The Red Sox signed outfielder Bobby Kielty to a mL deal that he can opt out of in 7 days. The FO has already said he will be joining the ML team shortly after he reaclimates himself to bsaeball in Pawtucket.

Obviously he'll take over Brandon Moss' spot short term... but what happens when Eric Hinske is ready to come back (shortly, I assume). There's not enough room for Hinske, Kielty and Wily Mo. Everyone here I'm sure knows that I think Peña has a very bright future ahead of him if he's given a chance to play on a regular basis at a set outfield position or as a DH. It seems obvious that he simply doesn't fit on the Red Sox, as he doesn't function well as either a pinch hitter, or a 4th outfielder because of the sporadic and unpredictable play... and his future is blocked at DH and corner outfield spots. I think the Sox FO would love to hold onto him as insurance as a power threat if Manny or Ortiz go down.. but WMP's spot on the 25 man for the playoffs seems like a bad fit.
Do people think the Kielty signing spells the certain end of Wily Mo in Red Sox, or does it mean that Eric Hinske will be DFA'd?

If it's Hinske that goes, I really have to believe that Theo and Co. actually are very confident that Wily Mo will be around next season and will be Manny's eventual replacement in LF.

Either way... the Kielty signing starts the next chapter in Peña's career. Will it be here, with our Red Sox... or somewhere else?

Considering Hinske's ability to play the corner IF positions, it seems like a risk to DFA him. We don't really have options at AAA right now to plug a 15 day Lowell or Youk trip to the DL..Unless 15 days of Ortiz at 1b could be tolerated...But, can't see WMP just let go either..Maybe they are going to try to slip WMP through waivers??? That of course will not work, but they might as well try....maybe they think Jr Spivey could hold down 3b/1b for a couple weeks if need be. blahblah get to the point Old!!! WMPs days are numbered with the Sox.

Kielty also plays 1st base.....
Right now with Papi's loose grip on staying healthy, I'd prefer to see him DH and that's it from here on out.

I'd love to see Peña clear waivers too... but I can't see it happening. I don't know what else to do with the kid though.

Hinske is WMP's flip side - the potential isn't nearly as great but he functions very well as a bench player. And that's the job description.

Don't like it .. Wily Mo is part of the team with the best record in baseball .. why screw it up? We've got Ellsbury (and WMP) if Coco gets hurt .. it would be a very, very poor move to let WMP go at this point ..

What's the gain in a move to Kielty? What do we hope to accomplish with that move that sticking with Wily and Hinske does not accomplish?

WMP's defining moment as a bench player may have come tonight when a rookie callup faced K-Rod in the 9th with the tying runs on base. I can't think of a better time to bring a power hitter off the bench.

WMP will be a free agent after 2008, before JD Drew, Manny, or Coco. Moss and Ellsbury are coming up fast with all those AAA AB's piling up.

His career with the Red Sox is dead right now.

Whether you like him or not.... he's pretty much gone after we get back to Boston IMO. I can't say it's a mistake simply because he doesn't "fit" on the team. In several ways, I'd prefer Kielty over Hinske, but as Off said, Hinske functions well as a bench player while WMP struggles sadly in that role.
Honestly I'm all for letting him go.... I'm very bullish on the kid, but I'd rather see him get a consistent and steady spot on a team and play every day rather than languish while his skills become even more numb.

And Bill Lee says, "I was waiting for the Carbo like move, you know the unnecessary one that will irk more than a few guys .." :thumbdown:

Meanwhile, back in Cincinnati, Bronson Arroyo allowed 7 runs in 1-2/3 innings in last Wednesday's loss to the Nationals and is now 4-12 for the season.

WMP just doesnt fit th bench player model, with more playing time he could become a monster at the plate, but unfortunately it is not going to happen here, as we all noticed last night, they kept the rookie in rather than use their best power threat from the bench, i would say his days are numbered

Wily Mo is rumoured to have cleared 'trade' waivers. The Sox are now free to trade him.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/thebuzz/

Somewhere in America, there is a bag of shiny new white baseballs just waiting to call Boston home.

Wait.... doesn't that mean they can actually send him to AAA?!?!?!?
I don't get the waivers thing at all....

apparently not on these kinds of waivers ...

Aha.
I poked around a little... WMP has been placed on "revocable" waivers, meaning if a team claims him the Sox can yank him back. He can only go to a mL assignment if he was placed on "irrevocable" waivers and clears (nobody claims him).
Of course I really have no idea what any of that actually means in this context....

Basically... are we open to trading... did we place him on waivers and people claimed him but we said 'no'? :wacko:

The fact that he cleared waivers indicates 'no'. If anyone claimed him, we would have had to pull him off waivers to keep him from wearing new laundry.

If he cleared waivers, that means no one claimed him. Which means that the Sox can trade him before August 31.

I can't imagine they'll be able to get much for him, though. He offers no real short-term value for a contending team; there's no such thing as "short-term value" at this point for the teams that are out of the race; and his deal is up at the end of the year, with the Red Sox almost certain not to offer him arbitration (he just doesn't seem to be in their plans anymore).

In other words, even if someone wants to take a crack at him, they'll have their chance in the offseason. Why would anyone give up anything of value just to have the right to offer him arbitration? I just don't see it.

Can't for the life of me figure out why a team like Texas or KC wouldn't grab him and just DH him full time........

I could definitely see the Royals grabbing him in the offseason for exactly that purpose, especially with the incumbent full-time DH Mike Sweeney heading into free agency - and injured far too often these days for him to be the guy they try to build an offense around.

Texas would make sense, since they lost some power in the Teixeira trade, and their incumbent full-time DH is a 38 year old .243 hitter who was great for giving Rangers fans some reason to go to the ballpark this year as he pursued career HR #600 - but that bridge has been crossed. Sosa won't be of much use for them next year.

But in either case, why give the Red Sox anything for him when he'll be out there for the taking in the offseason? I could be wrong. Maybe having the right to be the team that can offer him arbitration is worth something...but if I was one of those teams, I couldn't justify giving up anything more than B/C level prospects, or a veteran bullpen arm that the Sox don't even need.

What a bummer.

Dude.

I really hope Pena has a few shining moments here and then a great career started in an everyday low-market situation, and one day returns as a superstar.

You mean like the other Pena we let go did?

From Edes at the Globe:

Does that mean at the end of the month he will have cleared the standard waiver wire and eligible for AAA time? If he accepted a mL contract? If I were WMP, that's what I'd do because getting a starting job isn't going to be easy with his history.

But maybe a trade will happen.

Frankly, I have never been a Wily Mo Pena fan and think anyone who really believes this man is going to emerge as a solid ballplayer is taking something that is not good for him. I watched him two seasons plus with the Reds and he seemed to regress badly after a promising start. He is doing exactly that with the Red Sox and I'm surprised from what I saw of him before that the Red Sox would still hold on to this guy. I don't know how much you know about his fielding but he has to be one of the very worst outfielders I've ever seen. It seems like there is a misplayed ball every time he is in the game. Bronson did just fine yesterday and I have to believe the Reds got the better end of that deal. Kielty I saw a few times in Yankee Stadium when I flew there for some games and a little R and R. He is a fiery type player who plays above his ability. To be honest with you I would take him over Pena any day.

Call him whatever you like:

Wily Mo
WMP
Cerrano (my favorite)

but it appears that our favorite broken shutter may not be long for the Sox, especially with Bobby Kielty at Pawtucket readying himself to take over the 4th outfielder spot.

Where could he end up going? One thing for sure, whoever gets him should plan on being able to make sure he gets plenty of ABs, as consistent playing time seems to be his best friend (well, next to a belt high fastball on the inner half of the plate). What about Oakland, maybe bringing back Piazza (this would be especially helpful if Papi is to miss any real time)

Personally, I'll be sorry to see the kid go. I would have been perfectly happy to see him as the everyday RFer this year, because, as we've all seen and I've already alluded to, he seems to get better the more he plays.

What do you guys think?

edit: didn't see that there was already a thread on this subject started. Can one of our esteemed mods please merge this?

thanks,

I'm not even sure now.....
I can't believe the Sox haven't DFA'd him at this point. Bobby Kielty is sucking in AAA so that's probably why... but I'd rather have Brandon Moss right now. His defense isn't great, but he's got decent range and won't fumble or make bad routes. He obviously doesn't have the HR power and potential that defines Pena, but I also think Brandon "fits" better as a part-time player.
I expect he'll take over Hinske's spot as backup corner OF and backup 1st baseman...

Agree -- rather have Moss. I used to be quite taken with Wily Mo but frankly he hasn't impressed me enough this year to keep me among the faithful. Mirabelli has a great deal of homerun power too and look at all the good it does him.

At this point I don't see what Modesto can do that Brandon can't, and Brandon's plate discipline is infinitely greater (on the principle that any positive value is infinitely greater in proportion to zero) and Moss's defense is rated highly at the corners from all I've heard despite his rocky start in Boston.

i've read that his defense is average, but his glove and arm are above average. He'd obviously be better than Hinske and WMP... might not range as much as WMP... but... well... won't go there.

There's really no argument, from even the staunchest Wily Mo supporters, about the quality of the results this year.

But we're talking about 167 PA. He's appeared in 70 of the Sox' 114 games. So he's barely played in half the games - and in those games, he's not even averaging 2.5 PAs. Even when he gets the start (a little more than half of his games played), he's replaced at some point in the game nearly 40% of the time.

What player who is still very much in the developmental stage is going to thrive with that kind of sporadic playing time?

If the kid goes on one little 10 for 20 hot streak (which of course won't happen, since he's not going to go on a streak of 20 ABs in a week on this team this year - but he had more than one similar hot stretch last season) with a couple of HR and couple of doubles, he's right back at league-average OPS. That's literally all it would take.

Absolutely, he is useless to this team in the role in which he has been used. Likely, this year stunted his development for the future. He's 25. Still young - but that window is rapidly closing. But the results have been entirely predictable, given the utter lack of PAs.

yup. Another casualty stuck in The Petagine Loop

to be honest im still triying to figure out how we got hereplese remeber ive been anti wmp.we trade as olid fifth pitcher at the time for this guy to be nixons replacement he plays well offensively by in large and gets hurt sure the defense sucked but mgt had to know this when they got him,pena goes to play winter ball to make the need improvemnets and mgt sighn the ever soft playing drew and than decides not to give pena the once and for all shot neede to figure out wher=ther he is a player or not,this oppurtunity presents itself again as drew gets hurt and has an unexpectly bad performance during all of the season,why wasnt he given his one shot to pass or fail?im somewhat baffled.

With some particular attention paid to preparing Moss to play some 1b, and possibly 3rd ( he was drafted as a SS), isn't there room for both in 2008? Essentially, Brandon would have the role Hinske has today and WMP his. If Ellsbury opens the season in CF, then Coco or Manny are liekly to be gone. So, don't think Jacoby clouds the issue.

if the sox deal manny next season they will be able to hold batting practice in the ritz ballroom and likekly not break any chandeliers,they cannot give up another hr threat unles they are going into a retrenchemnet mode for 2009

Personally, I think this offseason will be dedicated to the offense. The pitching, for the most part, seems to be in excellent shape.

i mean its early but how do you improve this,we have a lot of expensive players under contract so im not sure what we can do in the fa mkt or trade mkt without doing another renteria

A catcher to at least push Tek to produce to keep the starting job and a corner infielder seem likely targets ....

could someone explain why pena is not playing anymore my last sighting of him was a week ago

That's funny, because I saw him in left field on Saturday. huh

Wasn't he in for defense late huh

I'm sure he was the one I saw chasing Tejada's improbable double.

Yes he was. He came in for Manny late in the game.