UnMatchedSox

The Red Sox have signed former Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon to a minor league deal. The money in the deal is not guaranteed and should the 11 year veteran make the major league rotation he’d be earning far below market value with lots of performance bonuses.

When I first heard of the deal, I was less than enthused. For the past two years, Colon has been an absolute train wreck and the only thing that has climbed higher than his weight has been his ERA. Now that I’ve heard the details it became clear that this arrangement is a pretty low risk gamble. With any luck Colon will come in and fill the 5th starter spot, allowing the Sox to keep the innings down on Buchholz’s arm and ease him in to the rotation.

Terry Francona and the Boston Red Sox have agreed to a three year contract extension that will take Tito through 2011. With two World Series titles in four seasons, Francona is already the most successful Red Sox manager in a generation, if not all time. Personally, I’m glad we’ve got him locked up for another three years.

The red headed step-outfielder is back in a Red Sox uniform. Kielty, a reserve outfielder last season, has agreed to a minor league contract and an invite to training camp.

Kielty batted .218 with one home run and 12 RBI in only 33 games last year with Oakland and Boston. His shortened season was due primarily to losing his starting job in Oakland when he tore some cartilage in his left knee. He was eventually released by the Athletics and picked up by Boston. He only played in 20 games for the Sox and performed well enough, but was best remembered for his pinch-hit home run in game 4 of the World Series.

Peter Gammons of ESPN is reporting that the Red Sox and Sean Casey have agreed to a one-year contract for $700,000. Casey is a lifetime .301 hitter and hit .296 with 4 home runs and 54 RBI last year with Detroit. Casey is a left handed bat who averaged 20 homers and 90 RBI once upon a time, but has fallen off a bit these past few years. While his power has dropped, he still remains a good contact hitter who averages 25 to 30 doubles a season.

In a relatively low risk deal, the Boston Red Sox acquired right-handed reliever David Aardsma from the Chicago White Sox. Aardsma, a 2003 first rounder out of Rice, has been mediocre throughout his career in Chicago. He’s a classic, “Good Stuff, Bad Control” kind of guy with a 97 MPH fastball. At 26 years old, you’d like to think that he still has plenty of gas in the tank and that all he really needs is a change of scenery. Of course, it almost never works out that way, but as far as deals go, this one is pretty low risk. Boston gave up two, low-level prospects in Willy Mota and Miguel Socolovich. When you consider what Boston got out of last year’s “Can’t Miss” deal for Eric Gagne, I can’t imagine that Aardsma could fare much worse.

Rob Bradford is reporting in today’s Boston Herald that Curt Schilling and the Boston Red Sox are close to a deal that would bring #38 back to Boston for one more year. In last year’s offseason, Schilling announced that he was not going to retire after 2007 like he had planned and instead was looking for a one year $13 million dollar extension to take him through 2008. On Schilling’s blog, 38Pitches.com, he indicated that talks were progressing well and that a 1 year contract seemed likely. Rumors are circulating that the deal is less than then the $13 million Schilling was originally looking for, but does contain numerous incentives.