While interest was low for much of the offseason, Tom Gorzelanny has found a partner in the Milwaukee Brewers, who recently found out just how good he is with a mop. Wait, he pitches too? Huh. The Brewers will pay Gorzelanny somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 million over the next two seasons, though incentives could boost the deal all the way up to $6 million and one penny.
Gorzelanny was non-tendered by the Nationals after pitching just 72 innings for them in 2012. Gorzelanny was decent enough last season, posting a 2.88 ERA, 3.97 FIP, and 4.21 xFIP. A nifty 80% strand rate helped, and so did the fact that he wasn’t overexposed and made only one start. Excepting a couple of forays into decency that have occurred over the years (2007 and 2010 come to mind), The Gorz has been extremely mediocre in his career. Now 30, at least he’s found a team willing to stick him in the back end of its rotation and see what happens.
There isn’t much to like about Gorzelanny, but at least Milwaukee isn’t taking much of a risk with him at all. If healthy and in the rotation all season, it’s easy enough to see him surpassing the value of his contract. The Brewers don’t have a lot of internal options to plug in the rotation, so this is a case in which the team had to find some sort of placeholder for the time being. This is by no means a bargain or anything, but it isn’t a disaster either.