Adding Martin and picking up the option on Jackson give the Indians' pen the depth it needs to support the weak rotation. Signed RHP Darryl Kile to a three-year contract. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Kile deal was that it wasn't for the currently fashionable five years for a primo starter. The feeling is that three years is long enough to see how well he can do in that environment. Although he throws hard, his out pitch is his curve, and everyone's convinced breaking stuff doesn't work as well a mile up.
Lets call it scientific curiosity, and watch.
He doesn't make contact often enough to play regularly, but the Pirates' losing him on waivers is symptomatic of a roster cluttered with talent. The Marlins get a puny bit of salary-cutting by releasing Arias, and can now devote the utility infielder slot to Abbott, Milliard, or Cromer. With the team's addition of Dave Clark, Phillips is committed to playing regularly for New Orleans, where he may lose playing time to the rumored shift of Daryle Ward to the outfield. He's been called rubber-armed, but he isn't, and relievers who struggle to put up an ERA better than league average should be thankful for NRIs to spring training. Treni Hubbard is one of my favorite players, but thats only because I know how happy his reaching the majors made his mother, who in turn was a nurse who took care of me back in '91 during a hospital stay.