The Boston Red Sox and relief pitcher Edward Mujica agreed to a two-year deal with $9.5 million. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports originally reported the deal.
Mujica, a 29 year-old righthander, is coming off a year where he saved 37 games for the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the best year of Mujica’s career, as he posted a 2.78 ERA and 3.71 FIP, striking out 18 percent of hitters while walking just five in 64.2 innings.
However, he stumbled in September, surrendering nine runs in 7.1 innings, and losing the closer role to the flamethrowing Trevor Rosenthal. He made just two appearances in the Cardinals postseason run.
Like Uehara, the splitter is Mujica’s best pitch. In the last two years, he’s thrown the pitch over half the time. It’s allowed him to be equally effective against righties and lefties.
For his career, he’s allowed a .709 OPS against lefthanded hitters, and a .705 OPS against righties. Also, the splitter allowed Mujica to get swings at 44 percent of the pitches he threw outside of the strike zone in 2013, a higher rate than Uehara.
Furthermore, Mujica has excellent control. He’s walked just 3.8 percent of hitters in his career. In 2013, Mujica threw first-pitch strikes to 75 percent of hitters. The next closest reliever was Uehara at 71 percent.
The Red Sox have been burned the last few years when acquiring relief pitching. Andrew Bailey and Joel Hanrahan come to mind. However, Mujica is a proven strike thrower who can get out righties and lefties. At less than $5 million a year, he’s a nice addition to a Red Sox bullpen that could use the depth, particularly if Brandon Workman transitions to the starting rotation.
