The Red Sox have acquired 26 year old righty reliever David Aardsma from the White Sox for minor league pitchers Willy Mota and Miguel Socolovich. Aardsma pitched in 25 games last season for the White Sox and he was 2-1 with a 6.40 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP. Aardsma has now pitched in 81 games in his major league career and he is 6-1 with a 5.16 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP. He has whiffed 90 batters in 96 career innings in the majors which shows what kind of stuff he has, but he needs to throw more strikes. This was a nice low risk/high reward pickup by the Red Sox.

The Red Sox have signed righties Ben Howard, Miguel Asencio and catcher Steve Torrealba to minor league contracts. 29 year old Ben Howard last pitched in the majors in 2004 with the Florida Marlins. Howard has pitched in 40 games (8 starts) in his major league career and he is 2-5 with a 5.20 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP. 27 year old Miguel Asencio last pitched in the majors in 2006 with the Rockies. Asencio has pitched in 42 games (30 starts) in his major league career and he is 7-8 with a 5.12 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP. 29 year old righty swinging catcher Steve Torrealba last played in the majors in 2002 with the Braves. Torrealba has now played in 15 games in his major league career and he is 2 for 19 (.105 avg, .332 OPS) with 1 run scored and 1 RBI. All three of these guys will likely end up in Pawtucket this season.

The Red Sox have signed veteran righties Dan Kolb and Dan Miceli to minor leauge contracts with invites to spring training. The 32-year old Kolb pitched in 3 games with the Pirates last season and he was 0-0 with a 9.00 ERA and a 2.67 WHIP. Kolb has pitched in 290 games (0 starts) in his major league career and he is 11-23 with 73 saves, a 4.36 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP. Miceli is a 37-year old righty who last pitched in the majors in 2006 with the Devil Rays. Miceli has pitched in 631 games (9 starts) in his major league career and he is 43-52 with 39 saves, a 4.48 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. Both pitchers face an uphill battle to make the Red Sox roster but they will give the organization nice depth in the bullpen.

It sounds crazy but it just might work. The Red Sox would likely keep Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka pitching every fifth day because they are young and durable enough to handle the workload. John Lester and Clay Buchholz are talented youngsters who both had issues keeping healthy so the Red Sox might want to limit their innings this season which means a six man rotation could work. With Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield being old and a tad injury prone the Sox would be smart to give them an extra day of rest in between smarts. This is a nice problem for the Red Sox to have as not too many teams could run out six quality starters.

The Red Sox have re-signed backup catcher Doug Mirabelli to a 1-year contract. This was a smart move by the Red Sox as Mirabelli is the one catcher that can handle Tim Wakefield and his knuckle ball. Mirabelli played in 48 games last season for the Red Sox and he was 23 for 114 (.202 avg, .638 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 5 homers and 16 RBIs. Mirabelli has now played in 566 games in his major league career and he is 337 for 1,456 (.231 avg, .724 OPS) with 162 runs scored, 58 homers and 206 RBIs.