The Red Sox have announced the signings of minor league free agents Carlos Silva, Brandon Duckworth, Charlie Haeger, Will Inman, Doug Mathis, Tony Pena Jr., Chorye Spoone, Jesse Carlson, Rich Hill, Justin Thomas, Pedro Ciriaco, and Nate Spears. The signings of Spoone, Thomas, Inman, Pena, Carlson, and Hill had been reported previously.
Silva, 32, was released by the Cubs in March of 2011 with $11.5MM remaining on his contract. He signed with the Yankees in April, but was released in July amid shoulder problems after seven minor league starts. The control artist was useful upon his initial change of scenery, posting a 4.22 ERA in 21 starts for the 2010 Cubs after the Milton Bradley trade. As the Red Sox press release notes, "No active hurler with at least 750.0 innings pitched has fewer walks per nine innings than Silva (1.73)." Silva will make a prorated $1MM while in the Majors, reports WEEI's Alex Speier.
Ciriaco, 26, was non-tendered by the Pirates in December. The middle infielder hit .231/.243/.300 in 289 plate appearances in his second career Triple-A stint. Spears, a versatile 26-year-old, spent the last two years in Boston's minor league system. In 2011 he hit .248/.355/.397 in 378 plate appearances, getting his first cup of coffee with the big club.
Haeger, a 28-year-old knuckeballer, spent 2011 with the Mariners' Triple-A club and the Red Sox' Double-A team. He posted a 5.44 ERA, 7.7 K/9, 5.9 BB/9, and 0.92 HR/9 in 97 2/3 innings. Mathis, a 28-year-old righty, last appeared in the bigs in 2010 with the Rangers. As a starter for the Giants' and Athletics' Triple-A affiliates, he put up a 4.27 ERA, 6.7 K/9, 4.2 BB/9, and 0.63 HR/9 in 86 1/3 innings. Duckworth, 35, last appeared in the Majors in 2008. He spent 2011 with Boston's Triple-A affiliate, posting a 3.97 ERA, 6.7 K/9, 3.2 BB/9, and 0.84 HR/9 in 118 innings.
That’s a lot of signings.
You misspelled “junk.”
Word. Sometimes I mix up the proper spelling of the word. Thank you, kind sir. You are a gentleman and a scholar.
There are not enough comments on MLBTR that star with “Word.” and then leave me imagining the commentator wearing a plush top hat and squinting through his monocle. Bravo sir and good day.
Isn’t Haeger the knuckleballer?
Yes, I guess they are looking to replace Wakefield after all.
Yes, and he´s really awful, he was with the M´s last season…
At 28, he’s about 5-7 years away from being a decent knuckleball pitcher.
At 28, he’s about 5-7 years away from being a decent knuckleball pitcher.
Silva? Really? Wow
Maybe it’s Bartolo Colon 2.0
Colon was actually good once upon a time
Silva vs Colon in a sumo match maybe …
Guest referee CC Sabathia
Rich graces not available?
Garces
Prince Fielder gets winner.
And Mo Vaughn gets winner of that one.
“I want in on this Sumo thing” – Dennys Reyes
Only because Ryan Howard is on the DL…
…for dinner.
They have some big holes to fill in that rotation…
I don’t see him sniffing the MLB roster unless something goes horribly wrong.
MiLC/NRI’s? (Minor league contract/non-roster invite)
Seems pointless to post the meaning of those weird abbreviations right after?
Throw a lot of crap at the wall, something’s gonna stick
Yeah. Crap!
In polite company it’s called ‘spreading your bets’. 🙂
To heck with being polite..
You can’t polish a turd.. crap smears…
This collection of retreads is rubbish. Silva and Rich hill being the only 2 doing any good. Last year they had TO many of these retread scrap heap types and Alex Wilson was forced to stay at AA longer than he should have, someone they might be needing RIGHT NOW if they hadn’t had the likes of Duckworth, Matt Fox, Millwood taking rotation slots up at pawtucket.
Why teams insist o giving these 11 Boston signed for instance jobs is just wacky.. 3-4? Sure, but wasting 45% of the AAA roster spots with rubbish is beyond crazy, when even if anyone did have to call one up they are not going to help in 99% of the cases anyway.
Good God. Why Silva? Also before anyone says them, let’s see if we can go a full post with no chicken and beer jokes and no “World Series her we come! LOL!” jokes. The chicken and beer is going to be a tough joke to avoid with Silva though so maybe I’ll make an exception
A Red Sox fan with a sense of humor. I love this, great post bro.
Any chance of Silva sneaking into the green monster in between innings for some chicken and beer, a la Manny?
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Well they’ve got to do something will all the left overs they had when they missed out on the playoffs…
Carlos Silva – this year’s Bartolo Colon
Minus the stem cells.
And the being good for at least half a season thing.
And the buffet.
Did you mean “add the buffet”?
I would think Silva visits his share of buffets. Just look at him.
Well, Colon looks more like he is the buffet.
If a hitter does good against him, he can just scream at them until they agree to strikeout. It could work.
that almost sounds like a Chuck Norris fact
you know you’re desperate for pitching when..
I’m telling you, I can still throw. Sign me up!!
Love, Oil Can Boyd
Also on a more serious note, the one name I like there is Rich Hill
Agreed
Carlos Silva should be eating chicken with beer with his first Red Sox paycheck, pretty sure…
That IS the paycheck.
Carlos Silva: The Red Sox’s BIGGEST signing of the offseason.
We should place bets on who will stick. I’ll place one on Doug Mathis.
I’ll place a bet on Silva getting at least 2 MLB starts.
does everyone realize these are MINOR LEAGUE SIGNINGS!??!?! NOT MLB DEALS!
Say Whaaaattt? I thought all 12 players were going to be on the 25 man roster…
hahahaa poor sox had to DFA Agon and Lester to make room!
BREAKING NEWZ!!!!!!!!!
I’m so bored. Come on, GMs, holidays are over, let’s get on some FA signings
I’m not sure why people are going crazy about this. It’s a bunch of minor league signings, the kind that EVERY team will do before spring training. Carlos Silva will spend a few months in Pawtucket, probably get released, and then wind up in someone else’s farm shortly after.
The only player on this list that could have any impact on the team is Hill as a reliever.
You sound like me from last year.
Suck it up and take your lumps. We had to endure the same last year with Colon, Garcia, Milwood, Silva, Jones and Chavez. TAKE IT!!!
Lets all make a big deal about this!!!!111
C’mon man, these signings clearly show that the Red Sox front office is no longer willing to spend on top tier free agents.
fun fact: carlos silva had 9 walks in 2005 (2 of which were intentional) in 188 1/3 innings, for a BB/9 ratio of 0.4. talk about control thats like cliff lee on crack (or whatever the opposite of crack is)
Thats pretty insane lol Too bad he cant strike out anyone or stop them from getting more then a hit per inning… shame
YES Brandon Duckworth returns
QUACK ATTACK IS BACK JACK
Book titled “How to Catch Lightning.”
Man, these Red Sox this off season. Just wow. The Bailey acquisition appears genius, almost too much so, which makes me believe he’s walking around in a cast right now or something. Or I suppose after 42 consecutive poor moves, they were bound to hit on one.
I don’t understand what you’re getting at. Mostly because the last two sentences make no sense. I’ll assume you’re saying that these are all bad signings. I don’t know why people always have to point this out to people like you, but they’re minor league signings with ST invites. They’re for depth or ST competition. Haeger will not (hopefully) start a big league game this year, if he even makes the team. Last year Colon was on a list like this for your Yanks… were you trashing the signing then? Probably not. You may also be trolling and I’m embarrassing myself by acting seriously, but more than likely you’re one of the Yankees fans that gives your fanbase a bad name…
Welcome to MLBTR. Century is completely unaware that he’s a troll. He takes himself serious which makes the rest of us shudder.
Pretty sure this approach is no different than what got your precious Yankees into the playoffs last year.
They’re minor league signings that could maybe see time on the 25 man. Every GM is signing these types right now.
ikr
I don’t understand what you’re getting at. Mostly because the last two sentences make no sense. I’ll assume you’re saying that these are all bad signings. I don’t know why people always have to point this out to people like you, but they’re minor league signings with ST invites. They’re for depth or ST competition. Haeger will not (hopefully) start a big league game this year, if he even makes the team. Last year Colon was on a list like this for your Yanks… were you trashing the signing then? Probably not. You may also be trolling and I’m embarrassing myself by acting seriously, but more than likely you’re one of the Yankees fans that gives your fanbase a bad name…
possibly useless
probably worthless
im sure Cherington signed them so he can trade them away for someone like garza
I can see the fans latching onto Spoone like louuuuuu merlonie
Does anyone these are MINOR League contracts….don’t be hatin
Please no one get hurt, please no one get hurt…
I guess they need someone to take over the Rich Garces role.
Ciriaco is the cream of this crop, ladies!
these are definetly the bosox’s new top prospects
Hill and Carlson look like they could be good relievers, they’re the cream of the crop. Ciracio could probably be a defensive replacement or pinch runner. Inman used be a top prospect and has some upside. Mathis looks like he could be ok, people these are just dumpster dive acquisitions that have small chances of making an impact, this dosen’t say the Red Sox aren’t willing to spend or anything.
A little surprised at the massive amount of hate for Silva. I’d obviously prefer we sign or trade for a legit #4 or higher but is there a guarantee that Doubront/Wakefield/etc would be a more effective 5th starter than Silva?
The Red Sox franchise has fallen on hard times by signing a guy like Silva. I can’t see him actually making the team out of spring training
Red sox win it all 😉 (for real this time 😀 )
Sure am glad I’m not a Red Sox fan reading this headline