Posted by Craig Brown on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 11:40 am

We have plenty on the Alex Rios salary dump/waiver claim here at BDD.  However, when I heard the news that the Blue Jays were letting their right fielder go for nothing, it reminded me of a time about ten years ago when Toronto did something similar.  And came out the big winner.

In 1997, Randy Myers was the closer for the Baltimore Orioles, and was one of the top ninth inning pitchers in the game.  In 61 games for the winners of the AL East, Myers posted a 1.51 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP.  He struck out 56 batters in 59.2 innings and surrendered 22 walks (two intentionally.)  That off season, Myers jumped to the Blue Jays, signing a three year deal for around $18 million.

We now know that relievers (except the very top closers) are fickle performers.  One year, they’re lights out… The next, they can’t get anyone out.  The Blue Jays obviously felt that they were getting a premiere closer.  In the five seasons prior to his payday in Toronto, Myers saved 188 games with a 3.11 ERA with 307 strikeouts in 289 innings.  Three times in those five years, he led the league in saves.

Unfortunately, saves and ERA is often makeup.  They cover deeper issues.  In Myers case, he was always a bit wild.  In those five seasons from 1993 to 1997, Myers had a walk rate of 3.8 batters per nine innings.  The best closers (Joe Nathan, Mariano Riveria, etc.) will have a rate that is roughly half of that.

Myers got off to a decent start for the Blue Jays in 1998.  Through the end of May he had a 2.37 ERA in 19 innings with 16 strikeouts.  Even more impressive was his control – he walked just three batters.  Opponents were hitting .219 against him and he was keeping the ball on the ground.

Then, when the calendar flipped to June, it all went wrong.  In 22 innings from June 1 to the end of July, Myers had a 5.64 ERA and 15 strikeouts against 14 walks.  Hitters were now clubbing him for a .294 batting average and hit three home runs against him.

(Ironic that Myers had the exact same number of saves from in April and May as he did in June and July – despite the huge drop in performance.)

Then came August and the period where teams put pretty much their entire roster on revocable waivers.

On the morning of August 1, the San Diego Padres were flying high in the NL West.  With a 71-38 record, they were a full 13 games ahead of the San Francisco Giants.  However, the Padres didn’t see the Giants as their competition.  For that, they turned to the East and the Atlanta Braves.  Here’s a comparison of the two teams on August 1:

ATL  72-38
SDP  71-38

Separated by a half game, the Braves and Padres were the class of the National League.  While the Padres were running away with their division, the Braves likewise had a huge (14 game) lead over the second place Mets.  As the season evolved, it was looking likely that the Braves and Padres would be doing battle in the NLCS.

The Padres had a solid bullpen.  Dan Miceli and Donne Wall had proven effective in getting the ball to Trevor Hoffman.

Meanwhile, the Braves were struggling to find someone to close out their ninth inning leads.  They began the season with Mark Wohlers as their “saves” guy, but Wohlers had shoulder issues and couldn’t throw strikes anymore.  Before he was shut down for good on August 8, he had a 10.18 ERA with 33 walks in 20 innings of work.

With Wohlers down, the Braves turned to Kerry Ligtenberg.  Ligtenberg had been the primary set-up man at the beginning of the season, and by July had taken permanent residence in the closer’s role.  He was doing well for the Braves with a 3.00 ERA and 44 strikeouts against just eight walks in 36 innings from May to the end of July.

Despite Ligtenberg performing well for Atlanta, the Padres were worried that the Braves would look to add bullpen arms down the stretch.  When Randy Myers hit the waiver wire, the Padres submitted their claim in the hope that it would block any attempt by the Braves to add the reliever.  Since the San Diego bullpen was already solid, they weren’t looking to add any arms.  Particularly arms that cost around $14 million for the remainder of his contract.  The plan was for the Padres to make their claim, block a potential move to the Braves and then have the Blue Jays pull him back from waivers.

Unfortunately for the Padres, their plan had a flaw.

The Jays had tired of Myers’ struggles and were already worried that their contract would be a financial drag over the next two seasons.  Myers was currently the third highest paid Blue Jay (behind Roger Clemens and Juan Guzman) and Toronto was having a difficult time justifying the cost.

Instead of negotiating a trade or pulling him back, the Blue Jays were happy to dump Myers on the Padres for nothing.

Myers’ Padre debut was a disaster.  Charged with protecting a one run eighth inning lead, Myers stranded two runners to escape the inning.  Since Hoffman pitched two innings the night before, manager Bruce Bochy stayed with Myers in the ninth, but a walk and a pair of singles tied the game.  The Padres eventually won in the 13th inning, but Myers had blown his sixth save of the season.

Despite the auspicious start, Myers did well pitching in a set-up role for Hoffman throughout the rest of August, throwing seven scoreless innings and allowing just a single walk.  Unfortunately, the good pitching didn’t last.  From September 1 to the end of the year, Myers threw just 5.2 innings, allowing 10 hits, nine runs and four walks.

Likewise, the Padres stumbled down the stretch, winning just nine of 24 games in September, falling to third in the overall standings in the National League.  Instead of getting the wild card Cubs, the Padres would have to begin the NLDS on the road in Houston.

Myers was used sparingly that October and surrendered three runs in two innings against the Braves in the NLCS and one run in one inning of work against the Yankees in the World Series.

Despite having two years remaining on his contract, those were Myers’ last appearances in a game.  He underwent surgery on his rotator cuff in 1999 and spent the next two seasons trying to rehab his injury before retiring.  To add insult to injury, the Padres filed an insurance claim for $8 million (covering about 2/3 of the $12 million owed to Myers) and had it denied by their insurance carrier.

In the end, the Padres paid almost $14 million for 17 innings of relief work in the regular and post season combined.

The Blue Jays dodged a bullet and the Padres paid the price.