The Mets have signed RHP Blaine Boyer to a minor league deal and have invited him to spring training in lovely Port St. Lucie. The 29-year-old Boyer had some success with the Braves earlier in his career, but last year with the Diamondbacks he walked the same number of batters as he struck out -- 29 -- in 57 innings of work. His walk rate was quite a bit better in 2009, a year he split between Atlanta, St. Louis, and Arizona -- but his strikeout rate was still shameful.
There is one thing Boyer does extraordinarily well, and that's generate ground balls. His 3.08 ground ball ratio was the fourth best mark in baseball last season, and the corollary is that he also does a fine job preventing home runs.
As with most right-handed ground ball pitchers, Boyer is very effective against right-handed batters and much less so against lefties. A ROOGY, if you will. There's very little to lose here on a minor league deal, and if Boyer can keep the walks down the Mets could have a decent double-play machine for the middle of their bullpen.