Indians Sign Graves and Karsay

[love_that_reefer]

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/a...2005&fext=.jsp

- The Indians announced the signing of right-handed relievers Danny Graves and Steve Karsay to Minor League contracts on Monday. For both players it is a return to the Cleveland organization.

Graves and Karsay give the Indians two veterans who can shore up the bullpen, which lost free agent Bob Howry to the Cubs earlier in the offseason.

The 32-year-old Graves, an experienced closer, first joined the Indians organization in 1994 as a fourth-round pick in the First-Year Player Draft.

After reaching the Majors in 1996, he was dealt to the Reds in 1997 in a package that brought left-hander John Smiley and infielder Jeff Branson to the Tribe. With the Reds, Graves saved 129 games between 1998-2002, but he made an attempt to convert to a starter in 2002-03, making 30 starts, but returned to his closer role with the start of the 2004 season, when he was named to the NL All-Star team after reaching 30 saves at the break.

After notching a career-high 41 saves in 2004, 2005 was a season of struggles for Graves. He went 1-1 with a 7.36 ERA and 10 saves before he was released at midseason.

The Mets picked up Graves, who made $6.25 million last season. He went 0-0 with a 5.75 ERA for the Mets. In total last season, he appeared in 40 games, went 1-1 with a 6.52 ERA and saved 10 games.

For his career, Graves has a total of 182 saves and 4.02 ERA. He holds the Reds record for career saves.

As for Karsay, he joined the Indians organization in 1997. He was part of a deal that sent reliever Mike Fetters to the Athletics. Karsay, a 33-year-old setup man, spent 1998-2000 and part of the 2001 season with the Tribe.

He left the Indians in 2001 in a much-discussed trade with the Braves at midseason that brought left-hander John Rocker to the Tribe.

After the 2001 season, Karsay declared himself a free agent and signed with the Yankees. He remained with the Yanks from 2002 until he was released on May 12. He signed a Minor League deal with the Rangers and pitched 15 2/3 innings in 14 appearances with a 7.47 ERA.

In 10 seasons, Karsay holds a 31-39 record with a 3.98 ERA. He made $6 million last season.

Not very impressive at all and hardly a replacement for Howry.

[redsrbetter]

Horrible selection for the Indians here IMO. Why would anyone want to take the chance on Graves anymore. Good luck is all I can say.

[Slyder]

Danny Graves... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Danny Graves?!?!?!? HAHAHA youd be better off relying on someone in AA than Danny Graves...

Cleveland fans if he is in the game hold your breath cause youve got a "Graves situation" on your hands. I hope this is nothing more than the major league minimum or a MLC with and invite to Spring Training.

[Fishercat]

No risk, smaller reward. Fantastic.

[Witlon]

Both of these guys were signed to minor league contracts, so you can't say that they're bad signing. It's not like either of them are going to start the season with Cleveland anyway(barring great ST's or mass bullpen injuries).

This is not low risk/low reward. This is low risk/high reward. These are 2 once-great major league relievers that are down a little bit, but who knows, they could come back to being reliable(not likely).

For the price, great moves for the Indians.

[redsrbetter]

I definitely was not paying attention to how the signings went down. So in that matter, I may have been wrong to prejudge the situation before I actually read the facts. Either way, I still don't think anyone could have any luck with Graves ever again. I truly think his days as a major league pitcher are numbered.

[Witlon]

Still, with his past success, there is no reason that a team shouldn't take a chance on him, especially at this price.

I'm with you that he probably won't be a MLB-calibar pitcher anymore, but he's still a worthy pickup at this price.

[love_that_reefer]

His numbers are a reason not to take a chance on him, either of them. They lost a good reliever in Howry and expect to over take the division with these guys and an aging Wickman? It's a waste of time.

[Providence A's]

bullpen go boom

[General]

What is this, they're trying to assemble the has-been pen in AAA? Sign Billy Koch to close then!

[Providence A's]

no, sign John Rocker!

[Kingdom]

No, sign the braves pen of last year!