Red Sox sign reliever Jess Todd

The Red Sox added to their organizational relief corps, signing right handed reliever Jess Todd to a minor league contract. Todd has bounced around to accrue his current 78 days of service time in the majors.

In the second round of the 2007 draft, the St. Louis Cardinals selected Todd out of the University of Arkansas. By 2009, Todd was in the majors for St. Louis, who traded him to the Cleveland Indians as part of the deal that brought them their one-time closer Chris Perez. He saved 24 games at AAA Memphis that season with a 2.20 ERA before his call-up to the majors. After making five appearances for the Indians in 2010, Todd has pitched only in the minors, with a brief stint in Venezuela. In his major league career, Todd has a 7.62 ERA and 1.91 WHIP in 28.1 innings (4.15 FIP)

It would seem perhaps that Todd is a classic “4-A” pitcher who has success in AAA, where he has been since 2008 with stops for the Yankees, Tigers and last season with the Diamondbacks, but can’t sustain success in the majors. In his minor league career, the five foot eleven, 210 pound Texan has a 3.33 ERA with 578 strikeouts in 577.2 innings. Last season, Todd posted a 3.62 AAA ERA. 2013 saw him put up a 2.17 ERA at AAA Toledo for Detroit, with five saves, but did not get the call back to the majors. Early round draft choices (2nd round) get many chances, which may be what the Red Sox are trying to do at this point. It is a long shot for him to make the team out of Spring Training, to put it mildly. At this point, he is likely minor league depth, but he could possibly fit in for Boston in the short term if they need an arm at some point in the season.

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