I read Baseball America’s Prospect Blog on a regular basis. And one of the features that I’ve found mostly intriguing has been the weekly transactions log they post. Not so much to find out what prospects are on the move, but to stumble across names I haven’t heard or seen in awhile.
Last week I found out what happened to Lew Ford. This week J.D. Durbin and WIllie Eyre showed up.
The Real Deal Durbin, was drafted in the 2nd round by the Twins in 2000 out of an Arizona High School. He was named the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2002 and given a long look in Spring Training 2004 as a 22 year old. He got a brief look with the Twins in September of ‘04, getting one start and pitching 3 times out of the bullpen, logging a total of 7.1 innings with the Twins. Durbin spent 2005 and 2006 with Triple-A Rochester. He suffered an arm injury in July of ‘06 and missed the rest of the season. At the end of spring training in ‘07, he was placed on waivers. In the span of about 2 weeks, he was claimed by the Arizona Diamonbacks (he made one appearance for the D-Backs, giving up 7 runs in 2/3 of an inning against the Colorado Rockies), Boston Red Sox and finally the Philadelphia Phillies. Durbin did manage to log 64.2 innings with the Phillies in 2007, before spending 2008 in the Phillies minor league organization and 2009 in the Dodgers system. He has a blog here, that hasn’t been updated since 2005
Willie Mays Hays Eyre was a 23rd round draft selection of the Minnesota Twins in 1999 out of the College of Eastern Utah. He eventually found himself appearing in 42 games out of the bullpen on the roller coaster that was the 2006 Twins team. He was granted free agency after the 2006 season. After signing with the Texas Rangers in 2007, he underwent Tommy John Surgery in August and missed all of 2008. He has pitched for both Triple-A Oklahoma and the Rangers in 2009. He was recalled by the Rangers on September 4, 2009.
I missed this last week, but Minnesota Twins legend and Cabin Twelve favorite 
