waiver claim

[Wally Mo Pena]

"The Reds have claimed right-hander Mike Burns off waivers from the Houston Astros. He will be added to the club's 40-man roster.
Burns, 27, went 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA and 13 saves in 25 relief appearances for Houston's Triple-A Round Rock affiliate.

He also pitched 27 games out of the bullpen for the Astros, going 0-0 with a 4.94 ERA in 31 innings of work.

Burns was originally a 30th-round pick by the Astros in the June 2000 draft. He was a Midwest League All-Star in 2002 and a Texas League All-Star in 2004."

I don't know anything about him, but it doesn't look like a terrible pickup as far as the waiver wire goes.

[missionhockey21]

I dig the K/BB ratio he posted in AAA. For a waiver pickup, it's not bad at all since I imagine he'll spend the year in AAA unless he wows. Anyone know what kind of stuff he has? I don't recall seeing him.

[redsrbetter]

I don't remember this guy either. But I agree, he will be in Louisville next season. But the best we can hope for is that he can put up the same kind of AAA numbers as he did last season. Then, we may have a guy that can be called up for bullpen help if we have any problems next season. 2.10 ERA in AAA ball is not bad, but then again 25 appearances is not a lot to go off of either. So, heres to a good signing and to a good AAA seasonm for Burns next year.

[Geki Ace]

I vaguely remember him from a few games against the Reds. Looking back at the stats, he had three scoreless innings against us in early July. He doesn't seem to walk that many guys(2.50 BB/9), but he doesn't strike out too many either(5.81 K/9. It really doesn't look like he was all that hittable, especially in comparison to some of our pitchers, giving up a .238 average against and putting up an excellent 1.19 WHIP. It seems he's probably a little better than his ERA suggests, but he's also very prone to the longball, giving up 6 in 31 innings, which doesn't really bode well for us. That being said, his groundball/flyball ratio was an awesome 1.43, so maybe he just had some bad luck or he hung some pitches. He's not the fireballing closer we need, but I certainly like him more than Jason "WHIP of 37" Standridge and I think he could contribute next year if his stats are accurate in comparison to his ability.

[albbla2000mu]

Well, Preseason top 20 according to John Sickels...Baseball America/former Espn writer

Chris Burke, 2B, B+
Mitch Einertson, OF, B+
Ezequiel Astacio, RHP, B
Matt Albers, RHP, B
Ben Zobrist, SS, B
Fernando Nieve, RHP, B
Hunter Pence, OF, B
Troy Patton, LHP, C+
Willy Taveras, OF, C+
Josh Anderson, OF, C+
Taylor Buchholz, RHP, C+
Jared Gothreaux, RHP, C+
Mike Burns, RHP, C+
Brooks Conrad, 2B, C+
Mitch Talbot, RHP, C+
Tommy Whiteman, SS, C
Juan Gutierrez, RHP, C
Luke Scott, OF, C
Todd Self, 1B, C
Enyelbert Soto, LHP, C

Mike Burns and Brooks Conrad are guys with strong track records, but they don't impress scouts that much and aren't considered hot prospects. Burns in particular could end up being very useful as a middle reliever.