Giants sign former AL East swingman to a minor league deal

May 27, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; New York Yankees relief pitcher Alfredo Aceves (91) throws to a St. Louis Cardinals batter during the seventh inning at Busch Stadium. St. Louis defeated New York 6-0. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

While some of us we’re sleeping (hint, hint…me) or getting jazzed up for today’s game against the Padres, the Giants signed a pitcher to a minor league contract. That is right, the Giants sign former AL East swingman, Alfredo Aceves, to a minor league deal.

Again we must emphasize “minor league deal” in this story, as the right-hander has not thrown a major league game since June of last season. He has fallen quite a ways from his dominant days in Boston, back of course when he was not so friendly with coaches and teammates.

Nevertheless, he auditioned for several teams over the past week, so there is something worth of benefit here apparently to scouts. He still relies on his fastball and his curveball, which has plenty of velocity on it but is still pretty hittable. In fact, this previous season he has had some of the highest fly ball ratings, including his fastball which jumped from a 32% in 2013 to a 68% last year. Not only that but nearly a third of those fly balls ended up being homeruns in 2013, which went down to about 27% last year.

Of course, with AT&T Park being AT&T Park, we don’t have to worry so much about fly balls turning into home runs. Needless to say, this is going to be a deal where he ends up in Sacramento for some time to develop, and then see if he’s ready to put on a major league uniform again. It’s a minimal risk, but if he’s “on” it could be a big reward. Only time will tell how the 32-year old will pan out for the Giants.