RealGM

ST. LOUIS -- The pitching-starved St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday acquired right-hander Joel Pineiro, optioned to the minors last week by the Boston Red Sox, and cash for a minor league player to be named.

Pineiro, 28, was a 16-game winner in 2003. He was used exclusively in relief this year by the Red Sox before being sent to Triple-A Pawtucket on July 25.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2955737

To continue the efforts to pick up the worst pitchers ever Jocketty just keeps trading for players that suck. Now, we'll get to see if Pineiro returns to starting like all relievers who come to the Cardinals do, or stays in the bullpen.

It's times like these when realgm needs a "scratches head" emoticon.

I can only assume they are interested in trying him as a starter, since I don't see how our bullpen has a pressing need for a dude with an ERA over 5.

Desperation move. Let's hope we are giving up only the most marginal of prospects for him.

Here's Piniero's career stats:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pineijo01.shtml

Looks like he's been pretty worthless since 2003.

The thing with Pineiro is that his peripheral stats should indicate a better ERA then he always has.

2004: 4.48 xFIP (pretty decent starter in AL)
2005: 4.59 xFIP (getting a little bit worse, but still good enough)
2006: 4.92 xFIP (not good, but not horrible in the AL, still good enough for rotation, some of his innings were as reliever so that probably helped out)
2007: 4.94 xFIP (as a reliever this is pretty bad)

So in 2006 and 2007 he has been pretty bad, so I'm not expecting much at all.

I'm not holding my breath, but here are at least a couple of milquetoast-mild notes of encouragement:

Piniero, a right-hander, recently accepted a minor-league assignment to the Red Sox's Class AAA affiliate, where he made two starts and allowed two earned runs and three hits over eight innings.

He has tremendous movement on his pitches, a propensity for coaxing groundballs, and, as a non-tendered player, an interest in going somewhere to reestablish his value. All traits the Cardinals have cashed in on before.

link

The story also says the Cardinals probably will try him out as a starter.

Mariner fan here---Joel was the best prospect in our system a few short years ago. It was like a switch was turned off when he signed his first contract - Monied up no game ! Hope it works fellas.

Having watched him in a Sox uni for lo these few months I got the feeling that if I were to face Pineiro and Pineiro only people would be accusing me of taking steroids as I pass Bonds in less than 1000 ABs.

Basketball Jesus wrote:Having watched him in a Sox uni for lo these few months I got the feeling that if I were to face Pineiro and Pineiro only people would be accusing me of taking steroids as I pass Bonds in less than 1000 ABs.

too bad he tossed 7 shutout innings last night....

Occasionally good things happen to bad pitchers.

Like going from the AL East to the NL Central, for instance.

Man this was a GREAT pickup. I'm a die hard Cards fan living in the NW so I've seen him pitch a bunch. The guy has some filthy stuff. He just needs a good pitching coach to mold his talents. Hmmmm..... Duncan is a good pitching coach!

Seriously, this was a great gamble for the organization. Watching him with the M's was brutal. You could see the talent but they didn't have the coaching (at the time) to harness and develop his talents.

In light of recent developments, I'd like to personally apologize to Joel Piniero for having the audacity to ever doubt him.

Welcome to the Cardinals, Mr. Piniero, it's great to have you on the team.