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March 21, 2004

Transaction

Signed pitcher NICK BIERBRODT to a minor-league contract.

In March 2002, I was listening to a Spring Training game between the Rangers and Rays. Nick Bierbrodt started for Tampa Bay. Bierbrodt had been traded to Tampa in 2001 and showed enough stuff that he was a shoo-in for the 2002 rotation. Then, in the second inning, Bierbrodt simply forgot how to pitch. I can't remember the exact situation, but he did something to the effect of walking five or six guys, hitting one or two, and probably nailing the backstop a couple of times before being pulled. He pitched all of five innings that year... for low-A Charleston. He also was shot in a Hardee's drive-thru. He split 70 innings between AAA and the Majors last year but still has no control (5.7 walks per 9 innings). Bierbrodt has no chance of playing for Texas in the short run; the Rangers will give him all the time he needs to see if he can sort out his problems.

Posted by Lucas at March 21, 2004 12:05 PM