January 4, 2007

Pineiro Incentives Tied To Closing

The Joel Pineiro signing is official.

The Herald's Jeff Horrigan writes that Pineiro "will most likely replace Jonathan Papelbon as closer". The incentives in his one-year deal ($4 million) certainly paint him as a front-runner for the spot. In addition to the salary, there are
performance incentives that could increase the value by $2 million. ... If Pineiro finishes 35 games in 2007, he will trigger an undisclosed option year on the deal for 2008.
Maybe the plan is simply to have a closer whose initials are JP. ... It worked last season.

3 comments:

9casey said...

Jack, i think they have a better shot at getting Wickman at the deadline than Smoltz.

Can anyone name anyone viable of getting for the closer job that would make you happy.......

There is only maybe 5 good ones in the league and they are not going anywhere, ( Rivera, K-rod, Hoffman, Wagner,Nathan , Ryan)

I would have given the bucs ,Lester for Gonzalez. They can't know that would look terrible. We have had some luck with Pirates, i.e. Wake and Arroyo.
The sad part is we once owned him...

s1c said...

I've waffled on this one lately, was ambivalent, then strong against and now am again ambivalent about this 28 year old kid. There is no way that I see him being projected as a starter for this team unless we get a repeat of last year where every starter but 2 are out for a lengthy time (shudder). I do think that he adds some good depth to the bullpen and that is a good thing with the potential offense that the Sox bats will bring to bear.

Jack, as for Smoltzie, not sure if you noticed but he is a 5 and 10 man, and he will never approve of a trade to Boston to fill the closer role. He is a starter again in Atlanta and will remain a starter in Atlanta.

s1c said...

Go back and look at Smoltz's career, when he closed he was doing so under protest after an injury season. He hated it, but did it for the team. He is now back in the starting rotation and will never go back to the pen.