Orioles Make Offer to Kevin Gregg

Kevin Gregg is one of those guys that just keeps on showing up, collecting a paycheck, and getting absolutely  no respect, whatsoever. Don't get me wrong - I'm not taking up for him; I don't even know that I respect / disrespect him, I just really don't have any basis by which to draw an opinion. He's never pitched for a team that I cared about, and even when he's pitched against a team that I like, I barely remember noticing him, other than the fact that he's tall and wears goofy glasses.

So when I saw today on NBC's Hardball Talk blog that the O's had offered him a contract for between $8-$10 million per year (for two years), I got jumpy:

"WTF? $10 million a year for Kevin F'ing Gregg? WHY?!? Did we get bored having so small a payroll? Was it burning a whole in our F'ing pocket? WHY?!? This is not the time to start getting fiscally re-don-cu-lous, ANDY!"

Turns out they posted it wrong - the O's did offer him a contract today, but supposedly for between $8-$10 million over two years. Better. I'll apologize to the guy in the cube next to me on Monday - I think I screamed in his ear. He's kind of scared of me, anyways - this will help re-enforce that. You have to establish boundaries.

Here's what I can tell you about Kevin Gregg, without straining my brain:

• He doesn't throw that hard (92 with the fastball, 87-88 with a cutter). 
• He'll be 33 in June.
• He's from Oregon, and got drafted by the A's in the 15th round out of high school in 1996.
• Cubs fans hate him in Chicago, after a bad year in '09. 
• The guy down the hall from me says he's a tall, dorky, wanna-be closer that can't get anyone out... (he's a Cubs fan, and also tall and kind of dorky).
• He'll probably close for us. Koji will probably be the setup guy. Gonzalez would be setup guy 1a.
• He was good last year with the Blue Jays, but not great - 37 saves in 43 attempts, 3.54 ERA, about a K an inning, ya-da ya-da....
• That about jives with his career numbers: 4.03 ERA, 8.3 K/9.
• My opinion: seems like he's a decent closer, but doesn't have the optimal makeup for it. At the end of the day, he'll probably be fine but blow some games and make some people crazy - which is par for the course..

Not my optimal closer pickup, but I wouldn't mind it - if he didn't work out, Koji or Gonzalez could probably take the job. For the money they're talking, it's a nice deal.