The Bucs inked reliever Juan Cruz to a minor league deal (with an invite to Spring Training) on Wednesday.
Cruz is a 33-year old righty with 11 big-league seasons under his belt. His career ERA is 4.13, and last year with Tampa Bay he went 5-0 with a 3.88 ERA. He tends to put up good strikeout numbers (9.1 K/9 for his career) while walking a few too many (4.8 BB/9).
This actually seems like it could end up being a pretty useful pickup. Cruz will have a chance to make the club, and if he doesn’t he will probably come up at some point during the year. He could very well end up becoming this year’s Jose Veras – a fairly important piece of the bullpen acquired on the cheap out of nowhere. Ideally he won’t be pressed in to a set-up role like Veras was if Evan Meek is healthy, but at the very least he adds some good bullpen depth.
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