Finding a return to the NL to his liking, 37 year-old closer Bob Wickman has re-upped with the Braves for one year and $6.5MM. It seems a little pricey for a guy valued at about a million bucks for 2007 by Baseball Prospectus’s PECOTA projection system. Still, he was the best option in a thin market.
Some teams are already thinking outside the box when looking for closers. The Red Sox are considering trying hard-thrower Matt Clement in the role. His stuff is nasty, so maybe a move to the ’pen would do him good. Other possible converts include Adam Eaton, Randy Wolf, and Kerry Wood. Wood is the most likely to make the switch, and he could find some interested parties despite pitching only 85 innings over the past two seasons.
