Why trade for Drew Pomeranz? Dave Dombrowski explains
"This year he just took it to another level," Dombrowski said of Pomeranz.
With a 2.47 ERA, 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings, and a 8-7 record, Drew Pomeranz should help improve the Red Sox’ 4.72 team ERA, which is 19th-best in MLB. The Red Sox added Pomeranz in a trade on Thursday.
In recent weeks, Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski traded for utility men Aaron Hill and Michael Martinez, and reliever Brad Ziegler. Dombrowski detailed why the Sox made yet another move to acquire the 27-year-old starting pitcher.
“He’s a good pitcher,” Dombrowski told reporters on a conference call Thursday night. “He’s grown over the last few years. He’s a very good pitcher, as shown by him pitching in the All-Star Game. Has three quality pitches, really changed the mix of his pitches. He has a premium above-average breaking ball, he has a fastball that he knows how to use, he gets it up to 94, but he changes speed on. He’s added a cutter.
“People kind of forget, when you follow this guy’s career, this guy was a premium guy coming out of college. He was the fifth pick in the country back then. We absolutely loved him. We were sad he went to a club in our own division at the time. He then got traded in a big trade when Cleveland ended up acquiring Jiminez. He struggled a little bit. Sometimes it takes time for guys to find themselves. He found himself in the bullpen with Oakland. He actually, if you look at his numbers the last couple of years, he pitched well. This year he just took it to another level. We like his ability, we like his age, he’s 27 years of age, coming into the prime years of his life.
“We also liked the idea to give up a quality young pitching prospect for him, but we also do retain being in the organization a couple of years before he’s a free agent beyond this year. Even though we now have three left-handers in our rotation, I don’t know that you ever have enough left-handers. That’s a plus. We really liked a lot of things about him.”
Pomeranz will be under the Sox’ control until 2018 with arbitration years in 2017 and 2018.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com