Roch Kubatko at MASNSports.com is reporting that the Orioles have “definite interest” in free agent relief pitcher Grant Balfour.
He’s 8-for-17 in save chances for his career, so I’d probably keep him out of the ninth inning unless other options aren’t available. But the Orioles aren’t looking at him to close. He’d provide tremendous depth in the late innings if Johnson stays healthy and returns to his prior dominant set-up form.
Balfour is a type A free agent, so he would cost the Birds a second round draft pick, which some think is a bit steep for a guy who isn’t a closer.
What do you think?
First off, the blown save statistic for what was a setup man is useless. Congrats to Roch for being another "baseball fan" who doesn't understand the game. Think about it – if the setup man comes in and the team comes back to tie or take the lead against him he gets the blown save, but unless the closer is unavailable or the setup man comes in and then his team adds run to render the closer unneccessary, he won't be gettng the save opportunity.
As for Balfour (awful name for a pitcher by the way) coming here…it's an interesting argument both ways. Our farm system is practically decimated, so giving up our 2nd round pick for a reliever kind of hurts. Especially considering this is one of the deepest drafts ever, and the guy we get with our 2nd pick will likely be a 1st round talent. However, you have the argument of taking a proven commodity over a pick which could possibly turn into nothing to talk to about. I think in the end, the smart thing for us to do at this point in time is to explore the other options available to us.