Blue Jays Give Gruber His Release

The Baltimore Orioles gave former two-time All-Star Kelly Gruber his unconditional release Saturday.

Gruber, 35, was attempting a comeback after retiring from the majors in 1993. Signed as a free agent in December, he performed poorly in spring training and was sent to triple-A Rochester, where he batted .250 with two homers in 38 games.

The third baseman was picked to play in the 1989 and 1990 All-Star games and played with the Toronto Blue Jays until 1992, when he hurt his back taking a swing during an April game.

Gruber played in pain into the postseason, when he hurt his shoulder while applying a tag on Deion Sanders during a triple play in the World Series against Atlanta.

The Blue Jays won the Series, then traded Gruber to the Angels two months later. He played in only 18 games with the Angels before finally deciding that he couldn’t bear the pain anymore.

The injury was diagnosed as stiffness in his left shoulder and neck, but Gruber knew it was more than that. He retired to see if rest would cure the pain, but it didn’t. Finally, in August 1995, he underwent fusion surgery to repair a herniated disk in his neck.

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John Valentin, who staged a two-day walkout when he was asked to move from shortstop to second base during spring training, now has another position.

Valentin started at third base for the Red Sox against Toronto on Saturday and will likely do so until Tim Naehring returns from the disabled list. Naehring was scheduled to have his sore right shoulder examined early next week.