Padres News: Casey Janssen Released by Padres
On Thursday morning the San Diego Padres trimmed their spring training roster down to 43 players. Veteran relief pitcher Casey Janssen was sent packing after a slow start in the Spring.
The right-handed pitcher was thought to have a very good chance of making the team, but the emergence of other relief pitcher just left the team with no other options. In seven Cactus League games Janssen had allowed four runs on 12 hits while striking out three.
Casey Janssen has been granted his release. 43 players in Padres camp.
— Dennis Lin (@sdutdennislin) March 24, 2016
Brandon Maurer was told early this week that he will be throwing out of the bullpen, so with that Janssen lost another spot on the team. Carlos Villanueva, Matt Thornton, Kevin Quackenbush and Nick Vincent have all looked good this spring so there were just limited spots for Janssen.
He signed a minor league deal on February 20th and that contract was a minor league agreement. In the deal the Padres essentially promised to release Janssen during the Spring where he could land with another team if there were no positions available on the Padres pitching staff.
The 34-year-old right handed pitcher should be able to land somewhere. The Padres have a very solid bullpen, and perhaps a team with less established relievers could use his help. He went 2-5 last season in 48 games for the Nationals. Janssen recorded a 4.95 ERA which was his career high. The former Blue Jay closer has a successful career in which he recorded 81 saves in three seasons from 2012-2014.
The Padres have granted Casey Janssen his release.
— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) March 24, 2016
The release of Janssen is the first of some real difficult moves for the Padres. The fourth and fifth starting spots in the rotation need to be determined as well as filling out the bullpen. Also there are bench spots to consider and none of the four Rule-5 guys have been sent back to their teams. The next 10 days will be exciting and there are sure to be more cuts shortly.
James was born and raised in America’s Finest City. He is a passionate baseball fan with even more passion towards his hometown Padres. Editor-In-Chief of EastVillageTimes.com. Always striving to bring you the highest quality in San Diego Sports News. Original content, with original ideas, that’s our motto. Enjoy.