No Relation To Wendell

Highway robbery for the Red Sox in getting the talented 24-year-old fireballer Byun-Hyung Kim from Arizona for Shea Hillenbrand, assuming that Kim is healthy, that is (he just got off the DL). Granted, I’m heavily biased towards sidearmers, but Kim has a higher upside, he’s younger than Shea and still reasonably cheap (he makes $3.25 million; Hillenbrand’s a bargain at $407,000), and the Sox already have another guy who plays Hillenbrand’s position; Hillenbrand can’t do anything that Bill Mueller can’t. I think this is an absolute steal. Granted, Hillenbrand’s guts & attitude have made him a better player than he looks on paper, but he’s still a guy who won’t have a great average or power numbers, never walks, doesn’t steal bases and isn’t a great fielder. In the minors he was a mediocre hitter, an awful fielder and often injured. It’s true that pennants have been lost for the want of guys like Hillenbrand, but he’s still basically a much easier commodity to replace than Kim.
I liked Kim as a starter, and it appears the Sox may stick with that even if they could use a closer. Kim has a less than stellar record against the Yankees, but then, Scott Brosius isn’t around to torture him anymore.
Baseball Prospectus lists most-similar players to each guy at same age. Hillenbrand’s #1 is Frank Malzone, but #4 is more intriguing for history-minded Sox fans: Danny Cater. Think he’d be worth dealing for a closer?
Kim’s comps include Bruce Sutter (#2), Tom Hall and Luis Tiant (his most similar, by far, is Scott Williamson).