Sox set to sign Pineiro to staff
In the opinion of his former pitching coach, signing Joel Pineiro is a good gamble because he could be a "high-reward guy."
According to a team source, the Red Sox are expected to soon finalize a one-year deal worth $4 million pending a physical for the 28-year-old righthander, a move that would give the team pitching depth.
Pineiro, who was 8-13 with a 6.36 ERA last season, was not offered arbitration by the Mariners, who paid him $6.8 million for '06.
Bryan Price was Seattle's pitching coach for Pineiro's first six seasons in the majors (2000-05) before joining the Diamondbacks.
"He had 2 1/2 outstanding seasons for us in Seattle, and he's had 2, 2 1/2 bad seasons," said Price. "He strained his flexor bundle in '04 and we never saw the same stuff in '05.
"We wanted to shut him down because we had real concerns about his health. His command was off, his velocity was down, but the medicals on him never detected that anything was wrong after he recuperated."
The Sox' rotation seems to be already set with Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, and Jonathan Papelbon, but they are still searching for a closer -- with Washington's Chad Cordero still high atop their wish list. But the Sox don't want to give up top prospects to get that deal done.
Another option for the Sox is to bring several middle relievers to spring training and then sort them out.
The Sox have Mike Timlin, Julian Tavarez, J.C. Romero, Brendan Donnelly, Craig Hansen, and Manny Delcarmen, among others, from whom to find someone to pitch the ninth inning.
Despite starting 148 games in 185 appearances, Pineiro can be added to that list of possibilities. In 2001, Price thought that Pineiro's value might be as a closer.
"Back then, he would have been a prototypical closer," said Price. "His confidence was at a very high level. He could go out there and be throwing anywhere from 92-97 [miles per hour], with a good slider, curve, and changeup. He had great arm strength and he was deadly on righthanded hitters.
"At the time, we had a closer [Kazuhiro Sasaki] and we were in need of starting pitching and Joel wanted to be a starter, so that's the direction we went with him. In '02 and '03, he was a guy you looked at and projected to be your ace for the next 7-9 years. He won 16 games in '03. But he really lost that swagger. He's got to get back to attacking the zone. He's capable of doing it."
Over his career, Pineiro is 58-55 with a 4.48 ERA. In his first four seasons, he was 37-20 with a 3.38 ERA. But since his 16-11 season in '03, he has gone 21-35 with a 5.78 ERA.
In 37 career relief appearances, Pineiro has a 3-1 record with a 3.21 ERA and one save. He also has 62 strikeouts and 35 walks in 70 relief innings.
In nine games against the Sox, Pineiro was 3-5 with a 6.75 ERA, allowing 69 hits (eight home runs) in 50 2/3 innings.
He pitched a gem against Boston last April 15 in a 3-0 combined shutout. Pineiro entered the game with an 0-3 record and 7.50 ERA at Fenway (and 0-5 with a 9.87 ERA in his six previous starts against the Sox). Pineiro then went 6 1/3 innings, allowing five hits with five strikeouts, retiring 15 of 16 batters in one stretch.
He said at the time, "I've never pitched well in this ballpark, and yeah, I guess you could say I was due."
There was again no word on the J.D. Drew contract yesterday. It appears Sox general manager Theo Epstein will focus on getting a deal done with agent Scott Boras in the next day or two . . . The Red Sox' rookie development program will begin Monday at Boston College, where Boston's top prospects, including George Kottaras, David Murphy, and Brandon Moss, will take part in the 10-day camp along with Sox minor league and major league instructors.
Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com. 
