Aloha Ka Punahou 2005.08
Rule 5 pick Jorge Medine returns to Hawai'i
organization 5.5 years after Bilbao trade
Veteran of 8 minor league seasons and two trades
Jorge Medine
Medine, a 26-year-old junk ball pitcher from the Seattle organization, joins a staff
crowded
with middle relievers. He was Hawaii's third Rule 5 pick last month.
"All of whom suck sugar cane," Lilo said, "Except Mcnitt & West, and hell, they might
start for us this year. Davis ain't so bad, neither. Oh, yeah, there's Talavera too."
"Talavera too?"
Yup.
Medine pitched 33.3 innings in four starts for the Storm in 2001 after working his way
up the Seattle farm system. The past three seasons he has been mired at Triple-A
Kalamazoo, where he--
"Nobody should be mired in Kalamazoo," said Lilo, "not even Toto."
--he was 28-13, 3.65 as a starter in 2002-03 and a reliever last season.
Medina pitched 3.3 innings for Hawaii's Double-A affiliate Carson City in 1999 after
being acquired with five other players (SP Rene Moncada the only one still with the
Tropics) for Freddy 'Bingo' Bilbao; who Des Moines subsequently traded to Montreal,
where he has been a key part of the Blazers starting rotation since.
Medina lasted 11 months in the Tropics organization before he was traded to Seattle.
Des Moines drafted Medine 85th overall in the 1997 amateur draft.
As a Rule 5 pick, he'll be on Hawaii's active roster all season unless traded or injured.
"We expect him to remain here," Lilo said.
