Jorge Julio is one of those guys who’s made a career out of the modern dearth of big-league pitching. In the last three years, he’s been on five teams, and thoroughly disgusted them all. Now he’s in Winter Haven, Florida, fighting for a roster spot on the Indians. He won’t get one. But just wait until June, or even May, when Joe Borowski’s got a broken pinky toe and Rafael Betancourt and Masahide Kobayashi are splitting closing duties, and Aaron Fultz has a hyperextended left something, and Aaron Laffey’s dead. That’s when Julio, at that point putting up good numbers against 18-year-olds for the Buffalo Bisons (which, by the way, is kind of a redundant name when you think about it), starts appealing to Tribe coaches. And that’s when all hell breaks lose. …
This article appears in Mar 12-18, 2008.