Red Sox Memories: Caveat Emptor for Chaim Bloom and free agents
By Rick McNair
Five Red Sox pitchers and a cost of $365M
David Price was a disaster with performance and personality and with a $217M contract, it was even more pronounced. Price managed to work his way to the IL playing a video game, had flareups with fans online, innocent media bystanders felt his verbal wrath and a broadcaster had an exchange of “compliments.” . Price was such a wreck Boston paid to rid themselves of this awful signing.
Maybe it was a line drive off his noggin that did in Matt Clement with the Red Sox? Clement signed a three-year deal for $26M and was 10-2 in his first season at the halfway point and an All-Star. Clement started to fall apart after that line drive off his head and finished 13-8. The next season it was 5-5 and an ERA in the stratosphere before giving in to a sore shoulder. That was it for Clement.
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Daisuke Matsuzaka cost the Red Sox $51M just as a posting fee and then came the contract – six-years/$52M. In his first two seasons, Dice went 33-15 and was an important part of the 2007 team that captured a World Series. Matsusaka was prone to moments of wildness, but his skill set deteriorated rapidly after 2008 going 17-22 in the next four seasons. Injuries certainly didn’t help. Returning to his native Japan the Dice Man was a shell of his former self.
Ramiro Mendoza was an integral part of several champion New York Yankee teams as a relief specialist. The Red Sox signed Mendoza to a two-year deal worth $6.5M and in return got a 5-6 record and 5.73 ERA. In 97.1 innings Mendoza gave up 13 home runs.
Next. Steps for a perfect offseason. dark
Bobby Jenks was a lights-out closer getting 173 saves for the White Sox so the Red Sox coughed up $12M for two years. The end result was just one year, zero saves, a 12.6 H/9, and a release. If you polled Red Sox Nation I doubt many would even remember that Jenks played for Boston. At the end of the day, he’s just another blip on the poor signing radar.