Grant Balfour DFA'd

[Patrick Bateman]

From RotoWorld:

Brewers designated RHP Grant Balfour for assignment.
He goes to make room for Scott Linebrink. Balfour had a 20.25 ERA in three appearances for the Brewers, but it's hard to imagine him clearing waivers with the way he pitched in the minors this year. Our guess is that he rejoins the Reds.

Now before I get laughed off the board, I still think Balfour would be a worthy risk. He's finally healthy, and has been very good in AAA this season.

He's got a great arm, and should be had for nothing. I would love to see the Reds pick him up and see what he can do in the pen the rest of the year. There's no money guaranteed for future seasons, so at worst, he bombs and adds nothing. If it works out, the Reds have a potentially useful reliever for next season.

He's the type the Reds need to take chances on IMO. A high K guy that needs a chance to see if they can get his arm ironed out. If he can find the plate with any kind of regularity there should be a use for him.

Minor League Stats this season:

Team League W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO GO/AO AVG

HUN SOU 0 0 2.38 8 0 0 0 2 11.1 8 3 3 0 4 21 0.63 .190
NAS PCL 1 1 1.69 24 0 0 0 5 32.0 17 6 6 2 11 47 0.85 .157

[Matt700wlw]

Somewhere, Dan O'Brien weeps

[Patrick Bateman]

Ha, I checked RotoWorld again and it updated with this:

The Rays and Brewers have reportedly agreed to swap Seth McClung and Grant Balfour.
It makes sense that the Brewers could swing a trade for Balfour. These two are actually rather similar, except for the fact thaty Balfour has had a bunch of arm surgeries and McClung simply hasn't developed. Both are hard-throwing right-handers with major difficulty spotting their pitches. Balfour figures to join the Rays right away, whereas McClung will head to Triple-A.

McClung is basically useless at this point, but he still has options which is the main advantage to the Brewers. Looks like a nice pick-up by the Rays.