The Rakuten Eagles announced on Wednesday that they took Juan Morillo off the active roster after he was diagnosed with inflammation in his right elbow (medial collateral ligament).

Morillo apparently felt something was wrong with his elbow during an outing on the 27th against the Softbank Hawks -- Morillo was taken out of the game after throwing one pitch to the third batter he faced.

It appears as though the Rakuten Eagles managed to nab Juan Morillo, a pitcher that was supposedly coveted by the Hanshin Tigers.

The Eagles are likely looking to Morillo to be their closer next season, a spot they had trouble consistently filling this past season.

My concern with Morillo would be his walk rate.  While he did manage to strike out 87 batters in 67 innings this past year at AAA, he also walked 51.  And that's pretty much been his MO thus far in his career.  Over his career, his BB9 is about over 5.6.

Baseball Cube

2009 Season

=== UPDATE 11/20/2009 6:50am JST

The contract is a 1-year deal worth 50M yen (the amount includes a signing bonus).  No word on his uniform number yet.

The Tigers appear to be interested in both Juan Morillo (Minnesota Twins) and Brad Thomas (Hanwha Eagles out of the KBO).

The Tigers are looking to replace both Scott Atchison and Jeff Williams in the bullpen and the FO apparently feels that Morillo and Thomas are a perfect fit.

Juan Morillo (LHRP) - Baseball Cube

Brad Thomas (RHRP) - Baseball Cube