[Sly Fox]

Look who is now up in the Great White North, eh:

Goldeyes celebrate "Valentin's Day" with signing of pitcher



Goldeyes manager Rick Forney's roster is a bit bigger and not just because he added another player to it.

Forney announced today the signing of right-handed starter Danny Valentin. Standing 6'5 while weighing in at 240 pounds, Valentin comes to town following four years of independent ball, including consecutive 10-win seasons in the Central League.

"I'm looking for Danny to come in and be a big part of our starting rotation," said Forney. "He's got a history of throwing lots of innings, making lots of starts and being very successful at the independent level."

Valentin, 28, is a career 25-16 with a 3.65 earned run average, striking out 296 in 352-plus innings. He has just come off a season of winter ball in Puerto Rico, where he went 1-4 with a 3.72 ERA while holding opponents to a .215 average in 14 appearances for Mayaguez.

Drafted by Oakland following his junior at NCAA Div. I Liberty University, where he holds Flames records for consecutive shutouts (3) and consecutive scoreless innings pitched (29), Valentin stayed in school and eventually signed in 2002 with Washington of the Frontier League.

A year later, he won 10 games for Rio Grande of the Central League and did the same with Edinburg in 2004 as the Roadrunners rolled to a league title. He went to spring training last year with Tampa Bay but broke his ankle and ended up back in Edinburg, where he did double duty on a team that fell in the opening round of the playoffs.

Winnipeg now has 16 players under contract for the coming campaign, nine of whom are pitchers.

http://oursportscentral.com/services/re ... id=3269778

For the record, the Winnipeg Goldeyes are in the independent Northern League.

[Rocketfan]

Sometimes you find some random stuff, but boy its entertaining. I don't know how in the world you came across this one, but i remember him and i hope he gets at least one shot at the bigs!