The Red Sox started the winter meetings with a huge bang by signing a very coveted reliever today.
Via FoxSports.com, the Red Sox have signed righthanded reliever Scott Atchison to a one-year contract with options for 2011 and 2012. He spent the last two seasons with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan.
Over 194.2 innings, he struck out 81 walked 20 and had a 2.77 ERA. Atchison, who turns 33 in March, was last in the majors in 2007 when he pitched for the Giants.
He has 53 games of big-league experience, compiling a 4.10 ERA. He had 70 strikeouts in 68 innings and allowed 68 hits.
I have never said I'm not sensational. So maybe Atchison isn't a "coveted reliever" nor did the Sox start with a "huge bang," but a move is a move in Theo Epstein's world. It's interesting to see that Atchison's strikeout numbers dropped when he was in Japan. In his big league time, he has more than one strikeout per inning. I assume Atchison would come cheap, so this is a guy that we'll just see compete for a bullpen spot in spring training.