The Tigers have officially agreed to sign Brad Penny to a one-year, $3MM deal, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (Twitter link). ESPN.com's Buster Olney, who first reported the agreement, says the deal includes up to $3MM in incentives for the Legacy Sports client (Twitter link).
Penny will compete with Armando Galarraga at the back of a Tigers rotation that's led by Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Rick Porcello and Phil Coke. After starting the 2010 season with nine strong starts, Penny missed four months with a right shoulder strain. The 32-year-old's season line includes a 3.23 ERA with 5.7 K/9, 1.5 BB/9 and a career high 52.8% ground ball rate.
Penny has spent nearly his entire career in the National League and his one stint in the American League went poorly. The Red Sox signed him before the 2009 season and he posted a 5.61 ERA in 131 2/3 innings for Boston. As MLBTR's Transaction Tracker shows, this isn't the first time Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski has acquired Penny. He obtained him for the Marlins from the Diamondbacks in 1999.
Click here to read about the fallout from the deal.
Olney and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reported that Penny was nearing a deal with the Tigers after the right-hander hinted at one on his Twitter account.
Not a bad move at all.
Very good signing for the Tigers for $3 mil 1 year
Good luck with this guy detroit
At the worst, he doesn’t play much. At best, he somehow wins the Cy Young, leads us to the world series, wins it as well as world series MVP, Ilitch gives him the key to Little Caesar’s for free pizzas and everybody becomes happy.
You should not drink and post.
I know sarcasm doesn’t always translate well over the net, but that was pretty obvious
I posted that at 9 a.m. Drinking doesn’t start until 10:30. Sheesh…I’m not that much of a drunk.
Ha Ha Good one
I am
haha. sarcasm at it’s finest right there
There must be a clause in this contract that his fiance has to come around to all the games… that alone would make this contract worth it…
She’s gotta be worth a good 5 or 6 WAR
You could just watch the next season Dancing With the Stars…
Brad Penny: Further proof that you don’t need to be smart, talented or good looking to land a really hot babe.. just rich.
What the hell? How is Brad Penny making the same base salary as webb? They are both coming off of injury and yea webb has higher incentives but still thats if he pitches well which is what you want no matter what. I dont know, why didnt the tigers go after webb?
Could be because Penny at least pitched in the big leagues for parts of the last two seasons. Webb pitched 4 innings in 2009 and 0 innings in 2010.
Webb is considered the better pitcher, but will he even see a ML mound this year? You could ask the same question about Penny, but I like his chances to at least pitch for you this year better than I like Webb’s.
Penny has a history of injuries though, webb has had just that one. If we had to bet who would finish this season and pitch better then it would be webb. Webb will start the season, he made some rehab starts already.
seriously??
The amount of injuries doesn’t matter as much as the extent of the injury. Webb has pitched 4 innings in the last 2 years. Shoulder surgery is one of the toughest injuries to come back from.
Yeah..just ask Bonderman. He went from a #2 to a #6 guy.
Bondo isnt even int he same league as Webb, Bondo had ONE good season in 06 and a bunch of average at best seasons. He lost 19 games in a season!
Wow, selective data mining much? He lost 19 games when the Tigers set the AL record for losses. You really want to pin that on his skill set? He was like 20 years old for crying out loud.
I didnt say Bondo wasnt the same as Webb..but he was a good pitcher when he was healthy, and WAS NOT the same when he came back from shoulder surgery <<— this is my point.
Webb recovering from surgery on his shoulder is not as easy as Penny recovering from an injury that just required physical therapy and rest.
This is where your analogy fails to make an adequate point. Bond owas average, shoulder surgery below average. Webb was a cy young winner and one of the best pitchers in the game, him not being 100% would still be better then anything bondo could put up and still make him a good #2 in any rotation.
So the drop off isnt that bad considering what level he was at, and I would take that over a high 5 era penny who cant stay healthy consistently and has proven he is unable to pitch in the AL.
I simply agreed with the guy who said its tougher to come back from some a shoulder SURGERY (emphasis on surgery) than Penny’s injury which DID NOT require SURGERY.
Youre the one making Webb vs Bonderman comparisons…so i dont really know who you’re debating? Try reading a post before you argue it. Helps out 😉
Surgery fixes ailments more often then simply sitting on it and doing rehab.
Actually you began the bondo comparisons.
And in my previous post I said that even a webb who isnt 100% is better then a healthy penny if his skills detioriate on the same level as bondos did(which isnt likely) simply because he was one of the best pitchers in baseball.
Now who isnt reading posts?
Surgery more often fixes ailments than therapy? OMG you cant be serious! That might be THE most naiive thing Ive ever read in here. Did they tell you that at Med school? Depends on the type of injury/surgery, smarty pants.
Please point to where I compared Bonderman to Webb.
I said Bondo came back worse than before..plain and simple.
Never said Penny would be better than Webb, or that Webb would end up the same quality pitcher that Bonderman did. You have some serious reading comprehension problems, man…just walk away before you start looking foolish.
You brought him up in a conversation about webb…..wow?
Surgery fixes ailments wheras the “just rehab and see if it comes back approach” isnt really working as well anymore. This just comes from observations of players opting to have surgery and fixing things then just rehabbing and continuing to get injured(matt stafford shoulder injury) Also you see most players now just opting to have surgery.
I never said webb would be the same quality of pitcher, but that even if he did regress he would still be very good (using bondos regression as a comparison)
What point are you trying to make?
This is where you compared them btw, by simply stating that bondo suffered from shoulder surgery therefore webb would. They are 2 different people, and completely different pitchers. “oh dang cuz bondo failed epically so will webb because of shoulder surgery”.
I wasnt even replying to YOU. I was agreeing with the guy who stated surgery is tougher to come back from than an injury which doesnt require cutting into the muscles. I think you need to retrace this chain, because you may have confused me with someone else.
Secondly- please cite your stats for surgery vs rehab. That argument sounds fictional at best. Rehab injuries typically mean a lesser degree of severity. Surgery is always a last resort scenario. I think the only surgery a pitcher usually comes back from with some kind of certainty is Tommy John. Shoulder surgery is extremly difficult by comparison.
How do I know this? Ive had recent conversations with two Sports physicians and a PT regarding my throwing arm shoulder.
If you dont believe me, call UoM or Wayne State hospitals and ask for the CPA for the Sports Injury dept.
Seriously, just stop. Youre coming off as misinformed, stubborn, and silly.
way to straw man me there!
Fictional at best? Listen I know the lions havent won in awhile but they are still a football team and have a guy named stafford, oh and ells/pedrioa tried to come back with rehab and failed. Really I dont know why we are even talking about this, you are arguing things that frankly dont matter.
Replying to a guy under a thread about webb….really?
And ignoring everything else I said, and using ad hominum fallacy in reasoning.
My point was this, I dont understand whyut he tigers didnt go after webb instead of penny for the same amount of money, yes shoulder surgery is risky but webb does not have the injury history that penny has and he a way better pitcher.
Remember I started this “thread”
If you resond, please dont use any more fallacies.
Its only ad hominem if its not true.
You stated surgery is easier to recover from than a lesser injury that only requires PT. This is outright BS. I cant tell if you really believe this, or are lying to cover your argument.
Youre comparing your personal observations of NFL players performance to baseball pitchers. Your opinion has no factual merit and is a rather questionable/laughable point.
You may very think Webb is better than Penny, and Ive never argued against that. My point (restated, CLEALY several times) was that surgery is tougher to come back from than Penny’s injury. Nothing about who is better..just the risk of each recovery. Even if you start a thread, it doesnt mean all the follwing comments are directed to the initial statement.
I can tell youre getting angry, so I would suggest again to drop it. The only thing youre convincing the board members is that you dont know what youre talking about.
I am not getting angry and ad hominem can be real and still a fallacy. I.e a different type me saying you need to eat healthy and yet I eat unhealthy makes me a hypocrite but my reasoning is still sound. Something true.
Comparing a shoulder injury of an nfl player who has had 2 years of being on the disabled list due to minimal contact and rehab isnt that far off dude 🙂 shoulder injury amirite? And I named 2 baseball players that failed to rehab and went to surgery, not to mention the many pitchers that have chosen rehab and failed.
I would rather have someone that has only had 1 major injury then a bunch of big ones that caused him to miss lots of time. The risk is therefore greater with penny in terms of reinjury then it would be based on webb. Not to mention the skill level.
I really dont get mad, especially with things like this.
I started this thread to say how much better webb would have been, you keep derailing it with pointless comments then ignoring points made by the author.
Penny was averaging 94mph last season… Webb can’t even throw 84 right now.
True, but the ceiling on webb is much higher and if he can just get back to the high 80s I think he could still be very effective as long as he regained mastery of his sinker which made him the ground ball pitcher he is.
The risk is higher on webb for sure, but I just feel that he has potentional to be wya better than penny and webb probably wont get reinjured as its not really his history.
Really? Penny or Strasburg?
I would rather have a pitcher that had one major injury but has been healthy aside from that then a bunch of injuries that caused him to miss serious amounts of time.
Could be because Penny at least pitched in the big leagues for parts of the last two seasons. Webb pitched 4 innings in 2009 and 0 innings in 2010.
Webb is considered the better pitcher, but will he even see a ML mound this year? You could ask the same question about Penny, but I like his chances to at least pitch for you this year better than I like Webb’s.
I still don’t understand why they are stretching out Phil Coke…
I think that signing penny basically means he will end up in the bullpen by the end of spring
Everybody wants to be CJ Wilson!
Yeah, I completely agree, and was just on my way to say this. Coke should stay in the pen, let Penny and Galarraga have the #4 and #5 spots.
Hopefully for The Tigers it works out better than his last stint in the AL.
How hard is he throwing these days?
According to Fangraphs, his fastball averaged 94.1 MPH last year.
Thanks, he’s not as far off as I thought from when he was good. Decent signing.
“Not as far off?”
Penny’s thrown harder than he ever has over the last two years. He’s never cracked a 94mph average until 2009.
Yeah, but it had no movement whatsoever, which made it highly hittable.
That explains why he threw it less than 50% of the time in 2010.
How hard is he throwing these days?
This would have been a decent pick up for any team..3M these days isn’t too much for a 5th starter 4th at best..although Im shocked he didn’t pick an NL West team, a much easier place than the AL Central to rebuild value
This would have been a decent pick up for any team..3M these days isn’t too much for a 5th starter 4th at best..although Im shocked he didn’t pick an NL West team, a much easier place than the AL Central to rebuild value
I like this signing because it adds pitching depth and competition. They money we spend on him wouldnt hurt us to add more payroll and you never know, he could pitch pretty solid.
I agree, never can have too much pitching. He still throws hard, like the groundball rate (as long as he keeps them right at our sure handed but rangeless infield) and is a great insurance policy for P. Yayo or Ragga. I expect one of them to not work out very well, but penny is there to more than make up for the slack.
I like this signing because it adds pitching depth and competition. They money we spend on him wouldnt hurt us to add more payroll and you never know, he could pitch pretty solid.
I love this. At worst, eating his $3MM is going to be much more bearable than eating Robertson’s $10MM or Willis’ $12MM salaries last year, and at best, he’s a quality mid/back-end starter who provides some quality innings for the Tigers this year. I honestly see him and Galarraga winning a spot in a perfect world and Coke going back to the bullpen where he was pretty good. That gives the Tigers a solid rotation and a potentially nasty bullpen. The Tigers put themselves in a great position for this season.
The only thing that bothers me: why is he getting as much as Brandon Webb is as far as guaranteed money goes when Brandon Webb is obviously better than Penny?
“The only thing that bothers me: why is he getting as much as Brandon Webb is as far as guaranteed money goes when Brandon Webb is obviously better than Penny?”
Health. Penny has been healthier the last 2 years than Webb.
Penny was also out a good portion of last season, but there is some truth to that point I guess.
Better than not pitching at all in 2010 like Webb.
Penny was also out a good portion of last season, but there is some truth to that point I guess.
Webb WAS better than Penny. Webb has not pitched in two years and reports had Webb throwing 82-83. Thats not very promising. Only THoff, Wakefield and Moyer have been able to pull off throwing that slow. Plus, incase you’re just learning about DD, he has a thing for flamethrowers. Just saying.
I love this. At worst, eating his $3MM is going to be much more bearable than eating Robertson’s $10MM or Willis’ $12MM salaries last year, and at best, he’s a quality mid/back-end starter who provides some quality innings for the Tigers this year. I honestly see him and Galarraga winning a spot in a perfect world and Coke going back to the bullpen where he was pretty good. That gives the Tigers a solid rotation and a potentially nasty bullpen. The Tigers put themselves in a great position for this season.
The only thing that bothers me: why is he getting as much as Brandon Webb is as far as guaranteed money goes when Brandon Webb is obviously better than Penny?
It feels like the Twins just fell to 3rd place in the division. I think PECOTA/CAIRO, etc. will reflect that.
It feels like a certain White Sox fan is about the most bitter commenter on this site since he only posts to trash the Twins, even when they’re not directly involved in the article.
That said, Penny at $3M is a good signing… but here’s hoping it ends up being a sunk cost.
It’s the tightest division in baseball; all transactions between the top three teams are of high importance to each other. I hear there’s a moustached $20M man on his way to Minny.
It feels like a certain White Sox fan is about the most bitter commenter on this site since he only posts to trash the Twins, even when they’re not directly involved in the article.
That said, Penny at $3M is a good signing… but here’s hoping it ends up being a sunk cost.
Penny is a better fit in the NL.
Coke’s starting full-time now?
Says Jim Leyland. You can take what he says with a grain of salt, he’ll be in the bullpen. No way we’ll start the season with Schlereth and Brad Thomas as the lefties out of pen.
I’ve liked what I’ve seen out of Schlereth late in the season. At worst he is your situational lefty. Agreed that Coke in the BP as the 7th/8th inning guy is the best role for him.
We already have some good talent in the pen.
Valverde
Benoit
Perry
Zumaya (if healthy)
Schlereth
Thomas
Weinhardt/Furbush as of right now. If Coke gets moved back, he completes the pen, instead of one of those 2.
Why even say if healthy with Zumaya? he is good for 30 innings tops.
All he has to do is change his mechanics.
Don’t you know that after a couple more injuries zumaya will be an indestructible robot?
I am really like the idea of a cyborg Zumaya in the pen. Let’s see if his mechanical arm will hit 110mph
I was thinking 210 mph. His one arm will also be used as a guitar for guitar hero.
I dislike Thomas… Inherited runners scored should be the most important stat for situational guys like him, and he didn’t get it done. Schlereth is pretty filthy when he locates, and robot Zumaya is going to post a .000101 ERA. (the only difficulty is that robots don’t get the same bite on the breaking ball).
I still wish we could’ve made a bid for a single year lefty so that P. Yayo could go back to locking down the pen, while still allowing for Oliver’s progression next year (fingers crossed).
Who’s Dave going to sigh once he runs out of Marlins players from the late 1990s? This is getting ridiculous.
apparently guys with comedic names (Furbush)
i have a gut feeling that Penny can edge out Phil Coke for the 4 spot in a all-of-a-sudden decent Tigers rotation
i have a gut feeling that Penny can edge out Phil Coke for the 4 spot in a all-of-a-sudden decent Tigers rotation