Despite recent reports that he is throwing pain free, the Rangers elected to cut Akinori Otsuka, ending the reliever’s two-year tenure with the team.
From a Dallas Morning News article:
“We just weren’t comfortable not having seen him on the mound for several months,” (GM Jon) Daniels said. “We talked about a shared risk deal, but the financial information we got just didn’t make much sense. All the reports [about Otsuka's health] have been positive, but the bottom line is he hasn’t thrown for a number of months, and there was real concern.”
It’s especially a surprise given the team’s likely signing of Fukumori, who, one would assume, isn’t part of the team’s plan for a closer. Unless he’s still injured, he’ll catch on with another team shortly.
1 response so far ↓
1 jackson // Dec 17, 2007 at 12:28 am
You have to wonder about that. Players don’t just fall from grace in that short of time for no reason. He was effective as their closer just last year, why would a team give up on that suddenly?
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