We needed a young outfielder. We needed one who could hit, but also needed one who could be a fourth outfielder this year and mash lefties. We needed one who could step into the shoes of Trot Nixon if (when?) he departs this year (or gets injured).
We needed power off the bench, as I alluded to earlier today. We needed a rotation jam cleared up.
Well, we solved quite a bit of problems, now that Wily Mo Pena is a Red Sox.
“They have a surplus of seven starting pitchers in their mind and I agree,” Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky said. “They needed a right-handed bat to complement Trot Nixon. It all fell into place rather quickly. (Boston general manager) Theo Epstein and I have been talking about this for three or four days.”
“He’s 24 years old. He’s just a baby,” said Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, who played with Pena on the Dominican team. “You know this game. It’s a learning process.”
Pena said he was surprised by the deal. He is still considered a raw talent but has outstanding power.
Pena, who just turned 24, is coming off a .254/.304/.492 season, and in 2004 hit .259/.316/.527. More importantly for us, here are his lefty splits in 2004 and 2005:
2005: .291/.345/.536 v. LHP, .234/.282/.468 v. RHP
2004: .302/.388/.651 v. LHP, .244/.289/.484 v. RHP
We’ve got our platoon partner, someone with pop coming off the bench, and who has above-average speed. He has very good range, and a very strong arm, all things that point to him eventually becoming a starting right-fielder if he can mature and grow and hit righties. If he can, which is still very possible, we’ve got our right-fielder of the future. If not, we’ve still got an outstanding platoon partner for Trot Nixon who can be a power threat off the bench versus righties.
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