January 03, 2007
Red Sox Close to Pineiro
It looks like the Red Sox are close to signing Joel Pineiro as a closer option. In his career, Pineiro faced just 295 batters as a reliever, but did very well, allowing a .205 batting average, a .301 OBA and a .309 slugging percentage. If he comes anywhere close to that for the Red Sox, he'll do just fine.
Picking out one stretch of a pitcher's career and projecting from it is dangerous territory, as I'm sure you know. Pineiro has declined precipitously in recent years, and I'd be very concerned about his psyche in the pressure cooker that is Red Sox Nation.
That said, for a one-year commitment it's not exactly a huge gamble.
