21, and had only 3 homeruns hit against him in 48 relief innings for the Brewers.

Outfielder Chad Hermansen was also signed to a minor league deal. He hit .353 last year in 68 games for Las Vegas of the Pacific Coast League, but is a career .198 hitter in 485 big-league at bats.

Anyone know more about Durocher's health? He missed the first couple months of the year due to elbow surgery, returned to the big club for a couple weeks in late-May and early-June, then went right back on the DL for the rest of the year.

If he's healthy, he appears to be the best one in this batch of signings, but that looks like a pretty big "if" at this point.

Wow, I don't think I've ever seen two pitchers with numbers as similar as those of Miller and de los Santos in 2003.

The speed with which the Jays are moving in the offseason suggests that Ricciardi and Keith Law have long had a plan in place, and have a pre-planned Option B when Option A doesn't work out. In other organizations, if Trever Miller didn't sign, they'd just be flipping open the Baseball Register right about now to see if there are any lefthanded relievers lying about.

And one more note: Miller's departure means that the bullpen has almost completely turned over since this time last year. Of last year's pen, only Aquilino Lopez is returning, and he was the Rule V guy. (Kershner didn't start 2003 with the Jays, as he didn't make the initial 25-man roster.)

From what I could gather on Durocher:

He had surgery in spring training to remove bone spurs from his elbow and missed the first two months of the season. Shortly after he came back he gave up a couple of grand slams and was put on the DL again, this time for shoulder tendinitis. In August he had a setback involving his trapizius muscle (I have no idea what that is) and also started experiencing some pain in his elbow. Tests revealed no structural damage to his elbow.

The last I could find on his injury was from September when he was sent out for more tests. I wasn't able to find out if those tests revealed anything.

Ryan, the trapezius muscle is the muscle on top of the shoulder that runs between the neck and the shoulder. If the problem is simply muscular, it's no big deal, but it sounds like there is a fair bit going on there.

Let's hope Valerio is due for an improvement. He looks more solid than Doug Creek but it remains to be seen if he's worth $250K more than Trever Miller.

It's amazing when I look back at on this team compared to when JP first got the job. It truly is his ballclub!

I think the Durocher signing can be a diamond in the rough if his arm problems aren't so bad but from what I just read in previous posts that might not be the case. I will remain optimistic tho as he had quite a good season in '02.

The shoulder problem tells me he was likely compensating for the elbow still being a problem. Not unusual for an athlete to want to get back in the game too early, compensate for the pain and cause another injury. Domino effect.

Just an update on Durocher. He is 100 % healthy and ready to go for spring training. He is also very excited and ready to help the Jays get better.

I guess he's a slight upgrade on Miller, but I'm not overly excited about the signing. It seems to be a little more than I would have paid.

Of course I say that without knowing the available LH pitchers left out there.

In the grand scheme of things a couple hundred thousand on a $50 million budget doesn't matter too much I suppose.

What I found interesting is that his walk rate is really high facing RH hitters, but held them to a really low BA.

Splits in 2003:
LHB: .267/.319/.383 - 24/21 K/BB
RHB: .228/.333/.417 - 15/4 K/BB

Sounds like Tosca has a new favorite LOOGY.

I'm somewhat of a newcomer to the site, could someone define LOOGY for me. Thanks.

LOOGY: Lefty One-Out Guy

Some nice low-risk moves here... I especially like Hermanson as a longshot - hard to believe he's only 26.

Well someone needs to play CF after Rios and Gross are promoted.

http://economics.about.com
If you look at the Jays bullpen at the start of the 2003 season and the start of the 2004 season, you'll note that the 2004 group is a far more consistent group.

Bullpen at Start of 2003

POSN	PLAYER	2000	2001	2002	TOTAL
RP1	Creek	1.7	1.7	0.6	4.0
RP2	Escobar	4.1	4.7	4.3	13.1
RP3	Linton	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
RP4	Lopez	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
RP5	Politte	2.1	1.8	2.0	5.9
RP6	Tam	3.7	2.9	0.6	7.2
RP7	Tmiller	-0.4	0.0	0.0	-0.4
-------	-------	----	----	----	-----
TOTAL		11.2	11.1	7.5	29.8

Bullpen at Start of 2004

POSN	PLAYER	2001	2002	2003	TOTAL
RP1	Kersh	0.0	0.2	2.3	2.5
RP2	Ligten	2.1	2.5	2.3	6.9
RP3	Lopez	0.0	0.0	2.8	2.8
RP4	delosS	0.0	2.0	1.1	3.1
RP5	Pwalker	0.1	4.2	1.2	5.5
RP6	Speier	2.4	1.9	2.1	6.4
RP7	Haines	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
-------	-------	----	----	----	-----
TOTAL		4.6	10.8	11.8	27.2

Cheers,

Mike

What do those numbers represent Mike?

I'd think WARP (Wins Above Replacement Pitcher).

I guess Miller wouldn't back down from his price of $600,000 and in their minds de los Santos was worth the extra $350,000 (I heard Miller was offered 500k and wanted 600k). For his career de los Santos has 64 k's in 70.2 innings against lefties, while giving up a .252 OPPAVG. In comparison, Miller has pitched 73 innings against LHB and has 68 k's and a .252 OPPAVG. As was said before, there really isn't much to choose between the two of them as far as I can tell, so you wonder what JP saw that made him decide de los Santos was worth the price.

http://economics.about.com
I'd think WARP (Wins Above Replacement Pitcher).

Yep. Sorry I forgot to include that information. I guess it's pretty important.

I gotta lay off the DayQuil. :)

Cheers,

Mike

De los Santos, who had back surgery in 1999 and Tommy John elbow surgery in April 2001, was once rated the top Brewers' pitching prospect by Baseball America, but in addition to the toll injuries took on his fastball, he was one of the Dominicans who "aged" three years one day. Valerio still throws 90+ with a slider vs. lefties and a splitter to keep righties honest.

The salary seems pretty reasonable to me; like Cliff Politte, he would have received a lot more than $850,000 in arbitration. It's another example of how the owners' collective decision to flood the free agent market has been effective at keeping costs down. Corner outfielders and setup men should get used to being recycled every year.

If he's 100% sound, this could work out fine, but last year (cue one of my pet peeves) de los Santos tried to pitch through shoulder tendinitis early in the season, resulting in a trip to the DL.

That's pretty much what happened to Durocher, too. His 2003 struggles were due to being too eager to return from the removal of bone chips in his elbow. He neglected to tell the Brewers about feeling a twinge in his shoulder on his last rehab assignment. I don't know who "TM" is, or his relationship with Jayson, but thanks for the encouraging news -- if he's anything like he was in 2002, Durocher could be one of the steals of this productive offseason for the Jays.

I doubt that Hermansen will ever wear a Toronto uniform, but he's a solid signing for AAA depth. A year ago, similar NRI's were competing for a spot on the big club, only to have Reed Johnson emerge from the minor league camp and outplay them all.