Gorzelanny offers versatility to the Brewers – MLB News
It is official.
The Milwaukee Brewers on Friday, Dec. 21, finalized deal with the free-agent pitcher Tom Gorzelanny. The Brewers had initially shown some reluctance to comment on the reports of the deal as they were awaiting the physical which the pitcher cleared.
This is a two-year $5.7 million contract wherein the pitcher shall get $2.6 million 2013, $2.8 million in 2014 along with $300,000 signing bonus.
That which attracted the Milwaukee Brewers to the pitcher was his versatility. Gorzelanny has pitched both in the rotation and bullpen, and has exhibited positive signs of competency and effectiveness, remaining fairly successful both as starter and reliever.
For example, when he pitched as starter in 2007 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, he held 14-10 record in a year wherein the Bucs had 94-loss record. In 2012, while pitching for the Washington Nationals, he posted his career-best 2.88 ERA.
General manager Doug Melvin also revealed for the first time that the club had an eye on him for quite a while. That says a lot about the Brewers and their plans for the upcoming season as 2012 did not remain impressive as far as bullpen’s performance is
concerned.
"His versatility is going to be important," Melvin said. "Our plan is to go predominantly with our younger starters ... and he can give you more than one inning. A lot of the other left-handers, the Randy Choates and so on, will give you a couple of batters.
[Gorzelanny] can give whatever you ask of him, or he can go in and get a left-hander out later in the game. He was someone we've had an eye on in the past, even farther back as a starting pitcher."
This deal will go a long way to determine the team’s success in the coming year as he can perform both in the rotation and the bullpen. For now, the Brewers seem done with the deals they were supposed to make. Melvin also referred to that.
"I think we're getting close to where we're done," said Melvin "We may dabble a bit to see what else is out there," he said.
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