Giants To Sign Dontrelle Willis To Minor League Deal
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By Steve Adams [January 10, 2014 at 11:49am CST]
John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that left-hander Dontrelle
Willis will sign a minor league deal with the Giants (Twitter link). Willis
is a client of Sosnick/Cobbe sports.
Willis, who turns 32 on Sunday, initially began the 2013 campaign pitching
for the Atlantic League's Long Island Ducks but found himself in the Angels'
Triple-A rotation to close out the season. Willis posted a 2.57 ERA in 87 2/3
innings for the Ducks but struggled to a 6.43 ERA in a small, 21-inning
sample size with the Halos' Triple-A club. He's consistently battled command
issues over the past several seasons and did so again last season, walking 14
batters in his 21 Triple-A innings.
"The D-Train" won National League Rookie of the Year honors with the Marlins
back in 2003 as a 21-year-old, and two years later he had an NL Cy Young
runner-up finish under his belt heading into his age-24 season. Willis
regressed a bit in that 2006 campaign, saw his ERA spike over 5.00 in 2007
and was traded to the Tigers that offseason. It's been a struggle for Willis
since 2007, as he's posted a 5.65 ERA in 404 1/3 Major League innings in that
time.
There's virtually no risk in the signing for the Giants, and the upside with
Willis is greater than with many non-roster invitees, even if it's been years
since he has succeeded at the big league level. This will be his second minor
league run with the Giants, as he inked a similar deal prior to the 2010
season that didn't pan out.