Red Sox sign Brennan Boesch to minor league deal

The Red Sox have signed outfielder Brennan Boesch to a minor league deal that will pay him $1 million should he reach the majors according to Jon Heyman:

Brennan boesch signs red sox minors deal. $1M in mjaors

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 13, 2016

A few days ago, Joon Lee took a look at the Red Sox' depth in the outfield past the MLB level, and found it wanting. This, then, might be Boston's answer to avoiding the Ryan LaMarre disaster scenario.

No, Brennan Boesch isn't good. Or at least certainly hasn't proven otherwise. After a promising start to his career saw him hit .269/.330/.436 over two years with the Tigers, Boesch has gone as backwards as backwards gets. Even including a brief successful stint in 2013 (comprised of all of 51 plate appearances), Boesch has hit .225/.266/.353 in the last four seasons. The last two have been the worst--he holds an OPS+ of just 23 over that span, with an impressive 49 strikeouts in 173 plate appearances.

Oh, and he's not good on defense.

At the very least, Boesch has looked good in the minors of late. He hit .332/.381/.636 there in 2014, and if 2015 wasn't quite so outstanding, he still pulled a .825 OPS in 208 plate appearances. There might be some small bit of the guy who hit well with the Tigers still left. Probably not, but it's more than Allen Craig can say for himself after a couple depressing campaigns in Pawtucket.

And hey, this is not Plan A, or B, or C. This is the guy they go to if everything else is a complete injury-riddled disaster. And he's playing well in Pawtucket. And then only for a little while, likely, before they can line up a trade for someone better, assuming they're still in the hunt for October and Boesch doesn't blow the door off Fenway in some strange twist of fate.

Welcome to the team, Brennan Boesch. As we say to all players in your position, we hope to never see you in Fenway.