Red Sox sign former Cardinals reliever Mitchell Boggs

The Red Sox have signed former Cardinals reliever Mitchell Boggs according to a tweet from Peter Gammons:

Mitchell Boggs interesting Red Sox signing

— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) January 5, 2015

It's a pretty classic Gammons bit of news breaking these days, with an off-hand comment about something nobody has heard about before as though it happened days ago, and as such it comes with few details. But given that Boggs didn't so much as see the majors in 2014, it's safe to say this is a minor league deal with no real implications on Boston's payroll or ability to do anything else in 2015.

There's some upside to Boggs. While he's been out of the majors since an injury-riddled 2013 saw his ERA baloon to 8.10 over just 23 innings of work, back from 2010-2012 he was a solid reliever for St. Louis. Boggs posted a 3.08 ERA over 201 innings with 158 strikeouts and 69 walks. He was so reliable in 2012 that the Cardinals turned to him as a closer early in 2013. Though obviously that didn't work out.

If Boggs can find his way back to 2010-2012 form, he could poach a spot in a relatively shallow Red Sox bullpen. As a good team with a couple vulnerable spots on the 25-man roster, the Sox at least represent a tempting landing spot for reclamation projects like Boggs. It wouldn't be surprising if there were a few more of them to come.