Winston Abreu Heads North

Minor league relievers rarely receive attention on these pages. Minor league relievers celebrating their 34th birthday the week of Opening Day with fewer than 50 career big league innings receive even less attention. I hope that one can be excused for making an exception for Winston Abreu, because here goes nothing. Abreu spent the last two seasons primarily with the Durham Bulls (Tampa’s Triple-A team) after returning from a successful stint in Japan. To say his numbers are ethereal is an understatement. Abreu racked up more than 106 innings while fanning 159, walking 37, and giving up five home runs. That’s a rare level of domination. He did appear in the majors ever so briefly during the 2009 season. After Jason Isringhausen suffered a season-ending injury, the team chose to promote Abreu, and thus prevent him from exercising an opt-out clause in his contract. Two appearances later, the Rays designated him for assignment before trading him to Cleveland (for Jon Meloan) where he...