Let's just go ahead and get this out of the way: this transaction, on its own, is hardly exciting. From the official Twitter account of the Los Angeles Dodgers:
On Mike MacDougal Re-Signing With The Dodgers
Veteran reliever Mike MacDougal has re-signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for one year and $1 million, with a 2013 option.
#Dodgers re-sign Mike MacDougal to a 1-year deal w/ a club option for 2013
Hoo boy. The contract’s supposedly worth $1 million. A year ago, MacDougal had to settle for a minor league contract. So this is neat for him. It’s his reward for posting a 2.05 ERA in relief that he didn’t deserve. MacDougal is 34, and he’s more or less the same guy he’s always been - he throws really hard, he doesn’t miss enough bats, he issues too many walks, and he survives by keeping the ball on the ground. He’ll go forward as a middle reliever.
So it isn’t the transaction that’s interesting. It’s MacDougal that’s interesting. First, here’s a video of MacDougal breaking a sign:
And now a comparison. Roy Halladay, post-release:
Mike MacDougal, post-release:
His head is practically at his knee. If you were standing directly behind Mike MacDougal as he throws a pitch, you would see the entire upper half of his body disappear. There’s a lot of... force in MacDougal’s delivery, and it’s kind of amazing to me that he’s never been on the DL with a hurt back. It’s not amazing to me that he has trouble hitting his spots. He’s a little too violent to get by on command.
So now you know a little something about Mike MacDougal. You might have known about his delivery before, in which case, congratulations, you like baseball a lot. Additional fun fact: as recently as 2009, MacDougal racked up 20 saves with the Nationals. That same season, MacDougal had more walks than strikeouts. I don't know.
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