Dodgers Sign John Grabow, Somebody Tell Me Why?

Some news to break us from the Bum list… the Dodgers have signed lefty reliever John Grabow to a minor league deal. The only good thing about it is it’s on a minor league deal, however someone please tell me why they’re signing this bum? Other than the fact that he’s a lefty? They have already been talking about resigning Dougie, and have already signed lefty Wil Ledezma, plus we still have Elbert, and Grabow is terrible.

Looking at his stats makes me want to vomit. Grabow is 33 years old. (Red Flag) He was making 7.5 million dollars on his last contract with the the Cubs (Red Flag) His career walk per nine rate is over 4.0 (Red Flag). That’s three red flags for this guy, so it doesn’t look good.

Grabow was drafted by the Pirates in the third round of the 1997 draft. He made his MLB debut in 2003, appearing in at least 63 games in each of his first six seasons. He pitched for the Pirates for his first six and a half seasons, before he was traded to the Cubs in 2009 where he was just as terrible. Over the parts of the last two plus seasons with the Cubs, from 2009-2011 Grabow put up a 5.52 ERA, with a 5.9 K/9 rate, and a 4.2 walk per nine rate.

2008 was arguably his best season with the Pirates, when he went 6-3 with a 2,84 ERA, but still walked the world. Grabow is 6’2 and 205 pounds, from Arcadia, CA so he is a local boy.

However in 2009 he did hold batters to a .218 average and .293 slugging with runners in scoring position, so there is that. Grabow has a mid 90’s fastball, hard slider, and change. According to reports, he has a good pick off move and fields his position pretty well. Grabow has a career 24-19 record with a 4.31 ERA, and 6 saves.

Still despite some good peripherals with Grabow, he still sucks. He walks too many batters, he’s too old, and he’s kind of expensive. Plus, his splits are pretty even. So he doesn’t kill leftys like a loogy should. Plus, he has a history of knee and shoulder injuries which would be another huge red flag. The terms of the contract have not been released yet. We can all only hope that Grabow won’t make the roster next season, otherwise I might have another addition to the Bum list for next year.