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2007 Miceli missed nearly three months with shoulder trouble last year. He still throws hard enough to be worth a flyer, but his upside remains what it`s always been: League-average relief. His strikeout-to-walk ratio was a disturbing negative in 2006, but that seems to have been an artifact of his injury. He reversed it after he came off the DL. 2006 Just when you thought it was all over for Miceli, the Rockies reeled him back in just long enough to throw 18 innings of forgettable relief before multiple stress fractures in his foot ended his season in August. It looked like he was finally done this time last year, but obviously anything can happen when there are teams with bullpens like the Rockies`. 2005 We really need a pithy name for guys like Miceli, the class of right-handed reliever that bounces around, often gets dealt at the trade deadline, usually posts ERAs between 3.50 and 4.50, rarely picks up saves, and rarely plays on more than a one-year deal. Todd Jones now lives in this zone; Mike Timlin is the upper bound of it, Mike Fetters the low end. Miceli signed a one-year, $1.7 million deal with the Yomiuri Giants, where he'll bask in Tuffy Rhodes' warm glow. 2002 One of the season's more bizarre story lines was Miceli's rant against John Boles, in which he claimed the Marlins' manager couldn't garner respect because he hadn't played in the major leagues. The evidence that managers don't need MLB experience to succeed is overwhelming, so Miceli looked pretty silly. The fallout wasn't as amusing: Boles was fired, Miceli was exiled to Colorado, and both teams fell apart. Miceli is a free agent as we go to press; he can help a team, but so can a lot of guys who come without his baggage. 2001 Dan Miceli’s numbers were skewed by a few poor outings before he gave in to forearm inflammation and missed two months of the campaign. "The Godfather" is armed with a full complement of airborne weaponry and is a handy guy to have around, capable of filling any bullpen role, including closing. He's also ultra-intense and an expert in Muay Thai fighting; it would be scary to see somebody charge the mound with Miceli atop it. 2000 Miceli lost somewhere between 25 and 50 pounds after the 1998 season. From a health standpoint, that’s great, and there are several Padres on the roster who could stand to do likewise, but Miceli’s fastball wasn’t snapping in 1999 like it was in 1998. He started overthrowing as a result, and the balls he left up in the zone were souvenirs. He’s been traded to Florida for Brian Meadows. The Marlins have no dominant closer, so while Miceli is slated as the setup man for Antonio Alfonseca, there’s a good chance he’ll pick up five to 10 saves, and could get more. 1999 Miceli did not disappoint in 1998, ending the season as Trevor Hoffman's setup man. He kept the strikeouts up and the hits down, and the key to his success was setting up opposing batters with his fastball, and then finishing them off with his off-speed stuff. If he’s as effective this year, the Padres will be in good shape to kill rallies after the sixth inning. 1998 His curiosity about whether or not Frank Thomas can hit a belt-high fastball has got to go. Miceli has very tough stuff, but he just leaves that fat, juicy meatball over the heart of the plate too often. You can get away with that if you don’t walk anybody, but in general, avoid it. Danny, trust us. We want to help. Don’t throw the belt-high slider to Rusty Greer. 1997 A closer in the minors, he failed disastrously in nine starts in ’96. His trends, falling strikeouts with rising walks, are worrisome. Traded to the Tigers for Clint Sodowsky, he’s in the bullpen mix there along with greater metropolitan Detroit.
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