Free-agent Ryan Madson signs a one-year contract with Los Angeles Angels – MLB News
The Cincinnati Reds signed Jonathan Broxton for a three-year contract, worth $21 million, on Wednesday, November 28. Coinciding with it was another deal of free-agent Ryan Madson whom the Reds had signed in January this year to a one-year contract. However, elbow irritation (which worsened afterwards) and subsequent Tommy John surgery rendered him unable to pitch the whole season.
Reds had brought Madson and were envisaging a solid role from him as a closer. But that did not materialise due to the unavoidable Tommy John surgery. Previously associated with the Philadelphia Phillies, Madson remains baseball’s one of the finest closers.
He combined 2.86 ERA and 1.18 WHIP from 2008 to 2011 as he pitched for the Phillies. His role in 2011 as closer for the Phillies was one of the best wherein he had 32-for-34 in saves and allowing only two homers.
While the Phillies did not eventually sign him when he became free agent, instead bringing in Jonathan Papelbon with $50 million contract, it was the Reds who turned their attention to him.
The $8.5 million one-year contract was to be a harbinger of good things to come for the Reds. However, his torn ligament before the conclusion of Spring Training and concomitant Tommy John surgery placed him in disabled list, disallowing him to pitch for the whole season.
On October 31, 2012, Madson then declined the option offered to him by Reds and became a free agent. It is now the Los Angeles Angles that have signed him for a year.
Madson, at this point, has mixed feelings about how things went this past season and how he is looking at the upcoming season.
"If you know anything about me, you know that I'm a pleaser," Madson said. "I want to please, in any fashion I can. For me, it's the baseball field. And I wasn't able to do that for the Reds. They gave me such a great opportunity, just like the Angels have this year, and it just didn't work out. I was emotional."
Madson is looking forward to a season where he can compensate for his absence for a year with a performance that will occupy a prominent place in the annals of history.
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