Good for him,Better for the Rays..

I'm going to miss him falling off the mound, among other things.

But I understand that having both Cesar Ramos and Alex Torres waiting in the wings made it a certainty. About a 1/6 certainty. Goes from around 3 mil to 500k for each.

Fwiw, ray_uk, it seems that Alex Torres might still have options. Some obscure clause about time spent on Rookie League, less than 90 days. So the bullpen might look like this, for now:

Rodney
Peralta
McGee
Gomes
Ramos
R. Hernandez (?)
One of the gazillion Rays SPs that didn't make the SP rotation

Here's the clause from Cot's Transaction Glossary and the rule reads:

" A player may be eligible for a fourth option year if he has been optioned in three seasons but does not yet have five full seasons of professional experience. A full season is defined as being on an active pro roster for at least 90 days in a season. (If a player is put on the disabled list after earning 60 or more days of service in a single season, his time on the DL is counted.) The 90-day requirement means short-season leagues (New-York Penn, Northwest, Pioneer, Appalachian, Gulf Coast, Arizona Rookie, Dominican and Venezuelan Summer Leagues) do not count as full seasons for the purposes of determining eligibility for a fourth option."

Seems that in 2008 he spent less than 90 days with the Ranch Cucamonga Quakes of the California League.

Agreed!

Looks like a very good bullpen to me!

(And ... the way that Howell frequently falls off the mound and has to put his hand down to keep from hitting the ground almost fully stretched-out ... can get him killed! In that circumstance, there's no way that he can react to avoid being hit in the head by a low liner.)

If used as the 5th starter and not let go more than 5 innings per outing, Howell
could win 10 to 15 games for the Dodgers. He can K people and throws many
ground balls ... Sure he throws soft, but 87 MPH is more velo than Whitey Ford
had in his day ... He know how to pitch ... His problem with the Rays was he
was set up to fail by Clueless most of the time and we couldn't catch a cold in
the infield.

I thought that Howell made a pretty good comeback..A starter? I dont think his arm or body could take multiple falls off the mound..He does better after relieving a pitcher who throws in the mid ninetys..He did well after a recovery spell of troubles...I wish him luck,I got tired of saying Oh no when sitting on the edge of a lead, and seeing him walking to the mound..

yeah he did make a nice comeback. It was so weird with his situation. I mean everyone knew that he did 'not have it" a few years back and yet Joe kept throwing him in there. It got to the point where you knew the weirdness was definitely "NOT " his fault. What was he going to say " Hey skip, DON'T put me in??? ( don't think so) ...it was like Maddon heard all the criticism of pitching him and therefore he must pitch him. Very Bazaar. Joe was NOT right about him because he made a nice comeback. J P should have worked out the kinks in AAA like everyone else and THEN come back to the bigs and contribute.
Losing games to prove a point at the ml level is ____________

I'll mis "the pimp", he was fun to be around and he did make a nice comeback and was very well liked by everyone....But he will be a big success for Mattingly in the NL and I wish him asll the very best!

Yeah, he seemed like a good guy and I wish him well in L A

Sure wished they needed a fat old catcher too..

J P Howell . Now that he is back to his regular self without the elbow problems. Not a Ray anymore.

Right, and he can still throw a solid 73 mph to as many as TWO guys in the inning!

I seen him pitch to three last year..

Seen him wind up that curve so tight he nearly took a nose dive on third base!

Naw! Three in the same inning???

J P Howell is a lefty reliever specialist. Don't get hung up on the process. Look at the results.

Er I think we have..He had one decent and one good year and made a good comeback last year.. Now I hope he succeeds with The Bums.--They have tons of money to spend and they must have liked what they seen in JP...Hope he gets his world series ring..er runner up ring..LOL