Free Agent Watch: Raul Valdes

Yankees reliever Raul Valdes elected free agency on Tuesday. Valdes started the year with the Cardinals, and made just 6 appearances for the Yankees and registered a .2 WAR. In 70.2 career big league innings, Valdes has a -.2 WAR (.3 WAR overall last year), a TR of 7.89 and a PE of -.27. These numbers put him with basically any mediocre reliever. At age 33, and with so little big league experience, it is hard to gain any kind of excitement about him. Somehow, he was worse in AAA (4.38 ERA) than he was in the Majors in 2011. He had an amazing K/BB ration (almost 9), but gave up a HR every 9 innings and gave up more hits than innings pitched. He is pre-arbitration eligible, and his BABIP was .412 in the majors in 2011, so he may be due for some good luck, but it is hard to count on that. His ability to strikeout people alone will be attractive enough for some club to sign him, but I wouldn't give a cent more than minimum salary, and wouldn't guarantee him a roster spot. Frankly, there are a lot of pitchers just like him.