Lakeland, Fla. — These are strange, uncertain times for Blaine Hardy.
The former Tigers reliever posted a video of himself on Twitter over the weekend throwing his still-nasty array of breaking balls, changeups and cutters in 40-degree weather to JUCO hitters at Central Lake College in Brainerd, Minnesota.
“Nicky was harping on me for the longest time to post something on Twitter and I finally caved,” Hardy said, Nicky being his wife. “It just feels like begging to me. But at the same time, whatever. What’s it going to hurt?”
It was widely assumed that some, probably many, free-agent players would fall through the cracks because of the 99-day lockout and subsequent hurried and condensed spring training. Hardy, a stalwart in the Tigers bullpen and occasionally in the rotation from 2014-19, is one of them.
“The CBA (collective bargaining agreement negotiations) screwed a lot of guys who were in a similar situation,” Hardy said on Tuesday, keeping his voice down as to not wake his two napping sons. “I have a few friends that are also free agents. One had a job opportunity before the lockout. They promised him before the lockout that they’d invite him to spring training and to big-league camp.
“Then when the CBA was signed, they said no.”
Hardy had several teams calling him before the lockout, as well. His phone has been eerily quiet since.
“Oakland had contacted me, but once they looked at my medicals, they were hesitant,” he said. “Then the lockout happened. They haven’t said no completely, but…a lot of teams haven’t said no completely. Which is kind of funny because the season is starting here in a couple of weeks.”
Hardy’s age (35) and medical history (he had Tommy John surgery early in 2020 and battled a shoulder impingement throughout his time in Detroit) certainly push him down to a lower tier than his pitching ability would otherwise warrant. But the fact remains, he threw 68 innings at Triple-A Nashville last season (and one for the Brewers) and never spent a day on the injured list.
“My arm is completely healthy,” he said. “But baseball has always been age-reliant. I get it. My body is starting to feel it. I know I’m getting older. But I can still compete. You have all these younger guys that teams feel could potentially have some upside. They throw hard or they have a slider that breaks like hell. But they don’t know where it’s going.
“So they keep telling themselves, ‘We can fix him, we can fix him.’ Four or five years down the road and its, ‘Welp, we couldn’t fix him.’”
Ultimately, Hardy asks, shouldn’t it be about winning?
“If you invest money in someone, you want to see that investment come through,” he said. “But at the same time, you’re trying to win, aren’t you? So put your best players on the field, not just who makes the most money.”
Hardy brought up his teammate in Nashville last season, Luke Barker, as an example. He’s spent the last two full seasons in Triple-A, posting a 1.97 ERA and 0.755 WHIP, is 30 years old, and hasn’t had as much as a cup of coffee in the big leagues.
“He’s a righty, throws 92-93 mph but he’s a two-pitch pitcher,” Hardy said. “His second pitch is a splitter and it’s phenomenal. But the analytics say he won’t have success in the big leagues. I can think of a few people who’ve been told they weren’t going to have success in the big leagues and end up making a career out of it.”
Hardy being one himself. A 22nd round draft pick out of NAIA Lewis-Clark State College and a soft-tossing lefty, the odds were long against him getting to the big leagues. But with an elite changeup and cutter, plus a high baseball IQ, he forged a seven-year career, posting a 14-10 record and a 3.73 ERA in his six seasons with the Tigers.
And he doesn’t believe for a minute that it’s over. Last year in Nashville, he had a 2.63 ERA and a 1.2 WHIP in 30 appearances, with eight starts.
“My agent has been keeping tabs on the teams that haven’t said no, just making soft pokes here and there,” Hardy said. “But I am also at the point where I’m not going to crawl back begging to keep playing baseball. I would actually be content to stay here with my boys. We have a third one on the way in September.
“That is also kind of worrisome if I do get back into baseball. Because September is going to hit and if I’m not in the big leagues, I’m probably going to say I’m done.”
But he’s not driving out to the nearby junior college with snow still on the ground twice a week to throw chilly 50-pitch live BPs because he’s ready to call it a career. Far from it.
“I will play until my arm falls off,” he said. “I will keep throwing the live BPs for a month or so into the season. If I haven’t heard anything by then, it’ll be a nice, relaxing summer with the family on the lake and we will figure out what the next chapter is going to be.
“But I am not committing to that being the plan just yet.”
It’s such a soul-sucking process, though. The Tigers, the team he had his best years with, took a hard pass on even offering a camp invite. Minnesota, who he was with briefly in 2020, passed. He’s been told by other teams that their search for bullpen help hadn’t sunk to his tier just yet. Brutal.
Even last year, fighting all the way back after surgery and not pitching in 2020, was kind of a kick in the pants. The Brewers promised him an opportunity to pitch in the big leagues and got it. One inning in an extra-inning game. His first appearance since 2019 and there’s a free runner already on second base.
Seven batters, three hits, three runs, one strikeout. He was back in Nashville a week later. Thanks for coming.
So, if it’s over it’s over. Hardy knows he’s more at peace with that eventuality than many others in the same position. But he would darn sure love the chance to prove that it’s not over just yet, that he can still get big league hitters out.
“I’m completely content,” he said. “I know I’ve had a very successful career. We’ve been fairly smart with our money. So it’s just filling the gap to retirement, basically. Not just from a financial standpoint but from a sanity standpoint, too.
“The biggest thing is just to reflect back and not have any regrets. I did above and beyond what everyone told me I was going to achieve in professional baseball. With that being said, I know I can compete at the big league level without a doubt.”
cmccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky