January 4, 2007

Sox Eyeing Pineiro

In a classic case of quantity over quality, the Red Sox are close to signing former Seattle starter Joel Pineiro for 2007 at about $4 million.

Pineiro would likely be used out of the bullpen and as a spot starter. His stats since 2001 show a very disturbing trend:

ERA ERA+ WHIP

2001 2.03 207 0.942
2002 3.24 130 1.250
2003 3.78 117 1.266
2004 4.67 92 1.329
2005 5.62 77 1.481
2006 6.36 68 1.648
And by disturbing trend, I mean flat-out shitty. He's been demonstrably worse every single season. Still, he's only 28 and he has done quite a bit better in relief.
           G   IP   ERA    BA  OBP  SLG  OPS
Starter 148 926 4.58 .274 .331 .428 .759
Reliever 37 70 3.21 .205 .301 .309 .610
Fifteen of those 37 relief appearance came last year.

So who knows? Bring him to Florida and see what happens.

11 comments:

Jere said...

It's always disconcerting when your team sees a guy that's gotten progressively work for a long time and then snatches him up. Like back when I cared about the NFL, rooting for the Jets, and they got Neil O'Donnell: "Threw a key, game-losing interception? In the Super Bowl?? That's our man!"

Jere said...

None of those had a full-on, steady six year decline, though.

I'm not super-upset about having the guy, because he is at least a guy I've heard of for years instead of some NL guy that Theo has a crush on because of some fantasy stat he had in 1999 before massive injuries that he never quite recovered from. I'm just sayin', good job by JoyBoy showing us the rather amazing decline in stats that the guy's had.

Sean O said...

We're not even trying to win with these moves. One of these days, we'll get a GM with a set plan and an eye for talent evaluation, and then maybe we'll be able to compete.

Moves like this are just a joke.

And as for the Eckersley comparison, Eck still had a 4:1 k/bb rate after he'd become progressively worse.

The problem with the mass closer attempt is that 1). We're the Red Sox, and actually have a chance to compete, and 2). we'll be throwing away games while we audition incompetent players like Tavarez and Pineiro for the role.

Jere said...

Here's something I just looked up. Pineiro's thrown 22 or more innings against 14 teams. Of those teams, his third best ERA is against the Yanks, at 3.38. So he's got that goin' for him.

Hey redsock, if Malphabet goes to the Yanks, will you still sponsor his baseball-reference page?

Danie said...

Personally, I think they're throwing all the noodles they can against the wall and hoping to God that some of them stick...

Kevin Scalley said...

Does Theo have a dart board?
Piniero does have quite the bad trend. 4 mil guaranteed seems like a lot even in a crazy market for his numbers. Fenway is less forgiving than Safeco to boot. I think we should stay with Papelbon as closer. The guy had a historic year. The "headcase" guys like him have come up as great closers over the years.

BostonJoel said...

I definatly think pap should stay a closer. We already have 5 good starters of lester returns 100%. Pap was arguably the most dependable arm in the league last season, and if we had made the post season, he would have been a shoe-in for some heavy duty hardware. keep him a closer, and let Mariano Riveria become the number 2 man in the league.

allan said...

Malphabet is one of The 25. Nothing -- not even Steinbrenner's strange compulsion of wanting to sign the entire 2004 Red Sox roster (thinking it will lead to a MFY title, I guess) -- will change that.

And how many times does Theo et al. have to say that Papelbon's shoulder likely cannot endure the rigors of closing (and would be much healthier with a strict starting schedule) before people get the message?

KAYLEE said...

he reminds me to much of RUDY SEANEZ.

Jere said...

redsock, don't you know we on the Pap closer side are trying to will it to happen? We will chant it in our minds until it comes true.

Pedro's Great Run said...

I don't expect much from him but for 4 million who know? It takes 10 million a year and a long term deal to buy average pitching so what would you expect for 4 million?