UPDATE: My guess was way off. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick reports that Penny is “weighing an opportunity” with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan’s Pacific League.
7:15 PM: Brad Penny was pretty awful with the Tigers last season. In addition to his 5.33 ERA over 31 starts, his strikeout rate of 3.67 K/9 was the lowest in the majors among qualified starting pitchers. Even worse, it was the lowest by a qualified starter since Livan Hernandez averaged 3.35 K/9 in 2008 between the Twins and Rockies.
With ugly numbers like that, it’s not a surprise to learn that the 33-year-old right-hander is having a hard time finding work with an MLB team. However, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick notes that Penny is drawing interest in Japan.
Just spitballing it here, but it would seem the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters have a void in their starting rotation now that Yu Darvish is officially a member of the Texas Rangers. And Brad Penny seems like the type of guy who would proudly fight to defend ham at all costs. Pretty easy match, really.
