Casey Fossum Career Tracker

ERA of 27.00! He can only get better from here!

lol, that wasn't how he wanted to present himself!
Go Casey! Ahhh... i missed that "Go Casey".
GO CASEY!

Uhhh yeah, 27 is a bit high...

gdennis59 wrote:

Uhhh yeah, 27 is a bit high...

Really small sample size. To put it in perspective, if he pitches 2 scoreless innings tonight, his ERA drops to 3.86.

I was wrong. ERA of 135.00.

Countdown until it's below 100.00...

Countdown until it's above 200.00...

Which will happen first?

06/04/2008 4:46 PM ET
Fossum's long trip ends in right place
Reliever hoping to return to pre-surgery form
By Jason Beck / MLB.com

OAKLAND -- Casey Fossum signed with the Tigers out of Spring Training thinking it was the best opportunity for him to pitch in the big leagues. He couldn't have figured it would be this long of a journey -- not literally, anyway.

Fossum hadn't set a wake-up call, but he was getting one anyway when the hotel phone rang in his room around 9 a.m. ET. He was in Louisville with the Toledo Mud Hens, and he had turned off his cell phone. The Tigers needed him in Oakland, and they had to call the landline to do it. That's where the journey began.

Within hours, Fossum was on a five-hour flight to San Francisco with a connection in Dallas. He arrived San Francisco right before game time, but with the heart of rush-hour traffic, taking a cab across the bay wasn't a good option. So there Fossum was, taking the train like so many folks going home from work, only he was trying to get to work.

By the time Fossum was in uniform and in the bullpen, Dontrelle Willis was finished with his outing. Fossum wasn't sitting for long before he was warming up.

"I was expecting to pitch," Fossum said. "I kept telling myself I might get in the game."

It was his turn to start for Toledo, so he was ready for some pitches. As it turned out, he faced just two batters in the eighth inning before giving way to Zach Miner. At that point, it was past midnight ET.

Fossum had another long flight awaiting him after Wednesday's series finale, this time heading back to Detroit, but travel always feels better in the big leagues.

For Fossum, it was a longer road back than he had hoped. He was in camp with the Pirates this spring when he realized his chances were slim not only of making the big club, but making the rotation at Triple-A Indianapolis. He requested and received his release and was looking around for an opportunity when Tigers pitching coach Chuck Hernandez, his old pitching coach at Tampa Bay, called him with one.

"I was excited to have an opportunity to play for a team like the Tigers when Chuck called," Fossum said.

To take advantage, however, Fossum would have to find the form he had before shoulder surgery near the end of the 2006 season. He struggled to do so last year, and without many innings this spring, he was still trying to shore up his mechanics when he arrived in Toledo in April, signed as a potential replacement to the just-released Tim Byrdak.

It was a move back into the starting rotation that finally helped things click.

"I just needed innings to figure out how I felt when I was healthy," Fossum said.

He can actually pinpoint the time when he figured out the change. It was the fourth inning of his first start on May 10 against Charlotte.

"I just started doing something that I can remember that I used to do," Fossum said. "I just started breaking my hands a little bit earlier at the top of my windup. It's something I used to do. It just took some innings to find that rhythm in my mechanics. Ever since then, it's gotten better every time I've gone out there. I finally just found it."

His fastball, in turn, has risen from the upper 80s to now around 92 mph.

Manager Jim Leyland believes Fossum can be a useful part of Detroit's bullpen, though not necessarily as a left-handed specialist. How he works out in the relief mix is going to be a work in progress regardless, with so many changes looming as injured arms come off the disabled list.

For Fossum, it was a long route to the place where he wanted to be. But it was worth it.

"I think I just forgot how to pitch," Fossum said.

Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Quote :

"I think I just forgot how to pitch," Fossum said.

I think that still is a problem! But we need to give the guy a chance........to lower that ERA of 135.00

*doesn't feel quite so bad about poor Andrew's 27.00 era earlier this year*

SoulRat wrote:

*doesn't feel quite so bad about poor Andrew's 27.00 era earlier this year*

bobrob2004 wrote:

I was wrong. ERA of 135.00.

Countdown until it's below 100.00...

Countdown until it's above 200.00...

Which will happen first?

I'm not much of a gambler (unless I'm in Vegas...lol), but I'll take the Over!

SoulRat wrote:

*doesn't feel quite so bad about poor Andrew's 27.00 era earlier this year*

*doesn't feel so bad about Clay's 4.50 era anymore*

Mets sign Fossum

Wogan also announced the Mets have signed veteran pitcher Casey Fossum to a minor-league deal. He was 3-1 with a 5.66 ERA last year in 31 games for the Detroit Tigers and has big-league time with Boston, Arizona and Tampa Bay.

Fossum DFA'ed; Perez to bullpen? (UPDATED)

As the Mets continue to mull over what to do with Oliver Perez, they did make one move after today's 8-1 loss to the Nationals. They designated Casey Fossum for assignment. Fossum allowed three hits and one run over 2 2/3 innings in relief of Perez. Team officials immediately gathered after the game to talk about their next roster move and that could involve skipping Perez's next turn before demoting him to the bullpen.

UPDATE (5:31 P.M.)
.... The Mets just announced they have called up lefthander Ken Takahashi to replace Fossum. Takahashi, 40, was 0-0 with a 0.77 ERA in six appearances at Triple-A Buffalo.

Yankees sign Fossum to start Saturday

Casey Fossum will start Saturday's Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees game. I don't have contract details or a corresponding move, but I know Fossum is the guy.

The 31-year-old lefty opened the season with Triple-A Buffalo, had a 0.82 ERA through two starts and was called up to the New York Mets on April 19. He allowed one run in three outings out of the Mets bullpen before being designated for assignment on Monday. Fossum has pitched in 237 major league games, 120 of them as a starter.

I believe -- though I could be wrong here -- that Fossum would have cleared waivers Thursday, meaning the Yankees did not have to claim him and put him on the 40-man. This would explain why I kept hearing that the team was legitimately uncertain on who would start Saturday's game.

He is listed as active with the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Casey%20Fossum&pos=P&sid=t531&t=p_pbp&pid=407154