Vicente Padilla

After opening as the Dodgers' closer in 2011, Padilla suffered a forearm injury and ultimately underwent season-ending neck surgery in June. Those injuries limited him to just 8.2 innings on the year. The Red Sox signed him to a minor league deal in January, but he's hardly a lock to make the Opening Day roster and his role would almost certainly be in middle relief if he sticks.

Forearm and neck injuries limited Padilla to 16 starts last season, but he was solid enough when healthy for the Dodgers to bring him back on an incentive-laden $2 million contract. Padilla posted good peripherals last year (8.0 K/9IP, 2.3 BB/9IP) in compiling a 4.07 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. He sits at No. 6 in terms of the rotation pecking order, but someone is bound to get hurt in-season. Once that happens, go ahead and grab Padilla if he's pitching well and if you need the rotation help.

Overall, Padilla finished 12-6 with a 4.46 ERA and 97:54 K:BB in 147.1 innings. However, Padilla experienced a mini-renaissance after coming to the Dodgers in August, going 4-0 with a 3.20 ERA and impressive 38:12 K:BB in 39.1 innings before two excellent playoff starts and one clunker. Padilla celebrated his strong finish by getting shot in the leg (allegedly via a malfunctioning gun) in November, but he's expected to be fine for spring training. Expect some team to give him an incentive-laden one-year deal to be its fifth starter.

Padilla rebounded from a tough 2007 season, racking up 127 Ks and 14 wins while making 29 starts. That's pretty much as good as you can hope for with Texas, and was a near repeat of his 2006 season (15 wins, 156 Ks in 33 starts). Taking the ball every fifth day should result in decent wins and Ks if you can manage some minor WHIP and ERA damage.

Padilla missed nearly two months due to elbow discomfort, and a decent September (17 innings, nine hits, 10 walks, 13 K) was the only stretch of effectiveness. A repeat of his 2006 season (15 wins, 156 K, 4.50 ERA) would lead to some roto value, but tread carefully here given his across-the-board struggles in 2007.

Padilla managed to win 15 games, which was enough to warrant a $33 million contract with Texas this offseason. His improved control (156:70 K:BB rate in 200 innings) from the year prior (103:74 K:BB in 147 innings) was the main reason, and his peripherals are back in line with his solid seasons from 2002 and 2003. His numbers away from Ameriquest (1.27 WHIP, 74:28 rate in 100.2 innings) show some promise, and tossing out a bad September (1.65 WHIP, 6.06 ERA in 35.2 innings after pasisng the 160-inning mark for the first time since 2003) hint at upside if he were in a better pitcher's park.

Padilla "is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma," as Winston Churchill once said. He missed spring training with a recurrence of the triceps injury that he suffered in 2004 and then was bombed in his first dozen starts. Next, he became one of the best pitchers in the league for two months before slowing down in September. Padilla still has good stuff, but his makeup has been questioned. He doesn't speak to the media and has a reputation for being uncoachable. He's worth a shot only at a low price especially since now he'll be pitching in Texas after his offseason trade to the Rangers.

An off-year for Padilla, due to a bone bruise on his elbow that cost him 10 weeks in the middle of the season, sank the Phillies' playoff hopes as much as anything else. He returned to pitch decently, although he was hit hard in September. Padilla could be a bargain in 2005, as his low-90s fastball, good slider and control can eat up hitters.

Talk about your mirror images; Padilla almost duplicated his 2002 season in 2003, with the same number of wins and the same strikeouts/innings ratio. In addition his first half and second half were almost similar. Padilla was involved in an offseason car accident in his native Nicaragua, but the Phils doctors gave him a clean bill of health.

Padilla wore down after the All-Star break, but most feel it was just from pitching too much. He followed a winter season of Mexican League ball with 206 innings in the majors and a very respectable 3.28 ERA (21st in league). He is the Phillies' number two starter. Don't expect too many strikeouts (128 in 206 IP), but he had a respectable 1.22 WHIP.