Bradford on turf: 44.2 IP, 7 earned runs, 11 walks/23 strikeouts

Has Bradford ever tried throwing a sinker? I think a combo of sinker, turf, and submarining would work very well for inducing double plays.

I'm really surprised that Bradford was not claimed by the Yanks or BoSox.

I wonder why that was... (he doesn't have much salary coming his way, and surely blocking TB would have been a good thing).

In other transaction news, the Phillies acquired Scott Eyre from the Cubs in exchange for A-ball pitcher Brian Schlitter.

Excellent. Andrew Friedman's acquisitions for 2008 include:

Eric Hinske
Cliff Floyd
Matt Garza
Jason Bartlett
Troy Percival
Gabe Gross
Trevor Miller

plus, they promoted Evan Longoria. Pretty fair case for AL Executive of the Year?

I'm surprised too, #2. I think they were probably wary of his horribly low K rate. But he has been getting the job done in the AL East for years now.

I'm more surprised that he wasn't claimed by the Phillies or the Tigers.

Edit: I guess just the Tigers, I forgot revocable waivers are still league priority first (I think?).

this is a great move for a team with a still very iffy bullpen.

this is a great move for a team with a still very iffy bullpen.

I suppose its iffyness depends on whether or not you're expecting regressions by a lot of the players. Presumably one of Reyes or Miller gets waived here, and another one gets waived when Price gets called up. After that, you have a bullpen of:

Percival - 112 ERA+
Wheeler - 192 ERA+
Howell - 170 ERA+
Balfour - 301 ERA+
Bradford - 176 ERA+
Hammel - 103 ERA+
Price - N/A

Plus Juan Salas, who has an ERA around 2 in AAA and who had an ERA+ of 122 last year is still waiting in the wings if someone gets hurt. The only two things that are iffy are (a) some of the guys aren't historically as good as they've pitched this year and (b) you're kinda stuck with Percival closing even if he's the 6th most effective reliever.

Yeah. The bullpen might be the best part about the Rays. Howell and Balfour have been awesome.

Percival has a pretty scary HR rate and Wheeler's is on the high side too. Balfour and Howell look damn good though.

(a) some of the guys aren't historically as good as they've pitched this year

And to add to earlier, can someone explain why Balfour has been so good (besides small sample size or some thing)? He's been unhittable.

Yeah, it's not just the numbers either. He looks ridiculously good.

In other transaction news, the Phillies acquired Scott Eyre from the Cubs in exchange for A-ball pitcher Brian Schlitter.

The Cubs may have flushed out a real talent in that deal.

Yeah, that's weird that no one before the Rays claimed him.

And to add to earlier, can someone explain why Balfour has been so good (besides small sample size or some thing)? He's been unhittable.

He's locating his fastball (which he has thrown 88% of the time this year) much better than in the past. That has made his walk rate manageable and prevented hitters from being able to just swing away at fast, but fat, pitches. He also has a pretty nasty over-the-top motion with his delivery that seems to make it difficult for hitters to catch up with the velocity.