The Red Sox and Drew Pomeranz have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $4.45MM, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). The two sides had the largest gulf between their filing figures (as shown in MLBTR’s 2017 Arbitration Tracker), with Pomeranz filing at $5.7MM and the Sox filing at $3.6MM.
Ultimately, player and team largely met in the middle. They’ll settle a bit south of the $4.65MM midpoint between those two sums. Pomeranz had been projected by MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz to earn $4.7MM after taking home $1.35MM in 2016.
Pomeranz broke out during the first half of last year, racking up 102 innings of 2.47 ERA ball for the Padres, who eventually shipped him to the Red Sox for top pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza. A dispute over the medical information made available did not end up impacting the trade, but did lead to a suspension of San Diego GM A.J. Preller.
Though he made 13 starts for Boston, Pomeranz managed only a 4.59 ERA over 68 2/3 innings. Though he largely maintained his K/BB numbers, finishing with 9.8 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 on the year, he coughed up 14 home runs with Boston. Though it had no real impact on his arb salary, it’s worth noting too that Pomeranz ended up dealing with some arm issues late in the year.
Red Sox shouldn’t have traded Bucholz and should have signed and traded Pomeranz for a better prospect or Major League ready player.
Nope
Prospects? Not DD style.
Speaking as a Jays fan, the Sox did the right thing. Buchholz was either good or healthy — never both. Pomeranz has health concerns, but he’s cheap, left-handed, and could provide rotation depth which would be the envy of most teams.
They shouldn’t have traded Buchholz merely because Farrell may have messed up Steven Wright. But, true, with Sale, Price and E-Rod, the Sox are deep enough in lefties.
DD would rather have a major league player over a prospect.
He should be solid in the pen….. Part time starter
Pom was a 3 WAR starter last season with one of the better k and gb rates among starters. He’s a full time starter, and he’s pretty good. His numbers are identical to danny duffy. It’s funny to see how they are viewed, despite being almost the same caliber pitchers with simiar track records, numbers, and prjections..
I think it’s probably got something to do with his 4.59 era and 4.78fip in the second half and injury concerns to end the year. Whether that’s fair or not is debatable, but I imagine that’s where so many of the ?s are coming from about his starting potential
They really were pretty similar pitchers over the course of last year though. fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&…
Part of his 2nd half struggles were due to a crazy unsustainable home run rate.this is evident by his XFIP (which normalizes a pitcher hr rate) which was a solid 3.7 in the 2nd half. Also his k and Gb rates were both elite in 2nd half. he did pitch 170 innings, which by far exceeded his career high of 90innings, so it is fair to expect fatigue there.
Obviously there is risk in his profile, but some are way overreacting. He has a nice breakout season last year, and is projected to be a solid middle of rotation starter next year. He’s pretty good.
As you pointed out, his numbers are in line with duffy, who just signed a 65million contract. Both are aolid starters, and Pom gets a bad rep despite being solid
I also think his new home park is a little concerning. He went from both the comfort of the NL and Petco to the AL and arguably one of the most unfavorable ballparks. His ERA was over 6 at Fenway, while 2.70 at Petco and about 3.66 against AL teams away from Boston. Duffy is in a good pitching environment and position to succeed. It’s kind of unfair to ask a pitcher to make all those adjustments especially in his first year throwing a bunch of innings. If he can maintain stamina, he could bounce back from his not as good second half and settle into the 3.75 ERA range. I just think his team and league will lower his ceiling a bit. Otherwise, I’d say he might be able to reach the low 3s.
You don’t know that.
Thanks for Espinoza!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Espinosa could be a career minor leaguer. Too soon to say anything. Pomeranz could bounce back as well.
I mean, I guess you’re welcome. We’ll see how it goes, huh?