The Boston Red Sox today acquired right-handed pitcher Boof Bonser from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for a player to be named later. The announcement was made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Theo Epstein.
Bonser, 28, missed the 2009 season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery in February to repair partial tears to the labrum and rotator cuff in his right shoulder. The right-hander made one rehabilitation appearance on September 6 for the Twins Single-A Fort Myers affiliate, tossing 1.0 scoreless frame.
Over the Monster appropriately calls it "Not exactly a Halladay-esque acquisition," and then takes a look at what he could mean for Boston.
For his career, Boof hasn't done anything that spectacular. He has a 5.12 ERA in 96 games, with 60 of those coming in starts. His WHIP sits at an all-too-high 1.45 and batters have hit .286 against him lifetime.
Basically, he's not going to light the world on fire. But he does do some things well.
Specifically, he throws strikes. It sounds obvious, but this is what you want a pitcher to do. Over the course of his three seasons with the Twins, 65 percent of his pitches have gone for strikes. His BB/9 for his career sits at 2.87, which would sit as No. 2 in the Red Sox rotation behind Josh Beckett (2.74).
Boof has also been unlucky over his career. His career BABIP is .326, with a .342 mark coming in 2008. If those numbers were to regress just a little bit -- meaning, he'd get lucky for once in his career -- he may be able to put up some good numbers.
Over the Monster appropriately calls it "Not exactly a Halladay-esque acquisition," and then takes a look at what he could mean for Boston.