When It Rains, It Pours: Padilla Signed

(pic: Matt A. Brown/MLB.com)

According to MLB Trade Rumors, (via Ken Gurnick's Tweet), the Dodgers have sign Vicente Padilla to be one of our starters to a one year $4Mil salary. Salary is $5.025Mil (including a $1Mil sogning bonus).

Welcome back to the Blue Vicente!

From a recently received press release.

The Los Angeles Dodgers today signed right-handed pitcher Vicente Padilla to a one-year contract. General Manager Ned Colletti made the announcement.

“Vicente did a tremendous job for us down the stretch and his continued success in the postseason proved that he can pitch when there’s a lot at stake,” said Colletti.

The 32-year-old Padilla has won 14 or more games in four of the last eight seasons, joining Andy Pettitte as the only two pitchers to accomplish that feat among a free-agent pitching market that has included John Lackey, Randy Wolf, Joel Pineiro, Brett Myers, Jason Marquis and Jon Garland, among others.

During those eight seasons, Padilla’s only campaigns as a starting pitcher, he has posted a 91-76 mark (.545) and averaged 6.0 innings per start. Last year, he went 12-6 with a 4.46 ERA in 26 games (25 starts) for the Dodgers and Rangers. After being signed by Los Angeles on August 19, Padilla went 4-0 with a 3.20 ERA in eight games (seven starts) over the final two months of the season before his continued success in the postseason.

In his first career playoff outing, he pitched 7.0 scoreless innings and allowed just four hits to St. Louis in Game 3 of the NLDS. In Game 2 of the NLCS against the Phillies, he lasted 7.1 innings and allowed just one earned run on four hits but did not earn a decision in the Dodgers’ lone victory of the series. He suffered the defeat in Game 5 to give him a 1-1 record and 3.63 ERA in his three postseason outings.

The Nicaragua native is 98-85 with a 4.33 ERA in 305 career games (221 starts) with Arizona (1999-2000), Philadelphia (2000-05), Texas (2006-09) and Los Angeles (2009).

During his career in the National League, Padilla has posted a 3.92 ERA in 202 career games (118 starts). He was named to the NL All-Star team while with Philadelphia in 2002, when he went 14-11 with a 3.28 ERA in 32 starts.

Padilla led the Rangers’ pitching staff with 14 wins in 2008, and 11 of those victories came on the road away from hitter-friendly Rangers Ballpark in Arlington . His 43 wins overall as a Ranger since the start of the 2006 season rank second on the club in that time, one behind Kevin Millwood’s 44.

Padilla was originally signed as a non-drafted free agent by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 1998.