The Red Sox avoided going to the arbitration table again when they finished up a one year deal with Wily Mo Pena. The slugging outfielder has been an enigma of late. He broke out for the Reds in 2004 when he hit 26 homeruns in only 110 games. Then injuries kept him down in 2005 and he was dealt to the Red Sox for Bronson Arroyo and once again, he played dinged up quite a bit but still hit .301 with 11 homeruns in 276 at bats.
If, and this is a big if, they can find 450-500 at bats AND Mo Pena avoids the injury bug, we could see a 30 homerun season out of him with a pretty good batting average. For now, Pena will be the fourth outfielder but since he can play all four spots, he should get his share of at bat.
PECOTA has Pena pegged at a .276/.336/.504 clip with 20 homeruns in 417 plate appearances. If he could get that, I’d be pretty happy for what we’re paying him this year.
