Ttnorm is pretty much an eagle on the minor league transactions, and today was no different, as he stated in his diary the Rays re-signed Stephen Andrade and signed Roger Deago from the Padres organization.
First things first, he's abnormal! He throws with his left hand! He's only appeared in two big league games - both a as starter for the Padres in 2003, he's been a starter prominently throughout his minor league career as well. Now there's two theories here on Diego: 1. He's Durham rotation filler, 2. He's Durham bullpen filler with a slight chance of being a Ray this year, why slight?
He throws left-handed, and per last year's minor league splits is slightly successful against his breed. 0.787 OPS against in AA - obviously not too good, but 0.422 OPS against in AAA and in the Pacific Coast League none the less. A Panama native Deago has pitched for his national teams multiple times including a 4.08 ERA and the second most strikeouts in the 2001 Baseball World Cup. In the 2002 Intercontinental Cup Deago struck out 19 in 14 innings. In the Olympic qualifiers he allowed three runs in 11 innings.
For you S^3 fans - small sample size - Deago has never given up a hit or baserunner against lefties in his time in the majors - all of five at-bats and struck out three. In his minor league career Deago has averaged nearly 7 strikeouts and 4 walks per nine.
Clearly Deago is the most exciting lefty pitcher from a Central American country to change teams today.