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« Week in Review: 12/21 - 12/27 | Main | Snyder, Diamondbacks On Verge Of Extension »

Red Sox Close To One-Year Deal With Penny

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Red Sox are close to signing Brad Penny to a one-year deal.  The two sides are still hammering out the agreement, and Penny would have to pass a physical.  In November, the Dodgers chose Penny's $2MM buyout over his $9.25MM club option.

Penny, 31 in May, dealt with shoulder and forearm pain all year.  The Red Sox have a sophisticated system for dealing with pitching shoulders, so it's an interesting match.

Ian Browne of MLB.com expands on Rosenthal's report. Browne notes that Penny in Boston would reunite him with fellow starter Josh Beckett and third baseman Mike Lowell, both of whom Penny played with as a Florida Marlin. The three were on the 2003 World Series-winning squad.


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The Yankees should swoop in and steal the signing away. Ha! The evil empire strikes again.

I have to say that as a Yankees fan I like my pitchers big, fat and grimey. Thats why I wanted CC for years and Penny for years as well. I dont want the Yanks to sign him just cause Boston's hot on his trail but its certainly a bonus. If they want to pay him thats fine with me because he's always hurt anyway. I think its a low risk-high reward signing for the Sox and I honestly hope he does okay (just not against the Yanks).

This has the potential to be a nice, cheap signing with a potentially high reward. If healthy, Penny is pretty nasty.

i guess this means no to lowe?

I like this signing for the sox. low risk/high reward. yeah he was rough last year but i think people forgot how dominant who was just a year ago

another colon? with better upside

Career ERA over 4, have fun!

"sophisticated system for dealing with pitching shoulders"

um how did that work out for matt clement? hasnt pitched since june 2006

Good strategy Theo. Penny might be too cheap for the Yankees to sign.

Obviously it doesn't work on all pitchers Zack but Red Sox do have one of the best systems for dealing with injuries.

I love this for the Sox and I hope they sign him. I love low risk/high reward for the #5 spot. Remember that Penny can pitch like an ace when he's at his best. Hope this works out.

Let the games begin.

CC vs Penny..The battle of the bulge!! Throw away the glove, slap on some pads and let them play some OL for the Giants vs Pats games.

um how did that work out for matt clement? hasnt pitched since june 2006

___________________________

Or Curt Schilling..

My friend Chris is a wreck over losing Teixeira. He keeps rambling about Ben Sheets??? Why not go after him for 1-2 years instead??

against AL Teams: Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, Yankees, Twins, Mariners, Rays, Rangers his lowest ERA is 4.99 and up to 11.57

"Remember that Penny can pitch like an ace when he's at his best. Hope this works out."

he's only had one good season, and only pitched 200innings once. how does that equal an ace?

I've been wondering this all off season. Sheets was amazing last year. Yes he is an injury risk but for 2 years/30 million (which I'm sure is quite realistic...they might even be able to get him for 26) is not a bad deal at all. A rotation of:

Beckett
Lester
Matsuzaka
Sheets
Wakefield/Bucholz/Penny/Masterson

thats a very very sold rotatio

except beckett, sheets, wakefield, and penny are all injury risks. buchholz seemed lost last year, masterson cant get lefties out and dicek cant throw 6innings

granted he has arm problems, but any one else remember the all star game where he came in throwing 99 for an inning...potential kerry wood style use him in the bullpen less taxing on the arm? maybe bowden to the rotation depth? just another idea if his arm doesnt hold up for starting low risk some potential nothing to lose plenty to cash to waste after missing out on tex.

He doesn't need to be an ace. Just a number 5 starter. He is capable of that if he is healthy.

penny did throw hard, but it didnt equal strikeouts. just 6Ks/9innings for his career

Pennys limited success was in baseballs worst division, hes not going to fare well in baseballs best. I dont know why he would want to go to a hitters park in the toughest division on a one year contract to try and up his value, hed be much better suited just about anywhere

I don't really see Beckett or Wakefield as injury risks..

Penny cried like a baby when the dodgers wanted him to pitch out of the bulpen...im not so sure it would change in Boston.

Maybe they haven't thrown out Colon's uniform yet. Bad move. Pitch the kids - Bowden/Bucholz/Masterson. Save the $

Should be fun to see Penny vs Hughes in Fenway.

you dont see beckett as an injury risk? right and jd drew isnt injury prone either right?

I don't really see Beckett or Wakefield as injury risks..

Posted by: GD31892 | December 28, 2008 at 04:43 PM

if you dont see beckett as an injury risk I guess you didnt watch baseball last year and wake is over 40 where any pitcher is an injury risk

Is there anyone who would take Beckett, Lester, DiceK, Penny, Wakefield over CC, Burnett, Wang, Pettite/Hughes, Joba anyway?

Tim, anyway you can get a poll up choosing the best roto between bos, nyy and tb?

as a dodger fan the sox need to worry about his back far more than his arm.

Good back=good break/movement to pitches=splitter=productive Brad Penny that looks dominant.

Bad back=no break/movement=no splitter/bad curve=naked Brad Penny getting hit hard despite throwing hard.

This means the Mets are a little closer to Derek Lowe.

Man, Zack, don't go out of your way to be unbiased.

Honestly though everyone can play that childish game.

CC is overweight and has been awful in the playoffs, AJ Burnett is injury prone, unproven, and has only pitched more than 200 innings once, Wang is coming off of an injury and we dont know if he will return to form, Joba is unproven. Now isn't this fun?

Has Beckett missed more than half a season in his career?

as a Yankees fan I will say those are all fair points. However the Red Sox rotation has many more questions in it even before you factor in Penny if you start looking at things in that light.

I wonder which team will avoid the dl bug this year. I'm betting Boston will fair better than NY, simply because of AJ and Joba's injury history. Should be interesting to see if Hughes will be able to stay healthy as well.

Has Beckett missed more than half a season in his career?

Posted by: GD31892 | December 28, 2008 at 04:55 PM

Has Beckett had more than one really AL contender ace worthy season in his career? No

i wasnt aware this was about the yankees staff now??

I didn't know "missing half a season" means that your injury prone. being on the DL 10 times in a 8 year career equals injury prone.

I don't see a problem with the signing. I mean if they sign him for something cheap (2 or 3 mil w/ incentives), then it's one more arm to compete for the 5th spot. If he's not 100% himself then he becomes a long-relief spot starter. Can never have too much pitching. WOuldn't mind the Yanks going after a Mark Mulder or Mark Prior on a cheap, incentive ladened deal.

I believe that C.C. is the regular season ace and Beckett is the post season ace.

This is the exact type of signing that Epstein is known for making. Penny was great on the dodgers and has a huge upside, can't really argue with this one, looks solid.

Brad Penny career ERA+: 106
AJ Burnett career ERA+: 111

Stop being biased, Zack. I am a Yankee fan, and this is a fine signing. First off, get your facts straight (both of you who got them wrong). Penny has thrown over 200 IP twice, and Burnett three times. They have both been very good when healthy. Of course it is a risk, Boston knows that. Penny has good stuff though, if he is healthy, he will be better than the number 5 starter.

Beckett is one of the greatest postseason pitchers over the last few decades I agree, especially if you exclude his performances this past year. All this talk about the signing being a win win however, none of us even know what the guy is going to make???

Dammit, I was hoping my Nats would sign him.

Yeah, it's a risk, but it could work out well for the Red Sox. Penny is not that far removed from his dominant period....

ok 2 seasons of 200ip, my bad.
against AL Teams: Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, Yankees, Twins, Mariners, Rays, Rangers his lowest ERA is 4.99 and up to 11.57 < those are facts, didnt know facts were me being biased? 2007 was his only "ace-like" season

Yeah, we all have to keep in mind that it's not like they are signing him expecting him to be the staff ace. He might not even make the staff. As long as they got him cheap then it doesn't really matter.

Check out his '01 season, he put up a 3.69 ERA at 23 years old. His stuff must be pretty bad.

Remember that Penny can pitch like an ace when he's at his best. Hope this works out.
Posted by: Umair

you guys should read the whole convo before you put your opinion in. that's who i was responding too about the "Ace" comment

"I believe that C.C. is the regular season ace and Beckett is the post season ace. "

Or maybe it's the fact that CC has run out of steam as he's forced to pitch his team into the playoffs.

Exactly '78...every big market team can do this. Afford to take a risk.

2001... it will be 2009 in 3 days. 8 years and coming off of a shoulder injury that kept him out for basically 4 months. he came back at teh end but only pitched 9innings

Agree with Zach overhere. Besides if hes so good why are all the sox fans on this board calling him a great number 5? Surely if hes got anything in the tank at all hes going to beat out a guy whose well over 40 and went 10-11 last year for the number 4 spot no?

He'd be nasty in the pen if he gets that 97 mph gas back. Use him as the 5th starter then shift him into the pen near the end of the season or during the playoffs.

I hope he winds up rehabbing in Pawtucket until September. He's not-so-solid.

I actually forgot Penny was out there. Good pick up for the RedSox. Penny would be in a situation where he is not "the guy". He's better then 3-4-5 starters on most teams.

The Red Sox also have more starting pitching depth, with Buchholz and Bowden ready, so they are much better prepared to deal with an injury. Who do the Yankees have when Burnett decides he needs a couple weeks off?

"Or maybe it's the fact that CC has run out of steam as he's forced to pitch his team into the playoffs." Is that the same excuse he used against Boston in the playoffs?

You guys really think this is a good signing? The guy is 31 years old, he's coming off an injury last season, he's 260 pounds which means he may be falling downhill fast. Looking at the 2007 signing, the numbers are pretty flawed to me. He had a 1.31 WHIP, Randy Johnson on the other hand had a 1.29 WHIP and he had a 4.0 ERA. Penny walked 73 people, and gave up 199 hits in 208 innings, do the math that's almost 9 hits per 9 innings. He only struck out 135 which isn't that great. He pitches in a pitchers park, and he pitched in a weak division, he should have good numbers. He never pitched more then 200 innings, only twice he did that in like 8 seasons. I would have went after Lowe if I were the Sox and not someone like Penny.

Also his injury was a right sholder soreness, he's washed up and done.

bowden has pitched 1 game in the majors and did you watch Buchholz pitch last year or just going off the no-hitter from 2 years ago?

This is a horrible deal if it is true no matter what they pay him, he is not going to give us anything one of the kids can't do for league minimum. Penny is not even close to hacking it in the AL east the guy was outright awful in the Nl last year and even his best NL-form is not good enough to take him to the Al east. HORRIBLE unless it is a minor league contract and that is off course not the case.

I would rather have the Japs Kawa-whats his face.

Good for the Mets.

Zack, way to blow that out of perportion and cherry pick the numbers. If you look at his numbers pitching against AL teams, he's only pitched 23 games in his entire career against an AL opponent. Compared to 245 games started total and that is about 9% of his total career starts.

And you just so happened to leave out the numbers from when he pitched against some other teams, such as the Athletics where his ERA was 1.29.

Overall, very small sample size to look at.

""Or maybe it's the fact that CC has run out of steam as he's forced to pitch his team into the playoffs." Is that the same excuse he used against Boston in the playoffs?"

I'd say yes. He pitched 241 innings in 2007, or 50 more than the year before, and the first time he cracked 200 innings since 2002, and second time in his career.

If he manages to stay healthy and pitches only 200-210 innings for the season he might be able to contribute in the postseason. Of course, I think Sabathia is going to be injured either this year or next year because of the high workload over the past two seasons. But if he doesn't, who knows what he could do if the Yankees make the playoffs.

I hope he winds up rehabbing in Pawtucket until September. He's not-so-solid.

Posted by: KingOfTheBritons | December 28, 2008 at 05:22 PM

+

The Red Sox also have more starting pitching depth, with Buchholz and Bowden ready, so they are much better prepared to deal with an injury. Who do the Yankees have when Burnett decides he needs a couple weeks off?

Posted by: drchstrpunk | December 28, 2008 at 05:24 PM
____________
sad that every post about a yankee or red sox deal ends like this...

i'm unapologetic regarding my hatred for all things boston, but c'mon already.

you're right, my bad. he pitched good against teh A's and Royals and Rangers, but pitched bad against 7 other AL teams.

small sample or not, those are his numbers. is it just coincidence that he pitched bad against SEVEN AL teams?

I suppose it's just a coincidence he failed against the eventual World Champions the last two years he was in the playoffs. Of course we should discount that the games he played before that he showed no fatigue what so ever.

The guys career ERA is over 4 IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE, hes going to get tore up in the AL East, I dont care I just think this is funny to devote even a few million to this guy when it was a negligable amount that caused the RedSox to lose out on Teixeira

Everything is a "negligible amount" when compared to the NY's payroll.

The Red Sox also have more starting pitching depth, with Buchholz and Bowden ready, so they are much better prepared to deal with an injury. Who do the Yankees have when Burnett decides he needs a couple weeks off?

Posted by: drchstrpunk | December 28, 2008 at 05:24 PM

Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Andrew Brackman, Kei Igawa, Sergio Mitre, Chase Wright, I can go on if you want? The Yanks have one of the deepest piles of arms in the MLB, position prospects we lack but we have a whole lot of young arms on their way to the bigs

fausto carmona and john lackey and kelvim escobar also pitched bad against the red sox in 2007.

carmona: 19-8, 215ip, 3.06erea
lackey: 19-9, 224ip, 3.01 era
escobar: 18-7, 195ip, 3.40 era

so it wasnt just CC who pitched bad, maybe boston was good??

Say good bye to Bucholtz...

No need to keep him without a rotation spot for him. By this time next year Bowden will also be ready. Running out of rotation spots.

Teagarden for Bucholtz is my guess at this point.

"I suppose it's just a coincidence he failed against the eventual World Champions the last two years he was in the playoffs. Of course we should discount that the games he played before that he showed no fatigue what so ever."

Again, he'd already pitched 240 and 250 innings by the time he got to the playoffs. Yes, it is a coincidence that he lost to the eventual World Champs. He didn't really pitch that well against the Yankees in the 2007 ALDS either. If you don't think there's fatigue after pitching on 3 days rest for 3 straight games, I don't know what to tell you. As for no fatigue... he gave up 4 runs to the Cubs, 4 runs to the Reds, 1 run to a bad Pirates team and 1 run to a AAA Cubs team.
And in 2007 the one time he faced the Red Sox during the season in July he allowed 1 run in 7 innings.

Again, fatigue. Believe it or don't. There's a reason the Rays don't want their young pitchers picking up a ball all off season and want them to delay their off season training. Sabathia threw over 500 innings the past two years.

Everything is a "negligible amount" when compared to the NY's payroll.

Posted by: SierraM | December 28, 2008 at 05:48 PM

Well what does John Henry pull in each year? nine figures??? yeah 1.5-2 mill a year was a negligable amount to lose the best available hitter who is also a great fielder for

teagarden straight up for buchholz?? please, buchholz lost all his value last year. add bowden and 2 other prospects and then the rangers would deal you teag or salty

is teagarden even available? they have to keep someone for behind the dish

Now that the Sox's 5 man rotation is set I would make the deal for Salty. He'd be a nice fit for Boston.

I have to say, even after his bad year, I do hope the sox deal buchholz b/c I do think he could def become a stud

He pitched at least 7 innnings with a low 3 era that entire sept 2007 season prior to the playoffs. He also pitched in his regular rotation with extra days off before the Boston series. I think Boston and Philly had more to do with his failures than "pitching fatigue". I don't think you should easily dismiss his playoff history. Though there is a chance that you may be right that NY's superstars...Arod..etc might take the pressure off him in the playoffs. I doubt it though.

Texas still has Teagarden, Salty and Max Ramirez along with several other catching prospects that are a few years away.

enough about CC vs RedSox in 2007

just scroll up and read my post how Boston beat Lackey, Escobar, CC, and Carmona.

"The guys career ERA is over 4 IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE"

How about putting that in context:

Penny's career ERA: 4.06
League ERA in the same time: 4.28

Penny has been above-average in ERA over his career. He also has a 106 career ERA+ (100 is average). And those numbers include the terrible injury-plagued 2008. He's not awesome, but he's above average. We don't know the terms, but a cheap 1-year deal is barely a risk for a team that's about $28m under last year's payroll. If Penny gives the Sox even close to league-average for most of the season it'll be good enough to justify the contract.

Don't bother arguing with them Zack. That's the only argument they can use to bash the Yankees signing CC at 160/8. If some other team had signed him, like, Boston, then you wouldn't see any comments like that.

Zack, I love how you talk about Buchholz being useless going forward and yet think that Hughes has some sort of value. Buchholz was named the #7 prospect by mlb.com, #2 by Baseball America, and given an "A" from John Sickels last season, while Hughes was ranked lower on all of those. Both has miserable 2008 seasons and for some reason Buchholz has gone from being universally regarded as a top 3 pitching prospect, and, a better prospect than Hughes, to having no value. Whereas Hughes still has value. Care to explain this seemingly Yankee-bias based discrepancy?

Of course the point above is moot since NY would just overbid Boston again to get C.C.

gnick55,
Maybe because Buchholz is almost 2 years older than Hughes, so it is believed that Hughes has more time to reach his ceiling. I do think that Buchholz is being underrated, and I still think he and Hughes could still both become studs.

Zack:
you really like to run your mouth dont you? why dont you sit back take a break with all your stats and wait for the season to start. you seem like the kind of yankees fan who thinks they've already won it all. stats change every year. no year is the same. look at volquez last year. came out of his shell. lester had a bad season just like buchholz did. he came back and torched every1 last year. sit back and keep your espn stats to yourself.

""The guys career ERA is over 4 IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE"

How about putting that in context:

Penny's career ERA: 4.06
League ERA in the same time: 4.28"

How bout better than that, ERA is a crap metric for measuring a pitchers abilities.

His '08 numbers were completely out of line with his careers numbers. He is a great low risk, high reward #4/5 addition.

Bucholz wont get traded even after this signing, if it happens.

Another one bites the dust. That is, another Derek Lowe suitor. He he he...

no risk signing, really.
plus the sox are good with "rehab" projects. (not including chad fox). and jo(h)n farrell is one of the best pitching coaches in the majors.

this move more, or less, just adds depth to the the rotation, which is now 6-7 deep.

and i'm gonna come out and say it...

curt schilling is going for a "clemens like pro-rated" deal. if, or when the sox need another pitcher after june/july, he could be the man.

and, big mouth or not, i'd take "big game" schilling in my rotation any day of the week.

And enough of this Hughes vs. Buchholz crap. They both blow. If anyone cares to make a snide comment about Jon Niese, go right ahead. He blows too.

and i forgot to mention..........

FRIGGIN' jets!!!

and if there is anyone who knows about "blowing", it would be a mets fan.

also have to mention they give up no draft picks to make the signing.

Where in ANY of MY post have I mentioned the YANKEES????

I've made no comment on Hughes, no comment on the World Series. So how about you guys READ MY POSTS before you start running YOUR mouths.

Cherry picking era numbers is fun. CC Sabathia career ERA in Yankee Stadium 8.61. You guys better hope they changed the dimensions a lot I guess.

12 million is negligible? For a player the team does not even have an open spot at their position? You must make more money than I do.

78, so nobody comes on red sox posts and pointlessly bashes every move just because they do not like the team?

Zack, I love how you talk about Buchholz being useless going forward and yet think that Hughes has some sort of value. Buchholz was named the #7 prospect by mlb.com, #2 by Baseball America, and given an "A" from John Sickels last season, while Hughes was ranked lower on all of those. Both has miserable 2008 seasons and for some reason Buchholz has gone from being universally regarded as a top 3 pitching prospect, and, a better prospect than Hughes, to having no value. Whereas Hughes still has value. Care to explain this seemingly Yankee-bias based discrepancy?

Posted by: gnick55 | December 28, 2008 at 06:18 PM

Hughes didn't qualify as a prospect last season, so I'd love to see where he was ranked lower than Buchholz on a 2008 prospect projection... And Zack didn't say he'd be amazing, he responded to someone saying the Yanks have no depth IF AJ gets hurt to give a laundry list of players that had Hughes included.

I'm really surprised at the venom of the responses to Zack here. Yeah, sure, he may be showing a little bit of bias, but do you really think he's "cherry-picking" stats when he shows what Penny's ERA against the teams of the AL East are? Can't someone be critical of the pickup - let alone an overweight SP with a bloated ERA last season (yeah, because of injury. Because of SHOULDER INJURY, aka stay away) in the worst offensive division in baseball...

That said, I personally think it's a smart low-risk/high-upside signing for a potential #5. But seriously, after all the hate on the boards saying signing CC and Tex was awful, you'd think a man could claim Penny's not a great addition with everyone blowing a gasket.

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