Maroth Released by Cardinals

Bring Back Maroth

We may need him next season

Sign him to a minor league contract!

Royals ink Maroth to Minors contract
Former Tigers lefty hopes to make squad out of Spring Training
By Dick Kaegel / MLB.com

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Left-hander Mike Maroth, an old rival, was signed on Friday by the Royals.

Maroth, a free agent, was signed to a one-year Minor League contract and invited to Major League Spring Training as a non-roster player.

He could figure in the search for a fourth and fifth starter in the rotation.

Maroth played for most of six years with the Detroit Tigers and was traded last June 22 to the St. Louis Cardinals.

In 161 big league games -- 150 of them starts -- he has a 50-67 record and a 5.05 ERA. Ten of his victories, the most over any other club, have come against the Royals. Kansas City dealt him eight defeats.

"Mike has been a guy who has pitched a lot of innings when he's healthy and he knows the league," Royals general manager Dayton Moore said.

"He'll be competing for a spot on our pitching staff and he will give us some depth."

Maroth arrives at a time when Jorge De La Rosa and John Bale are the top candidates to give the rotation a left-handed starter.

Last season, Maroth was 5-2 in 13 games for the Tigers when he was traded to the Cardinals, who were desperate for a starting pitcher. The Cardinals gave up pitcher Chris Lambert, a former first-round Draft choice.

At the time, the Tigers were deep in left-handed pitchers with Kenny Rogers ready to resume pitching.

Maroth had an impressive first start for the Cardinals against the New York Mets but then had problems. Eventually, he was sent to the bullpen and spent time on the disabled list with elbow injuries.

In 14 games (seven starts) for the Cardinals, he was 0-5 with a 10.66 ERA. He gave up 11 home runs with 23 strikeouts and 17 walks in 38 innings. He was released on Oct. 25.

Moore said that if Maroth does not make the Royals' Major League roster, he'll go to Triple-A Omaha. His signing brings the Royals' camp roster to 61 players, including 31 pitchers.

SURPRISE!

Ex-Tiger Mike Maroth tries to earn rotation slot with Royals, talks about his exit from Detroit

February 13, 2008

FREE PRESS NEWS SERVICES

SURPRISE, Ariz. — Mike Maroth, who won 25 games for the Detroit Tigers in 2004-05, showed up at the Kansas City Royals training camp Tuesday knowing the team is looking for a left-handed starter.

“That’s why I’m here,” said Maroth, who signed a minor league contract with the Royals on Friday with an invitation to spring training. “It’s a great opportunity.”

Right-handers Gil Meche, Brian Bannister and Zack Greinke hold the first three rotation slots.

“It would be nice to have a left-handed starter, but that is not the end all,” said Kansas City manager Trey Hillman said. “I’d love to have three lefties in the rotation. Maroth is still young and has got a lot of experience.”

Maroth, 30, has pitched six years in the majors, most of them with the Tigers. After winning 14 games for Detroit in 2005, he began the next season with a 5-2 record and a 2.45 earned run average. In a May 25, 2006, start at Kansas City, Maroth gave up six runs on six hits, including three home runs, in a third of an inning and left with a sore left elbow. After undergoing elbow surgery to remove bone chips, he was out until September 2006.

He began last season with a 5-2 record, but then the Tigers traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals on June 22, after Kenny Rogers came off the disabled list.

“You could see something had to be done. Obviously, there were different scenarios, but we had a surplus of starting pitchers,” Maroth said.

It was after he went to the Cardinals that he noticed something was different. In his first start, he held the Mets to one run and two hits in 7 1-3 innings. After that, his performance deteriorated.

“You could clearly see I wasn’t the same pitcher I had been in the past. Then I ended up getting tendinitis in my forearm,” he said.

St. Louis put him in the bullpen in August. Maroth finished 0-5 with a 10.66 ERA in 14 games, seven of them starts.

After he arrived at the Royals’ training camp Tuesday, it didn’t take long for pitching coach Bob McClure to find a flaw in Maroth’s delivery.

“I threw my first side today and Mac pointed out something,” Maroth said. “I threw three pitches and he stopped me. It had to do with the way I was landing on my front foot. I made an adjustment. I could feel a difference after a few pitches of trying to get a better landing. You could see a difference clearly in the way I was finishing pitches. It’s a great sign. It’s something I can definitely work on.”

Maroth said his velocity is about the same as it was before the surgery.

“I’ve never been a hard thrower,” he added.

I liked Maroth