How about signing Jeff Zimmerman to a minor league deal? Due to an assortment of arm injuries and several Tommy John surgeries, he hasn't been able to pitch in the major leagues since 2001. However, he hasn't officially retired from baseball, and as recently as 2005, pitched in the Texas minor league system. He took 2006 off in order to rest his arm and is presumably available for 2007. While I normally wouldn't advocate signing a guy who has been out of MLB for six seasons, I think Zimmerman presents a unique case. Sometimes pitchers come back even stronger from Tommy John surgery and Zimmerman is only 34 years old. When he did pitch in the big leagues, he was an All-Star who had two sub-3 ERA seasons. And this was during the apex of the steroid era.
Given that the Red Sox still don't have an established closer, given that Zimmerman can't possibly cost more than the major league minimum, and given that he's a top notch pitcher when healthy, why not invite him to spring training? The worst thing that could happen is he flames out yet again, misses another season, and you lose a couple hundred thousand bucks. Would that really be so terrible? Meanwhile, look at the upside. He took all of 2006 off. Maybe he's finally healthy. Maybe he comes back to his dominant form and gives us some very good bang for the buck. These are the kinds of moves that Dan Duquette always used to make, and sometimes they actually worked out.
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