The Rays cut ties with 33-year-old designated hitter (and former outfielder) Pat Burrell last weekend and now he is free to sign with any club. Here’s a short round-up of the interested and uninterested teams:
- Mychael Urban of CSNBayArea.com writes that Burrell will “NOT” be joining the Giants.
- The Red Sox don’t have room for another “one-dimensional” player like Burrell, or so says Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
- Ruben Armaro Jr., GM of the Phillies, told MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki that his club is not interested in bringing back Burrell either.
- FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal hears that the Padres have “sniffed around” on Burrell, and it seems they are the only team with any amount of real interest.
And that’s it. That’s all. Burrell, still a .253/.362/.473 career hitter, has taken a sharp dive from grace since inking a two-year, $16 million deal with the Rays in January of 2009. He was batting just batting 202/.292/.333 with two homers and 13 RBI over 84 at-bats when the Rays cut ties with him last Saturday.