Meet me in St. Louis
The Red Sox made a deal today, though not one any of us were expecting. In fact, this barely constitutes a deal. But nonetheless, the Joel Pinero era has officially ended. As seen here in a fairly ironic picture, the would-be closer of the 2007 Red Sox will now be starting games in St. Louis for the rest of the year. Once Papelbon was decided to be the closer, Pinero essentially became dead weight, and in the end, was walking way too many guys anyway.
He didn’t do a bad job here in Boston, though a 5.03 ERA in 31 games isn’t so hot. His WHIP of 1.63 is downright awful, meaning he was walking way too many guys. He walked 14 on only 20 strikeouts, which is disastrously inefficient.
But they are going to get cash from St. Louis to at least pay some of his contract for the rest of the year, and will get a player to be named later. The player they get will largely depend on Pinero’s performance, as often the player to be named is decided by a third party in order to make it a fair trade.
If this is the only deal that goes down today with the Red Sox, I will be a little disappointed. Everyone is talking about Jermaine Dye and Eric Gagne, but don’t be surprised if we end up with Bobby Kielty in the end. That wouldn’t have to happen today though, since Kielty has cleared waivers already and could still be traded after today’s deadline (this is becuase he was designated for assignment meaning he is not on any 40-man roster).
Stumble it!