KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- The Astros made another round of cuts on Sunday morning, reassigning five veteran non-roster players to Minor League camp -- right-handers Clay Hensley and Danny Graves, lefty Neal Musser and infielders Matt Kata and John Gall.

General manager Ed Wade granted Graves permission to talk to other teams about possible openings on their Major League rosters. Graves had heard that the Padres are in need of veteran relievers, but he has no idea at this time if anything will come of that.

Innings run thin this time of the spring, when starters begin to pitch into the fifth and sixth, leaving few for the remainder of the relievers. As disappointing as it is not to make the team out of Spring Training, demotions also mean increased playing time, which is a welcome element for pitchers trying to get ready for the season.

(mlb.com)

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Danny Graves was too young to remember any of the events surrounding his evacuation of war-torn Vietnam with his parents near the end of 1974, about six months before the fall of Saigon.

Graves, who was born on a military base in Saigon to an American serviceman and Vietnamese mother who worked at the U.S. Embassy, was 14 months old at the time and years away from understanding the horrors of war.

The family settled in Florida in pursuit of the American dream, which often has baseball woven as part of its fabric. Things were no different in the Graves household, where Danny developed a love for the game.

Making his pitch
More than 20 years later, Graves made history by becoming the first Vietnamese-born player to appear in the major leagues. And thanks to a plea to owner Drayton McLane, Graves is in camp with the Astros trying to squeeze another year out of his career.

“I do believe I’ll be the only Vietnamese player to play in the majors,” Graves said. “Baseball is not very big over there. It’s definitely something special, and until the day I die I’ll be able to say I was the first Vietnamese player in the major leagues.”

Graves, 35, recently moved to San Antonio and cold-called McLane during the offseason, convincing the owner to give him a shot. A former All-Star closer with the Cincinnati Reds, Graves has a 43-44 record and 275 saves in 1,216 career appearances.

“The last couple of years I have been struggling, trying to get to the big leagues and I really don’t want to go that route again if it means being away from home too much,” Graves said. “I told them I have a desire to play for Houston, and if there’s not a spot for me in camp I’ll retire.”

Graves spent the 2008 season pitching in the minors in the Minnesota Twins organization but hasn’t appeared in a major league game since 2006. It was January of that year that Graves returned to Vietnam for the first time as part of a special delegation in conjunction with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

The goal was to introduce baseball and promote healing and understanding between the United States and Vietnam, but for Graves it meant much more. He was accompanied by his mother Thao, who hadn’t seen her family in Vietnam in more than 30 years.

“It was pretty special, pretty emotional,” he said. “When we left, it was right before the fall of Saigon when things were really crazy and she said she would never go back, but I talked her into going with me. It was pretty emotional for her. Now she says, ‘I’m an American; I’m not doing that again.’ ”

Graves is thankful his father, who died in 1999, opted not to leave the family behind.

At peace with himself
Graves’ personal journey while in the majors is just as intriguing.

Known for his countless tattoos and lavish ways (he once owned a Rolls-Royce), Graves admits his life was going in the wrong direction. He wouldn’t elaborate but says he turned to religion and found peace.

Graves is facing long odds to make the club. The Astros’ bullpen is pretty much set, and Graves is more than five years removed from his glory days with the Reds, which included a 41-save season in 2004.

“I told Drayton, if God wants me to be here, he’ll put me here,” he said. “If it came down to it and they said they’d like to keep me and go to the minor leagues for a little bit I would do that.

“I really don’t have a desire to play anywhere else. I always liked going to Houston and had success going to Houston and this is a very Christian-based team, which is what I’m looking for.”

(chron.com)

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Danny Graves' path to Kissimmee, by way of a non-roster invite to Spring Training, took an unconventional route about a month ago when he signed with Houston.

Graves e-mailed club owner Drayton McLane directly, explaining his situation, his desire to pitch again and the reasons why the Astros were an attractive team to him.

Graves knew McLane to be a man devoted to his faith, and Graves, having changed his path after growing weary of a rather unsavory life he was leading, felt the Astros would be a good place for him to land.

"I'm at a different point in my life than I was before," Graves said. "I'm a Christian now. I knew that Drayton was, too. I know he had a lot of guys in the clubhouse that were also. I figured if I had a chance to play in the big leagues again, I want to be a part of that. I reached out to Drayton and asked him if there was an opportunity, and if not, I'm just going to retire."

McLane responded favorably, chiding Graves for all of the games he saved for the Reds -- many of them against the Astros -- during the right-hander's tenure in Cincinnati from 1997-2005. McLane said he'd pass the message along to general manager Ed Wade, who offered Graves a Minor League contract.

"Ed called me and said, 'I can't promise you anything except for a non-roster invite and just a chance to make the club,'" Graves said. "That's all I'm looking for. I'm not looking for any promises or guarantees, just an opportunity to see if I can still help somebody. I guess they said it really touched Drayton's heart, the e-mail I sent."

Graves lives with his fiance in San Antonio, and the close proximity not only to Houston, but to the Astros' Triple-A affiliate in Round Rock, made this organization that much more enticing. Graves didn't expound on the path his life had taken prior to finding new faith through religion, but he credited his fiance for helping him get on the right track.

"I don't have enough time to tell you about the last few years," he said. "It was miserable and I was really lost. Mentally, I didn't know what I was doing. Things you're not supposed to do. My fiance is a Christian, has been a Christian for a long time and she helped me with my walk. I realized it's pretty embarrassing what I did before as a person."

Graves was released by the Reds in May of 2005, one day after sparking controversy when he made an obscene gesture toward a fan who heckled him and yelled a racial slur. Graves regretted the part he played and cites that incident as just one of many things he'd do differently if he had the chance.

"I would have turned my back and walked away," Graves said. "That was pretty much the downfall."

Graves hasn't pitched in the Major Leagues since 2006, when he made 13 appearances and compiled a 5.79 ERA with the Indians.

With the Astros, the 35-year-old Graves is looking for a new beginning. The odds are against him this spring, considering he is trying out for a bullpen that at this point has no jobs available. Graves said he would accept a Minor League assignment, but if the Astros don't want him in the organization at all at the end of Spring Training, he'll be content with simply retiring.

"If it came down to [going to Triple-A], if they wanted to keep my in the organization, I would do it," he said. "It's still close to home. The bullpen never stays the same all year. I just want a shot."

(mlb.com)

The Astros signed five players to minor-league contracts with invitations to spring training today: righthanders Jose Capellan, Danny Graves and Chad Paronto, and catchers Brian Esposito and Toby Hall. Righthander Sergio Perez was also invited to spring training.

Graves, 35, was 6-6 with one save and a 6.01 ERA in 36 combined games (16 starts) with Class A Fort Myers, Class AA New Britain and Class AAA Rochester of the Minnesota Twins organization. Graves is 43-44 with 182 saves and a 4.05 ERA in 518 career games with Cleveland (1996-97, 2006), Cincinnati (1997-2005) and the New York Mets (2005).

(chron.com)

Repeated slurs directed at a succession of ineffective Mets relievers (Mel Rojas, Doug Sisk, Jorge Sosa) has long been a CSTB crutch tradition, but on the weekend Armando Benitez was cut by Toronto, let’s spare a positive thought for Danny Graves, who seems to be getting his life back together in the Twins organization. From the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Kelsie Smith :

After spending 2007 in the Atlantic League, Graves e-mailed about 20 general managers in January. He asked for a last chance, said his drinking was under control and he had found peace after his divorce. He was ready, mentally and physically, he wrote, to pitch again. Graves got three or four thanks-but-no-thanks responses and, from Twins GM Bill Smith, one maybe.

“Over the course of a year, we get a ton of e-mail,” Smith says. “Once in a while, something just strikes you. It was a heartfelt letter that said “I’ve made a lot of changes in my life, and I’m looking for one last chance.” Once in a while, you see that and you think, “well, what the heck.” It didn’t cost us anything to bring him down (to throw for scouts in Fort Myers). You might get lucky on the field, and maybe something benefits him off the field.”

Throwing in front of senior adviser Terry Ryan, minor league pitching coordinator Rick Knapp and vice president of player personnel Mike Radcliff, Graves “made enough of an impression for us to sign him and give him that chance,” Smith says.

Graves began in extended spring training, the first time he’d been there in his career. He moved to Class A Fort Myers, then to AA New Britain and finally to Rochester.

“The timing of everything,” Graves says, “was almost like it was on time for Danny Graves.”

When he arrived in Rochester, Cliburn had a question for the reliever — would he start?

Starting baseball games does not bring back good memories for Graves, who went 4-15 with a 5.33 ERA during his season as a Reds starter and who says he “always told myself that if I ever had to start again I would probably retire.” But throughout his evolution as a person, Graves has evolved as a pitcher. Unable to throw in the mid-90s as he did during his closer days, Graves says, he has finally learned how to pitch, throwing four pitches for strikes with a hard-sinking fastball that induces ground outs.

So when Cliburn asked about starting, Graves said yes. He’s now 2-1 with a 3.99 ERA in six starts for the Red Wings and, to his own surprise, “it turns out that this is the most fun I’ve had. I love starting now.”

(cantstopthebleeding.com)

Danny Graves didn't pitch in the majors last year after posting a 6.52 ERA in 2005 and a 5.79 ERA in 2006, so when the Twins signed the 34-year-old former All-Star to a minor-league deal he looked like Triple-A roster filler. Instead, with a 3.24 ERA and 14-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 25 innings in the minors he reportedly may soon be a bullpen option. Lots of washed-up relievers have gotten chances in the Twins' bullpen over the years, but expect him to be more Jesse Orosco than Mike Jackson.

(minnpost.com)

It's been a long time since Danny Graves was an effective major legue pitcher. He hasn't for example had an ERA under 4.00 since 2004; hasn't really ever recovered from the ill-fated attempt in 2003 to turn him from a 100-innings-a-year relief ace to a starter.

But he's still around, not yet 35, pitching in the Twins farm system after signing a minor-league deal late in spring training.

He started Monday night for the Rochester Red Wings, the Twins' Triple A affiliate, and at least statistically fared well: four shutout innings, two hits allowed, two strikeouts.

It's not that the Twins are seriously looking at him as starter. They wanted to see some innings; they wanted to get a serious evaluation of his stuff.

There is, after all, a serious hole in the Minnesota bullpen now. Pat Neshek in many ways was the most important guy in that pen — the man Ron Gardenhire called on both to get out of late-inning jams (well, Nesek and Dennys Reyes, with Reyes handling the lefties) and his top eighth-inning guy.

That was probably too heavy a workload. In 2006, Gardy used Neshek and Reyes in the middle of innings and relied on Juan Rincon and Jesse Crain to handle the eighth. But last year Rincon was ineffective and Crain blew out his shoulder, and the bulk of the eight-inning work got added to Neshek's duties. Now Neshek's elbow is shot, and the Twins have a problem.

Matt Guerrier doesn't fit the preferred profile of a late-inning reliever; the post-surgical Crain is unlikely to be used in the middle of an inning or on consecutive days; Rincon, despite four shutout innings in the Boston series, hasn't proved that his back to his 2004-06 form, when he was as good an eighth-inning option as there was in the game.

If Graves has any juice left in his arm, there's a job available.

(mankatofreepress.com)

New Britain, CT – In a league usually reserved for young prospects and seasoned minor leaguers chasing the dream, Danny Graves toes the rubber as a Major League veteran who has been around the block and simply isn’t ready to give up the game he loves. From his Major League debut to the Major League All-Star Game, Graves has seen and done it all. Yet, there he is every night donning a uniform of the Double-A Rock Cats. A man who holds the record for the most career saves in Reds’ history has returned to the world of smaller stadiums, on-field promotions, and bus rides to visiting cities.

By the look on his face, he is enjoying every moment of it. Click here to continue reading...

Two superlatives stand out in following the baseball career of relief pitcher Danny Graves.

One of them sets him apart for all time.

Graves, now 34 and wearing uniform No. 39 for the Fort Myers Miracle, became the first player born in Vietnam to reach the big leagues. The former University of Miami Hurricane and Orlando resident did so at age 22 with the Cleveland Indians in 1996.

In 1997, Graves began the first of nine seasons pitching for the Cincinnati Reds, where he set his second superlative: becoming the franchise’s all-time leader in saves.

Two events relating to his Vietnamese heritage later shaped the life and career of Graves, whose father was an American serviceman and mother was a Vietnam native.

Graves talked to The News-Press about both events.

Graves, who was released by the Colorado Rockies before the 2007 season began — he compiled 33 saves for the independent Atlantic League’s Long Island Ducks last year — signed a minor league contract with the Minnesota Twins in late March. Click here to continue reading...

The Twins have signed 34-year old righty Danny Graves to a minor league contract. He last pitched in the major leagues in 2006 with the Indians. Graves has pitched in 518 games (30 starts) in his major league career and he is 43-44 with 182 saves, a 4.05 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. He could possibly help the Twins at some point in the 2008 season if he proves that he has something left in the minors.

(twinslocker.com)

As Hal McCoy and I were making our way from the field to the Reds clubhouse, we ran into Danny Graves. That Danny Graves.

Graves was wearing a No. 60 Minnesota Twins uniform. He just signed a minor league deal with the Twins three days ago.

“I was sitting home waiting,” he said. “They told me to come in. They asked me if I could pitch Sunday. I said, ‘This Sunday? Sure.’ Then today they asked if I could go two innings.”

He did.

He went 1-2-3 and threw only five pitches on the first. He gave up an infield single and two-run homer in the second.

Graves spent last year with the Long Island Ducks. He led the independent Atlantic League in saves. He was big league camp with the Colorado Rockies last year before getting released.

Since the Reds released him May 23, 2005, Graves has been with the New York Mets, the Cleveland Indians and Rockies. He’s gotten precious little big league time.

“We’ll see how this works out,” he said.

(frontier.cincinati.com)

CLEVELAND -- First, Danny Graves' hair was cut. Then, Graves himself was cut.

The Indians designated the veteran Graves for assignment after Friday's 5-4 loss to the Tigers, giving them 10 days to trade or release him. To replace Graves on the active roster and in the bullpen, the club has called up right-hander Fausto Carmona.

Graves, who was making $575,000 this year, had become the poster boy for the 'pen's struggles. He owned a 2-1 record and 5.79 ERA in 13 appearances this year and never really settled in, whether used in long relief, mopup duty or tight situations.

"Danny had showed signs," Wedge said. "But it was more about his inconsistency. He has a huge heart and a lot of guts. He's a great competitor. But ultimately, we felt we needed to make a move to helps us solidify things in our 'pen."

The 32-year-old Graves showed up to Jacobs Field on Friday with three inches of his hair cut off. He was hoping the new 'do could inspire some improvement in his performance, but he was told of the decision shortly thereafter.

Graves was not available for comment after the game.

(mlb.com)

Tucson - After getting tattooed, reliever Danny Graves sat out today's practice.

No, hitters didn't pummel Graves into submission. He actually received a color touchup on his many tattoos Wednesday and was sidelined with a strained left oblique muscle suffered while bunting.

Graves skipped today's bullpen session, but plans to throw Sunday. He was more annoyed by his injury than concerned since he purposely didn't take batting practice to avoid getting hurt.

"I already have two home runs (in the major leagues). I don't need any more, so I was slug bunting," Graves said. "I could have thrown today, but there was no reason to rush it. I will be fine."

DENVER (AP) - The Colorado Rockies agreed to terms with reliever Danny Graves, who pitched for Cleveland last year, on a minor-league contract.

Jeff Bridich, the team's director of baseball operations, said Wednesday the deal is pending a physical in January. "We like his history and experience as a bullpen guy," Bridich said.

The Rockies lost relievers Jose Mesa to Detroit and Ray King to Washington during the off-season. The team recently re-signed veteran Tom Martin.

"There was a need to fortify our bullpen," Bridich said