Good-bye, Pelfrey

Mike Pelfrey spent three seasons with the Twins, or two
seasons if you don't count the year he spent mostly on the
disabled list, and went 11-27, 4.94. This got him a sizable raise.

There has been quite a few eye-popping contracts for free agent pitchers in the past few days. Mike Pelfrey's two-year deal at $8 million per with Detroit is far from the richest of them, but it's noteworthy in its own right.

Big Pelf is a back-of-the-rotation arm who has qualified for the ERA title once in the past four seasons,which he did with two innings to spare last season. He did go at least seven full innings in 10 of his 30 starts for the Twins; he also had 10 starts in which he didn't work five full innings. 

I expected his departure but was nevertheless half afraid that the Twins would re-sign him. They don't really have any place to put him in their rotation, but that doesn't always stop their decision makers.

This tweet caught my eye:

Avila on Pelfrey: "I'm not going to throw our analytics guys under the bus. This wasn't an analytics signing, it was a scout signing."

— Chris McCosky (@cmccosky) December 7, 2015

Avila, to be clear, is the Detroit general manager. And yeah, I'd bet there isn't an analytics department in the game that recommended signing Pelfrey. Scouts see a moving fastball with velocity; the stats show a one-pitch wonder with a dismal strikeout rate. 

There's a line of thought that Pelfrey would be a better fit in a relief role. He's resisted that notion in the past, and it appears that the Tigers view him as a starter. Which, as a fan of a divsion rival, suits me just fine.