Blue Jays Add Al Alburquerque (On a Minor League Deal With an Invite)

Holy shit!

No! I don’t mean, “Holy shit, the Jays signed Al Alburquerque!” I mean, “Holy shit, I typed in the name Al Alburquerque and actually got the spelling right on the first try!”

The trouble with this, I think, is the fact that the city in New Mexico doesn’t have that pesky first “R,” and I can never remember which is spelled which way and whether they’re even different.

But I guess I’m gonna have to get it straight quick, because the longtime Tigers reliever is indeed now a member of the Toronto Blue Jays organization, as first reported by Shi Davidi of Sportsnet:

Many of you will remember how Alburquerque burst onto the scene with the Tigers in 2011. That season, using his fastball-slider mix and averaging over 95 mph on his fastball, he struck out 67 batters in 43.1 innings, putting up 1.2 WAR as a key cog in a bullpen that helped take Detroit to the ALCS. After missing most of 2012 due to elbow surgery he returned in September and again pitched in the postseason, as the Tigers made a run to the World Series (it being an even year in the early 2010s, obviously they lost to the Giants).

Things just haven’t been the same for him since, though. His strikeout rate has pretty steadily dropped, which has made all the free passes he hands out (he’s walked 135 batters in 245 career innings) an even bigger issue. In 2016 he signed with the Angels, but didn’t make the club out of spring training. He was designated for assignment in May, passed unclaimed through waivers and was outrighted off their 40 man roster. He eventually made it to Anaheim, pitching just two innings in the big leagues. During those his average fastball velocity registered at just 91.3.

A funny thing happened on Alburquerque’s way to being washed up, though. In 2017 his velocity bounced back a little bit.

Alburquerque made just 21 big league appearances last year, pitching 10 innings for the Royals and eight for the White Sox. He only struck out 14 over those 18 innings, and walked eight. But with the fastball looking better, and his ability to keep the ball in the park still there (he’s allowed just 17 home runs over those 245 big leagues innings), uh… I don’t know? Sure! Maybe?

I mean, I wouldn’t exactly go jumping up and down for this, but there is no such thing as a bad minor league deal with an invite to spring training, and if Alburquerque looks the part in the Grapefruit League, there’s a genuine chance he can be useful here. Not a great chance or a huge chance, perhaps, but one that indeed does exist!