Hall of Scrubs

Oh no! Not another scrubby middle reliever from the Grilli family!  Well, you are only partially right.  Guido was also a scrubby middle reliever.  But he is not related to Jason and Steve.

Guido pitched only one year in the majors for the Kansas City A’s and the Boston Red Sox.  He had a bloated ERA for both teams and finished the year with a 7.08 ERA.

Guido was involved in a mid-season trade as he was sent (banished?) to KC in exchange for Jose Tartabull, father of Jose Tartabull, Jr. and Danny Tartabull.

Even though Guido is not related to the other two Grilli’s, he no doubt inspired Steve to some day become a scrubby pitcher in the majors.  Can we blame Guido for two decades of scrubby Grilli relievers??

You can view Guido’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Guido’s stats

Scrubs beget scrubs.  Such is the case in the Grilli family.  Steve Grilli, former scrubby middle reliever, is the father of Jason Grilli, current scrubby middle reliever.  Steve enjoyed four years in the major leagues.  Three with the Tigers, one for the Blue Jays.  He kept his ERA around 4.50 for most of his career.  But like his son, he probably let in his fair share of inherited runners.

I sometimes try to imagine Tigers fans in the late seventies trying to predict that, some day, the son of the scrubby middle reliever they were currently watching would become an even scrubbier reliever on a future Tigers team. 

Steve did have good pitches and he threw hard, but he struggled with his control.  He ended his career in 1981 after struggling in the minors for the AAA teams in the Blue Jays and Orioles organizations.  He had a 6.26 ERA that year.

 You can view Steve’s major league stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Steve’s stats