Contract Questions

In all of the hubbub over the Joel Pineiro contract (well, if by hubbub you mean my obsessively checking about three websites over and over...) something is still a bit unclear to me. It's been widely reported as a $4 million deal for one year. I've also heard from numerous places that there is a $2 million incentive in place, based on "games finished." Obviously this tips the hand of the Sox that they made this signing with the intent on making Pineiero at least a solid candidate for closer. My question is- is it a $2 million deal plus $2 million in incentives or a $4 million contract with another $2 million in incentives. That makes a bit of a difference to how I see this.

If it's a $2 million base with the other 2 in incentives, that's a really savvy acquisition. Given this pitching market, $2 million to take a chance on an arm like Pineiero's is a very good pickup. If nothing else, he can be bundled and flipped to another team starving for pitching. If he flops in the bullpen, he'll never reach the games finished incentive level anyway, and the Sox are out $2 million TOPS. If he succeeds and becomes a good closer, then $4 million is a very reasonable price to pay for a major league closer. If the base is $4 million and could jump to six, well that's not quite as good. Still, if that last $2 million kicks in, it must mean that Pineiro is doing something right. I'd just like some clarification on this, so that I can know how happy or perplexed to be.

In somewhat related news, Keith Foulke signed on with the Indians yesterday. Well, I know that he wanted to get closer to his home in Arizona, and technically Cleveland IS closer than Boston to Phoenix...but this guy must have really hated playing for Boston. He's making $5 million base in Cleveland, with some incentives, I understand. With arbitration, he could probably have made about $6 or $6.5 in Boston. It's obviously not about the money. To my mind, it's probably about 35% that he hated pitching in Boston and about 65% that he is more likely to get to be the closer in Cleveland. Even with Papelbon returning to the rotation, it was no slam-dunk that Foulke would have regained his chair at the end of the bullpen. Cleveland may give him that chance.

Finally, another former Red Sox player signed elsewhere yesterday. Mark Loretta agreed to a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Astros. The contract also includes a million in incentives. This one is a little sad to me. I don't know if there would have been a place for him on the Sox bench. I agree that it's time for the Dustin Pedroia era to begin, so he wouldn't have been the starter at second. The Sox did just give Alex Cora $4 million over two years to be the utility guy, and Loretta gives you about 60% more offensive production than Cora (well, that's not ACTUALLY based on statistics, but you get the point). And yes, Cora can play basically anywhere on the field but catcher, and Loretta's probably a 2B or 1B only. I guess I understand him not being in Boston this year, but geez. Only a one year deal? Only $2.5 million for a guy who was an all-star twice in the last four years? It's a weird market. Trot's still unemployed, too.