So far this off-season, Brewers’ GM Doug Melvin has inked two reclamation projects to minor-league deals, Chris Capuano and John Halama, and is likely days away from signing Mark Mulder. All three are likely competing for spots at AAA Nashville at this point, as none of these guys threw a pitch in the majors last season. In fact, Capuano hasn’t pitched in the bigs since 2007, Halama last pitched in the majors in 2006, and Mulder hasn’t thrown off a big league mound since 2008.
As Melvin continues the free agent and trade routes, it is quite likely that he’ll roll the dice on a few minor-league free agents. The Yankees, who, despite showing interest in Roy Halladay and John Lackey, are rather loaded with started pitching, now that Phil Hughes seems to have his career turned around and Chien-Ming Wang and Kei Igawa are still on board.
Which meant veteran Josh Towers was left off the 40-man roster and became a free agent.
Towers, who turns 33 in February, posted an impressive 7-6, 2.74 ERA in ’09 for the Yanks’ AAA affiliate, Scranton Wilkes-Barre. His 55 K’s to 24 BB’s and OBA of .239 were only marred by his 13 HR’s allowed. His best MLB ERA was 3.71 back in ’05 with the Jays, so his better years may well be behind him. But given his recent success in the minors as a starter, he’s certainly got more upside, it would seem, than Tim Dillard and many others the Brewers have left over from Nashville.
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