Sox Had Eye On Pineiro All Along

Assistant GM Jed Hoyer:

Joel was right at the top of the list. He's a guy that, even when he was having great success as a starter, a lot of our reports were, 'Wow, this guy would be unbelievable in the bullpen.'

Last year, our scouting reports on him when he went to the bullpen really indicated that he had dropped his arm angle a little bit, so he was getting a little bit more life on the ball, and they thought he'd make a very good transition into the bullpen. We think we signed a very good relief pitcher.

Down in the Dominican Winter League, Wily Mo Pena is 1-for-23 in six games for Aguilas.

Three former Red Sox players have signed one-year deals for 2007: Keith Foulke with Cleveland ($5 million), Doug Mientkiewicz with the Yankees ($1.5 million) and Mark Loretta with Houston ($2.5 million).

Check out Empyreal Environs for some info on baseball played by some of the 110,000 Japanese-Americans who were forced into concentration camps throughout the US during World War II.