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Red Sox Sign Joe Nelson

By Howard Megdal | February 1, 2010 at 6:36pm CDT

FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal tweets that the Red Sox have signed Joe Nelson to a minor league deal.  WEEI's Alex Speier says Nelson will make $735K if he makes the team.

Nelson pitched for Tampa Bay in 2009, posting a 4.02 ERA in 40.3 innings. The 35-year-old righty will have to earn a shot at the big club out of spring training, and his walk rate will have to improve over 2009 (27 in those 40.3 innings) to stick with Boston.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Joe Nelson

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32 Comments

  1. Guest 1045

    15 years ago

    I wonder what happens if he makes the team…A possible trade of Manny Delcarmen?

    Reply
  2. PaloozaChampion

    15 years ago

    More of the same for Theo: throwing small money at a bunch of underwhelming FAs and hoping they can flesh out a decent bullpen. When are we gonna see the Sox make some semi-big to big name FA acquisitions in the ‘pen?

    Reply
    • TimotheusATL

      15 years ago

      You’re looking at the market like it’s still 2006. Low risk contracts are the name of the game these days. Besides, who’s really out there that you’d even want in a middle relief capacity (other than maybe Calero)?

      Reply
    • R_y_a_n

      15 years ago

      He really doesn’t need to. Spending big money for a pitcher out of the pen is very risky. See Brian Fuentes and K-Rod as just a couple of examples.

      They’re pen is fine the way it is. Bard, Ramirez, Oki and Paps make for a nice backend off the bullpen. Nice, low risk signing by Theo here.

      Reply
    • philpbarnes

      15 years ago

      “throwing small money at a bunch of underwhelming FAs and hoping they can flesh out a decent bullpen”

      Erm.. thats pretty much what every team does.

      Who exactly would you consider as a ‘semi-big to big’ FA relief pitcher?

      Reply
    • yanksrdashit

      15 years ago

      I was hoping that the yankees did that last year, instead of just getting 25 year old out of AAA that noone had ever heard of. Never happens, there just aren’t guys who fit a big name relief pitcher that isn’t a closer.

      Reply
  3. redsox4120

    15 years ago

    I like how Theo is stockpiling all these potentially good arms to duke it out for the last two bullpen spots.

    Reply
    • Harris Ackermann

      15 years ago

      Teams who actually need the pitchers hate it though.

      Reply
      • ugen64

        15 years ago

        alot of them will be available after Spring Training though

        it’s not like there is a shortage of cheap relievers with upside on the market, even at this stage, anyway.

        Reply
      • soxfan15

        15 years ago

        it’s not like other teams couldn’t sign these guys…

        Reply
    • kris schweimler

      15 years ago

      Yea – cause that seemed to work for you last year LMFAO

      Reply
  4. boston the place to be

    15 years ago

    i think the red sox needs another lefty. what do yall think

    Reply
    • philpbarnes

      15 years ago

      Depends on how much faith they have in Dustin Richardson being able to fill that role

      Reply
    • CTsoxfan

      15 years ago

      i think they’ll be fine. see redsox4120’s comment. theo already signed shouse to a minor league deal, they’re looking at oscar villarreal (boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=2010020…) and i’m pretty sure francona said he’s fine with the ‘pen as is (including whoever wins the spot or two remaining in spring training). plus they’ve already come out and said they’re not going to carry an additional lefty if they don’t need one.

      Reply
    • ilikebaseball

      15 years ago

      I read somewhere that they actually like a couple of their righties against lefties–something about reverse splits. I’ll try to find the article.

      Reply
    • Jeff Chane

      15 years ago

      Exactly what I was thinking.

      Reply
      • valdir

        15 years ago

        the red sox needs a good lefty becuase every team in the east has a good left handed bat. in the yankees case i would rather have tex bat fron the right side, tb carl, pena, toronto adam lind, os markakis.

        Reply
        • vtadave

          15 years ago

          Delcarmen has historically been very good vs. LHP – .198/.297/.299 – more than 100 of OPS lower versus them than RH hitters

          Reply
          • BoSoxSam

            15 years ago

            Yeah, plus Oki is a pretty reliable lefty. I think with those two, plus hopefully someone proving themselves in Spring Training, the bullpen should be fine.

            Reply
  5. Daniel Rathman

    15 years ago

    They have a darn good lefty reliever prospect in Dustin Richardson. He has 96 K’s in 74 innings spread across AA and AAA last year.

    thebaseballcube.com/players/R/dustin-richardson-1.…

    Reply
    • R_y_a_n

      15 years ago

      He also had massive control issues…Oki should be there lefty.

      Reply
      • Jake Humphrey

        15 years ago

        Where?

        Reply
      • mrjjbond

        15 years ago

        Except that Oki isn’t a lefty specialist, he is a pure middle reliever who happens to be a lefty. Also the Sox like to have 2 lefties in the pen ever since they got Oki.

        Reply
        • R_y_a_n

          15 years ago

          Yea, I didn’t realize we were talking about just a lefty specialist.

          Reply
          • mrjjbond

            15 years ago

            Not a problem. The way I see it, that’s all that the Sox need for their bullpen though. It’s certainly weaker than the end of last season, but they have a solid rotation and MDC can handle lefties if they need to go another route with the last bullpen spot.

            Reply
  6. valdir

    15 years ago

    oki is the only proven one

    Reply
  7. Griffin Spencer

    15 years ago

    Anybody else remember his stint with the World Championship winning 2004 Red Sox?

    Reply
  8. Fangaffes

    15 years ago

    I think Theo is counting on one of Nelson, Bowden, Tazawa, or Richardson to step up and be a solid bullpen guy. Otherwise it’s pretty well set. And without Penny and Smoltz there shouldn’t be nearly as many bullpen innings to eat.

    Reply
    • start_wearing_purple

      15 years ago

      Theo typically doesn’t like giving out long sure money contracts to middle relievers. So he signs a bunch of guys who have had a history of at some point having success. So of Achinson, Shouse, Nelson, he’s gambling at least one of them will be effective.

      Reply
    • mrjjbond

      15 years ago

      I see either Richardson or Shouse breaking camp with the Sox as their second lefty. Tazawa needs time in the minors, they want to keep Bowden stretched out as a starter in case of injuries, Atchison and Nelson are just AAA depth to have OK arms to bring up in the event of injuries to the bullpen or if they trade Del Carmen.

      Reply
  9. Cyyoung

    15 years ago

    2 years ago with the Marlins, he pitched 2 games in the final weekend that knocked out the Mets. 6 up 6 down. I liked the way he was throwing then. Good signing, I like it.

    Reply
  10. PinstripeLife

    15 years ago

    Good Luck with that – you’ll need it

    Reply

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