Rosenthal: Red Sox, Ryan Dempster "Close"

The Red Sox appear to be close to signing right-handed pitcher Ryan Dempster, according to Ken Rosenthal.

News broke yesterday that the Red Sox were back in serious discussion with Dempster, just days after he had apparently rejected a deal in the neighborhood of two years and $26 million from both the Sox and Royals.

The question for Red Sox fans will be whether Ryan Dempster came down to meet the Red Sox' figures having received lukewarm offers even following the Greinke signing, or if the Red Sox went up to meet him on a three-year deal, thus adding their third player signed through 2015.

Either way, the Red Sox will finally have the starting pitcher they so desperately need--or at least one of them. If Dempster is not the perfect solution, he is one that brings about as much hope for a big payoff as he does risk of being a bust. He is 35, and turns 36 just a month into the season, but there are few pitchers out there who will both sign for three years, and bring any real likelihood of success with them..