Red Sox Sign Pineiro
The Boston Red Sox have signed right-hander Joel Pineiro to a 1-year, $4 million contract. The Sox intend to make Pineiro their closer, in place of Jonathan Papelbon, who will be moved to the rotation.
Say this for the Red Sox: Whatever the organization’s faults, lack of chutzpah isn’t one of them. We’ll cut to the chase here and take a look at two trends over the course of Pineiro’s career:
| Year | Age | IP | ERA | K/9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 22 | 75.1 | 2.03 | 6.69 |
| 2002 | 23 | 194.1 | 3.24 | 6.30 |
| 2003 | 24 | 211.2 | 3.78 | 6.42 |
| 2004 | 25 | 140.2 | 4.67 | 7.10 |
| 2005 | 26 | 189.0 | 5.62 | 5.10 |
| 2006 | 27 | 165.2 | 6.36 | 4.73 |
Yikes.
Aside from moderate success toward the end of 2006 in mop-up duty for Seattle, there is nothing in Pineiro’s history to suggest that he can be an effective closer. That said, $4 million isn’t a huge investment for a team like the Red Sox, which has almost endless resources.
I admire the Sox for thinking outside the box and looking for value in unconventional places. I’m not sure this qualifies as value, though. If the gamble works, then great; if not, it will be interesting to see how the Boston media responds.
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