Balfour DFA'd, Traded to Tampa for RHP Seth McClung

[moofnelson]

It's amazing how fast Balfour fell out of favor with the organization. Three appearances, ship him out of town. To Tampa on top of it.

 

They were three pretty bad appearances, though.

[Fatter than Joey]

It's amazing how fast Balfour fell out of favor with the organization. Three appearances, ship him out of town.

 

That's really not the case. There was an inherent risk with bringing Balfour up, he had no options, and could not get sent back to Nashville, without being exposed to waivers.

 

I suspect had he been lights out -- Parra would have returned to Nashville, if the Linebrink trade was made.

[TheCrew07]

Balfour has good stuff, if he can start locating his slider for strikes, he'll be fine. He was missing so badly that people were just sitting on a grooved fastball. I'm sure his problems were mostly mental and it started to snowball on him as he put more pressure on himself. I was at the walk fest from the relievers on the 20th, and you could see his body language change after the first walk. I'll continue to follow him and root for him, he's still a tremendous story, I would have liked to see him succeed in Milwaukee, but it wasn't meant to be.

[bklynbrewcrew]

With Balfour out of options we should have waited till September to call him up. Instead we are stuck with a guy who couldnt even cut it with Tampa. If Tampa Bay doesnt want you its a very bad sign. This was a bad miscalculation by Melvin. If Balfour is any good at all he will be closing with Tampa by next season.

[JJHardy7]

McClung looked real good last night (I know it's just one outing). He just looks like a Maddux project with as hard as he can throw. If he and Maddux fix the control issues I think this might be a find. I would imagine (there's no radar at Greer) that he was throwing 95 - 98 mph.

[molitor fan]

Balfour significantly lowered his ERA for the season last night in his Devil Ray debut, allowing only 2 runs in his 2 innings of work.

[Never Outhustled]

Quote:

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With Balfour out of options we should have waited till September to call him up. Instead we are stuck with a guy who couldnt even cut it with Tampa. If Tampa Bay doesnt want you its a very bad sign. This was a bad miscalculation by Melvin.

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They also gave away Chad Gaudin and Joe Kennedy for next to nothing. I'd love to have those guys too. bad management is a Tampa staple, don't give them too much credit for anything.

[MoneyballMan]

Balfour significantly lowered his ERA for the season last night in his Devil Ray debut, allowing only 2 runs in his 2 innings of work.

 

Great point!! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif I saw 2 in 2 and didn't think of it in the positive way!!